6 Chapter 2 part 2

He chased the back of the figure flying past him with his eye, but the figure was gone already. When he looked up, he could see a white Heart Hybrid Gear ascending high to the sky chasing after Albatross.

Aine pulled the trigger of the type-89 rifle in her hand and scattered sparks on Albatross' back.

That was a good skill.

If this was a dogfight, then this would be Aine's victory.

However, the armor of Albatross repelled those bullets really easily.

On the contrary Albatross stopped still in the sky and directed its bayonet towards Aine while turning its body behind. Normally, a bayonet was a rifle which had a short sword fixed on its tip, but the bayonet of AU had the shape of sword blade fused with gun grip and trigger as its handle.

When the trigger of that bayonet was pulled, the sword emitted light and a bullet of light was fired heading to Aine.

The speed of the bullet was fast. It was hard to chase it with eyes, but Aine evaded that bullet nimbly. And then she was encircling Albatross and rained bullets from all directions.

But there was no effect.

Aine threw away the magazine that had become empty and inserted a new ammo magazine.

She beautifully evaded the bullet of light that Albatross fired again then she closed the distance in one breath.

And then――

She struck.

"Wait... eeeh-!?"

A strong punch hit Albatross's chin, making that giant body bend backwards greatly.

'Eh... isn't that attack the most effective compared to all she had done until now?'

Aine thrust the muzzle of the type-89 rifle into the gap of the raised neck and pulled the trigger. She kept shooting until her ammo ran out, then Aine kicked the Albatross and took some distance.

The kicked Albatross powerlessly began to fall, after a while it exploded largely. Its scattered fragments transformed into fragments of light while raining down to the ground.

'Amazing! She really defeated a magic weapon with a normal weapon!'

Aine descended down to the ground. Kizuna hurried on to the location where she would land in order to greet her.

"Oi, that's amazing just now! You did it! You defeated a magic weapon from AU!"

However, Aine ignored Kizuna, she once again crouched in the corner of the park and twisted a handle of a hatch.

The box that flew out from the opened ground was lined up with firearms.

"Wait, this kind of thing is everywhere in the float!?"

"Of course. We don't know when the enemy will come attacking after all."

This time Aine took out an even bigger gun than the type-89. It was a 12.7mm heavy machine gun. Normally it was not something that a human could use by carrying it by hand, but this one had been forcefully remodeled so it was usable by hand. Just its main part had the total weight of nearly 40 kilo, but Aine lightly lifted it up.

"Type-89's firepower is just too weak."

After wrapping ammo belt on her body, she flew up to the sky once more.

Seeing off her figure, Kizuna felt like he had been left behind.

In contrast with Aine's action which had no hesitation, Kizuna didn't know what he should do. He was standing still in that place for a while.

――'Shouldn't I also fight?

No, no, just what kind of impertinent thought you had, me.

With my aptitude for Heart Hybrid Gear, I cannot properly fight the enemy', that was what his mother told him. He had beam cannon, but it was hard to break through the armor of magic weapons, and even if he could fly in the sky, he couldn't fly while carrying something heavy.

{Kizuna, it's pointless for human without any talent no matter how hard he works. Talent will shine if it is polished, but if there was nothing to be polished in the first place, then it won't turn into anything.}

The words of his mother were revived in his ear.

His mother was a genius. A person that was like a mass of talent.

His mother's last academic background was as a third year student of elementary school.

At that time she was already publishing numerous reformative papers on the internet. She had tied contracts with several corporations and research institutes as a researcher and mysterious consultants at the same time. Even with her identity unidentified at that time, her existence was like a kind of deity.

The Heart Hybrid Gear was one of the inventions of such a mother.

His big sister was also an abnormally superior person since she was a child. It was overwhelming for him to always be compared with his sister.

But, that big sister herself was always kind to Kizuna.

{Kizuna. The worth of a human is not from the height or depth of their ability. It's a problem of how you live.}

On top of being superior, she was a really good person.

'Among such superhuman family, how should this me that is the most average should live?'

Kizuna stared at Aine who was fighting in the sky.

Even if he couldn't fight directly, wasn't there still something else he could help with?

To equip his Heart Hybrid Gear, there was a need to yell that, its name.

"E..."

'No, no, no!

Calm down, Hida Kizuna!'

Courage was necessary just to shout that name.

Of course, courage was also needed for fighting.

Courage was also needed even for facing his past where he was abandoned by his mother.

And then, it was embarrassing to speak of the code for equipping his gear.

'Shit-! Of all things, just why did that mother of mine pick a naming like that!'

He absolutely hated that name!

When he was a child he didn't understand its meaning and he yelled that name innocently, but then he knew the meaning of that word at a certain time and he felt greatly wounded――

"Hm? What?"

A small shaking was repeating in the ground.

The tiles covering the park were beginning to open like accordion curtains.

"Uwaa-, this is bad-!"

Kizuna started to run.

"Shit-, so this park is using interception system!"

He crossed over the road and hid in the shadow of a building nearby.

From the opened ground, a missile was fired, rising to the sky while trailing flames behind. However, there was no figure of magic weapon where the missile was going.

"Just what are they aiming at?"

Suddenly the missile exploded in the sky.

He took a deep breath and then looked up to the sky once more.

"...hm? That's, what's that?"

The sky where he looked up was strangely distorted when he looked carefully.

When he focused his eyes, that distortion was like something rectangle that was slim and long. It was fairly big.

No way... was that the battleship of AU!?

Shivers ran through his back.

It was mainly rumored that the ship from AU couldn't be discovered by radar searching. If it couldn't be identified by eyesight on top of that, then there would be no way to hit them.

And then from that warship, new magic weapons were descending down.

The second wave of missile was further fired from the park. When he turned back, the wall of the building behind Kizuna's back was beginning to open like a shutter.

"Oi oi! This thing is also a camouflage!?"

Megafloat was constructed with the assumption of fighting the AU. Due to that, defense systems were incorporated everywhere.

From the defense system that was camouflaged as a building, a large type particle cannon appeared.

"Aa―, I cannot keep up with this at all!"

At the same time with him sprinting away, a tremendous roar resounded from his back.

He felt severe heat at his back, but he somehow managed to not end up dead by being roasted.

He patted his chest while sighing in relief before looking for a place where he could calm down, he continued to run recklessly.

After a while, he arrived at a place where there were many warehouses lining up.

Perhaps there were stray shots hitting this place, but there were many cardboard boxes scattered around haphazardly, the snacks stored inside the boxes were scattered everywhere.

Kizuna put his hand on the wall and tried to put his breathing in order.

"Haa, haaa... a, anyway, seems like this place is not a dummy warehouse. As expected it's not a defense system."

At the other side of the warehouse was immediately the sea. In the end, it seemed that he had run along the edge of Ataraxia.

He could see explosions happening in the sky far away. A red light was drawing a line, flying around in the sky.

Was that Chidorigafuchi Aine?

Suddenly, while he was thinking about such thing, a gigantic hand appeared before his eyes.

"Wha-...!?"

That hand which had sea water dripping from it caught hold of Ataraxia's edge.

With a pull-up trick, that body showed its figure.

A giant body with horn growing on it was overflowing with sea water, a magic weapon was landing on Ataraxia.

Its total height was ten meters. A category-B magic weapon, [Viking].

Shit-! Now that it had come to this, he wouldn't be able to escape without making some sacrifice. There was nothing to do but equipping his Heart Hybrid Gear.

It was not for fighting, but for escaping.

"E――"

At that moment, a hole opened in the Viking's body.

'Chidorigafuchi!?'

Thinking that, he looked for the Heart Hybrid Gear with blue light running on that white body.

However, what entered his eyes was a girl holding a katana charging here.

"Go! Blade!"

Together with that calling voice, the black haired girl moved the swords floating at the surrounding air. With agile movement, the swords flew in the air and assaulted the Viking. The Viking tried to intercept them, but the blades skewered it like a joke.

"Haaaa!"

The girl took a stance of holding her sword above her head and slashed at the Viking.

The Viking was bisected into two from its head.

The girl landed in front of Kizuna and waved her sword as if assuming a posture.

The Viking raised an explosion as if that gesture was the signal.

The splinters turned into clusters of light in the air.

'E, eh?'

Was he, saved?

However, when that girl swung her sword, the tip was directed right at Kizuna's nose.

"What is an ordinary student doing in this kind of place! Furthermore in casual clothing like that!"

"Eh, who, are you?"

"You don't know about me? I am Himekawa Hayuru, a public morals committee member of Ataraxia! What year and what group of students are you!?"

"E, err, I'm a transfer student, this is my first day..."

The girl who introduced herself as Himekawa Hayuru was taken aback before she stared fixedly at Kizuna's face.

"Then you are the new team member then! Do you have a Heart Hybrid Gear?"

Kizuna nodded his head repeatedly.

"Then, please fight together with us! Right now is an emergency situation!"

'Eeeeeeeeeeeeee! That's, even if you suddenly told me! No, rather please don't expect any fighting ability from me!'

Himekawa seems to be losing her temper when Kizuna didn't reply, she snapped at Kizuna.

"What are you doing! Please hurry! We who possess Heart Hybrid Gear are existences that should become the shield of the people! We have to become the sword of the powerless people!"

Himekawa talked passionately, but Kizuna could only feel uneasy.

That was because new magic weapons were descending down to here.

Furthermore, this time their number was many. There was ten category-C Blue Head. Also, there was even a larger group of Brigands coming down here.

Even when looking at that large group of enemies, Himekawa didn't falter at all.

"Hmph. Again they come... come! You too, let's fight together!"

"No, that's why, I――"

Blue Heads raised a tremor in the ground with their landing, they brandished their swords and headed here.

At that time, flashes and sound of shockwaves pierced the sky of the park.

Wind hole was opened in a Blue Head's body, then it exploded greatly.

He thought that it was Himekawa launching her Blade once again, but the Blades were still floating around the back of Himekawa this time.

"Hayuru? Can you stop playing around I wonder?"

There was one more person in the air, a girl with Heart Hybrid Gear put on her body.

It was a beautiful girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

'So this is what they mean by dynamite body', Kizuna thought.

From her large breasts, to her waists that radically turned slim, and a butt that was stretching as if it were going to explode in a turn.

She was glamorous and gorgeous.

The gaps between her gear were shining, that luminescence which was golden in color also played a part in her gorgeous impression.

And then, the armaments which were fixed on her back and around her hips also showed the powerful fire power at her disposal.

The cannon muzzles that could possibly fired in all directions were moving separately, each of them was establishing a different target.

All of them spouted out fire all at once.

"Uwawawawawawa!"

Intense explosive sound rumbled, particle bullets were grazing Kizuna from all directions.

The shockwave from that made his body stagger.

Until the bombarding was over, he didn't feel like he was going to stay alive.

The bombarding was over after a few seconds, the surroundings were wrapped in silence.

When he timidly observed the surroundings, the Blue Heads and Brigands had been wiped out.

'A... amazing.'

It was not just because the firepower was powerful. That was an accurate shooting. It looked like she was firing randomly to all directions, but not to mention himself and Himekawa, there was no damage at all even at the surrounding facility. She was attacking only aiming accurately at the magic weapons.

When the girl softly landed on the ground, she faced Himekawa and continued talking as if there was nothing.

"That's why, it's hard doing this alone. It's severe doing this when Hayuru slacks off." (TN: Yurishia had a characteristic way of talking. She often drag off the end of her sentence a little. For example 'that's whyy' 'slack offf' like those, I wonder if I should write it like that here or it's better to just write it normally?)

Hearing those words, Hayuru stepped forward with a clink.

"Yu, Yurishia-san-! This I is a committee member of public morals! And you called me slacking off!? That's an offensive insult! Please take your words back right now!"

Her face was bright red and she kept talking on and on.

"Araa, I wonder if I stepped on a landmine here?"

The blonde beautiful girl called Yurishia parried Himekawa's fury with a smile.

"Rather than that, I wonder who is that boy over there―♪ Hayuru's boyfriend?"

"Boyf...-!?"

Her face that was already too red became even redder.

"I-i-i-I, impossible-! Licentious! Filthy! In the first place even touching a boy is something that is not allowed! We, we are shouldering a lofty goal of――"

"Ok, ok, I understand. Then, let's just clean up the descending down magic weapons. If we don't quickly tidy this up, then not only Ataraxia, even Megafloat Japan as a whole will be sunk down you know?"

With a bright smile, she said something terrifying.

"Guh... I, I understand. Certainly right now is not the time to argue. Let's properly talk about this matter later on!"

The Unit at Yurishia's back emitted light. The next instant she flew up to the sky. Her figure turned small in the blink of an eye. Himekawa also followed after her.

Kizuna was left completely by himself alone in that place.

{You too, let's fight together!}

He recalled back Himekawa's voice.

Even if he was told that, there were things he could do and couldn't do.

Just as his mother told him, he couldn't even stand at the start line if he didn't have the talent in the first place.

When he moved his gaze to the city's direction, Chidorigafuchi flying in the sky drawing blue tracks behind her entered his eyes.

'Even I actually want to be like that――,'

However, Chidorigafuchi's condition was strange.

Her movement was dull. Her nimble body movement like before this had disappeared, even the machine gun she held in her hand was hanging down heavily.

What? Just what in the world was going on?

And then finally, her movements stopped.

'D, dangerous!'

Direct hit.

The enemy's cannon hit Aine. Flame explosion spread in the sky like a blooming flower.

"...That's"

Kizuna was dumbfounded.

From inside the flame, the figure of Aine with smoke trailing behind her appeared.

However, power had left her whole body, she was falling to the ground.

'O, oi! That's seriously bad right there!

Kizuna's eyes wandered. His gaze roamed the sky, he was desperately looking for the Heart Hybrid Gear of Yurishia and Himekawa.

'Save her quickly! Your comrade is in danger!'

Even when he yelled so in his heart, there was no signs of those two coming.

'What to do?

What to do!'

{Kizuna. The worth of a human is not from the height or depth of their ability. It's a problem of how you live.}

His sister's words resounded in his mind.

'That's right isn't it, Nee-chan. If not right here right now, then just when I'll use it!'

Kizuna took off his jacket.

He wasn't wearing a pilot suit, that made his affinity with the Heart Hybrid Gear even lower.

"Kuh, can't be helped!"

In order to make up for the demerit of not wearing pilot suit even for a little, he also took off his T-shirt vigorously. When his upper body became naked, Kizuna took in a large deep breath.

"EROS!"