Volume 19, Chapter 15

“This concludes the report on the Hakone Terror Incident. I believe it is necessary, even for the National Defense Forces, to take the matter in which the USNA Military was easily permitted to intervene in domestic affairs seriously.”

“..Is that the opinion of the Ten Master Clans?”

“No. That is my own opinion, Lieutenant Colonel.”

“Understood. I believe your statements are quite correct, Special Officer, and they match my own. We shall propose this to the Brigade Commander.”

“Yes sir. Then, if you’ll excuse me.”

Remaining seated at his desk, the National Defense Army 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Kazama Harunobu, dismissed his subordinate, the unregistered Strategic-Class Magician, Special Officer Ooguro Ryuuya, real name, Shiba Tatsuya. He then crossed his fingers together, shutting his eyes.

Tatsuya, who was normally supposed to be at school on a day like this, had come to the Headquarters of the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion, regarding the incident that occurred the night before last, when the mastermind’s death brought a temporary end to the incident

──not an absolute total resolution ── in order to provide a report regarding the details of the Hakone Terror Incident.

When the terrorist mastermind was holed up in a hospital near Zama Base, Tatsuya had come to handle it on behalf of the National Defense Forces. Because of the circumstances in which he had requested permission from Kazama to utilize magic that was designated a military secret, he had thought a report was necessary. Capturing terrorists was not the job of the military, so it was fine, even without a report, but Kazama was thankful to be able to hear the full details of the event from the person in question.

For Tatsuya, this mission was unrelated to the military. Despite this, it wasn’t quite the case that the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion was uninvolved in the incident. Kazama and the company were secretly involved with police investigations designed to flush out supporters of foreign opposition forces that were lurking within the country.

Kazama and his comrades were also aware of the intervention of the USNA Military. Tatsuya had warned that a battle would occur in Zama, so it had been only natural to put that area under surveillance. That had been the only time the USNA regular troops had been active. But afterwards, it had been grasped to a certain extent that irregular covert operatives had also been running rampant.

It was entirely possible that the Hakone Terror Incident could have been resolved faster if the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion had cooperated with Tatsuya’s investigation. Gu Jie would have been unable to escape to the ocean, and there was a high probability that, at the bare minimum, his corpse would have been secured.

More importantly ── the incident could have been resolved without the sacrifice of two talented police officers.

There was no end to the list of things that Kazama felt no pride in. All of these things existed within the realm of “what if?”

In reality, Kazama and his company had taken no assertive action towards resolving the incident, the terrorist mastermind had been buried in darkness by a USNA Military magician, and Inspector Toshikazu Chiba as well as his associate had died during the investigation. He had become a sacrifice for a vile technique that shamed even the dead.

The unbearable mood that hung over Kazama was because he knew that he bore at least some of the responsibility for the tragedy that befell Inspector Chiba and Associate Inspector Inagaki. Even without Kazama’s involvement, the two inspectors had fallen into the necromantic magician’s trap.

Though yet again, this was just an assumption.

In fact, the National Defense Forces had led Inspector Chiba right to the house where the wicked magician was hiding. Even if Kazama himself wasn’t bothered by it, his subordinates certainly would be.

He knew this because First Lieutenant Fujibayashi was concerned for Inspector Chiba’s welfare, and had aggressively insisted on intervention to resolve the incident.

? ? ?

First Lieutenant Fujibayashi had been shocked. It was unimaginable for her because it was something that she had never seen coming.

Lieutenant Colonel Kazama had provided her with a recording of an oral report from Special Officer Ooguro Ryuuya regarding the Hakone Terror Incident for her to summarize into a written document. The verbal account given by Ooguro, that was to say Tatsuya, was highly logical and easy to summarize. In fact, it was so easy that she could have just put it into the speech recognition document processor, which would then complete the report. Speaking only about the difficulty of creating the document, it was something that could be completed in no time.

However, she still had yet to type even a single letter. She had thought it would be good to listen to the whole report first, but now she regretted it. If she had divided the task into smaller parts, she could have completed it while acting like she was just doing her job.

She didn’t even feel like listening to the recorded data again. She didn’t have the courage to.

Even without listening to it again, she could hear Tatsuya’s voice echoing in her ears.

“──After Inspector Chiba’s life was stolen away by Gu Jie, he was converted into a puppet, and I fought with him.”

“──I believe the person who captured Inspector Chiba was an individual from a family of Ancient Magic users, Oumi Kazukiyo, who acted in collaboration with Gu Jie.”

Fujibayashi had heard the name ‘Oumi Kazukiyo’ before. Now she would certainly never forget this name. Because it had been her who had lead Inspector Toshikazu Chiba to Oumi’s residence.

Major General Saeki was the one who had proposed using the Hakone Terror Incident to guide the police to magicians suspected of being connected to former Dahan or the Kunlunfang Institute, and then using their reactions in order to designate them as collaborators. Saeki’s order was conveyed to Fujibayashi through Kazama, with her job being to disseminate the suspect list to informants and then follow up with them.

In the first place, it was sheer luck that Toshikazu Chiba had found a lead. Fujibayashi hadn’t set him after anyone. Rather, she had simply told him “There are rumors that Oumi Kazukiyo has connections to a magician from Dahan.” The one who had failed to leverage her advice was Toshikazu.

Even she understood that much.

The personal exchanges that she had with Toshikazu in the past was something she could not clearly explain.

Just before the outbreak of the Yokohama Disturbance in the fall of 2095.

Fujibayashi had fought alongside Toshikazu to clean up the agents of the Great Asian Union that were engaging in subversive activities in South Kanto.

In the end, they had been unable to defend against the Great Asian Union’s invasion, but they did succeed in capturing numerous agents and collaborators.

To celebrate, the two of them had gone out to have a drink together. Even before their celebration, the two of them had gone out together on a night investigation in the city.

Those memories now resided at the edge of her consciousness. She had forgotten them up until recently, but when she had reunited with Toshikazu the memories had suddenly become very vivid.

Fujibayashi and Toshikazu weren’t in love.

They didn’t even really have a ‘man-woman’ relationship.

Speaking objectively, they had gone on two or three work-related ‘dates’ together, so it was simply the case that they weren’t complete strangers to each other.

Fujibayashi expected that Toshikazu had felt the same way.

Toshikazu was unaware that she had been promoted to First Lieutenant. It seemed obvious to her that Toshikazu was just pretending to flirt with her, as part of a normal adult relationship.

Fujibayashi had yet to realize that that very way of thinking was actually proof that she was consciously aware of Toshikazu.

While she was a very wise woman, Fujibayashi had zero experience with romance.

Fujibayashi came from a prestigious family of ancient magicians; as a daughter of the Fujibayashi Family, her fiancé was decided for her by her parents. It was a childhood friend of hers, whom she was engaged to before she was even in middle school.

Fujibayashi was even more serious during her school days than she was now; she already had a fiancé, so she had never even gone on a date with another boy. Her childhood friend, who was the same age as herself, was more like family to her than a lover, so as a result, when they were together, she did not feel anything like passionate love for him.

However, Fujibayashi came to accept this feeling as natural. After all, he would become her real family.

Her fiancé was a man of peaceful demeanor, but he entered university at the National Defense Academy and eventually joined the Defense Force. Fujibayashi had done nothing to stop him. As a prestigious magician, the idea that he should give everything for his country was ingrained into him. At best, all she had been able to do was laugh and jokingly say, “This doesn’t suit you, are you sure about this?”

Her fiancé had chosen the path of a technical officer, so in a certain sense, there was a good chance that he never would have seen action on the frontlines.

Her fiancé’s area of specialization was magical systems for enemy scouting. His first appointment had been in Okinawa.

He died there.

In 2092, there was a surprise attack by the Great Asian Union in Okinawa. He was killed in a defensive battle.

That happened three months before their wedding.

Fujibayashi was filled with regret. Why had she not seriously tried to stop him from entering the military?

Fujibayashi, who had been pursuing a career in research up until then, suddenly began to pursue the path of a uniformed military office, but it was difficult for her to explain her state of mind.

She thought that perhaps she wanted revenge against the enemy that stole her fiancé from her.

Or perhaps, she just inherited her fiancé’s duties.

Or perhaps, she simply wanted to comfort herself by putting herself in the same position that her fiancé had been in.

The military had taken her fiancé from her, so maybe she even wanted to exact revenge on it from within.

Regardless ── Fujibayashi had never been able to forget about her deceased fiancé.

After that, she had gone out with a few men, but it never lasted long.

For several years now, her family had persistently attempted to get her into formal marriage meetings, but she always refused, citing her duties.

It was a matter of course that the National Defense Forces was full of men, but none of them ever approached her, perhaps intimidated by how distinguished she was.

After many years, the one person who had approached her without being intimidated by her ability or trying to take advantage of her prestigious family name.. was Toshikazu Chiba.

Excluding her fiancé who died in battle, this may have been the first time she was ever approached like that.

──Ah, so that’s why.

Fujibayashi thought such. She had realized.

Now she understood why she felt so upset.

She had received the first report of Toshikazu’s death just yesterday. The reason she had been fine then was because the reality of his death had not hit her yet.

It was almost exactly the same as when she had heard that her fiancé had died.

She only began to feel the death of her fiancé when she attended a joint military funeral held in Okinawa, and had seen his picture among the photographs of the deceased.

In the same manner, Fujibayashi thought that she only truly started to realize that Toshikazu was dead when she listened to Tatsuya’s account of how he died.

She was now upset as a result, and it threw her heart into disarray.

‘I’m always too late,’ she thought.

She had been too late to stop her fiancé from becoming a soldier.

She had been too late to stop Toshikazu Chiba from getting close to Oumi Kazukiyo.

She only ever realized her feelings when she had lost a companion. ──That included the fact that she had truly loved her fiancé.

──The fact that she felt something for Toshikazu Chiba that was more than simple goodwill.

A deep, deep sigh escaped from Fujibayashi. No tears came. She felt no sorrow, only regret.

Fujibayashi faced her terminal, and began writing her report.

[ End ]