War and Cherry Blossoms
a Mecha Monogatari novella
— preview —
Early Saturday 4 May 2019
Iori was the first to awaken to the sounds of the not-so-distant battle, staccato booms of the colossal ordinance with which Japan fought the never-ending war against the Eschatos.
At first Iori thought it was just a storm, as the weather website Iori checked the day before had forecast rain for the region, and so she lay half-awake in bed for a few minutes before it clicked in her mind that the sounds she was hearing were not thunder. Autocannon fire? Iori sat upright in bed with a jolt. That’s a titan’s autocannon fire!
Iori reached out into the dark for her cell phone, which she kept on the nightstand just to the side of her bed, but her hand felt only the air where she expected the nightstand to be. Where is it? Where’s my phone? Where’s my nightstand? Where—
“Bathroom is at the end of the hall, to the left,” Gotô Natsuki mumbled, her face half-buried in her pillow on the other side of the full-sized bed she and Iori had to share. It was only then that Iori remembered that she was not at her home in Hashibakawame, but at a vacation home owned by Natsuki’s stepfather’s parents on the Shimokita Peninsula, overlooking Mutsu Bay.
Iori reached under her pillow and grabbed her phone, and then shook Natsuki’s shoulder. Is there a battle going on? Of course it’s a battle—what else could it be? But why wasn’t there an evacuation alert? “Natsuki-chan, wake up!” Oh, this is just perfect! There’s still no service on my cell phone. The light from her phone’s screen illuminated the area around Iori, and, using it as a makeshift flashlight, she cast the bedsheets back and leapt to her feet. “Natsuki-chan!”
The only sound Natsuki made in response to this was a weary muhhhh as she nuzzled her pillow. Iori ignored her, and went to the window. Outside, it was almost as dark as inside the room. Off in the distance to the south, toward the bay, Iori could see the sky light up with streaks of tracer fire and bright puffs of explosions. No, no, no, no! Not here! “Natsuki-chan!”
Natsuki was too firmly in the grip of sleep to respond.
Oh, this is no time to be sleeping! Iori gave up on trying to wake her friend and went back to the window. Her eyes now able to focus, she waited for a bright burst of light to the south, and in a whisper counted off the seconds until she heard the rumble from the explosion. “One, one thousand. Two, one thousand. Three, one thousand. Four, one thousand...” She was just about to say ‘eleven’ when the sound reached her, shaking the window just a little. Eleven seconds at three hundred forty meters per second... That’s almost four kilometers away, right on the coast.
Should I wake the others? Iori bit her lip as she considered the question. Looking at her phone, she noted the time—3:14 a.m.—and the little icon that indicated that there was no service out here. Of course. That’s why there was no siren. We’re out in the middle of nowhere. The nearest shelter is... Iori realized that she had no idea where the nearest shelter was. Well, it doesn’t matter, since it is not anywhere near here. I should wake Kôji-san, at least. He’ll know what to do.
Using the light from her cell phone’s screen to see by, Iori changed out of her pajamas and into the pair of blue jeans and black turtleneck she had worn the day before. As she stepped out into the hallway, she curled her toes against the warmth-stealing properties of the hardwood floor and tried to suppress a shiver without much success. I need thicker socks. The lights were on in the living room. That’s Kôji-san, for sure, Iori thought with a smile. Of course he’d be awake.
Sure enough, Aragaki Kôji was awake. He stood on the front porch, leaning on the railing and staring at the southern sky. He did not turn toward Iori, but he knew it was her. “G’morning, Iori-san.”
“Um...hi, Kôji-san.” Iori took a place at the railing about a half-meter from Kôji. She was surprised by how calm Kôji’s presence made he feel. “Four kilometers away, right?”
“Yeah, give or take,” Kôji replied. “The guns you can hear are the big 120mm precision cannons. The Eschatos aren’t anywhere near here.”
“Think we should wake Natsuki-chan and Aramiya-san?” Iori asked, shivering a bit.
Kôji shook his head. “I already told Aramiya, but he just went back to sleep.”
“How can he sleep through something like this?” Iori asked.
Kôji shrugged.
“And Natsuki-chan?” Iori asked.
“If she’s not awake, it’s better to just let her sleep through it,” Kôji said. “She’d spaz out like you wouldn’t believe. Besides, there isn’t anything we can do. Phones are out, both the cell phones and the landlines. Nearest shelter is in Kawauchimachi, and that’s right where the fighting’s going on. We don’t have a car to get there, anyways. So, I say we let her sleep.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Iori said. “But if it gets much closer, we’ll need to wake them.”
“Of course.” Kôji turned to face Iori, but just as quickly turned his gaze back southward. “Oh, and Iori-san?”
“What?”
“Well, your fly’s unzipped.”
Iori felt her face burn against the chill night air. Immediately she turned her back to Kôji and pulled her zipper up. How embarrassing! Iori returned to her place leaning on the railing and laughed nervously for a moment. “Cold out.”
Kôji, dressed in jeans. a white a-shirt, and his weathered brown leather jacket over it, shrugged and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Actually, it’s kind of warm for early May. Nine degrees Celsius. Practically toasty.”
Iori hugged herself to ward off the cold. “Only you would think nine degrees is toasty.”
“Want my jacket?” Kôji asked.
“No, because then you’d be cold,” Iori said.
“Not as cold as you,” Kôji said. “Your surface-to-volume ratio is too high.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Iori asked.
“It means you’re skinny as a rail, Iori-san,” Kôji said with a smile. “Go grab your own jacket, if you don’t want mine.”
“I’m fine, Kôji-san,” Iori said. “Really.”
Kôji looked over at Iori. It was clear from the look on his face that he did not believe her. “Okay.”
A sudden gust of wind made the wind chimes jingle atonally. Iori winced as the chill cut through her. She was about to admit defeat and return inside when she heard the trees breaking off in the distance to the southwest. Accompanying it were the sounds of colossal footfalls, which were getting closer with each step. Something large was running through the forest toward them. Iori backed away from the railing toward the house’s door. “Um, Kôji-san...”
Kôji stood motionless, his eyes wide.
As the sounds came closer, Iori reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket in an attempt to pull him back into the house. Oh, Kôji-san, this is no time to freeze up again! “Kôji-san!”
With the thunderous sound of trees being splintered and the ground shaking like an earthquake, a mecha smashed out of the forest. Iori pulled Kôji’s jacket half off of him as she tried to make him move. The mecha skidded and missed the porch by only a few meters. Iori pulled Kôji into the house as the mecha behind her stumbled and crashed to the ground. The mecha stood and ran to the northeast.
Inside, the whole house shook from the tremors caused by the mecha’s footfalls. Pictures fell off the walls and knickknacks rattled off shelves and crashed to the floor. Natsuki, screaming in terror, came running out into the hallway in just the t-shirt and panties she had slept in, and latched onto Iori’s arm. The house plunged into darkness, and the three of them stumbled to the floor in an inelegant heap.
I have no idea what to do now, Iori realized, pulling Natsuki closer to her, and not daring to let go of Kôji’s jacket sleeve.