Black Bullet, Vol. 1: Those Who Would Be Gods (3 page)

It didn’t seem like he was sleepwalking. This was a residential area, but he didn’t have any friends who lived in the area. He couldn’t possibly have trekked all the way out here, then. Or perhaps he had just set out on an aimless walk, and the inertia of his feet had carried him here.
Inertia
, he repeated inside his head and couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

Ever since the company he worked for had gone under, it was as if he’d just kept living through inertia. Tired of having his savings get lower and lower, he’d tried to compensate for their loss through gambling and poker, but that was the beginning of the end. By the time his delirium died down and he was able to objectively see how stupid he had been, he had already paid an immense fee to learn his lesson.

After the Gastrea War, Sumiaki had looked with scorn on those people who had lost their purpose in life and were slowly killing themselves, but he had now turned into exactly what he had scorned in the past.

He could not bring himself to blame his wife and daughter, who had washed their hands of him early on. When he lost money, he would get drunk and violent. No one could call him an excellent father by any standard. His ability to barely maintain a clear head was, pathetically, because he had run out of money to buy alcohol. His house had been foreclosed upon, and now that he spent all day in his cramped apartment spacing out, he’d grown uneasy at not being a productive member of society, and was occasionally so overwhelmed with emptiness that he wanted to scream.

Sumiaki bought a sports drink from a vending machine by a utility pole and put it to his mouth. Maybe it was because the flavor was too light, but it didn’t taste like anything to him. He downed the five hundred milliliters in the blink of an eye, but it just seemed to make him even thirstier. “Seriously, why am I here—”

At that moment, Sumiaki was taken aback, hearing someone yelling in a loud voice.

“Rentaro, you insensitive imbecile!”

In front of him, he saw a girl with a long shadow walking toward him. She seemed about ten years old, wearing a short skirt and a fancy coat lined with a checkered fabric. She had thick-soled lace-up shoes, and her hair was tied with largish hair ties into pigtails that swayed slightly left and right.

As he passed her, he heard her furious voice saying, “You bastard, you’ve got some nerve abandoning me, your fiancée, like that!”

It seemed like someone had left her behind, but she passed Sumiaki without noticing his presence. Thinking she lived in the area, he called her from behind. “Miss, can you give me some directions?”

He himself was surprised at how suspicious he sounded, so it made sense that the girl was surprised. She lifted her face, suddenly jumping and backing away.

“W-wait, please. I don’t mean you any harm. My name is Sumiaki Okajima, and I think I live around here, but I don’t know how to get home.”

The girl looked at him without moving a muscle. As he was thinking about what else he could say to clear up any misunderstanding, the girl seemed to realize something and looked at him in bewilderment. “Sir… You don’t know what has happened to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s nothing I can do for you. Of course, there’s nothing anyone else in the world could do for you, either. But… Well, is there anything you have left to say in the end? To your family or friends? You have someone, right, sir?”

“What in the world are you saying?”

“I’m not saying this because I want to. But Rentaro says it’s my duty to tell the person, so that’s why I’m telling you, sir.”

Their conversation wasn’t meshing properly. Sir? This girl that barely came up to Sumiaki’s chest was looking at him with what seemed like pity in her upturned eyes.

“You have not realized, after all? Then you should take a look at yourself. But do it slowly, so as not to fall into a panic. Then you will understand my words.”

Overpowered by the mysterious resignation the girl emitted, Sumiaki looked at himself. “What the… What is this?” His abdomen was dyed red. No, it wasn’t just his abdomen. He had a large wound that looked like he was ripped open up to his collarbone or throat, and there was still fresh blood flowing from it. His blood was dripping and forming a puddle on the paved road where he was standing.

Gingerly touching his abdomen with his hand, he felt a slippery, unpleasant sensation. Why didn’t he notice until now? Why didn’t it hurt, anyway? What had happened to him? Just then, his vision took
a turn for the worse, and it looked like the sky and the earth switched places. The next thing he knew, Sumiaki had collapsed on the ground. “I…remember. That’s right, I became penniless, and then…”

In the countless job interviews Sumiaki had gone to, his character would occasionally be attacked, and he would be tormented by frustration that made him grind his teeth. Eventually, he was hired as a solar cell module cleaner. It was hard work, but he was guaranteed a certain wage, so once his life settled down, he might even be able to bring his wife and daughter back to live with him. It was still just a dream, and his goal for the time being was just to put his life back together, but once he realized there were still things that he could do, his body was filled with excitement.

He wanted to at least hear their voices. Thinking that, he had gone out to the balcony of his apartment to call his wife’s parents’ house. In the few rings it took for the other side to answer, Sumiaki looked up suddenly, which might have been the most unfortunate thing he did in his life.

There was a giant, human-size organism stuck to the wall on the fourth floor. It seemed to choose the moment Sumiaki noticed it to move, and its two eyes flashed red like fresh blood as it climbed down.

“I ran away after almost being killed by that Gastrea, and got all the way here.”

“You have infectious Gastrea in your bodily fluids,” the girl said in an emotionless voice.

Sumiaki looked at the marks left by two fangs on his collar. “Oh,” a resigned sound leaked out of his throat.

He remembered what he saw many times on TV during the war. A lab rat was injected with the Gastrea virus, and minutes later became a terrifyingly strange-looking creature that scared audiences out of their wits when it gave a cry.

After the girl pointed it out, his calf started to itch, and his body grew hot, tormented by a pressure that was bursting out from the inside. His DNA was probably being rewritten at high speed that very second. The next thing he knew, his eyes welled with tears. “Then you’re a civil officer’s…?”

“Yes, I am an Initiator. My name is Enju Aihara. I’m ten, and old enough to be a real lady.”

He tried to smile, but his face twisted with a spasm. His body was already starting to move on its own. “I have a favor to ask… Will you apologize to my wife and daughter for me? Tell them I’m sorry for everything I did.”

“I will.”

That was the last of the world Sumiaki saw. Just like that, he passed the critical point where he could stay in human form. Just as it seemed like his arms and legs were shriveling faster than common sense would allow, long, thin, pitch-black legs sprang out from his body as if piercing through it. Hair sprouted from the legs, and four pairs of glowing red eyes appeared on the head. His abdomen swelled up like a ball, and from the corners of his mouth, two glistening fangs grew in. The yellow-and-black spotted pattern would fill a human with a visceral disgust. This was a giant spider.

The petite girl didn’t scream or run away. She just quietly readied herself. Then, she was interrupted by a voice from a completely different direction. “Gastrea—Model Spider, Stage One, confirmed. Entering battle with it now!”

“Rentaro!” said the girl.

“Enju, you okay?”

Enju ran to him. Rentaro also ran toward her with his arms spread wide. Even if it was just for a short time, the two had been apart, and under the slowly setting sun, in a flood of emotions, they reunited with an embrace—an embrace Enju would under no circumstances allow, as she let loose a kick straight at Rentaro’s crotch.

“Owwwwww…” Holding his crotch, Rentaro went to his knees and put his forehead to the ground. Writhing with an intense pain unknown to any woman, Rentaro clenched his teeth and lifted his face. The girl, Enju Aihara, 145 centimeters tall, was looking down arrogantly at him with her hands on her hips.

“You have some nerve shamelessly showing your face in front of me again after throwing me off the bicycle.”

“A-are you mad?”

“Of course I am.”

“I-I had no choice. If I didn’t get this job, Kisara would have kicked my butt, you know!”

“I would do the same if you abandoned me.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

“You should just offer your buttocks quietly. Then the only remaining problem would be who is going to kick it. You can choose who will kick it.”

“Dummy, who wants to choose between two options like that?”

The two were interrupted once again by the roar of a gunshot. Arriving late to the scene was Tadashima, holding a smoking revolver in his hand. “Hey, you two! Are you ignoring the enemy to do a comedy sketch? Do your job, civsec!”

The newly born Gastrea’s skin spurted blood when the bullet hit it, but in the next instant, it began healing with terrifying speed, and finally spit out the .38-caliber bullets that Tadashima had fired from the healed wound. The Gastrea turned its head toward Tadashima and let out a shrill cry. Not good.

Rentaro decided it was faster to rush over and knock Tadashima to the ground than it was to yell at him to duck.

“
Oof!
What’re you doin—”

The giant spider lowered itself and jumped, scraping the area the two had just been with incredible force. Tadashima’s face paled.

“Inspector, this is a single-factor Jumping Spider Gastrea.”

“J-jumping spider?”

“The original is a spider that can jump tens of times its body length to get food. You can tell from the characteristic coloring on its body. Also”—Rentaro took Tadashima’s revolver—“regular bullets are not that effective against Gastrea. If you shoot at them, you’ll just make them excited, so you’re not supposed to use them.”

“Then how are you supposed to defeat them?!”

Just then, a dark shadow covered them, and Tadashima let out a short scream.

The smell of rotten eggs hit their noses, and Rentaro turned around slowly after feeling a chill run up his back. There was the giant spider with all eight legs opened wide. Opening and closing its mouthparts and fangs with venom glands on them, its stomach faced him. Its physical form and flashy coloring brought on a visceral feeling of disgust, and its spinnerets made a grating sound.

Seeming to suddenly notice something, the Gastrea quickly turned its body to face the small girl. Pointing its spinneret at the girl, it
trembled and suddenly covered the girl’s body with something that looked like a casting net, and changed positions.

“Eww, what is this? It’s rather sticky.”

The girl tried pulling at it with her hands, but whenever she did, the viscous threads wound themselves around her more.

At that moment, Rentaro glanced sharply at the glowing, slimy green strands, completely unlike a normal spider’s silk. It was the same as the stuff he had seen in the victim Sumiaki Okajima’s house.

“Get down, Enju!”

“Huh?”

The girl couldn’t react to the quick order. Her frail body was thrown to the side, and she flew almost twenty meters, scraping the ground so violently that she left a mark.

“Enju!” Rentaro shouted as he quickly drew his gun from his belt and pulled the trigger. His arm jumped with the recoil from the intense discharge. The second the bullet hit, the Gastrea let out a loud scream and tried to protect itself with its eight legs as it retreated. There was no sign of the wound starting to heal itself.

All right, this is good
, thought Rentaro to himself. He fired again. He fired bullets continuously at the spot where a leg had been blown off and its body was shaking violently off balance. Its hard exoskeleton ripped open, its bodily fluids gushed out, and the .40-caliber bullet drilled a black hole in its mark.

Rentaro fired about ten shots before the gun’s slide release stopped, telling him that it was out of bullets. In the distance, the Gastrea’s body was curled into a ball, and it didn’t even twitch. Approaching it carefully, he saw that one shot had taken one of its venomous fangs off, along with part of its face. But then Rentaro stopped.
Oh?
he thought. Not only had less than half of his bullets hit, but there was also no trace of any bullets hitting the vital organs. He gulped. He had a bad feeling about this.

In that instant, the spider jumped up and uncovered its venom glands, rushing straight at Rentaro. His body couldn’t react quickly enough to the surprise attack. Rentaro was hit, and his body stiffened.

Just then, with the sound of a fierce impact, the Gastrea’s body was thrown alongside the ground, bouncing once, crashing into the stone wall next to him, destroying it and making the utility pole collapse
along with it, blowing up a great pile of dust. For a second, he didn’t understand what had happened. “Oh, was that you, Enju?” he said finally.

Enju stood where the Gastrea had just been a moment ago, a proud look on her face. “Hah! You’re always letting down your guard too soon, Rentaro. I cannot bear to watch you.”

Tadashima’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. He surely couldn’t believe that this slight girl’s kick had sent flying the sixty-kilogram Gastrea that had been there a moment ago.

On the outside, the girl didn’t really look any different from a normal girl—except for one thing. Her eyes, black until just a moment ago, were now shining red. She had crimson eyes, just like the Gastrea.

The shock on Tadashima’s face slowly turned to understanding. “Ah, so this kid’s the Initiator.”

“I’m Rentaro’s partner, Enju Aihara. Remember that, you public servant,” she informed him deliberately, with a triumphant look. Her arrogance was improper for her age, yet at the same time charmingly beautiful.

Rentaro had learned his lesson after the ten-year-old girl pointed out his worthlessness, and reloaded before he approached the Gastrea with his gun out. Stretching its many legs up toward the sky, the spider gave a final spasm, and then was really dead.

Rentaro turned toward Tadashima and bowed his head seriously. “Sorry, Inspector. I let my guard down because it was a Stage One.”

“Hey, wait, weren’t you going on earlier about how regular bullets weren’t effective on Gastrea?” asked Tadashima.

Rentaro turned to face Tadashima. It wasn’t really a secret, so Rentaro didn’t say a word. He just showed his spare magazine—or rather, the bullets in it.

Tadashima’s small eyes widened in understanding. “I see, they’re Varanium bullets.”

Rentaro nodded and took one out, rolling it on his palm to show him. The tip of the golden cartridge—the Varanium-black bullet—reflected the setting sun sharply. “As you know, this is made of the metal Varanium, which inhibits the Gastrea’s ability to heal wounds.”

And it’s because we have this that mankind has barely been able to avoid extinction
, he thought inwardly. The Gastrea hated this metal
vehemently, and if they were thrown into a room lined with it, they were said to waste away and die.

“There are things you can do to a bullet, too, huh?” asked Tadashima.

“There are civsec officers who stand out more with swords and spears made of this metal, but mine is a bullet. The bullets are special, but the gun is just an ordinary gun,” Rentaro said. “Look.” He held out the XD he used to show him, and Tadashima put his hand on his chin and looked impressed.

Suddenly, Rentaro felt a few light tugs on the sleeve of his uniform and turned to see Enju smiling and vigorously pointing at herself. “I know, I know. You were amazing. Good job. And you saved my life. That’s what you wanted to hear, right?”

“I also have something to say to you.” Enju beckoned him, so Rentaro had no choice but to lean in to her eye level. He figured she just wanted to tell him that his finishing move was too weak, or that he should get stronger, which made him want to sigh.

Then, he found his head being quickly rotated, and like a surprise attack, something soft pressed against his lips.

Wha—?!
His body stiffened, and Enju moved away in a flash, hands clasped behind her back bashfully.

She laughed. “Thanks, Rentaro. You still have a long way to go as my partner, but when I let my guard down, you stood in the way of the enemy alone. That was kind of cool.”

“Y-you…”

“What, did you want to do it more? If it’s you, you can do some other things, too.”

Rentaro felt the blush rising in his cheeks. “I… Idiot! Don’t even say that kind of stuff as a joke! What’ll you do if there are people around who misundersta—”

Feeling a sudden chill on the back of his neck, he turned and saw Tadashima pull handcuffs from his hip and sidle over.

“You’ve got some strange tastes, you pig,” said Tadashima.

Rentaro broke out in a cold sweat. Tadashima continued glaring at him.

“Recently, there’s been an idiot playing pranks on girls in the area. His physique is about the same as yours, and his weight is about the same as yours, too… What do you think about that?”

“Y-you’ve gotta be kidding me. It’s a misunderstanding, a false accusation! I plead not guilty!”

“I’ll hear what you have to say at the station.”

“Y-you bastard!”

Rentaro and Tadashima chased after each other around Enju.

“E-Enju, please! Say something!”

Enju puffed her chest out as if to tell everyone to listen to her. “We have a deep relationship that cannot be summed up in one word.”

Tadashima cocked his revolver. What? Was he going to be shot dead?

“She’s a freeloader!” said Rentaro.

“He’s always so amazing at night that I can’t sleep,” said Enju.

“I toss and turn in my sleep!”

“Our futures are sworn to each other.”

“No, they’re not!”

Tadashima looked back and forth from Rentaro to Enju, comparing them. Finally, he put the handcuffs away. “Man, I was gonna put a pair of shiny bracelets on you, too.”

“P-please stop, Inspector. Your joke’s going too far.”

Rentaro drew a deep breath as his gaze dropped to Enju’s back. The skin on her back was peeled off, and it was completely red. It must have happened when she took the blow from that thing’s body earlier and scraped her back against the ground.