Owari no Chronicle

Volume 12, Chapter 11: My Opinion

She does not say that listening to her will make you cry

She says she will make you listen to her to make you cry

That is her confrontational tackle of a lifestyle

The meeting room was crowded.

The windowless underground space was filled with people and everyone save for the four in the center were standing, crossing their arms, and shouting.

One of the four watching those people was a maid.

“They are keeping up their energy quite well. I suspect they are producing too many narcotics in their brains.”

“You’re right,” replied Ooshiro.

He watched the people voicing countless protests inside that circular meeting room. No country had been set as the chair, so no one could stop the wave of anger. That allowed them to continue their protests and a certain result awaited them.

“Team Leviathan will lose.”

When Ooshiro stopped using ventriloquism and spoke casually, #8 turned to face him.

“Earlier, it seems Hiba-sama lost to Top-Gear and 3rd’s Concept Core was stolen.”

“Can you tell if the protests are centered on that now, #8-kun?”

“Testament. There are no protests concerning that. Why not?”

“Well,” began Ooshiro as he glanced toward Roger who slept next to him. “They are waiting for the proper timing. And…do you understand what the loss of 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core means to the foreign UCATs?”

“Testament. If even one of them is lost, the Leviathan Road cannot be completed and they can claim Team Leviathan cannot be trusted. Thus…”

At that point, a loud sound filled the meeting room.

Someone had clapped their hands. The single sound held enough dignity to quiet the previous wave of anger.

It had come from the seat ten meters directly in front of Ooshiro.

“You are from Chinese UCAT, aren’t you? What is it? Do you have something to say?”

“I do.”

A man in black rested his elbows on the desk in front of him and spoke in Chinese.

He was a middle-aged man with narrow eyes and his black hair tied back.

Ooshiro had previously noted that chair was vacant, but this man had appeared at some unknown point and he was now smiling.

“I believe you know the general situation.”

He took a breath and waited in silence for three seconds.

“It seems 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core was stolen by a Top-Gear assassin.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a stir ran through his surroundings. Some gave shouts of surprise and a few toppled backwards in their chairs.

#8 looked across them all.

“Are all UCATs obsessed with overreacting, are they all terrible actors, or are they all idiots? I have high hopes for that last option. Especially when limited to you, Ooshiro-sama.”

“I’d love it if you gave an option 4: they all like to play along.”

However, three more claps quieted everyone down again.

“He’s certainly in control here,” muttered Ooshiro as he looked to the Chinese UCAT representative.

“What do you have to say?”

“Well,” began Ooshiro while crossing his arms. “To be blunt, does any UCAT really think it can defeat a three-way alliance between Japanese UCAT, American UCAT, and German UCAT?”

“Oh?”

Chinese UCAT’s response slowly brought in a heavy atmosphere.

The man leaned forward a bit and crossed his arms.

“A monarchy does not use its full military might to crush a small nation, but if you insist, I believe committing such a foolish act could be deemed reasonable.”

“And what nation is this monarchy you refer to?”

“I refer to the nation that will carry in the next generation. I refer to everything.”

“Then that wouldn’t just be your nation. …So what are all of you going to do, other nations? We had one Concept Core taken, but we’ve still got the other nine.”

Ooshiro looked around while asking his question.

“If you try to get along with us, your good friend Kazuo might just help you out a little.”

The air shook as someone exhaled and everyone’s gazes and focus turned back to Chinese UCAT.

However, the Chinese UCAT representative ignored all of them. In doing so, he regained a position from which to speak his mind freely.

“Japanese UCAT had 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core stolen, so who has given you the rights for any of that? Our top priority is to settle the rights to the Concept Cores and store them in a safe place.”

“Then what are you going to do about 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core? I know you don’t have a god of war or anything else that can hope to battle Typhon effectively.”

“That is simple,” he answered. “Japanese UCAT and Team Leviathan will be broken up and brought under our command.”

“…”

“Japanese UCAT has a god of war which can fight Typhon and Team Leviathan has 5th’s strongest mechanical dragon. …We will form a fighting force around them.”

He took a breath, crossed his arms on the desk once more, and calmly continued.

“Japanese UCAT has too much power. Not only that, it has misused that power, let the bearers of that power run freely, and mistaken its goal. …We understand that, so we will not make the same mistake. We will use strength as strength and we will handle the command and implementation ourselves.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” muttered Ooshiro.

However, he spoke so quietly only #8 noticed.

She nodded and replied just as quietly.

“On very rare occasions like this, I do agree with you, Ooshiro-sama. It was not the bearers of power that we let run freely. It was the will of a villain.”

“Yes.”

Ooshiro smiled bitterly and his shoulders shook.

He noticed that Roger had woken at some point and the man also nodded at #8’s comment. Past him, Diana gave a small smile with her eyes closed.

As long as they had that mutual understanding, there was just one thing to say.

Ooshiro lifted his head and looked the Chinese UCAT representative in the eye.

“I doubt our opponents would play along if we used your method. After all, none of you are active participants.”

“That’s right,” agreed Diana as she turned her usual smile toward her surroundings. “Who here was involved in the battle that destroyed Top-Gear ten years ago?”

No one in the meeting room raised their hands.

When Diana saw that, a quiet laugh escaped her throat.

“Top-Gear may be hoping for a fight, but it is not with you. Do you understand why they stole the Concept Core?”

The witch inhaled and pulled out an extra-large megaphone she had made from paper.

The word “loud” was written on it.

“They wanted a ticket onto the stage where they can take vengeance for their grudge!!”

The loud voice filled the meeting room and broke one of the lights on the ceiling.

As the shards of the white light poured down on the center of the room, most of the people inside covered their ears, but Roger noticed that the Chinese UCAT representative did not budge.

The man then opened his mouth.

“But if we locate them and challenge them, we will have an overwhelming advantage in resources. And their reasons do not matter as long as we defeat them.”

“Oh?” said Roger with a nod.

What a troublesome man, he thought while crossing his arms and legs.

“I am not… I am not so sure. I will say it twice as a good-luck charm and to show I am serious. And…if Top-Gear’s reasons do not matter as long as they are defeated…”

He continued.

“Are you saying that Top-Gear is such a small group that you can wipe them out here and leave no trace of their grudge behind?”

He held out his right hand, pulled a small bottle from the sleeve, and placed it on the desk.

“This is some of my dream sand. Do you know what sand it uses?”

There was no answer to his question, so he pushed his glasses up his nose and gave the answer.

“Top-Gear’s sand. This sand will give you a dream of Top-Gear’s final hours. If you are so focused on retrieving the Concept Core that you refuse to face Top-Gear’s grudge…”

“You will use that sand’s power to show us the past and accuse us of being unfair for making this decision without knowing what happened during that battle?”

The Chinese UCAT representative uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on the desk.

“But the present problem is that all of you are acting on your own far too much while using the past as a shield. Even if you put together a plan for retrieving 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core, I doubt any UCAT will give their approval.”

“In other words, no matter how much we complain, you will refuse to accept it and even block any progress we might make?”

“We are not blocking progress. We are stopping your selfish actions before you begin down the wrong path once again. Our first priority is retrieving 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core. And that…”

Roger saw the man raise his right hand and point to his surroundings.

“That is something I imagine every UCAT except for yours can agree to. So you can fall under our command. If you assist us in retrieving the Concept Core, I am sure we can get along once more.”

“And if we refuse? What happens then?”

“All of the world’s military force will be immediately sent to Japan’s various UCATs.”

Just as Roger internally gasped at that, he heard Ooshiro raise his voice to the left.

“An invasion of Japan? If you do anything that noticeable, it will lead to war. Are you okay with that?”

Next to him, #8 stared at their opponent and spoke to him.

“Ooshiro-sama, based on my calculations of their military power versus our own…”

“But Team Leviathan would survive, wouldn’t they?”

“Testament. Sayama-sama and the other primary members of Team Leviathan would be unable to fully destroy the armies of the world’s UCATs, but those armies would be unable to capture them and they would have no way of opposing Thunder Fellow.”

Once she completed her calculations, Roger, Ooshiro, and Diana listened to the result.

“In such a scenario, I believe Japanese UCAT would be destroyed, but Team Leviathan would survive and continue to fight.”

#8 spoke to Ooshiro who had requested her preliminary calculation.

“Simply put, Team Leviathan cannot be brought under their control.”

“Then that’s fine.”

Ooshiro’s tone was casual and he showed off his shining teeth with a smile. They really did shine.

A disturbing trick, thought #8 as she backed away and faced him again.

“Testament. An excellent decision. I am sure Sayama-sama would be delighted to hear it.”

They both faced forward once more and the Chinese UCAT representative looked back.

The man must have heard them because he sighed and nodded.

“I see. I would not have it any other way. After all…”

He leaned back in his chair and shrugged.

“Simply having you handle it all, leaves nothing for us. So fighting a war and putting ourselves at the top wouldn’t be bad.”

“But I believe only we can fulfill their grudge,” pointed out Ooshiro.

#8 mentally nodded. She could indeed determine that the other Gears would not have listened to them without Team Leviathan.

Her memory of being carried for the first time was still fresh.

But if it happened a second time or third time, she would likely grow accustomed to it and the memory’s priority level would drop.

…And the other UCATs have nothing like that.

But the other man replied.

“We can deal with that grudge somehow.”

He snapped the fingers he had used to point at them.

The snap was accompanied by another noise: the bottle of sand in front of Roger burst.

#8 visually detected the bullet. There was a sniper to the right of the top level.

Roger frowned, but the man in black spoke before Roger could open his mouth.

“Listen. The quickest method of eliminating a grudge is to snuff it out without taking any notice of the past. And yet you are trying to learn more about the past, which has unearthed truths detrimental to you and even led to the discovery of Top-Gear. …That is nothing but more trouble for us.”

“So you’re saying…”

“We will not accept any grudges. We may accept them in this generation and we may even discuss them, but afterwards, we will have them join this world, we will leave no records, we will eliminate any records of what happened in the past, and we will reject any accusations. That is the quickest method of ridding the world of grudges.”

He smiled bitterly.

“While we are at it, we might as well record only the damage we took and request compensation for that. After all, they will have no way of determining if our proof is fabricated or not. …And by then, we will already rule the world.”

“That’s playing really dirty.”

“But we will be the only ones to do that. Afterwards, thousands and tens of thousands of years will pass and our descendants will know nothing of this! We stand at an important crossroads for our descendants. If we forget that and let our emotions get the better of us, we will have lost.”

He raised his hands.

“Now, come join us, you three foolish UCATs. Join us as global rulers for the next ten thousand years. …And to begin, how about we take back 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core!? Let’s take it back!”

As soon as he said that, a young female voice filled the meeting room.

“Wait, wait, wait. I don’t know what’s going on here, but it sounds exciting.”

The door behind Ooshiro’s group opened and wind blew in.

A few sets of footsteps entered and the crowd gasped.

They were all giving off an aura of surprise and fear that whoever this was had heard what was said.

However, the footsteps showed no concern for any of that.

“Honestly, what is this? I heard something about taking back 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core, but how can you talk about that while ignoring us?”

#8 looked over and saw an unfamiliar person in a lab coat standing next to her.

However, she had heard of this person from Gyes, so she was able to call her name.

“Miyako-sama?”

“That’s right,” answered Miyako as she stared across the entire meeting room. “I’m 3rd-Gear Representative Tsukuyomi Miyako! I heard our Concept Core’s been taken, so I stopped by for a quick chat.”

Miyako frowned, turned toward #8, and looked the automaton in the eye.

“Hm? I haven’t seen you before. Are you from the group here?”

“Testament. I am #8. It is a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“I see.” Miyako gave Ooshiro a look of pure contempt. “It must be tough dealing with this old man.”

“Testament. But rather than tough, I would call it…baffling.”

“M-Miyako-kun, #8-kun. Please don’t start abusing the elderly as soon as you meet each other!!”

“Shut up or I’ll tell everyone what I learned from my mom. For example, I know you put IAI’s name on the receipt when you buy perverted games!! You’re just awful. I didn’t like the shape of your ears from the moment I saw you in my interview.”

“Please wait just a moment, Miyako-kun!!”

“I said shut up.” She crossed her arms. “And what’s this ‘merchandise’ nonsense? Well? If you’re a man, put the title on there with your real name!”

“B-but the store clerks ask what company name I want to put down!”

“Then correct them! ‘What company name should I put down?’ ‘No, please put it under Ooshiro Kazuo!’ And if they ask ‘Would you like the product listed simply as merchandise?’, smile and tell them ‘No! Put it down as an 18+ game!’ ”

“M-Miyako-kun, what would you do if your husband was that refreshingly shameless?”

“What? Apollo wouldn’t buy things like that.”

“Waaahh!! This girl is living in a fantasy world!!”

“C’mon, don’t give me a girly compliment like that. I’m gonna blush.”

While she shoved Ooshiro to the floor to hide her embarrassment, #8 bowed toward Moira 1st and 2nd who stood behind her.

Moira 1st smiled and placed a hand on her cheek.

“You are doing very well, I see.”

“Testament. I have determined that is thanks to your former guidance. I can now look after an old man like this…although I have determined that is not exactly a good thing.”

“N-now #8-kun and Moira 1st-kun are turning their reunion into abuse of the elderly!!”

“Shut the hell up, old man.”

Miyako was obviously in a bad mood and her comment led Ooshiro to sit below the desk and pretend to cry.

Ignoring him, Miyako looked around and put a hand in her lab coat pocket.

“Honestly.”

After seeing what had just happened, the representatives flinched back in fear when her gaze reached them.

She frowned even more when she noticed.

“What’s that for? Am I that scary!? I can’t believe this… I won’t get mad, so tell me the truth. Am I that scary?”

After a while, they exchanged a glance and hesitantly nodded.

“I see.” Miyako nodded. “Well, don’t judge a book by its cover, you bald old men!!”

As they shrieked and flinched back again, Ooshiro poked at her lab coat.

“E-excuse me, Miyako-kun. Taking command here is fine and all, but what do you want?”

“This came in during the day. Ruined my plans of watching the winter special ‘Mito Kimon – Two-Hour Rampage’.”

She pulled out an origami crane with “Winter Yokosuka” written on the wings.

She stuffed it back in her pocket without noticing Diana’s feigned ignorance.

“It took a while to search this place out, but what do you think you’re doing!?”

Her outburst caused the surrounding representatives to flinch back again.

All except for one, that is.

A man in black leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk. He was the Chinese UCAT representative and he spoke in Chinese.

“So you are 3rd-Gear’s-…”

“What!? I don’t know what you’re saying! Speak in Japanese!”

The man was dumbfounded and Miyako swung her right leg.

Her visitor’s slipper instantly flew toward him. With perfect aim, it struck the edge of his desk and flew up into the air.

As the solid sound filled the room, she pulled back her leg.

“I heard a bit of what you said before. A lot of it sounded pretty suspicious, but that doesn’t matter. I’m just a part-timer, so all this internal UCAT mess isn’t my concern.”

She placed her bare right foot on the floor next to her slippered left foot.

“But if it’s about 3rd, you’ve gotta run it by me first.”

“Then the UCATs of each nation will-…”

“I said to speak Japanese, you moron!!”

Her roaring voice caused the Chinese representative to frown.

However, she gave a triumphant laugh, looked right at him, and deeply crossed her arms.

“Oh, so you do understand Japanese. Then get to speaking it.”

“Why are you forcing me to speak that lang-…”

“I have no idea what you’re saying. And let me tell you something: I’m 3rd’s representative right now, so Japanese is 3rd’s standard language. Isn’t that right, Moira 1st?”

“Yes, sir. It is.”

“U-um, Miyako-kun. It isn’t normal Japanese to say ‘yes, sir’ to a woma- No, I mean…what a wonderful ladies’ language that is!”

“Glad to see you understand.”

She turned away from Ooshiro and smiled.

“You were saying something about needing to take back 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core to gather the UCATs together properly, weren’t you? But you know what? I never asked you to do that.”

She gave her conclusion.

“I can’t trust any of you.”

Miyako sat on the desk in front of Ooshiro.

She crossed her legs and raised her right hand.

“Yes, sir.”

Moira 1st partially removed the wrapping of a chocolate cigarette and set it between Miyako’s fingers.

Miyako placed the contents in her mouth.

“Y’know?”

Everyone shrank back, but she no longer cared.

“What are you all afraid of? You’re adults, aren’t you? You’re men, aren’t you? You’re productive members of society, aren’t you!?”

She glared at them and they shrank back further, but by then, she was only looked straight ahead.

Her eyes were fixed on the Chinese UCAT representative.

He folded his hands atop his desk.

“What do you intend to do?”

“So you’re finally speaking Japanese, huh?”

She smiled and grabbed the edge of the desk on either side of her butt.

“But I’m the one that wants to know what you intend to do. What are you gonna do with 3rd’s Concept Core?”

“We wish to gain Japanese UCAT’s assistance in retrieving it.”

“I like the sound of that. Especially the blatant ulterior motive hidden below it.”

She kicked her dangling legs below the desk.

“What are you all thinking? Listen, who was 3rd’s Concept Core stolen from?”

“The Team Leviathan god of war belonging to the girl named Mikage.”

“And can you tell me what Gear Mikage is from?”

“3rd-Gear…”

The man trailed off and Miyako raised her right hand to point at him with the chocolate cigarette.

“Then we can say this, can’t we? 3rd’s Concept Core wasn’t stolen from Team Leviathan. It was stolen from Mikage of 3rd. That makes this 3rd’s responsibility, not Team Leviathan’s.”

“That is nothing but sophistry!!”

“As 3rd’s representative, I get to judge any issue with 3rd’s Concept Core or 3rd’s people! There’s no sophistry in a kind and fair judgment to accept responsibility for one of your own! …You’re the outsiders here!!”

She clicked her tongue and jabbed the chocolate toward the man.

“Besides, what’s this ‘nothing but sophistry!’ nonsense? Don’t think everyone’s just going to accept what you say if you use some fancy word. 3rd’s Concept Core has always been ours, so why are you acting like it’s yours? I’ll call the cops on you!!”

“But in that case…”

The man in black frowned slightly.

“We will hold 3rd responsible for the loss of the Concept Core.”

“And?”

She shrugged and the man furrowed his brow.

“Then let me make this clear: you must take full responsibility for your failure to manage the Concept Core.”

“Then let me make this clear: 3rd-Gear left the Concept Core with Mikage as our representative and sent her to Team Leviathan for the Core’s safekeeping,” explained Miyako. “But since it was stolen, we request that Team Leviathan takes responsibility. We request that they negotiate with Top-Gear and retrieve the Core.”

“…”

“To sum up, you all are the ones getting in the way.”

She got down from the desk.

“3rd and Team Leviathan can settle this between ourselves. I’m the most pissed that the Core was stolen and it belongs to me. …So who’s the rudest one here? Who’s the one ignoring people’s rights to their family’s Concept Core and acting like they own it?”

She crossed her arms, looked across all of them, and gave a fearless smile.

“You’re in the way and I can’t trust you. It isn’t Japanese UCAT or any other UCAT that 3rd-Gear trusts. We trust in the Leviathan Road itself!”

She took a breath.

“Besides, how can you ask American, German, and Japanese UCAT to take responsibility? None of you shed any blood helping fight in the past. That makes this an issue between those three UCATs. They may have hidden the truth from the other Gears, but as long as we don’t complain, they don’t owe anyone anything for that.”

“…”

“Who was it that decided to meddle in our business and grill those three UCATs over this? If you’re gonna grill anyone, make it that old man behind me.”

“M-Miyako-kun! Are you using me for a noble sacrifice!?”

“You don’t refer to a sandbag as a sacrifice.”

Ooshiro pretended to cry again, but she ignored him and continued speaking.

“Listen. We’ll only talk through the Leviathan Road and I’m sure Top-Gear’s the same. So if you want to act so mature and full of yourself while you stick your nose in our business…”

She swung her left leg to send her other slipper flying forward.

“Take this and cool your head!!”

But as soon as the slipper took flight, a sound joined it.

“!”

Her slipper exploded in midair.

She frowned at the sound of bursting fabric and took a step back.

The man in black had raised his right hand at some point and he did not lower it.

“I would prefer not to use this method.”

“A sniper? …Are you insane? I’m 3rd’s representative.”

“I came here prepared to dirty my name. …My country is strict about our work.”

He smiled bitterly as if to say he had no choice.

“And you are originally from Low-Gear, so you are only 3rd’s representative by pure luck.”

“It wasn’t luck, you idiot. A lot of hard work went into that.”

“U-um, Lady Miyako? You can praise Moira 2nd if you want, but, uh, that is indecent.”

“Don’t be silly. Having kids isn’t indecent, so baby-making is perfectly decent.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Moira 1st despite tilting her head in confusion over whether to accept that or not.

Miyako sighed, faced forward, and placed a hand on her stomach.

“Simply put, do you see no meaning in letting 3rd live on?”

“We are not bringing emotion into the equation. We will simply eliminate anything that stands in the way of our benefit,” he said. “And what about this? Below Izumo UCAT, the cockpit containing the body and soul of 3rd’s king is stored inside and protected by a blue god of war, but that is proof that you believe he is the true king. …In that case, surely you have some reservations in calling yourself 3rd’s representative.”

“It’s the wife’s job to look after the house when her husband’s away. That’s pretty basic.”

“Even if that could bring ruin to the ‘house’ that is 3rd?”

“Every woman wants to hear she’s beautiful enough to cause the fall of a great kingdom.”

“Then we must nip that fall in the bud before it reaches Low-Gear as well.”

She smiled bitterly at his decisive tone of voice.

“It must be tough playing your role. Now express that feeling in Chinese.”

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, that’s it, that’s it.” She went on to mimic his tone of voice. “Xie xie. …Now look to the side.”

The man in black turned right.

He found something floating in empty air there.

“A handgun…”

Everyone else also looked to the side or behind.

A handgun was floating right next to each of them and aiming at their head.

“…!?”

They all realized those were the handguns they themselves had brought for self-defense.

Moira 1st stepped to the side behind Miyako.

A maid with short blonde hair stood in the space she revealed.

“Well done, Moira 2nd. Multiple parallel operations with gravitational control are really your thing.”

Moira 2nd nodded expressionlessly and Ooshiro spoke up from next to Miyako.

“Miyako-kun, why is there a sniper rifle floating next to me?”

“Oh, we had one extra after taking that from the sniper. Moira 2nd, if you need to fire one as a warning, use this one. That’ll make a good example.”

“How cruel can you be!?”

“Shut up,” she said before facing forward again.

Ahead of her, the Chinese UCAT representative was frowning in her direction.

“Surely you aren’t going to call this unfair,” she said. “It’s the same method you used. And if this is the language you use to negotiate, then you lost this negotiation to 3rd.”

“…”

She received silence in response, so she suddenly snapped her fingers.

“!?”

The solid sound from her fingers was only a sign, but everyone assumed it was a gunshot.

After being designated the warning, Ooshiro was the fastest to react.

“My life is flashing before my eyes!! And in 2D!!”

However, the next sound was different.

It was the sound of cloth hitting a surface.

“What?”

The man in black looked upwards.

Something had hit his head and produced the previous sound.

“That’s a slipper. The first one I kicked bounced upwards, remember?”

Miyako smiled as she explained what the sound and the object on the man’s head were.

“After it flew upwards, Moira 2nd held it near the ceiling with her gravity, but no one noticed. Everyone was too focused on the meeting…or rather, our exchange.”

“I see.” The Chinese representative’s cheeks twisted a little. “We had lost the calm needed to negotiate as far back as that.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she corrected. “It wasn’t that you did a bad job. …We’re just better than you.”

“I see,” he said again.

He then sighed and removed the slipper from his head.

He pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket, wrapped the slipper in it, and placed them in his pocket.

“So 3rd-Gear wishes for Team Leviathan to resolve this issue, is that correct?”

“It is. And remember one thing: the other Gears are challenging and negotiating with Team Leviathan right now. That means we’ll only take our fight to the group that’s actually looking at us. We’re all picky like that. So unfortunately…all of you are just in the way.”

She sighed, crossed her arms, looked across everyone there, and opened her mouth again.

“If only you’d been looking at us instead of the Concept Core.”

She did not stop there.

“After all, my husband was looking at me.”

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