Chapter 21 – Overheat
One.
────Are you interested?
The characteristic cries of bugs come closer and closer. 〈 Locust 〉 approached while searching the surroundings.
To put it simply, it was a small bug with a light machine gun attached to a grasshopper the size of a small car.
Although it is relatively small, weighing only a few hundred kilograms, and the firepower of the armed weapon is not very threatening,
The problem was that if he was caught, other bugs in the vicinity would rush in in an instant.
Netoru tensed his body as he repeated his breathing.
This is to ensure that you can respond immediately in case of any unforeseen incidents.
‘Did it draw too much attention than I thought?’
The desired purpose was achieved. However, it was a problem because the tracking of bugs was more persistent than expected. I hope you follow me here. It seems to have bought quite a bit of hate.
Haha Is it unavoidable
The enemy suddenly launched a surprise attack, disrupting the battle line, and then ran away without looking back.
To the current bugs, Netoru was such an existence.
In other words, it is a being that stimulates anger very much. From the point of view of the bugs, it must have been absurd and embarrassing.
─Great ─great
As the locust’s cries get closer, the tension is getting higher and higher.
“Ha… Ha… Netoru. What are you going to do now He keeps coming towards us… ?”
Karen asked, gasping for breath until her sweaty hair clung to her cheek. Her chest, which was tightly pressed by her suit, was shaking as if in pain.
It was due to Netoru forcibly increasing the output in order to attract the attention of the enemies in a short period of time. Perhaps because of the heated breathing, the temperature inside the cockpit felt warm.
“Wait. Because I haven’t heard yet.”
“But…”
“Don’t worry. I just need to believe in myself.”
“Under… Really… Don’t worry every day. Where the hell does that brazen confidence come from?”
“But you haven’t lost anything yet.”
“Hmm… Hard to believe, but it is.”
Karen, who was nervous, burst into laughter.
Did you just say something funny? Netoru tilted her head, then focused his gaze on the Locust again.
Currently, Netoru was hiding from the eyes of the bugs, using her terrain as cover. Of course, the 5th Platoon escaped safely as planned. All that was left was survival on this side.
‘… It’s time to hear the news.’
Actually, she didn’t like being hidden like this.
However, anyone could see that Karen had reached her limit.
It wasn’t for nothing that she gave up letting Netoru run away and she decided to go into hiding. In a way, I must say that it is a great thing to have endured this far.
─Jjwaok ─jjaeok
Soon, as he stepped on the soil and grass, his shadow began to cast around him.
Netoru held her steering wheel in her hand.
Then I felt Karen swallow her breath and give strength to her body as if waiting for Netoru’s choice.
Netoru thought while waiting until the end.
Do I have to fight too?
So how much longer can Karen last?
No, does there really exist a path for her to escape?
The number, composition and movement of bugs, including the surrounding terrain.
In order to find a way to break through the current situation somehow, it was while Netoru was coldly combining all of those things in his head.
“… Uh?”
Karen’s startled voice broke the tension-filled silence in the cockpit, and Netoru’s mouth twisted.
Indeed… Fortunately, is the time right?
───Kiik?
Locust, who had suddenly approached, stopped him and turned his head.
Then, after moving his long antennae from side to side a few times, he turned and kicked the ground without hesitation.
It seems that something was contacted through the network.
And that also meant that the platoon of Unit 393 had started fighting. Otherwise, there is no way to turn in the wrong direction so quickly.
Not being able to participate in battle is a little unsettling, but
Anyway, anything is fine. This one did its job. If I care about that side for no reason, my head hurts.
“… I live.”
“I know… I live.”
Netoru spoke, and Karen muttered in response.
The two men, who had been watching the receding Locust until it disappeared, let out the tension in their bodies with a long exhalation.
For some reason, if I closed my eyes, I felt like I would fall asleep any moment.
Suddenly, Netoru was thinking about that moment.
Fluff-
I wanted something, but Karen couldn’t stand it and passed out right on top of her cockpit. Was it also a limit?
“… There is nothing you can do.”
Netoru, who was watching the collapsed Karen while breathing evenly, leaned back in the cockpit and closed his eyes.
Since Karen passed out anyway, there was nothing Netoru could do.
In such blurry vision.
A red sunset was wafting over the horizon.
2.
As a child, the main characters of robots I saw were very frustrating. But now that I think about it, it was natural.
It’s not a trained adult man, but a kid who is just a high school student is suddenly forced to fight while riding a giant robot, but how can that be right?
And when I actually did it,
One day, riding a weapon and fighting without knowing anything was not as easy as I thought.
Even in battles fought so unknowingly,
Someone dies because of his own mistakes,
Get caught by the collar with swear words,
When he returned, the experience of being targeted with murderous eyes by his colleagues was enough to be caught as a trauma in life.
Of course, at first I felt unfair and angry.
What have I done wrong,
I just fought to live without knowing anything,
I just did my best in the circumstances given to me.
But I can’t even complain about it. The mere fact that someone died was enough to make me a sinner.
In an important battle where everything had to be meshed precisely like cogwheels, the very existence of an ignorant ordinary person was a great sin. Even more so if not one or two people, but dozens of lives were at stake…
Although in some cartoons, whenever the main character is having a hard time,
People around you may sweetly soothe you with love, dreams, passion, hope, friendship, etc.
The place where I opened my eyes was not a kind world that waits for immature protagonists to grow up.
It was a real battlefield where shells and bullets flew around, and it was a hell where many people died every day.
Even the person who grabbed the collar yesterday returns as a cold corpse the next day… Such a place.
Although the death of an unknown extra on the other side of the monitor may be a simple device to heighten the viewer’s emotions,
If you see it with your own eyes in reality, you will only feel despair and shame.
So I gritted my teeth and fought hard to at least not be a burden to the people around me.
Learn what you can learn and discard what you shouldn’t.
I tried to mature as if I was cursing my immaturity.
It was a time when, gradually, as time passed, he became a plausible sexual cavalry pilot.
At some point I realized
Come to think of it, I ProtagonistThat this is not
3.
Rustle rustle… The sound of someone tearing off battle rations was heard. As if drawn by the sound, Netoru slowly raised his consciousness that had been deeply submerged beneath the surface.
“… Huh? Woke up?”
The first thing I saw was Karen’s face. Her eyes met and she was sitting cross-legged in her cockpit, holding an energy bar from her battle rations in her mouth.
Filth… Have I been very hungry?
Watching her mouth move as diligently as a squirrel eating an acorn,
“… Can you give me one too?”
Karen blinked her eyes and held out her energy bar.
Netoru smiled and shook her head.
“No, that’s okay. Rather than that, what time is it now?”
“Hmm. It just turned 20.”
“… You slept longer than expected.”
Was that why the surroundings were so dark?
When I looked up, there were countless stars in the night sky forming the Milky Way.
It is a beautiful scenery that cannot be easily seen on Earth, but here it was just a common night sky.
But that beauty wasn’t going to fade, so the four toru, who had been staring blankly at the sky for a moment lost in thought, quietly brought out his words.
“Karen. How is her body?”
“… The holy cavalry maneuver might be a bit difficult as it is now. I’ll probably be able to barely move by tomorrow morning.”
“Is it.”
Holy cavalry pilots are only a part of the holy cavalry.
But man is not a machine, so he must rest when he rests.
In addition, considering the coupling wavelength of each other, the startup time is shorter than others and the rest time is longer.
In a way, it could be seen that Karen and Netoru were tied together with incompatible parts.
“Have you ever contacted the Commander?”
“No. I have not been contacted yet.”
“… I can’t help it either.”
It was to be expected. I was just asking just in case.
In the first place, out of District 39, where the two of them are now,
It was the border area of Elflandia, the country of elves.
That is, it was out of the commander’s field of observation.
That’s why the two were in a state where the outcome of today’s battle was unknown. I couldn’t get in touch with Lien, so I couldn’t know anything.
Even if there are bugs around.
Anyway, in a situation where I had to wait until tomorrow morning, Karen, who had swallowed a big energy bar, looked at her slightly, and she quietly spoke her words.
“… Netoru. Will our troops be safe? There were quite a few bugs today.”
“There were certainly many, many.”
Didn’t you really almost die when you ran away thanks to that?
No matter how stupid they were, the army of bugs that filled the fields was quite menacing.
And the members of Unit 393, including Netoru and Karen, had already fought a battle once. Fighting more enemies in that state is definitely not an easy task.
“Netoru.”
“Why again this time?”
“Aren’t you telling me not to worry this time?”
What is this all of a sudden?
It was a bit dumbfounded, but Netoru roughly decided to give Karen the answer she wanted.
“… Well. I hope everyone will be fine.”
“What is that…”
But maybe I didn’t like the answer? Karen glanced at her disgruntledly for a moment, then she turned away. She must have wanted me to tell her not to worry, with her shameless face as usual.
But let’s just say don’t worry…
I wondered what it would be worth.
