Table of Contents

Color Inserts

Table of Contents Page

Title Page

Copyrights and Credits

Prologue

Chapter 1: The Hero Investigated

Chapter 2: Until the Time Comes

Chapter 3: Operation Jave World Annihilation

Chapter 4: Each of Us Is--

Epilogue

Afterword

About the Author & Artist

Newsletter

Prologue

A month had passed since the Twin Star Heroes eliminated the Gate over the Imperial Capital.

***

“Combat altitude of 20,000 meters achieved. Magic output at max. Systems green. Initiating contact.”

In darkness, a woman in a visor read out the information displayed on her vision.

She wore a tight plugsuit beneath the red exo-armor, and both she and the armor were fixed in place. She normally kept her hair in a ponytail, but now it was wound up in a bun to keep it out of her way.

“Contact complete. Heavy Magic Engine responsive. Proceeding to final initialization sequence.”

In response to her voice, a stream of red letters flowed across her visor. She’d trained for this. All was well. She was fine. No mistakes. She could do this. Not the time to lose her nerve. Stay strong. Yet no matter how many times she told herself that, her hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

Then she heard a beep. A window appeared at the lower right of her vision that read INCOMING TRANSMISSION. She opened it with thought control.

“Senpai, are you okay?”

It was him. He’d been concerned and called her. She was so happy she could dance, but she was in the middle of an operation. She had to be careful to keep her glee from overflowing. “Yeah, I’m fine. Going on ahead.”

“Be careful.”

A simple exchange, but she could feel herself unclenching. The muscles she’d been straining relaxed. “Thank you. I love you.”

“You, too.”

As he answered, the floor opened up and light spilled out in front of her. The wall of white clouds outside flowed quickly downward. Beyond them, she caught a glimpse of sunlight reflecting off the ocean’s surface.

She and the mobile weapon she wore were suspended face down in the storage deck at the bottom of a ship flying 20,000 meters above the surface, preparing to drop.

“Reimei,” she said. “Launch.”

Calling her frame’s new name, one half of the heroic duo dropped onto a battlefield teeming with monsters from another world.

***

One day, massive portals appeared all over the world. Later to be known as Gates, these were passages linking our world to another—a world filled with mankind’s natural predators, the Jave. Ever since these Gates opened a few decades ago, Jave had been spilling through.

The Jave were fleshy beasts, purplish-black and shaped like cones or mantas. They had countless tentacles, each one several meters long. Humans caught by these tentacles were eaten whole.

The Jave made nests around the Gates, laid eggs, and multiplied on our world. The Imperial mainland was long since overrun with them; only a few survivors remained.

These survivors had settled on islands to the south, waging a desperate resistance against the Jave. These were the Jogen Islands, a crescent-shaped island chain stretching from the mainland of Japan across the ocean.

There were three major military encampments under Imperial Army control: one on Jogen, one floating on the waters near the Imperial Capital (which mankind had recovered only a month before), and one on a small island known as Aohime.

A new Gate had appeared above this last location, code-named Mid-Blue. This Gate obstructed the sea lane connecting the Capital and Jogen. If nothing was done, lines of supply and communication to the freshly recovered capital would remain unsecured, so the Imperial Army launched an operation to eliminate Mid-Blue.

In Mid-Blue airspace, sandwiched between the blue of the sky and the blue of the ocean, the horizon melted away, nearly impossible to make out. Far in the distance was the volcanic island of Aohime. Just above that was the Gate, like a pitch-black moon surrounded by a red mist and a terrifying number of black specks.

The black specks were Jave, and the red mist was the blood they sprayed.

They were joined by white beams of light, outnumbering the black specks. These beams caused explosions, and the volume of red mist increased, but the number of black specks increased even more.

The war between the Imperial Air Force Mobile Unit and the Mid-Blue Jave swarm had begun.

The Air Force was deployed in a fan shape above Aohime Island. There were some aircraft and flying motherships, but the bulk of their forces were soldiers known as Maneuver Cavalleria. At a glance, they looked like skydivers, but that was not the case.

Each Cavalleria wore a frame of external armor. These frames were powered by the innate magical power all humans possessed, allowing them to fly. Known as Division Maneuvers, or DMs for short, the invention of these armored magic weapons had instantly made all weapons from the old world obsolete.

Cavalleria wearing sniper DMs began laying down cover fire from a distance. This was the storm of white beams seen a moment before. They carved through the Jave front lines, firing until their magic was almost tapped out. Nearly ten percent of the assembled black specks were eliminated.

“Attacker Squads, charge!”

At the commander’s word, the snipers retreated, replaced by a crowd of Attacker units in two-man cells.

The Jave fought back. They fired bullets of light so fast they looked like twinkling stars. DMs were equipped with barriers known as Witch Bubbles that allowed them to move in the deep sea or outer space, but the monsters’ shelling easily tore through these. Luck and reflexes allowed ninety percent of the attackers to make it through intact. That might sound like most, but it still meant dozens had perished.

The bulk of the DMs that the Air Force Cavalleria employed were ordinary Nichirin frames. Leaving the comm channels partially open, each frame was playing pre-selected combat music. Since this was proven to boost morale, the Air Force allowed DM units to play music as long as the volume was low enough that they wouldn’t miss orders. The songs could be rock, punk, jazz, theme songs from mecha anime, or whatever the Cavalleria preferred, but they were almost all fast-paced and intense. The 2nd Mobile Unit’s front attacker fired bullets in time to the rhythm of a double-bass drum set, the 10th Mobile Unit’s attack gunner was shot down wrapped in the song of electronic fairies, and the 5th Mobile Unit’s front attacker cut through an enemy Jave, screaming along with the chorus.

The odds were three to one in favor of the enemy.

Five seconds after the battle began, a tenth of the military’s forces were gone, and the enemy numbers were only increasing.

How? Because a Queen had emerged from inside the Gate.

The Jave Queen was a massive cone-shaped monster three hundred meters in diameter. Made of red flesh, like internal organs, it had a horrifying number of mouths, and each of these spewed children—ordinary Jave. Their only shot at winning was to kill this Queen.

Six seconds had passed since the battle began.

The front lines had been disrupted, but the Jave swarm still held the skies over Aohime Island, and there were no signs of penetrating their inner stronghold.

But at the seven-second mark, a new frame fell from the skies above.

“Stay with me. Don’t leave me alone. I will come back. Back to you.”

Everyone heard these lyrics blasting over their comms. Whether through sheer nerve, or carelessness keeping her from noticing the volume was left cranked up, she was convinced no one else could hear—but if they listened close, they could hear her humming along. They pretended not to notice the barely suppressed note of fear.

A sweet song of love—not at all what you’d think the Warrior Princess would listen to.

Yet every one of them thought the same thing: She’s here. At last she’s here. Right on time. Take it from here, Your Highness.

An instant later, a blinding beam of light pierced the Queen Jave.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Shot by the Division Maneuver as it fell from 20,000 meters above, a third of the Queen’s bulk was vaporized, and she screamed in pain and fury.

As if linked to her will, every Jave looked up just as a second shot fired. The horde of Jave were swallowed by the massive light bullet, vaporized one after another.

This beam was clearly far, far more powerful than anything the other Cavalleria had fired. The diameter alone was on a different scale. While an ordinary rifle fired fist-sized bursts of light, her bullets were so large that ten people could line up head to toe and still be swallowed up by them.

Her red DM fell, plunging through the hole she had made in the Jave swarm. The Jave all fired at her as she passed, but her DM danced across the surface of the ocean, dodging all their bullets. Several bullets appeared to score a direct hit, but a light like a black membrane appeared, catching and diverting them.

The shape of this DM was strange, not at all like a human’s form. The head was too long, the wings too large, and the tail stretching from the back was too elongated. And the sheer size of it! It was at least twenty meters long.

Was it a bird? A crane? A dragon?

No…it was a Kiryu.

As the massive DM flew along the water’s surface, several hexagon-shaped objects shot out ahead of it. They turned in the air, flying directly towards and into the Jave swarm where they exploded. The covers broke free, and countless guided light beams fired from within.

Numerous explosions followed. The Jave caught up in them were turned to dust.

Without checking the results, the giant DM was already committed to its next action. As if kicking off the surface of the ocean, it suddenly rose upwards, hurling itself into the swarm. The Kiryu’s head turned. Its mouth opened, and a beam of light shot out. Dozens of monsters died instantly.

This was the massive beam of light from earlier. The Kiryu’s head turned left and right, mercilessly exterminating its foes. At the same time, the hexagons deployed from its tail—the guided light bullet containers—were fired into the thickest parts of the swarm, erupting and turning the walls of enemies into polka dots.

“Mother Servant Pod, fire.”

At her whispered command, two dragons flew from her feet, splitting away from the main body. Those two dragons further split into dozens of birds, each flying like they had minds of their own, spewing light bullets from their tips. They were Type-2 Artillery Servants, sent into the midst of the enemy.

A storm of hundreds of light beams erupted, and the monsters from another world were incinerated one after another. The giant red DM passed through the enemy swarm again, climbing higher. Just before she was hidden by the sun, for a second, the other Cavalleria caught a glimpse of the pilot.

She was one of the Twin Star Heroes, a Division 5 named Suzuka Hanabi. She was from Jogen Maneuver Academy, High School Division, Class 3-A, Seat Number 12. Hanabi was an Attack Gunner from the Lunatic Order’s Fuji Squad, wearing the frame called Reimei (Drag Ride).

She was also part of a giant dragon.

Drag Ride was the name of an advanced firepower unit made exclusively for the Reimei frame. It was a mechanical dragon—a Kiryu—over ten times as tall as Hanabi herself. Hanabi was mounted on the underbelly of this beast like a kangaroo’s joey, controlling it like her own arms and legs. Everything from the chest up was exposed, and she wielded a Scout Nova Rifle in both hands, but the lower portions of her body were entirely inside the Kiryu. Hanabi’s head lay just below the dragon’s long neck, and she wore a visor—generally not required with 6th generation DMs—allowing her to check the information provided by her new partner.

With the sun at her back, she did a flip, sending the Kiryu charging back into the thick of the Jave. The targets on her visor locked on to the Queen.

“High Nova Launcher…”

The primary cannon responded, the dragon’s mouth yawning open.

“Fire!”

The cannon roared.

The ultra-wide beam cut a path through the enemy. The Queen reacted with a speed belying her bulk, avoiding a direct hit but still taking damage. The intense heat of the magic beam melted the flesh on the Queen’s side, and she let out a scream that shook the very air, launching all her children at Hanabi. However, their feeble attacks were all blocked by the newly developed anti-light beam barrier, the Heavy Magic Field. This was the black membrane that briefly appeared around the DM after each hit. It was the Witch Bubble coated in a new tech called Heavy Magic, and it effectively neutralized the Jave’s bullets in a way never before possible. The clever Queen soon realized this, commanding her children to attack directly. Props for judgment, Hanabi thought.

A swarm of several hundred mantas flung themselves directly at Hanabi. She scattered guided light bullet containers like bait in her wake, launched dozens of Servants, and fired the rifle in her own hands, but it wasn’t enough. Several mantas made it through the field, brushing against the Kiryu’s wings.

“Ack!” Hanabi dropped the rifle, gathering Servants around both hands. Giant light swords stretched out from each of her palms, Blades made by merging several light beams. She then formed another twelve Servant Blades around herself, hacking away at any monsters who came near. Then…

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Light gathered in front of the injured Queen. She was charging a light shot, planning to shoot Hanabi and all the Jave gathered around her. Hanabi thought quickly. Defense? Impossible. Even the Heavy Magic Field couldn’t stand a hit of that size! Evasive maneuvers? Would they make it?

The beam fired. An instant later…

Shichisei Kenbu: Shimetsu.

At the sound of the voice, the Queen’s light bullet vanished with a pop.

Before Hanabi’s eyes was the small back profile of a single Cavalleria, with nine bright wings fanned out around him. It was her partner’s frame. He’d used a Shichisei Kenbu Machine Fencing technique to quickly cover the ground and reach her in time. With the same motion as a karate left punch, he’d easily canceled out the fatal bullet.

Her partner was a front attacker with the Lunatic Order’s Fuji Squad. Clad like a blue-armored warrior in a DM called the Soukyu (Pleiades), he was the other half of the Twin Star Heroes. Hanabi’s own little hero, Okegawa Kuon.

“Kuon-kun!”

“Sorry, Senpai,” he said, landing on Hanabi’s—the Kiryu’s—
back.

“What are you doing? You aren’t positioned here!” Hanabi yelled while moving at high speed, her Servant Blades slicing and dicing the swarming Jave.

Riding the Kiryu’s back, Kuon pulled out two Ultra Magic Hardened Blades, turning Jave into sashimi as he replied, “That’s why I said sorry.”

“This again! You aren’t sorry at all!”

“I am!”

They were always like this. But a new voice interrupted. “Hanabi-sama, lecturing him with that grin on your face isn’t very convincing.”

“Y-y-you shut up, En-kun!”

A fairy clad in what appeared to be a silk kimono altered to look like a uniform—the Guide AI known as En—made a point of appearing right before Hanabi’s eyes just so she could smirk at her. “This is my master’s love. Love!”

Hanabi went bright red. How could she bring that up now?! “The plan was for me to draw the enemy away so you could finish off the Queen!” she yelled.

“Yep. Sorry! But…” Kuon detached himself from her back. The camera on the Kiryu’s rear caught his face. He was smiling. “I’ll go do that now, Senpai.”

An instant later he was a blur, and then he was gone. En vanished with him.

Jeez. Hanabi turned over so the Kiryu’s underside faced the Queen, giving herself a better view. The enemy had recovered from the shock of having her bullet canceled and was gathering light again when Kuon appeared behind it, using a shukuchi to cover the distance nigh-instantly.

Kuon took a deep breath, positioning himself on the Queen’s back. As he examined his foe, he perceived within her the root of all life, the focal point of life energy—what his master called “the light of life”. Almost leisurely, he thrust the Blade in his left hand towards it, releasing his breath.

Shichisei Kenbu Ultimate Art: Mumyo Tosen.

Chapter 1:
The Hero Investigated

Once, there was a Hero named Suzuka Hachishiki. He was a Maneuver Cavalleria, Captain of the Imperial Air Force City Defense Corps 1st Mobile Unit, Suzuka Squad…a man who’d killed, slaughtered, and massacred monsters from another world.

His parents, the nuns and his friends at the orphanage who had taken him in, and the comrades he’d made in the army after enlisting had all been killed by Jave. But Hachishiki survived one reckless assault after another, fueled both by a desire for revenge and the urge to follow his fallen friends into death. As a result, he saved countless lives and found himself celebrated as the Hero.

Thirteen years ago, he died in battle against an enemy Queen.

However, just before he died, a side effect of the Gate sent his soul into the body of a newborn. The Hero was reborn with all his memories intact. His magic, however…not so much.

Magic was required to pilot a Division Maneuver. Magic was rated on a scale of one to five. He’d been a Division 5, the strongest mankind was capable of, but now he was bumped all the way down to Division 1.

The former Hero, now reborn as Okegawa Kuon, faced this fact at the tender age of five, a fate so cruel it made him cry. It had sent him into a total meltdown.

But he didn’t give up.

Reunited with Nanahoshi Kaede, his master in his previous life, he dedicated himself anew to the study of Shichisei Kenbu Machine Fencing. He made that impressive strength his own, entered Jogen Maneuver Academy despite his division, and met the strongest student the school had ever had—a Division 5 named Suzuka Hanabi. He joined her team, they made each other better, and their hearts grew as one.

Tasked with closing the Gate over the Capital, Hanabi and the rest of the team had been in mortal danger, but Kuon arrived in time, rescued Hanabi from the enemy’s clutches, killed the Queen, and destroyed the Gate.

Suzuka Hanabi’s efforts allowed many Cavalleria to retreat from the battlefield.

Okegawa Kuon’s efforts saved Hanabi’s team and destroyed both the Queen and the Gate.

In return for their achievements, the Air Force gave the duo a new name: The Twin Star Heroes.

Additionally, Kuon discovered that the senpai he loved was a girl he’d saved in his previous life. However, Suzuka Hanabi did not yet know that the boy she loved was the reincarnation of the Hero who’d saved her, whom she’d looked up to her entire life.

***

That was a close one.

Okegawa Kuon let out a sigh of relief. Broadcasting their flirting to the entire Air Force during an operation was unprecedented. If his master hadn’t pulled some strings, even the Twin Star Heroes could both have been thrown in solitary.

Instead, they’d been let off with a three-page essay and three hundred push-ups each. They might be called heroes, but both Kuon and Hanabi were still trainees.

Right now, they were in a room at Jogen Maneuver Academy. “I’m sorry, Kuon-kun…”

“D-don’t worry about it, Senpai.”

They’d both managed to get their essays done and then started doing push-ups together in the headmaster’s office. Hanabi had made it to two hundred and then found herself unable to move, so Kuon took over her extra hundred. After all, they were a team. “My body’s lighter, so it’s less work,” Kuon said, trying to make her feel better. This backfired.

“Oh? You don’t say?” Nanahoshi Kaede said, sitting down on his back mid-push-up. She was his master and the one who’d ostensibly saved them. As Hanabi watched ruefully, cursing her unresponsive arm muscles, Kuon kept counting, “Two hundred sixteen, two hundred seventeen!” He voiced no complaints about his extra burden, but there was quite a puddle of sweat forming under him. Keeping up a good rhythm was vital in these situations. He just had 184 to go. He could do it.

“Hanabi?” Kaede asked. “You look like you want to say something.”

“I absolutely don’t!”

“Your slices got dull as that last fight went on, didn’t they? Even with a DM on, if you don’t visualize the movements clearly, your body won’t keep up. You’ve got a mental limit telling you that you can only swing a sword for so long. And you know why that is?”

“…Because that’s how long I can swing a sword without the DM.”

“Exactly. So you understand the reason for this punishment? Then why have you stopped?”

“Ungggh…”

“The reason your biceps gave out is because of your excessive chest blubber.” Kaede poked Hanabi’s boobs with her wooden sword. It was midsummer, and the school trainee uniforms were quite thin. Hanabi’s massive boobs swung all over the place. It was mesmerizing. Kaede’s behavior was verging on sexual harassment, and in another military school there might be consequences, but at Jogen Maneuver Academy, you were better off saying “yes” to whatever the headmaster came up with.

Thus Hanabi was forced to yell, “You’re completely correct, ma’am!”

Meanwhile, Kuon was entering his 218th arm extension, thinking, Pot calling the kettle black, you big-boobed loli cougar.

“Kuooon? I feel like I should be giving you can extra fifty just because…”

Dang, she always knows. She never misses a beat.

“Two hundred nineteeeeen!” he roared.

He only had 231 more. He could do it.

As she bullied her pupils, Kaede shook her head.

Cards on the table—she was the one who’d hacked Hanabi’s frame and opened up her comms. She’d figured if Kuon and Hanabi started talking, odds were good they’d get flirty. If they’d kept their private lives out of the mission, she’d never have been able to administer this punishment, but…well, that hadn’t happened.

She had a legitimate reason for doing this.

The military brass were hell-bent on covering Hanabi in glory, treating her like an idol, their very own Joan of Arc. But Kaede had seen what that treatment had done to her former student, Suzuka Hachishiki, and she was not about to lose anyone else the way she had him.

Thanks to Kuon’s stupidity, everyone now knew the Twin Star Heroes were partners on and off the battlefield, and that would protect Hanabi from the worst kinds of idol worship. Being the Warrior Princess was plenty.

They no longer needed a single Hero, but venerating a duo instead made little difference. The result would still be the two of them being used and getting killed.

“We don’t need a Hero who stands above us all.”

Words she’d said herself five and a half months earlier, but the reality wasn’t quite so easy.

***

“I really am sorry, Kuon-kun…”

As the headmaster’s door closed, Hanabi was in full Maiden Mode, her shoulders drooping. “It’s my fault we got punished, but you ended up taking on my share…”

“It’s fine, Senpai. I’m used to it!” Kuon tried thumping his chest but couldn’t raise his arms.

The number of Gates over the Imperial mainland remained in double digits. Some were no longer active, while some were still going strong. It would be bad if they didn’t close them fast, but lack of resources meant they were forced to ignore them.

Three days had passed since they’d eliminated the Gate over Aohime Island. Hanabi spent those days at weapons development organizing new weapon data and adjusting her frame, and this was the first appearance she’d put in at school. Kuon himself had been busy with his own military duties, so even though they were a couple and attended the same school, being summoned to the headmaster’s office was the first time they’d seen each other since that fight. Such were the times they lived in, but still…

Perhaps having a girlfriend for the first time in thirty years (counting both his lives together) had robbed Kuon of his mental tranquility. Suzuka Hachishiki had built armor around his heart out of hatred for the Jave and a desire for revenge, but now that armor had been pried away, exposing the weaknesses within and leaving him unstable. It came as a shock to find he was feeling lonely. Even realizing this fact came as a blow.

After the battle for the Capital, they’d returned to school, and on one occasion the two of them had gone shopping together, but that was as close to a date as they’d managed. This was also partially because they’d both become rather famous. Everywhere they went, people recognized them and caused a commotion. Their date only lasted two hours.

Kuon wanted the two of them to at least spend some time together today. With that thought in mind, he began, “Um, Hanabi-senp—”

“Okegawa-sensei! We’ve come to meet you!!” A number of burly men ran up to him, all wearing Air Force uniforms.

“Oh…thanks…” Kuon said listlessly.

The men weren’t just soldiers with the Air Force but also Kuon’s students. Okegawa Kuon had been ordered to serve as the Air Force Machine Fencing instructor. Men two or three times his age were calling him “Okegawa-sensei” or “assistant instructor”. Understandably, a group opposed to the idea of a thirteen-year-old teacher had proposed a mock battle, and as a result, he’d cut through scores of veteran Cavalleria. Since they were all close-quarter battles, he hadn’t even used Nine-Count Strike. Okegawa Kuon had proven beyond all doubt that he was the Air Force’s best swordsman.

“Oh, is that Suzuka Hanabi-dono with you?”

“The legendary Bushi Hime! Your beauty is even greater than they say. You’re the jewel of the Air Force!”

Such obvious platitudes. Coming to meet me was clearly just an excuse to see her in the flesh, Kuon thought.

Hanabi activated Warrior Mode and put her hand on her chest, saluting the Cavalleria. “Well met, Air Force Senpai. I hear you’ve been very helpful to my partner.”

“Not at all—he’s the one helping us!”

“Sorry to snatch him away from you.”

Everyone sounded perfectly polite, but they were clearly letting this get to their heads.

Kuon was just a little bit put out. He stepped in front of Hanabi, pointing to the exit. “Men! Go on ahead! I’ll be right behind.”

“Yes, sir!” They saluted, grinning. They were perhaps all too aware of their young instructor’s fit of jealousy. They’d all survived their share of rough situations and had plenty of life experience.

Kuon sighed and turned back to Hanabi. “Sorry, Hanabi-senpai. I’ve got to get back to my duties.”

“Yes… I’m still working on adjustments to the Kiryu. I suppose this is goodbye.”

“Also, sorry about my students. I told them not to come gawk at you, but…”

“I don’t mind. Getting treated like a hero with you isn’t the worst thing. Although I think only you really deserve the honor. You’re the Cavalleria who deserves to follow in Suzuka Hachishiki’s footsteps.”

“Er, no—”

“But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up! I want to be a hero just as much as you do.”

The smile Hanabi gave him caused a sizzling pain in Kuon’s heart. She didn’t seem to be aware of it, but whenever Hanabi talked about Suzuka Hachishiki, a look of intense pride and joy swept over her. She really admired him. Her goal was to be like the man who’d saved her life.

Kuon hadn’t told Hanabi that he’d been her hero in his previous life. His master had forbidden it. But even if she hadn’t…

That look on her face… I really can’t tell her.

He’d changed so much. He wasn’t her hero anymore. He was just a cocky little kid five years younger than her, demoted from a Division 5 to a Division 1. He was scared that it would shatter her image of him if he told her. More than anything, he was scared she wouldn’t love him anymore.

So he couldn’t tell her.

He felt guilty about it, but he didn’t think he had a choice.

***

Meanwhile, a German exchange student was arriving at the Jogen Maneuver Academy. She was in the Exchange Program for Mobile Maneuver and Heavy Magic Research. There were many people surprised that Germany still existed, but it would be more accurate to say that it had returned from the dead.

Forty years ago, a Gate appeared over Nürburg Castle (as did Gates all across Europe), spewing countless Jave that ran roughshod over Western Europe. But one day, thirty years ago, they stopped completely. The Gate ceased to function.

To the naked eye, the Gate remained unchanged—a wide black hole creepily hovering over Nürburg. But for thirty years, not one Jave emerged. In those thirty years, Germany and the countries around it fought back. All of the Jave which had emerged from the Gate, as well as the Jave born on this side of it, were eliminated by the Mobile Maneuver Corps. It was a massive, fantastic victory.

Several hundred years before the invention of Division Maneuvers had been the Great Disaster of the previous era. The very same people who overcame that threat to mankind now preserved their culture via the Division Maneuvers.

However, the Gate remained.

All who looked up at the sky wondered the same thing: How can we rid ourselves of that black moon? They’d driven the monsters out, and Europe was at peace, but the people looking up at the sky also thought: Is it really?

Enemies had suddenly stopped pouring out of the Gate, and they’d polished off all the ones that remained, but did that really mean they were rid of them?

According to the account of the German Air Force’s military actions, after the Gate appeared over Nürburg Castle, the Germans repeatedly retreated, withdrawing their front lines. Eventually, they were forced to make the tough call to abandon their country altogether. The next day, the Gate abruptly ceased all activity. Putting aside the differences of the previous era, the Mobile Maneuver Corps of each Western European country banded together, and there was a period of intense fighting until the territories of man were recovered.

Weirdly, nowhere in the records were the words “massive,” “mothership,” “boss,” or “Queen” mentioned. The words “Rochen” and “Oktopus” appeared countless times, alongside words for devils or monsters, but the word “Königin”? Not once.

They didn’t know.

The tens of thousands of monsters slaughtered in Europe were all weak monsters sent by a Jave Queen as a test to see if they could survive on the other side. In other words, these monsters were more intelligent than the famous fictional aliens who came all the way from Mars only to be killed by the common cold.

The Germans had just realized this fact six months ago.

It was a few days after Mid-Blue had been eliminated. After school let out at the Jogen Maneuver Academy, the Fuji Squad was gathered in their meeting room. Without warning, the door opened, and a girl stepped in the room.

“Guten tag.”

She had pale skin and black hair in a bob. Her eyes were brown, and she looked very young—ten years old at most. She wore a dress with some goth-loli touches, but something about her still looked like an old Japanese doll. She was clearly Japanese, yet something about her seemed very much not.

“Guten tag,” she said again, expressionless. Her eyes were wide open but unmoving. The phrase “eyes like ice” did not quite seem to suffice. Ice melted. It moved. This girl didn’t. Her gaze locked on nothing, just stared fixedly at empty space. It was as if she’d just stopped there, unmoving, utterly without any facial expression.

Like a thing.

Like a machine.

Like a doll.

Chapter 2:
Until the Time Comes

One week later, three weeks before the day…

Hospital wards always had a distinctive scent. Not as pungent as the men’s dorm but sweeter than a person’s natural body odor—the kind of smell that makes you sleepy. It felt like burrowing into a futon someone else had just vacated.

It was three o’clock in the afternoon, the middle of visiting hours. Kuon walked alone down a corridor on the sixth floor of the Jogen 3rd Municipal Hospital past patients and nurses alike. There were large rooms on either side with the occasional door standing open. He glanced in one, and his eyes met those of a random old lady. He quickly averted his eyes and moved on. This was where these patients lived. He shouldn’t stare.

He arrived at the room he’d been directed to and found the door closed. There were six name tags on the door. Her name was on the top right, indicating the bed in the back on that side.

His master had given him a fruit basket that screamed “hospital visit.” Holding the basket awkwardly, he slid the door open. The beds at the front on either side had curtains drawn, the middle beds were vacant, and the bed in the back on the left had an old lady chatting with a woman who looked to be her daughter, facing a TV window together. In the bed to the right was Hanabi, engrossed in a book. Kuon immediately knew which book it was. “Um…”

“Yes?” She looked up and saw him. She blinked a few times and then stammered, “K-K-K-K-K-K…!” She pointed at him. It almost sounded like she was laughing, but she was just super surprised. “Kuon-kun!”

The “Kuo” part was particularly loud and the rest almost a whisper. Kuon thought it was adorable.

She hid the book behind her and then frowned, “Wh-why are you here? I said not to come…”

His master had specifically warned him not to say that she’d sent him. He showed her the fruit basket, feeling a little awkward. “Um…well…just thought you could use some company.”

“Thanks. So the headmaster told you to come, then?”

“Yeah… Oh…”

“You’re too honest for your own good, Kuon-kun,” she said reproachfully, but then she giggled. She was in her pajamas and her usual ponytail was down, so she looked like she’d just woken up. She was in the hospital, so of course she looked like that, but given how she usually maintained that gallant older girl vibe, seeing her hanging out in pajamas was a real turn-on for Kuon. He wanted to hop into bed with her.

“What are you looking at?”

“I want to curl up alongside your pajamas, Senpai. Oh…”

“See? Eyes up here. And you oughta call ahead before you come see a girl in a hospital.”

“Sorry.” He bobbed his head. Every time he apologized, he got scolded for not meaning it, but he’d learned that if he bowed his head, he was less likely to cause misunderstandings.

“Fine.” Hanabi nodded, satisfied. Case in point.

Then she glanced behind him and bowed her head. He turned to look, and the elderly patient and her daughter were both looking their way, whispering to each other. “I knew it was her! Who is she?” “The one from the TV.”

Kuon managed a strained smile and said, “Hey,” as he closed the curtains.

Hanabi made a sulky face while clearly not being the least bit upset. “Aw, it’s your fault they figured it out.”

“Sorry.”

“No use.”

“How can I get you to forgive me?” he asked.

“Well… Oh, bring the fruit closer. Wow, she gave you a good one! That must weigh a ton. You can use this chair. Rin broke that one the other day…”

Hanabi laughed at the thought. She seemed in good spirits and pleased to see him. He hoped his coming here had brightened her day. Hanabi rummaged through the basket. “I love melon,” she said. Or maybe it was the melon, then. “You can’t just show up all sudden, Kuon-kun! My hair’s a fright! I’m so ashamed.”

“Sorry.”

“But I’m glad you came.”

She grinned at him. This isn’t fair, Kuon thought. How many times was she going to make me fall in love with her?

“Wanna get in bed with me?”

“Yes—er, no! I’m really sorry!” She giggled at his fluster. He was glad to see her well. But after a brief silence, he asked, “Are you feeling all right?”

“I’m fine now. Sorry I worried you.” She grimaced. Kuon tried not to look at the bandages on her left arm. “You had to save me again.”

“No, I…”

Five days earlier, Hanabi had been injured in the battle for the Fukuoka Gate. She was sent to an Imperial military hospital and then transferred here. Military hospitals were always full, so patients in good condition were soon sent to civilian facilities. The fact that Hanabi was here after less than a week proved it wasn’t a serious injury.

Kuon thought back to what had happened…

***

Five days earlier, during the Fukuoka Gate Battle…

The single Lunatic Order squad participating was the Fuji Squad. Hanabi wore her Division 5-only new weapon, the Drag Ride, and was once again dropped from the sky directly towards the Gate.

“Heavy Magic maximum output, all weaponry engaged. Nova Gravity Bomb deployed.”

A microsun dropped from the heavens towards the Jave mantas swarming protectively over the Gate. Before the Jave even saw the Kiryu, the Ultra-Hot Bullet burst right above the surface, a blinding light evaporating everything around it. It melted them, turning them to ash and blowing them away. In one instant, the Jave on the surface, the eggs laid in the town, and the four Meat Pillars were all gone.

The Kiryu was still wheeling through the sky above, observing the world below. The Jave outside the blast radius came swarming in, but there was no sign of the Queen emerging from the Gate. That was a first.

Thirty seconds after receiving this news, command ordered the Kiryu into the Gate. While dodging manta attacks 20,000 meters above the ground, the Kiryu and Air Force Cavalleria raised objections and arguments against sending a Student Echelon squad into an unknown dimensional portal solo. However, command ignored them, repeating the orders.

In her usual tone of voice, not sounding put out, Hanabi asked, “Squad Leader, what now? Going into the Gate is one thing, but there’s no telling what’ll happen inside. We go too deep, we might not make it back.”

“We’ve got our orders,” Fuji said grimly. “If we sense danger, we’ll just have to turn back then.”

“Okay, okaaay,” Rin said. “Roger that. Kyuu-kun, you cool? You gonna look after Hanabi and us?”

“I got you, Rin-san. You handle the ranged foes.”

Fuji nodded. “Everyone ready? Suzuka-kun, take us in.”

“Copy that. Drag Ride and the Fuji Squad entering the Gate!”

The Kiryu dropped down. Kuon was strapped onto its back with a cable arm. He knelt, drawing his Blade.

Inside the Gate was a place like outer space, and there was a welcome party waiting for them. Hundreds of tentacles emerged from the void, stretching towards the Kiryu. Kuon breathed out.

Shichisei Kenbu: Mod. Tensetsu Shigure.

Time seemed to stop. Enemy attack routes and evasion routes were shared with the Kiryu, along with everyone strapped to it. What the Kiryu’s large frame couldn’t dodge, Kuon cut down. Rin shot the tentacles just outside that range. Fuji located the Queen, and Hanabi shot a single extra-wide bullet ahead of them which burned everything in its path. They’d done exercises like this in training and mock battles any number of times.

Time moved again, and everything played out as planned.

“Queen located! Two o’clock above us!” Fuji shouted.

Kuon sliced and Rin shot and Hanabi launched her bullet, turning the Kiryu’s head towards their target. The blast lit up the starless space and struck the massive conical lump of flesh. The Queen screamed as her skin, muscle, and bone burned and melted, finally evaporating away.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeescreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The Queen let out a roar that hit the pits of their stomachs and made them want to clap their hands to their ears. It was an inhuman, ugly, revolting noise that pulled up Hanabi’s memories of the Capital battle and her childhood trauma, and made her thoughts and body freeze.

But the magical lines connecting her to her squad reminded her that she wasn’t alone here. Her courage bolstered, she let out a roar that shoved aside everything worming its way under her skin. Kuon and Fuji and Rin all screamed with her, their spirits and vigor rising. The voices of her friends on her DM’s back gave Hanabi’s quivering fortitude the push it needed. The whole team’s hearts were one, and the bullet she fired ripped into the Queen’s massive bulk, about to eliminate it entirely.

Nothing happened.

The bullet ripping straight through the enemies inside the Gate suddenly vanished.

On her monitor, Fuji yelled, “Heavy Magic Engine offline! Shit, the field’ll—”

A moment later, the Heavy Magic Field surrounding the Kiryu vanished. The tentacles fired a shower of light bullets at the defenseless Fuji Squad. Kuon stopped time, but not only were there no evasion routes, the magic link was cut and he couldn’t share anything with his squad. Time flowed again, and he blocked three bullets with his Blade before it shattered. He’d managed to save his three companions, but…

“Retreat! Run for it, now!” Fuji ordered.

Hanabi was struggling to do something about the Kiryu’s stalled engine. At Fuji’s shout, Rin broke off firing at the encroaching tentacles to yell, “Hanabi!”

A number of light bullets struck the Kiryu’s bulk, exploding. Hanabi ejected a moment too late. Her Witch Bubble protected her, but the blast sent her flying. Rin instantly deployed her extra weapon, Falcon. She shifted it to Riding Mode, hopping on and chasing after Hanabi into the void.

“Senpai! Rin-san!” Kuon shouted.

“Change of orders!” Fuji said over the comm. “Okegawa-kun, kill the Queen! Leave Hanabi-san to Motegi-kun!”

“But…”

“Just kill the damn thing!”

“Ah…!” Before another thought struck him, he activated Tensetsu, found attack routes, evasion routes, and approach routes, and as Tensetsu ended…

Shichisei Kenbu: Chijin.

Three quick shukuchi and he was at the Queen’s side. Using up so much magic that fast left him feeling like all of his blood was rushing the wrong way, and he almost threw up. His heart was beating unnaturally and his vision tunneled, but he pulled his other Blade and prepared to thrust.

Shi…chisei Kenbu: Mumyo Tosen…

Direct hit.

Magic Dispersal activated, and the Queen’s body began to crumble. Hearing her scream, Kuon used the last of his power to push away towards his friends.

Huh?

He couldn’t feel his body. His vision went black. He felt himself floating, stretching, falling, on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on, and then it was gone.

Suddenly he felt pressure all over his body. It took a moment to realize it was the familiar sensation of Earth’s gravity.

He opened his eyes. His gaze flickered over white curtains, a white ceiling, bed rails, and tubes from an IV. His master was holding the hand with the IV in it, her eyes swollen and staring at him.

“…Uh?” Why was she here? Where was he?

His voice wouldn’t obey him. No sounds came out. It must be really worn out, he thought. All he could get his voice to do was make little “ah” and “uh” noises. As he wondered why, Nanahoshi Kaede spoke up.

“You’re a fool.”

His master was stricter than any demon, yet here she was starting to cry again, having clearly cried far too much already. That bad? So bad even she cried? What had happened? What was going on?

What happened to me? The Squad? Hanabi?

A wave of panic ran across him. Hanabi had been blown away. What happened to her? He couldn’t just lie here. He tried to sit up.

“Calm down, Kuon,” Kaede said, pushing him back down. She wasn’t letting him fight her, yet her touch was still gentle. “They’re all safe. Hanabi, too. Don’t worry.”

What happened? Kuon thought again.

Kaede began to explain. Right after the Kiryu went into the Gate, the veteran attacker squads who’d been learning Fencing from Kuon managed to finagle orders to investigate, entering the Gate. (How? Through sheer annoyance. “Sorry to bring this up on open comms, Colonel, but didn’t I see you at a singles café in town the other day? Sorry I didn’t say hi, but don’t worry, I won’t tell your wife. Oops, I failed to make it clear which colonel I’m talking to! There’re so many people at command with that rank…huh? We should go into the Gate and investigate, you say?”)

Inside, they found no sign of the Queen, but apparently they did come across an injured Bushi Hime with no Kiryu; the sniper who’d saved her; their Fencing instructor, who was uninjured but unconscious with a pulse so low he was on the brink of death; and a squad leader looking ready to die himself, dragging their instructor towards the Gate.

Kuon had been unconscious for a full day. Hanabi was transferred to a civilian hospital right away. Tooka was investigating the cause of the Heavy Magic Engine stall. It was important to know why, since it had nearly wiped them out.

“Now, Kuon…” his master said, having explained everything. Her glare had a powerful rage behind it. It felt like the temperature in the room had dropped by ten degrees Celsius.

In short, Kuon was pretty sure he was about to die.

“Soryu Ranbu,” she said. “That’s a forbidden art, and I’ll regret telling Suzuka Hachishiki about it into my next life…but you do understand why Mumyo Tosen is the ultimate art, right?”

“Because it’s so powerful?” he rasped.

“If you evade another question, I will kick you out.”

You know the real answer, he admonished himself. “Because using it too often will kill me.”

Right. Shichisei Kenbu’s ultimate art, Mumyo Tosen, was an art that caused Magic Dispersal inside a target, but it also took a considerable toll on him. During the battle, waves of that Dispersal came back up the Blade to him—faint waves but unavoidable. The wind of death both blew away his target and damaged his own light of life. That was why he’d been knocked unconscious. The Magic Dispersal had struck him right as he was nearly drained from using Chijin three times in rapid succession.

Mumyo Tosen guaranteed its target’s death, but the price for that was a portion of the wielder’s life.

His master had made sure Kuon knew that. After the Capital battle, he’d been reminded of it again while swinging a wooden sword as punishment for ignoring her orders not to use it. There was no excuse this time.

Kaede sighed, half angry, half resigned. “You really do love sacrificing yourself. You haven’t learned a thing since your last life.”

“You always say death can’t fix stupidity. But…” He didn’t tell her that he didn’t want to die. She knew that without him saying so.

“Listen, Kuon. Don’t try to do it all yourself.”

“If I stop trying, then Hanabi-senpai will be the one doing that.”

“Is that why you didn’t tell Fuji or the army about the price of the ultimate art?”

“That and it just seemed like a pain in the ass.”

“You’re talking like En now. Where do you two get that from?” Kaede muttered. Probably from her, when she thought about it. “Anyway, you are not to use Mumyo Tosen again without my permission.”

“If I do, will you kick me out again?”

“No,” she said, averting her eyes. “I won’t. But I won’t forgive you, either.”

That sounds worse, Kuon thought. But the next thing she said was even harsher.

“If the Shichisei Kenbu I taught you kills you a second time I’ll never forgive myself.”

Kuon had nothing to say to that. He didn’t dare even look up, not allowing himself to see her face. He just stared at her hands.

They were unmistakably the hands of a sword master. But today, they looked so much smaller.

They sat for a long time in silence.

***

After he was released from the hospital, Kuon got a message from Hanabi telling him not to bother visiting her. He was worried and wanted to see her and thought about it a long time, but then decided to respect her wishes and went to practice. His master looked at him like he was an idiot and immediately said as much. “You’re an idiot,” she said a second time. “Just go!”

After that it was all a blur. It took him an entire day to figure out which hospital she was even in. As the Empire’s sole Division 5, the school’s strongest Cavalleria, and the adopted daughter of the Motegi clan, her personal info was appropriately secure, but really Rin-san could have made this really easy if she’d have just told him.

Meanwhile, his parents started asking if he would think about quitting this whole Cavalleria thing, and he had to insist he’d rather die than do that. Tooka took a break from investigating to come and apologize, and she started crying so hard that he had to comfort her.

After all that had settled down, Kuon started thinking way too hard about what to bring with him to see Hanabi. He tried to choose some flowers or sweets or a book she’d like and wasted way too much time on that. Before he knew it, he was standing outside the hospital, holding the fruit basket his master had given him. It wasn’t until he actually opened her door that he realized he should have called ahead and told her he was coming.

Now he was in front of her, staring at her bandaged arm.

“You were in bad shape, too,” she said. He’d been released two days before. “But thanks for coming.”

“No, I was just…asleep. And I managed to kill the Queen, so…it’s all good.”

Hanabi looked dejected. “I had no idea Mumyo Tosen was that bad for you. You should have said something.”

“Sorry…” He hadn’t wanted to worry her, but that wasn’t his place to say.

“Um, Kuon-kun,” she said hesitantly. “Is there anything else you’re hiding from me?” There was an anxious look in her eyes.

I was Suzuka Hachishiki in a past life. He nearly blurted it out. “Er, um…no…?” His tendency to just confess to anything really made this tough, and he was definitely acting really suspicious.

Hanabi gave him a long, serious stare. “…Really?”

“R-really,” he stuttered.

“Okay, then. Sorry.”

“S-sure.”

“But, yeah… Mumyo Tosen is really strong but comes with a price. That means we can’t just make you bail us out every time. I’ve got to be better.”

“No, I’m fine, honestly.”

“And we definitely need the Kiryu. I’m worried about the engine, but…”

“We still don’t know why the Heavy Magic Engine stalled.”

“Yeah, unfortunately.”

“Tooka came to see me yesterday. She’s really sorry this happened.”

“Yeah. She came here, too. Things just go wrong sometimes. We made it back alive, and the operation succeeded, so I told her all’s well that ends well, but…” Hanabi glanced at Kuon. “I dunno, it’s hard to believe she’s really a kid sometimes. Same as you.”

“Ah ha ha…” He figured this was because they both had been reincarnated, but he couldn’t say that. Although in Tooka’s case, her mental age really was about ten.

He felt like he was hiding more and more things from Hanabi, and this was really driving him into a corner. The ground was crumbling beneath his feet.

At any second he might fall.

***

That evening…

Hanabi lay in bed, stroking the cover of the book in her hands—a biography of Suzuka Hachishiki called Portrait of the Hero.

Hanabi was well aware that Kuon was hiding things from her.

She was glad he’d come to see her. She’d asked Rin not to tell him what hospital she was at, but he figured it out anyway. She felt bad for making him jump through hoops. She just…hadn’t wanted to see him and have it be awkward.

Hanabi knew why the Heavy Magic Engine stalled during the Fukuoka Gate Battle a week earlier. She’d told Tooka as much the day before.

As the bullet was about to swallow up the Queen Jave, she was certain she heard a voice…

“Queen located! Two o’clock above us!” Fuji shouted.

As soon as the Kiryu fired, Hanabi turned its head in the direction he indicated. After vaporizing the Queen’s tentacles, her next shot struck the wall of flesh. The Queen screamed as skin and muscle and bone burned, melted, and evaporated.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeescreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The Queen let out a roar that hit the pits of their stomachs and made them want to clap their hands to their ears. It was an inhuman, ugly, revolting noise that pulled up Hanabi’s memories of the Capital battle and her childhood trauma, and made her thoughts and body freeze—but the magical lines connecting her to her squad reminded her that she wasn’t alone here, giving her courage, and she let out a roar that shoved aside everything worming its way under her skin. Infected by it, Kuon and Fuji and Rin all screamed with her, their spirits and vigor rising. The voices of the friends riding behind her gave Hanabi’s quivering back the push it needed. The whole team’s hearts were one, and the bullet she fired ripped into the Queen’s massive bulk, about to eliminate her entirely…and then Hanabi heard a single word echoing in her mind.

Wrong.

A moment later, the engine stalled. It was over in a moment. She couldn’t do anything.

Hanabi realized what she’d heard now. That was the Kiryu’s voice. The will of the Kiryu, born within the Heavy Magic Engine. She did not meet its approval and knew exactly why.

The one thing connecting both the Capital Battle and her childhood memories—the Hero—gave her pause. Could she really put her faith in the Hero? Could she really trust him, even as she merged her strength with his? Deep in her heart, a tiny, tiny part of herself was whispering, planting the seeds of doubt. Her link with the Kiryu transferred that, and it did not approve. The Kiryu’s goal, its reason for existing, was to kill as many Jave as possible.

Tooka had seen a strange waver in the Kiryu’s data and agreed with her hypothesis. The control systems had an AI Device of the same type as En, and if they added speech functions, it might start talking.

It’d probably give her a piece of its mind. It was mad at Hanabi. Really mad. It thought she was an idiot.

“In the middle of a battle, I lost faith in my companions, lost focus, and nearly killed us all.” She said it out loud to drive it home.

How horrible.

Tooka had said, “I’ll discipline it for not obeying its rider’s instructions,” and she certainly would. Even if the problem with the weapon was fixed, Hanabi’s problem remained. If she couldn’t eliminate her doubt, she’d make another blunder someday.

She should have just asked. Just put it out there. Are you the Hero? Plain and simple.

“Kuon-kun…”

She buried her face in her knees. Hanabi simply couldn’t find the courage to ask that question.

***

One week later, two weeks before the day…

“So quiet,” Rin said sleepily. She was on the couch in the Fuji Squad meeting room. As she’d said, the entire Cavalleria building was silent. Everyone was out on a mission, so it was almost unoccupied. Only the Fuji Squad members in the meeting room remained: Fuji, Hanabi, Rin, and Kuon. They all wore their Maneuver plugsuits with the school-recommended windbreakers over them. They looked like members of a track team.

Hanabi was sitting at the monitor desk in the center of the room. She turned back to Rin and said, “Hey, we’re on standby for this mission! No loafing around!”

“Yeah, I know…” Rin said, waving her hand. She appeared to be melting into the couch. Next to Hanabi, Kuon grinned at this familiar riff, and Fuji considered scolding Rin himself but abandoned the idea.

Chapter 3:
Operation Jave World Annihilation

It was one week after the Jave attacked the school.

The Empire, the Alliance, and the human race had no time left, so Operation Jave World Annihilation was put in action. They would open a pseudo-Gate, send in Tooka’s final weapon, and wipe out their enemy.

Accordingly, Jogen Maneuver Academy was disbanded and repurposed as the Imperial Air Force Jogen Base. Squad makeup and frame adjustments were proceeding at a feverish pitch. Their former headmaster, Nanahoshi Kaede, was appointed consultant/advisor and went to the Capital to secure frames. Tooka Nürburg was busy making adjustments to the final weapon and the Kiryu. After a mass funeral for their friends, the Fuji Squad was incorporated into the Air Force, with Kuon, Hanabi, and Fuji joining the operation. Rin, with her injuries, was on standby.

Scouts had confirmed a large number of Queens in Europe, incubating their eggs. The one country still holding their ground had finally fallen. On the Imperial mainland, Gate activity was high, and the defenses in Fukuoka had proven inadequate; it was lost once more. Nanahoshi Kaede reported no changes in the capital yet, but that would not last forever.

After more than twenty years since they’d first appeared, the Jave were finally beginning their full-scale invasion. Mankind had been desperately struggling to survive against what had turned out to be merely their scouting parties.

To put it mildly, humanity was dangling on the edge of a cliff.

It was 8:58 AM, three hours before the operation was to begin. Hanabi was on the seventh floor of the Jogen 3rd Municipal Hospital, visiting Rin.

This was hardly her first visit. When she heard Rin had lost a leg, Hanabi had felt like she’d lost her own. She couldn’t even stand for a while. Rin’s injuries were recovering well, but what she’d lost wasn’t coming back.

It was my fault, Hanabi thought. She’d been right next to Rin when it happened. She should have helped her before heading to the Gate. How had she not noticed? If she’d just been paying a little more attention or waited for the DM diagnosis to run, she’d have known. Yet, no matter how many times she apologized, Rin insisted it wasn’t her fault.

But it is my fault.

Alone together in a spacious private room, neither Hanabi nor Rin spoke. Every time Hanabi came to visit, she just sat with her head down while Rin stared out the window, saying nothing. They didn’t know what to say to each other.

Eyes still on the window, Rin broke the silence. “You’re deploying soon, Hanabi.”

“…Mm.”

“You okay? You’re not bothering Kyuu-kun, are you?”

“No. Wait, I probably am.”

“I know you are! You’ve been crying on his shoulders this whole time. You know, it’s actually kind of a relief that I don’t have to be your only sob pillow now?”

“Mm.”

“Did…did you ask him about it?” Hanabi shook her head. Rin smiled faintly. “You’re really feeble when it comes to that, huh?”

“But—”

“No, it’s scary, I know. If I were in your shoes, I doubt I could ask.”

“Mm…”

“Oh, I know!” Rin said, unconvincingly brightening up all of a sudden. “Yesterday, Okayama came by, even though I told him not to.”

“Okayama-kun?” Hanabi looked up.

Rin gave her a sheepish smile. “He is too funny. You know what he said?”

“N-no idea…”

“He was all, ‘I’ll always protect you.’ I went so red! He’s such an idiot. I end up like this, but he still says he loves me. I’ve lost a leg! But he says he doesn’t care. What an idiot. He should just forget about me.”

“Don’t talk like that!”

“Hanabi…” There was a sudden sob. “Don’t you go anywhere, Hanabi.” Rin’s expression crumpled. “Nao…Nao’s gone, but…I can’t lose you, too.” Tears started falling. “They took my leg away. They took Nao, and not just her. Sachikou and the Amakusa sisters and everyone else are gone! I’ll never see them again, no matter how hard I look. No matter how long I wait, they’ll never come back. There was so much I wanted to say to them. But I can never talk to them again.”

“Rin…Rin…!”

“I miss them… I wanna see them again…” Still crying, Rin put her arms around Hanabi. Hanabi softly hugged her back. “So…Hanabi, promise me you won’t die. Promise me you’ll come back…!”

Hanabi remembered the first time she met Rin. The Hero had saved her, put her on an escape ship, and she’d found herself all alone at a Jogen refugee center until she was brought to the Motegi home. The head of the family heard what happened to her, grew sympathetic, and brought her into his home in the hopes that she’d be a friend to Rin, who was always lonely since her mother and father were too busy to pay much attention to her.

At first, Hanabi couldn’t find it in herself to like Rin, and they fought a lot. Even then, all she had to do was stare hard enough, and Rin would always give in. Now she knew she’d been taking advantage of her sister. Rin always held her tight during her episodes. She even started taking lessons with her, lessons on things she’d hated doing and quit once before. She was nice. Hanabi was happy. She loved her. So Hanabi knew what to say.

“I promise! I promise I’ll come back to you…!”

Goodbye, she said in her mind, bidding her sister farewell. Their embrace ended.

Rin gave her a sweet smile. “Good luck out there, Hanabi.”

Hanabi left Rin’s room, closed the door behind her, and didn’t take another step. Lately, her thoughts kept looping around the same idea.

I can’t be the Hero.

She couldn’t be like Suzuka Hachishiki. She’d been trying desperately to be, had wanted to be like him ever since he’d saved her, but there was just no way.

She let far too many people die in Europe. She wasn’t able to save her school or Nao or Rin. Command and the world at large acted like she was one of a heroic duo, but she didn’t have the right. The word “Hero” was for people like Kuon. People who could go up against an impossible choice, pick “both,” and actually pull it off, like he did.

She couldn’t do that. Not only could she not pull it off, she couldn’t even make the choice. She would just start crying and slump to the ground.

So Suzuka Hanabi wasn’t a hero. Could never be a hero.

“The media are all talking about an idealized version of you, so of course the real you doesn’t live up to it,” her doctor said.

“You don’t have to be a hero,” Rin had told her.

She was done. She couldn’t keep doing this. She didn’t need to keep trying, and that thought made her feel so much better. Oh, she thought. That’s a weight off my chest.

She gave up on her dream.

“Unh…hah…guh…enhhhhhh…”

The tears came streaming out of her. She felt so relieved, so much better, so why couldn’t she stop crying? Leaning against the wall in the hospital corridor, Hanabi hid her face, ignoring the people passing by, not even trying to hide, just letting the sobs come.

***

It was 9:58 AM, two hours before the operation was to begin.

In the 1st Storage Bay of the Imperial Air Force Jogen Base—formerly Jogen Maneuver Academy—a girl stood in front of the completed new Kiryu model. Someone came up behind her and spoke.

“Tooka.”

“…Onii-chan.”

Okegawa Kuon and Tooka Nürburg. Brother and sister in a previous life, sharing what would almost certainly be their last conversation.

Tooka had called him here, and he’d made up his mind to act upbeat about it, since it was their last time together. He stood behind his sister, looking up at the massive frame. “You finished her new Kiryu, then.” Tooka nodded. Kuon was impressed. Even with the Core, getting it built in this short a time? “You really are a genius,” he said.

But she shook her head. “I’m not.”

“What?”

“I’m not a genius. I just ‘knew’ everything from the very start.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Crystal II, the Heavy Magic Engine; these were all things researched over there. I got those memories from the Mother.”

“W-wait…‘over there’? ‘Mother’? What—” And then it dawned on him what that meant.

No.

“I remembered when I came in contact with them at Mid-Blue. I know who I am, where I came from, and why I’m here.”

“Over there” was the Jave world. The “Mother” was a Jave Queen. Kuon didn’t want to believe it, but Tooka said it anyway.

“I’m…” Suzuka Hachishiki’s sister, eaten by the Jave, and reincarnated. “I was born from the Jave and dropped into this world.”

It was unthinkable. The Queen who’d eaten Akigase Tooka thirty years before had made this fake thing, this monster, to resemble a human and investigate the world on this side. Tooka was half-human, half-Jave, a hybrid thing. Kuon nearly passed out.

“On the other side, there were people called Witches. They had powers that let them use magic without wearing a DM. But mankind used the Witches’ power for war and transformed them into monsters known as Gévaudan.”

Kuon didn’t realize how similar that power was to the Eight Hidden Forms. He just listened in stunned silence.

“The humans only maintained control of the Witches for the first three years. Then the Witches attacked, killed, and consumed the humans. In no time at all, mankind was completely wiped out. That’s why the Jave opened the Gate.” Tooka went on. “The Heavy Magic Engine works on the same principle as a Gate. That’s how I could develop it. Fragments of the memories of the Queen who bore me were copied to my body.”

“Copied…”

“That’s why both my body and magic are the same as they were in my previous life. I was dropped into Nürburg without my memories, let free for a single purpose.”

“And that is?”

“To find Okegawa Kuon.”

“Me?”

“More accurately, to find Suzuka Hachishiki’s new body. The one person on this side who stood a chance against the Jave. They knew the Gate had caused him to be reborn somewhere. That’s why I was given memories telling me I was the heir to Shichisei Kenbu, like Suzuka Hachishiki had been. If I told people that, then you’d find me.”

It seemed likely that at the end of his last life, when Hachishiki’s soul had mingled with the Queen’s, those memories had flowed into her. It was the same as how Kuon had known when the Queen would return.

Just as the enemy intended, Nanahoshi Kaede found Tooka. The rest, Kuon already knew. With no memories, Tooka discovered and developed Heavy Magic Technology, not knowing it was Jave technology, and eventually created an imitation Gate. She’d even secured the perfect position as Okegawa Kuon’s sister. And now…

“The Academy was destroyed, and Europe fell…because of me,” Tooka said. Tears streamed down her face. “When I opened that Gate, the soldiers that came out extracted data from me. Everything I learned over here is in their hands now. We’re an open book. They knew what was going on in Europe, they knew where Suzuka Hachishiki’s new body was, and they knew where the nest that threatened them was.”

The school.

The school where Suzuka Hanabi and her Kiryu were, where Okegawa Kuon and the Shichisei Kenbu were, run by Nanahoshi Kaede, the strongest humanity had to offer, the biggest threat to the Jave the military had—Jogen Maneuver Academy.

“I’m sorry.” Her expression never changed—perhaps that was the way she’d been made—but the tears flowed as Tooka apologized again. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I’m so sorry. So many of your friends died, Squad Leader Fuji’s fiancée died, Motegi Rin lost her leg, and it’s all my fault.”

Kuon couldn’t say a word. He couldn’t say anything to help her. It was all he could do to restrain the rage threatening to erupt within him. No, not her, Kuon thought, begging the part of him that was Suzuka Hachishiki for help. Not her.

Tooka sensed this struggle within him. “I wouldn’t mind if you killed me right now. I know just how much Suzuka Hachishiki hates the Jave. I know he won’t leave a single one of them alive. But…but…please wait until this operation is over.” She paused. “I will destroy them and their world.”

Even if it costs me my life, she thought. With that, Tooka turned and walked past him.

This was it. His last chance.

He could grab her shoulders; cut off her head.

Okegawa Kuon just stood there, unable to do either. His head was spinning. Hachishiki’s soul was screaming for him to kill Tooka. Kuon was using all his magic and muscles to control it. Not her, no. She’s not one of them.

How long did he stay like that? When he finally calmed down, Kuon checked the time on his Device. There was only an hour and a half left before the operation commenced. He still had time.

He turned to leave the storage bay…

“Kuon-kun.”

And found Suzuka Hanabi standing there, a look of grim determination on her face.

***

Earlier…

Tooka had told Hanabi she wanted to talk, so she’d managed to get herself to the storage bay somehow, wiping the tears that just wouldn’t stop. She’d overheard everything from just outside.

Hanabi knew Tooka had deliberately let her hear. What she said made the world spin around Hanabi. She had to lean against the wall for support, struggling to keep herself from hyperventilating.

Why?

After a while, Tooka stopped talking to Kuon and went over to Hanabi. Her face was expressionless, so much so that it made alarm clocks look more approachable. Then, like before, Tooka bowed her head. “I’m the one who hurt your sister—Rin-san.”

That’s not true, Hanabi thought. But she couldn’t speak. She was sure she’d lash out.

Head still bowed, Tooka spoke flatly. “I have memories of my previous life. I was onii-chan’s little sister. But in that life, we never lived together. In this life, too, I’m unable to stay with him, no matter how much I want to.”

Her expression never changed, her voice devoid of emotion, so why were the tears rolling down her cheeks so convincing?

Tooka really, genuinely didn’t want to leave Kuon behind. She hated the idea so much it left her in tears.

Hanabi understood that so much it hurt. She felt the same way.

“But don’t worry,” Tooka reassured her. “When onii-chan is with you, he always looks happy. Hanabi-onee-sama, if you’re with him, I believe the odds of him having a happy life improve.”

“I…”

“Please look after him.” Tooka bowed like a machine and went away.

Why? Hanabi thought. This was all too much. Her head was spinning. She had to make up her mind. Had to make a decision. Had to steel herself.

Tooka had left him in her hands and told her to look after him. But if she didn’t hear the truth from him, she could never truly trust him.

***

“Kuon-kun.”

At the sound of his name, Kuon turned and saw Hanabi.

Her eyes were swollen from crying, clearly beside herself. She wasn’t at all ready for this operation. Kuon didn’t blame her. They were all on the brink. “Hanabi-senpai. Don’t worry. This operation will end everything,” he said, trying to encourage her.

But she just said, “Kuon-kun…” again. Then she asked, “Is it true you have memories of your previous life like Tooka-chan does?”

She finally asked, he thought. But he hadn’t expected it now. He took a breath and then let it out. “Yes.”

Hanabi’s shoulders shook, sobbing. “Then, you were…” She tilted her head down, not looking at him. “You were the Hero?”

He’d kept that to himself all this time. The least he could do was be honest now. “Yes.”

“That can’t be true.”

“It’s true.”

“It can’t be. I mean…”

“I was Suzuka Hachishiki. I remember everything.”

“Don’t—”

“I remember saving you thirteen years ago. I remember dying shortly after. Everything.”

“Why?” she whispered. “Why didn’t you say so? Why didn’t you tell me? When we first met, when we first started working together…that night. This is too cruel, Kuon-kun. Too awful.”

“I’m really sorry. Master told me not to—”

“The headmaster? That’s why you didn’t say anything?” she said, her voice raised in anger.

“N-no, not just—”

“You knew how much I admired you! You knew how much I admired him!”

“…Yeah.”

“But you didn’t trust me with this?”

“That’s not…this was my—”

When Kuon spluttered, Hanabi cut him off, crying. “I mean, I mean, you didn’t say the thing that matters most…!”

She was right. Kuon hadn’t told her. That he’d been told not to was just a cowardly excuse. He’d simply been afraid to tell her. He was afraid it would disillusion her, afraid she would push him away. He’d just wanted to avoid getting hurt, and this was the result. He’d made her cry instead.

She was crying because of him.

“You didn’t tell me anything… You kept it all from me. There was so much I wanted to talk about, but…I always wanted to tell you…to thank you for saving me. I never thanked you properly…so why…why…” Hanabi buried her face in her hands. “Why did you only show yourself to me now?” Her voice was strangled, like it was forcing its way out of her. “I already know I can never be like you…!” Her legs buckled out from under her, and she fell to the floor of the storage bay.

“Senpai,” he said, about to touch her shoulder.

“I’m sorry. I can do this. I’ll do it right. I won’t sully your name. I’ll be fine…” She brushed his hand away, muttering, eyes fixed on the cold floor.

“Senpai…?”

“I’ve always looked up to you. I wanted to be like you…but I can’t be. I’ve given up. But if you’re here now…” She looked up at Kuon—at Hachishiki. The Bushi Hime got to her feet. “We will win.”

“Um, Senpai…? Are you okay…?”

“Sorry… No, that’s not right. Mm, yes. I know. I lost control for a moment there, Kuon-kun. Or should I call you Hero?”

It hurt to see her fake it like this.

To become a hero, Hanabi had unconsciously divided herself into two people, the weaker Maiden and the stronger Bushi. She was forcing herself into the latter role now because that was the only way she could stand upright.

“No, Kuon’s better…but…”

“Right, okay. I’ll go on ahead. See you later.” She turned on her heel and walked away. Kuon was left staring blankly after her, unable to say a word.

***

It was 11:45 AM, fifteen minutes before the operation was to begin. Nearly all forces the alliance and Empire had were assembled in Mid-Blue airspace near Aohime Island. Preparations for the operation were nearly complete. The “mirror” was set up, and the Nürburg, with Tooka on board, was in position.

The flagship Kuou was surrounded by an intimidating number of motherships. From there, the fleet commander Admiral Shirota addressed all assembled. He was a grizzled veteran. His hair was turning white, but years in the field had kept him in prime physical shape with no signs of deterioration. The conscience of high command, he’d furiously argued both publicly and privately against the decision to send the Student Echelon alone into the pseudo-Gate last time. He was the kind of macho grandpa who’d earned the trust of his wife, HQ, and the fiercest Air Force Cavalleria.

“The goal of this operation is to send the Nürburg to the Jave’s world and destroy their solar system. The fate of the Empire and the human race will be decided here!” Shirota said.

Tooka and the mechanics had barely slept the last week getting things ready. As a result, they’d finished in time for the operation—the product of sheer desperation. All that remained were the final checks, and those would be completed in the next fifteen minutes, at which point they’d open another pseudo-Gate.

Kuon was waiting in the storage bay of a mobile mothership at 30,000 meters, along with Hanabi and her Kiryu. Hanabi only managed to deploy her Maneuver after a military doctor had given her some simple hypnosis and a few drugs to calm her down. Before that, she had been unable to use a DM at all.

Fuji joined them, his Division Maneuver already active. Surprised, Kuon asked, “You’re good already, Squad Leader?”

After his fiancée’s death, Fuji went on leave until right before the operation. He’d gone to visit Nao’s family for the wake. “Yeah, sorry, Okegawa-kun. The time for grieving’s over. Now it’s time to avenge Nao and the others.”

Fuji looked just like he always did, so Kuon nodded. “Yeah. Let’s win this thing.”

Hanabi was already docked with the Kiryu, so she popped open a window. “You came, Fuji-kun?”

She sounded cold, and Fuji picked up on it immediately. “Sorry I’ve troubled you. And thanks.”

“That goes for all of us. Don’t worry about it.” Then she whispered, “Either way, it ends today.”

The Fuji Squad and the majority of the other squads were deployed on the far side of the mirror. When the Nürburg opened the Gate and the enemy came flooding out, they’d be ready for them. They’d laid traps for them. A terrifying number of hover mines were scattered everywhere, enough to darken the sky. When the pseudo-Gate opened, the enemies would charge headlong into that minefield. The ensuing fireworks would be the signal for the Fuji Squad’s Kiryu to drop a bomb from above, buying time for the Nürburg to enter the pseudo-Gate. It would then open a door on the other side and enter the Jave world. Tooka would eject, the Nürburg would blow itself up, and the Jave solar system would collapse into a magical black hole.

That was command’s plan, anyway.

But the best laid plans often go awry, especially when those plans have the fate of the human race at stake.

Admiral Shirota’s speech was still in progress. “May you all fight well,” he said.

And then the sky split open.

“Multiple Heavy Magic Reactions near the Pseudo-Gate!”

“What?! The operation hasn’t begun!”

“These are…enemy Gates! Four…no, five! Five Gates!”

“Jesus!”

“The Gates are opening!”

Black fields appeared above and around the mirror. Crackling, sparks flying, five Jave Gates yawned open.

Manta came flying out in the opposite direction from the last fight, headed right towards the Nürburg. In other words, the minefield was useless, and the troops were positioned in the worst possible place.

Admirable Shirota was flooded with reports from his staff.

“They’ve avoided the minefield!”

“Enemy mantas swarming the Nürburg!”

“Commence operation!” Shirota yelled. “Get that pseudo-Gate open!”

“But the final checks…”

“Forget them! They’ll destroy the Nürburg! We’ll be too late!”

“Roger that!”

A moment later, dozens of mantas penetrated the Heavy Magic Field surrounding the Nürburg.

The operation had begun.

The Air Force units began attacking the Jave clustered on the far side of the pseudo-Gate. The attackers dove in, the snipers backed them up, and the enemy didn’t budge. After all, there were five Gates with five times the number of enemies in most battles. And if there were Gates…

“Enemy Queens! Five of them!”

“Damn it, they’re already arriving?!”

Queens to the side of the Nürburg were slowly emerging from the five black moons around the pseudo-Gate. Cavalleria fighting the manta nearby were quickly snagged by their tentacles and hurled into countless mouths, eaten alive in passing.

“Arghhhhh!”

“No, noooo!”

“Damn iiiiit!”

Cavalleria screams echoed. In their midst, the Queens’ conical bodies turned towards the sky, gathering light.

“Evasive actions!” Admiral Shirota yelled. “All ships, move to—”

Bam bam bam bam bam! Five massive white lights flashed. The mobile motherships ringing the Kuou exploded one after the other, going up in flames, and a number of them fell to the ocean below. Half the forty ships in the fleet were lost in an instant, and the Queens were charging another round.

“Second barrage, incoming!”

“Don’t let them fire!”

“Too late, interference can’t make it in time!”

The lights grew larger. Then…

“Roger, counterattacking.”

Two even larger bullets swallowed up one of the Queens, detonating it. Those bullets were High Nova Launcher shots, which meant…

“The Kiryu! You made it in time!”

It took time to get the Heavy Magic Engine for their newest weapon running, and the battle had started unexpectedly, so the Kiryu had only just dropped down. It fired another round before the Queens could react.

“Twin Nova Launcher, firing,” the Bushi Hime whispered calmly. As she did, two bullets fired at once. The targeted Queen tried to flee to the side but wasn’t fast enough. A direct hit vaporized her. The two bullets didn’t overlap but left a gap between them, preventing the enemy’s escape.

The three remaining Queens fired back, but the Kiryu made no attempt to dodge, flying straight at their bullets and meeting them head on. With the Heavy Magic Field at maximum output, the enemy bullets easily slid off it, and the Kiryu’s twin heads opened, howling.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…!

A Queen howled as it was bathed in light bullets, dissolving as the Kiryu swooped by. The two-headed dragon flew between the pseudo-Gate and the ocean surface, turned 180 degrees, and targeted the two remaining Queens.

The rider spoke. “Reimei (Second Drag Ride), exterminating opposition.”

Tooka Nürburg had used the recovered Kiryu Core to make a new mechanical dragon, the Second Drag Ride. Wearing it was one of the Twin Star Heroes—the Division 5, Suzuka Hanabi. Kuon and Fuji rode tandem on her back, both for protection and for backup.

The Queens moved.

Screeeeeeeeeeeee!

The mantas attacking the Air Force wheeled back, charging the Kiryu, in a Jave assault designed to smash through the Heavy Magic Field.

“Hmph,” Hanabi snorted, sounding bored. She launched weapon containers from both the Kiryu’s wings. Hundreds of Servants flew out, firing a torrent of light bullets that easily halted the wave of trash Jave. Before that torrent died down, she fired her main weapon.

Bwam!

Piercing through the Jave’s red mist and shock waves, the two bullets passed below the pseudo-Gate, swallowing a Queen. Her death throes echoed. Mankind’s mortal enemy, so threatening a moment before, vanished without a trace.

That was easy, thought Hanabi. She could tell she was strangely unemotional. Maybe it was the shock of forcing her personality change, or the influence of the hypnotism. To protect the fragile screams of her psyche, she was processing everything like it was taking place far away, somewhere with no connection to her. There was a lid on her emotions.

So perhaps what happened next didn’t even count as letting her guard down.

“Suzuka-kun!”

The cry from her squad leader barely registered. What’s he all worked up about? she thought. The enemy attacks can’t affect them, and the last one isn’t even facing us.

Isn’t facing us?

It took her two full seconds to realize that was strange.

A fatal two seconds.

“Nürburg, major damage!”

“What?!”

The flagship crew and admiral’s screams echoed in her ears. On the other side of the pseudo-Gate, in the shadow of her minions’ desperate cover, the last Queen’s bulk was wrapped around the Nürburg. Countless tentacles writhed around it. For two full seconds, Hanabi stared blankly as the Queen squeezed.

She couldn’t do anything.

The mirror split. Cracks ran across its surface right before it shattered. On the Kuou’s bridge, they watched, helpless to do anything.

“Pseudo-Gate has collapsed! Nürburg’s Gate functions ceasing. Admiral!”

“Has the operation failed?”

“Wait…”

“Now what?”

“No! Nürburg moving! Entering enemy Gate!”

“That fool!” Shirota roared. He opened a comm immediately. “Don’t, Tooka-kun! The enemy Gate isn’t stable! We can’t maintain it! You’ll never make it back!”

“Doesn’t matter,” Tooka replied.

“It does! Wait till we repair your machine!”

“More enemy Gates will open before that happens. Next time it’ll be more than five. This time they will wipe us out.”

“But—”

“This is my decision, Admiral. You know the truth about the Nürburg, and you still gave me this opportunity, for which I am grateful.”

“Tooka-kun, don’t!”

The massive black egg changed course. With the last Queen still clinging to it, it dove into the enemy’s Gate, and there…

“Tooka!”

Kuon came racing after her, leaving the Kiryu behind. He remembered what Tooka had said: “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

Why couldn’t he just have said, “It isn’t”?

He could have told her, “This was all the Jave’s doing. You didn’t know. You were just used. You were eaten, killed. It isn’t your fault. You did nothing wrong.”

Why hadn’t he just said that?

The Nürburg was entirely inside the enemy Gate. Tooka opened a private comm to Kuon. “Goodbye, onii-chan. I’m going back to the world where I was born.”

“No, wait!”

“I’m glad we could be together, even if only for a little while.”

Those were parting words. A wave of anger he couldn’t understand coursed through Kuon’s entire body. Tooka was prepared to sacrifice her life to save the world. Once again, a member of his family was about to die right before his eyes at the hands of the Jave.

Suzuka Hachishiki’s sister.

His sister.

Just like his father and mother and the nuns and his friends at the orphanage and his friends in the Air Force. He couldn’t let that happen. “You hideous mutant monsters…!”

Did the Jave Queen hear him whisper? Or sense something else? The Queen clinging to the Nürburg turned, reaching her tentacles towards Kuon as he approached.

“Outta my way!”

Dodging with Tensetsu, he took the Shitotsu stance…

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesccrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The Queen’s light of life scattered, turning to mist. Without hesitation, he’d unleashed the ultimate art he’d been forbidden to use.

Kuon went silent.

And then he went after Tooka and was about to enter the collapsing Gate when…

“Kuon-kun!”

Hanabi came after him. Fuji wasn’t with her, so she must have cut him loose. She was trying to use the Kiryu’s Heavy Magic Engines to maintain the Gate. “The Gate’s closing!” she yelled, grabbing Kuon’s arm. “It’ll collapse before you can catch Tooka-chan!”

“Let go of me.”

“You won’t make it in time!”

“Let. Go.” Kuon brushed her arm off him. As he did so, the Kiryu’s engine stalled again.

“No…why…?” Hanabi cried.

“You’re going to live,” said the other half of the Twin Star Heroes—no, the man once called the Hero. He turned back to look at Hanabi. “I’ve got to go avenge everyone.”

She’d heard those words before. Hearing them again now stopped her, like she’d frozen up. This is my fault, Hanabi thought. If only I’d realized what the Queen was doing faster. If I’d just killed them all without letting them do anything.

Kuon wouldn’t have turned back into him.

In front of her was the Hero who’d died thirteen years ago. Once again, he was going to leave her behind and head into a Gate.

While she reeled, Kuon turned his back on her and went inside the closing Gate. With the Kiryu’s engine stalled, she couldn’t go after him. Fuji called her name, and at last she resumed functioning.

“Wait, don’t go! Hero!” She reached out, shouting, but it didn’t reach him. The Gate swallowed Kuon, closing in front of her. He never once looked back.

Chapter 4:
Each of Us Is--

Kuon was still fighting, all alone.

He remembered eliminating three of the Queens and two of the lights in the disc Jave. He had long since given up counting mantas.

The fight was miraculous, like a work of art. He overcame numerous situations where he seemed certain to die. In this one long battle, Kuon had repeatedly obtained the kind of experience and inspiration one normally gained over a very long life. He realized that the ultimate art could affect the light of life without Division 5 power when he killed the second Queen. Shichisei Kenbu was a Fencing school for those without power, so it made sense, really. That realization allowed him to minimize the use of magic across all his arts. He had finally reduced his magic expenditure by 1 kei, and Kuon was sure he’d gone up a rank or two within his school.

He was even enjoying himself despite the rage and hatred fueling his swings, despite the number of monsters he’d killed, despite the fact that his death was looming ever closer.

It was like threading the eye of a needle. His body was always on the brink of death. One false move and his life would be forfeit. No matter how much he reduced his magic expenditure, his focus couldn’t last forever.

He’d long since lost track of time, but then it hit him: a multiple-choice problem. How could he dodge the disc Jave’s light bullet cluster?

A) Use Shitotsu to eliminate them.

B) Use shukuchi to gain distance.

C) Leap over them with his thrusters.

He chose A. As he eliminated them, dozens of mantas came rushing in. The Queen Jave’s bullets blocked his retreat. He realized he’d fallen for their trap. He decided to cut through all the manta and lunge towards the disc Jave. He used all the arts he could and avoided the Queen Jave’s bullets before realizing that, too, had been a trap.

A swarm of mantas rushed him from above. There was not enough room for a single hair to escape unscathed. Hundreds of mantas all swooped towards him like fish trying to swallow up a single plankton.

Dodge! his instincts screamed, but he knew that was impossible. There was no way he’d make it. He stopped time with Tensetsu and looked in every direction, but all of them were filled with open manta mouths and terrifying quantities of teeth. One second from now, each part of his body would be torn away by a different manta. In that light, the manta on his right was unlucky. He’d already lost that arm.

As this thought crossed his mind, Tensetsu was running out. No good plans had come to him. It seemed Okegawa Kuon’s end had come. In which case, he might as well go out with a bang. He picked a very dumb plan—his final self-destruct art.

His master had said she’d be sad if she let a second Shichisei Kenbu student die. Would she forgive him? She’d probably kick him out again, but…he wished he could see her again.

Had Tooka finally woken up? He was going to die first, so if she activated a black hole Gate at the cost of her life, she wouldn’t need to mourn him. Next time he’d be a better brother to her.

Hanabi-senpai.

He’d been trying not to think about her. Remembering her made him not want to die. What he’d done to her was awful. He hurt her by not telling her his secret, breaking his promise to be with her, and going off alone again. If they met again in his next life, he would have to find a way to make it up to her. No matter how many years passed, no matter the age difference, he would find a way to say “I love you” to her once more. She would likely call him a liar and refuse to believe him, but he’d do it anyway.

Hanabi-senpai…!

Damn. It was too late. He really didn’t want to die now. He didn’t care if she rejected him, he didn’t care if she ignored him. She could punch him, kick him, stab him, kill him if she liked, but he wanted to see her again. He wanted to see her smile once more, see that bashful look on her face. See her mad at him. Hear her gallant voice. Hear her gentle, cooing voice. Have her cuddle up to him. Wrap herself around him. Kiss him. Rub his hair, stroke his cheek, feel her warmth on him.

Hanabi, Hanabi, Hanabi, Hanabi, Hanabi, Hanabi, Hanabi, Hanabi, Hanabi, Hanabi…!

A wish rose up from the bottom of his heart—I don’t wanna die!—and Kuon hated it. How pathetic. The soul of his last life, the hatred of a Hero long since gone, had tainted him. It had driven him through the Gate alone like an idiot, and now he was stuck here screaming that he didn’t want to die.

Don’t be pathetic. Head up! Dignity till the bitter end! At least take these enemies with you! Give Tooka the best chance you can!

Kuon took a breath. He was staring death in the face, clinging to a desire to live, but nevertheless he chose the optimal path. In that sense, perhaps Kuon was the hero people said he was.

Which meant he was doomed to meet this fate. A Division 1 powerless hero rushing in for no good reason would inevitably die like a dog. In this world, that was the way of things.

Yeah, he thought. In this world.

Kuon’s Tensetsu would run out, the enemy attack lines would pierce his body, and there way no way for him to avoid death. His future sight had shown him that. He had to accept it.

But Kuon had failed to realize one thing: he was not in his world.

Shichisei Kenbu: Soryu Ranbu.

He could not predict attack lines that came from the other side of the Gate.

Tensetsu released. Time resumed. The magic compressed within Kuon’s frame was ready to run wild, just waiting for him to pull the trigger. The mantas’ maws were almost on him, and he tried to pull the trigger, but then…

He heard something. He was sure he did. A voice from deep in his past, a young voice asking him a question. The voice he loved more than anything.

“Hero, are you gonna die?”

An instant later, two light bullets shot out of the pseudo-Gate that had appeared right behind Kuon, brushing aside all the Jave around him. In the blink of an eye, all the enemies were gone. What? he thought in shock. How? How am I still—

“I finally caught up.”

The voice came from behind Kuon. Still unable to comprehend what had happened, he slowly turned towards it. There, he found his goddess, Suzuka Hanabi, smiling awkwardly.

“How could you leave me like that?” She pulled away from the Kiryu and put her arms around Kuon. “Thank you, Hero. I’m only alive because of you.”

She’d finally said it, after so many years, after thirteen years. That’s what it felt like.

Then she saw his right arm and her face crumpled like his pain was hers. “Sorry it took me so long, Kuon-kun.”

He didn’t ask why she was here. He was just glad to see her again.

The tears came gushing out.

***

The Jave reacted swiftly to these new reinforcements, and the deaths of their fellows at the hands of their magic.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The Queens screamed, firing bullets wildly. They approached the embracing humans at terrifying speeds, and by the time the girl turned towards them it was too late to dodge. Even if she avoided instant death, the wounds would certainly be fatal, and they could have their way with her, draining her magic until she died.

“Hmph.” The girl just laughed, wearing an indomitable grin tinged with disgust.

Before the Jave bullets hit home, they were deflected by a black membrane.

Huh? thought the Queens. What the—?! No, we know what that is. That barrier is the final magic from the twilight of our technology. The same magic that was on the black egg that “doll” came on. How are they…?

No. It didn’t matter. They’d find out once they ate them and stole their memories. They multiplied rapidly in such a short period of time. A top-class meal had been born quite recently and then the next a few days after that! They would have no lack of food. No need to let this one go. If they crossed to the other side, there would be more humans than they could ever consume. They’d start by eating these two, along with the doll.

Yes, they thought. Kill them, kill them, kill the humans. The humans used us to protect them from disaster, turned our fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers and sons and daughters into beasts! Not one of them should be left alive. Consume all the humans in all ages and worlds, in the past, present, and future, make them regret what they’ve done.

Every Jave in the solar system screamed together at the two humans in the skies over the Capital.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

Their war cry terrified all humans, without exception. But these two hovered in the skies, unflinching. The Jave instinctively understood that these humans could very well be their natural predators.

The Jave fired. Suzuka Hanabi and the Kiryu, connected by a magic line, deployed their Heavy Magic Field and watched as it deflected hundreds of bullets. “Thank you, Kiryu,” Hanabi said, looking up. She seemed awfully calm.

It was strange. Despite their cries, she didn’t feel at all afraid. She wondered if the fear was numbing her emotions, but she had plenty of those urging her to fight, so that didn’t explain it. The Witch Bubble and Heavy Magic Field were certainly dampening the soundwaves, but she suspected the biggest factor was the boy holding her hand. “Strange,” she told him. “When I’m with you, I’m not scared of anything.”

“I feel the same way, Senpai.”

“You do?”

“I do.”

The Jave weren’t moving. Were they working on some scheme?

Then a familiar Guide popped up right next to Kuon, surprising him. “Here we are in enemy territory, and you two can’t stop flirting.”

“En!”

“Nice to see you, too, Kuon-sama. Sorry we’re late. I thought the only thing broken was your internal clock, but that arm…no, first let us carve our way out of this mess.”

“Yeah… Wait, aren’t you smaller than usual?”

He was right. En was usually the size of his palm, but now she was only half that big. “This is merely a satellite. My primary instance is still linked to Kaede-sama back on Earth. This one is linked to Hanabi-sama.”

“Then we should call you En-chibi.”

Epilogue

All Gates the world over had vanished. Every Queen that had opened a Gate and was lurking on the other side of it had perished.

There was some confusion.

A number of Queens had quickly opened Gates and fled to Earth to escape the Black Hole Gate, wreaking havoc as they took their last stand. The smart ones fled to Europe, which was still under Jave control, extending their lives for now. Some awaited destruction at the hands of the Alliance, while others opened Gates to other worlds and fled through them. It seemed there would be plenty of work for Maneuver Cavalleria for the time being.

The Empire was focused on clearing the Jave out of the territories where the Gates had been. There were still a number of Queens on the mainland, and it would take time to purge the last of them. To that end, the Empire elected to make a new military school on the southern islands—or, more accurately, reopen the old one.

Jogen Maneuver Academy may have been demolished in the attack, but it was open for business again.

It was December, one month after the Jave world had been destroyed.

There was one corner of the Jogen Maneuver Academy’s grounds that had a cape that faced the Jogen ocean. On that cape stood a shrine to all the students who died in the school attack and during Operation Jave World Annihilation. The souls of all 376 lost slept here, watching over Jogen.

Fuji had begun spending more time alone and was even more focused on his duties. Sometimes he could be found staring blankly up at the sky. He hadn’t quite broken the habit of choosing wedding dresses, but the occasions on which tears started flowing on their own were growing further apart. He intended to remain single the rest of his life but knew Nao would not want that, so for now he was left to wrestle with his emotions.

Rin’s new right leg was artificial flesh, just like En’s body. It was indistinguishable from her old leg, but magical enhancements made it extremely light, sturdy, and powerful, so she soon added somersault kicks to her repertoire. When she called it a “charge down into an up kick,” Hanabi looked blank, but Okayama burst out laughing, so maybe he was the right boy for her after all.

Kaede formally adopted Tooka, who became a resident of the Empire and had her name officially changed to Nanahoshi Nürburg Tooka. Tooka adjusted the Junryu until even Division 3s could pilot then, which mass-produced heroes. She then began working on research to prevent the opening of Gates from other worlds. She still lived at the Nanahoshi mansion, and when Kuon and Hanabi went to visit, she was very insistent they all bathe together, which was certainly alarming. She was apparently quite a fan of the Empire’s baths.

***

This was all Rin’s fault.

It was a sunny day at the Motegi mansion. A white arch had been placed before the stunning view from the second building, where they’d gathered for the fireworks. There was something church-like about it. Kuon stood in front of it, fidgeting in a white tuxedo. The fingers on his artificial flesh hand were twitching busily.

There were two benches in front of the arch, placed in a row. Fuji, Rin, and Okayama sat on one; Kaede, Tooka, and the large-sized En on the other. There was, of course, a red carpet rolled out between the benches, and walking down that carpet on Rin’s mother’s arm was, naturally, Hanabi.

Wearing a wedding dress.

A week earlier, during a squad meeting, Rin had suddenly said, “Hanabi and Kyuu-kun, you should have an engagement ceremony.”

“Huh?”

Hanabi, Kuon, and Fuji all turned to gape at her. Okayama chuckled like he’d seen this coming.

“Kyuu-kun’s still only thirteen, so an engagement’s the best you can get. Let’s do it at our place by the second building! Squad Leader, show Hanabi your folder of wedding dresses.”

“I can do that, but…”

“Wait, wait, wait!” both Hanabi and Kuon protested.

“Don’t get flustered in harmony! We’re doing this!”

They had no idea what she was thinking. They never did, but still…really?

“Squad Leader, you’re in, right? You wanna see these two engaged?” Okayama said, asking what no one else would have dared.

Fuji looked baffled that anyone was asking his opinion. “Wha—? Oh, I see. Right. No need to worry about me; I’ll be fine. Actually, I think it’s better to get it taken care of while you still can. And I genuinely want the two of you to be happy.”

“Squad Leader approved! This means you’ve gotta do it. Right?”

“No, no, no, no, no!”

“Then it’s decided! I’ll call Mom and make her set up a church… Oh, this is gonna be so much work!”

The next week flew past in the blink of an eye, and now Kuon was standing there in a white tuxedo, facing straight ahead, waiting for Hanabi.

Hero, are you gonna die?

It was a strange feeling. The girl he’d saved shortly before his death in his previous life had become his fiancée in his new one. Was that how fate worked?

There was no telling when he’d die. Or Hanabi. From that perspective, Rin’s proposal made sense. Like Fuji said, it was better to do these things while you still could. As those thoughts ran through his head, his white-clad bride reached his side.

The moment he laid eyes on her, he was sure that no matter how many lives he led, no matter how many times he was reincarnated, he would always find his way back to her.

Hanabi smiled. “Let’s live together, Kuon.”

She was the most beautiful girl in all the world.

Kuon nodded and then stretched himself up as high as he could and kissed her. He hoped that even if he someday grew to be as tall as her or taller, they would always be together.

The skies over Jogen were blue once more.

***

Several decades had passed since humanity’s natural predators, the Jave, first appeared. They may have crushed their nest, but the threat of the Jave was still very real. The Maneuver Cavalleria had a long fight ahead of them…

But the Hero was no longer alone.

Afterword:
When You Fail to Say the Most Important Thing
to the Most Important Person

I’m not the best with people; I’ve always kept them at arm’s length, never been one to care about things outside my interests, and have worked with people for years without knowing how they feel or details about their lives (who they’re in love with, which boss they can’t stand, whether they’re actually already married with kids) until well after the fact, and always find out about these things not from the person themselves but secondhand—which always makes me think, “Man, I should have talked to them more.” But another part of me thinks, “Asking them would have been more trouble than it’s worth,” which leaves me shaking my head at my own lack of social skills. But still, a particularly vexing part of me is going, “Why didn’t they just bring it up themselves?” Some things, you definitely want to know.

(Maybe that’s just a long-winded way of saying I’m lonely.)

(Oh, well.)

BGM “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.”

Hello and welcome. I’m Shippo Senoo.

My favorite ultimate move is Gunbuster’s Super Inazuma Kick.

My favorite weapon is the Hummingroll’s Black Hole Ocarina.

My favorite High Mobility Type is Black Sarena.

My favorite kaiju is Biollante, and my favorite ten thousandfold is the Super X-II’s Fire Mirror.

Well aware that I’ve now made basically everyone mad, from this point on it’s time for the real afterword.

First, there’s something I must tell you.

Division Maneuver is complete as of this volume. To everyone who read both novels of it, I have nothing but gratitude.

Genuinely, thank you.

I would have liked to write this until Kuon grew as tall as Hanabi, but this is out of my hands. At least I got to write that last scene.

In better news, like I mentioned in the afterword to the first volume, I also won a new writer prize from Shueisha’s Super Dash Ex Bunko, and the work I won with should be published shortly before the release of this volume. And like I mentioned last time, there are a few small links between the two settings. That title (it’s a long one) is Though I Am a Terminal Witch, Is It Strange That I Am in Love Twice with Brother? We’re shortening it to WitchLove.

Certain types of stories have a main character whose role boils down to, “If it weren’t for them, it would have been a tragedy” but I thought of both a success and a failure route, changed the time and place, and wrote two books—and they both won prizes at the same time, for which I am twice blessed.

At the end of this volume you catch a glimpse of the Jave’s fury, and well, there you have it. If you’re interested, give it a read.

Since this is the ending, I thought I’d go into the setting a little more. Think of it like a behind the scenes extra they do for movies. If you haven’t read the novel yet, probably best not to read the rest of this. Unless, of course, you don’t care about spoilers.

☆ The locations of the Gates—with the exception of Aohime Island—are all locations destroyed by a certain king of monsters: Sapporo, Sendai, Yamagata, Ashinoko, Owakudani, Mount Myoko, Matsumoto Castle, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka Castle, Seto, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka.

As a massive Biollante fan, I now feel I should have included Mount Mihara and Wakasa as well, but…at least I got Ashinoko in there.

☆ Shichisei Kenbu’s Hidden Eight Forms:

1st Form: Reject World.

2nd Form: Bubble Wall.

3rd Form: Crystal Cannon.

4th Form: Foresight.

5th Form: Void.

6th Form: Pleiades.

7th Form: Life Sight.

8th Form: Resonate.

Of these, the 2nd and 3rd Forms are the same as those that appear in WitchLove. There may be more.

Master Kaede can use the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 7th. She’s basically a witch.

☆ Queens live quite short lives and die after only ten years.

☆ The following are some mystery numbers for those of you who haven’t read the main story.

20 years=240months=7,200 days.

7,200 minutes=120 hours=5 days.

13 years=156 months=4,680 days.

4,680 minutes=78 hours=3¼ days. Essentially 1,440 times.

That’s how I did the math. I messed up a bit along the way and the proofreader had to fix it, but let’s keep that secret. They had really beautiful handwriting.

☆ Sentences I had to cut for one reason or another:

If asked why this school’s girls’ dorm had only female gorillas in it, the natural answer was “because it’s a military school”—an elite one, at that, gathering only the strongest cadets the human race had to offer. The fact that Hanabi came equipped with a Maiden Mode made her rather an exception. Basically everyone else was pure female gorilla.

Humans born with a magic rank of 4 or above were mostly naturally beautiful, but since nearly all of them were either voluntarily or forcibly enlisted in military schools, after a year or so they’d all turn into unusually attractive female gorillas. If you turned a blind eye to the whole “cheating at mahjong” thing, Nao was a rare gentle-looking girl, and Fuji had done well to land her.

☆ About Fuji-kun:

He started out as a flawlessly handsome type, but this volume elevated him to co-protagonist in my mind. Seriously. The “flawlessly handsome” and “tragic backstory” combo is unbeatable.

What Nao said to Rin wasn’t asking Rin to date or marry Fuji, just help him through everything as a friend. You know: “He’s too serious, so help him relax sometimes.” Or “Make sure no weird women get their clutches on him.” That sort of thing. In fact, he’s become quite popular with a certain type of girl, you know. “Ohh, he must be sad, but he never shows it, a flawlessly handsome guy with a dark side!” So we can certainly assume he has plenty of girls after him.

Finally, I’d like to thank my editor, Kurida-san; the illustrator, Nidy-2D-san; everyone involved in publishing; and everyone reading this book.

I pray that we will meet again in the near future.

Until then.

About the Author & Artist

Shippo Senoo

A Libra, born in 1982. Began writing novels at the age of ten, jumped ship to screenplays, won an anime screenwriting contest and got a job at a game company, but still loved novels so went back to light novels like a total flirt. After four years of writing, he finally won and did so at both Kodansha-san and Shueisha-san’s contests at once—a double prize! Pretty sure he’s used up his entire life’s worth of luck. He’ll try to live strong.

Nidy-2D-

Illustrator. Primarily for games like Phantasy Star Online 2es and Gunslinger Stratos, but also TCG and light novel illustrations and designs. Particularly good at mechagirls—drawings of girls fused with machines.