Authors: Shiden Kanzaki

Tags: #Fiction

Vengeance Is Mine (27 page)

Peace had returned to Tokyo Area. The once widespread violence was quickly subjugated, and the people who had fled Tokyo Area on airplanes also returned.

Rentaro gave a big sigh.

In the process of restoring order to the area, a number of kinks were found. Winning shelter tickets were stolen and swindled, there were counterfeits, of course, and since women and children were given priority, there were men who had dressed up as women in order to get rations inside the shelter. There were even two self-defense force
troops who were arrested when they tried to get on the last flight out of the area with underground tickets.

Rentaro was also flabbergasted to find that there were a large number of civil officers mixed in with the people who were coming back by plane. They had promptly run away and abandoned Tokyo Area, and they came back looking as if nothing had happened.

“Mphntaro.”

Rentaro tilted his head when he heard this and saw Enju stuffing chocolate in her mouth as she chewed, getting her mouth dirty.

He tapped Enju’s forehead lightly. “Idiot, don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“Hmph,” said Enju sullenly.

Watching her face, he was glad in his heart that Enju had recovered.

The other day, Rentaro and Enju had attended the funeral of the girls who were his students. Kisara and Tina were saddened by their deaths, and Enju had cried loudly the whole time. Seeing that, Rentaro thought from the bottom of his heart that he was glad he brought Enju with him.

Funerals were places to mourn the dead, but at the same time, they were also places for the living to sever ties with the dead. Enju cried and cried and cried, and that probably allowed her to finally be able to give up any regrets she had about the girls who had passed. Those girls probably did not want the lives of those still alive to be continually influenced by shadows of their deaths.

Seeing the bones of the girls at the crematorium, Enju murmured, “When people die, they turn into ashes and smoke, huh…?”

For some reason, Rentaro could still hear her saying that in his head.

They also saw the old man, Matsuzaki. All of his precious students were gone, so Rentaro was prepared for the man to be spitting curses, but contrary to Rentaro’s expectations, the man came over and thanked him over and over, making Rentaro feel perplexed and embarrassed.

“I’m sure the girls were happy. Thank you for looking after them,” the man repeated as he grasped Rentaro’s hand.

Rentaro accepted that with mixed feelings.

Ever since that day, Kisara had hidden the Tendo Killer and returned to being her usual self. No, it was probably more accurate to say that she
appeared
to have returned to her normal self. Even when Rentaro tried to talk about what happened then, she avoided the subject. However, ever since that day, there was no doubt that something inside Kisara had definitely changed.

There were four people left for Kisara to get revenge on. The only time to confront her about this was when she appeared as the Tendo Killer.

“Rentaro, I’m getting nervous. Do you think my outfit’s all right?” When he looked, he saw Enju turn around once for him. She was dressed up in her best clothes, wearing a brightly colored dress. It was an understatement to say she looked lovely, but he didn’t want to tell her that directly, so he just said curtly, “Well, it’s probably fine.”

And then, Rentaro also looked at his own clothes. He was wearing a pure white formal suit that he had worn before, for another ceremony. Rentaro and Enju were on this train headed to Tokyo Area’s First District, where they had been invited to the Seitenshi’s palace to attend a decoration ceremony. This time, Enju was also with him.

Rentaro thought he knew that he had taken heroic actions, but it was still hard for him to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling he got when he was called a hero. Apparently in war, those who ordered the deaths were the ones who benefited, but the real heroes weren’t people like Rentaro. The real heroes were those who threw their lives away and died glorious deaths without even having their names made known. They were people like Midori Fuse, Shoma Nagisawa, Nagamasa Gado, and a great many other civil officers and self-defense force troops. Not Rentaro.

Shoma and Midori were both gone. They had already gone past the boundary to the world beyond and now existed there. Rentaro would never be able to see them again in this life.

He himself would likely also have to make a decision soon to live or die.

Rentaro shook his head. He was glad at least that the Family Register Revocation Law had been rejected in the National Diet. The danger still remained that they would look for a chance to present it again, but this could be called a modest victory for Rentaro and the others.

On a different day, he had been cross-examined by Enju about how he had knocked her unconscious without permission during the fight
with Aldebaran. She cried and hit him and finally bit at his head, and he couldn’t get her off no matter how hard he pulled.

They finally struck a deal after she made him swear by the “pledge” the teary-eyed Enju wrote in messy letters.

“I will not face the enemy by myself.”

“I will do everything with Enju from now on.”

As he was being made to read the pledge with such conditions written into it, Rentaro realized that he was crossing his fingers where Enju couldn’t see them. If another time came when only one of them, either Enju or him, could be saved, he would do the same thing to Enju without hesitation. That was his own way of showing his path to the one he loved who was too close yet too far away. Rentaro Satomi did not know how to show Enju Aihara his love in any other way.

He checked the time. At this rate, they were cutting it close on whether or not they would make it to the ceremony on time. If he was even a minute late, it was obvious that Kisara would nag at him at the Seitenshi’s palace again, so he definitely wanted to avoid that this time.

But just then, there was a clang, and the train suddenly slowed down, and the grips all shook at once.

An announcement was played inside the train. “There has been a passenger injury before the Tokyo Area District 3 station. The train will be stopped for a while.”

They were definitely going to be late now.

Rentaro noticed that he had clicked his tongue without realizing it.

Just then, Enju murmured in a faint and forlorn voice, “Rentaro, why do people jump…? Are they in pain? Are they having a hard time? Isn’t there anything we can do for them…?”

Rentaro was shocked. Just now, he had been more concerned about the train being late than about a person’s life. He hugged Enju close with a shaking arm and buried his face in his chest, closing his eyes tightly.

“Wh-what’s the matter, Rentaro?”

“I’m afraid of myself. I’ve become numb to the deaths of others. Enju, please stay with me forever. Please don’t leave me.”

Enju smiled with mixed feelings. “Don’t worry, Rentaro. You and I will always, always be together.”

•
Enju Aihara has a Gastrea virus corrosion rate of 43.5%

• An estimated 520 days left until shape collapse

AFTERWORD

Where is the balance between art and compromise? Authors in particular are said by society to have absolute authority from the minute they open up a text editor and start working to when they finish their work, but that is not necessarily true. Time limits especially can expose dilemmas of quality and compromise that affect their work and with much headache.

Depending on the person, the idea that anyone can create something good with enough time could be true or false, but either way, compromise is necessary. It might sound good to have your own style and never listen to other’s demands, but acting arrogantly like that is like stepping on a tiger’s tail—those who do it would not be able to remain authors for long.

By the way, what about Shiden Kanzaki? Ever since he was admitted into the Dengeki group, he’s been an impertinent transfer student, ignoring industry customs immediately after entering and doing crazy things, making the chief editor call him out and yell at him, not thinking about profits as he made changes over and over and making the sales department mad at him. Anyway, he’s a terrible problem child.

It’s impossible to count the number of times he’s said, “No, I won’t hand it over!” and caused trouble for his managing editor by not handing over the manuscript on hand.

Yes, even I have started to reflect on my style and the trouble I’ve continued to cause for others, and I have started to doubt my thoughts from their core.

My smart readers might give me the advice to use the 80-20 rule. Pros are able to finish 80 percent of the quality with 20 percent of the effort, but in order to get the remaining 20 percent of the quality, it would take 80 percent of the effort, so it’s not worth it.

Kind readers might try to comfort me with Sturgeon’s Law. Since 90 percent of everything is crap, at least we sometimes make something good.

Where is the balance between art and compromise?

In the first place, is compromise really necessary? Compromise is like knocking down dominoes, where if you compromise once, then little by little, it’ll spread to everything.

Like many people have said of the entertainment industry in particular, the speed of supply and demand is clearly different from ten years ago. Let’s call the speed of that change a raging rapid.

If I were to be loved by the editorial department and the sales department and my managing editor—but then throw out a work that the readers find boring on the stormy seas of the entertainment industry, will I really be able to smile at that point?

Shiden Kanzaki wants to leave behind something that readers will truly find of value
because
of the age we live in.

Of course, works have their waves, and it is a difficult trick to maintain the balance of quality. More importantly, in a series, I have never really seen anything that has been able to keep things continually interesting all the time. But I think aiming for that as much as I can is very meaningful.

I have reached a good conclusion. I’m a problem child bastard after all, who thinks there’s no point in telling a story if I have to compromise on its quality. I apologize to everyone who is involved. I intend to continue causing problems from now on, so please cooperate with me in creating a good book.

THIS MONTH’S KUROSAKI

At one point, he called me at his wits’ end. “We seriously won’t make the manuscript delivery! You’ve gathered dragon balls for this moment, right? If you don’t use them now, when will you use them? Hurry up and summon Shen Long, please!” he said. It’s come to the point where even my managing editor is pleading for a Shen Long summons.

The cruel reality is that we authors and editors who prize objective and logical thought above all are resorting to entreating the gods. Oh dear, is this book really going to be all right……?

REGARDING THE MANGA VERSION

About half a month after the publication of this book, on August 27, the comic version of
Black Bullet
will begin serialization in the magazine
Dengeki Maoh
. It is drawn by the runner-up of the Thirteenth Dengeki Comics Grand Prix, Morinohon. Please look forward there to the efforts of the cool Rentaro and adorable Enju, as drawn by his sharp, precious brush.

This time, I’d also like to thank my managing editor, Mr. Kurosaki, who stayed with me patiently as I didn’t quite meet the scheduled deadline; the illustrator, Saki Ukai, who did the character designs for all the excessive new characters; Morinohon, who is in charge of the comic version; everyone in the editorial department; and everyone else involved with this book.

Finally, to my dear readers who have taken this book in their hands. Um, well, in this volume, the merciless developments continue… But next time, there’ll be lots of Lolita-complex and breasts, so please wait!

Thank you very much for buying this book.

I pray that all of my readers will be blessed.

Shiden Kanzaki

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Copyright

BLACK BULLET, Volume 4

SHIDEN KANZAKI

Translation by Nita Lieu

Cover art by Saki Ukai

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

BLACK BULLET, Volume 4

©SHIDEN KANZAKI 2012

Edited by ASCII Media Works

First published in Japan in 2012 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.

Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

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