EP.6 On a Starry Night 5
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Clearing away Anderson's body and the link cords took less than a minute. Even the blood the Vortex technomancer had coughed up was scrubbed away with remarkable speed.
Then showgirls in flamboyant costumes flooded the empty stage. Every last one of them wore ridiculous clown makeup — unmistakably the troupe Halloween had prepared.
To the tune of a lively melody, the showgirls shook their chests and hips, and the crowd erupted in cheers all over again. Meanwhile, the holographic jumbotron switched feeds, and the text announcing the second match — that is, that betting was now open — glittered across its surface.
Amid that swift, ruthlessly efficient cruelty, Ash made his way down the corridor and back to the waiting room.
The air inside was heavy. It was busy, too — the next match had to be prepared.
"Darling. Perfect timing."
Just then, Keith, who was surrounded by a crowd of people, waved and came over. Half-wearing her skintight bodysuit, she abruptly spun around and showed him her back.
"Would you zip me up? I can't reach."
"···."
Ash reached out without a word. His cold steel hand took hold of the zipper and drew it slowly up to the nape of her neck. The tight suit hugged her curves as it sealed, accentuating that famously sculpted figure.
"Thank you."
The full lips beneath her visor curved in a deep, sensuous line. For some reason, her smile seemed deeper than usual.
Ash gazed at her for a long moment, then let out a low electronic hum.
"So many gallant souls stand ready to aid a heroine — and yet it is me you ask to fasten your zipper?"
At that, Keith turned her head.
"Oh my? What a hurtful thing to say."
She tapped the tip of Ash's steel finger.
"I can't just ask anyone to put their hands on my back, can I? I'm not that easy of a woman, you know?"
"You say this to me without reservation?"
"Naturally. You saved my life, didn't you? Women are suckers for that sort of thing."
She grinned and ran a check over her suit here and there. It was the same Keith as always. And yet, looking closely at that face, something had clearly changed. Her speech came a touch too fast; her fingertips trembled, ever so slightly.
"Are you well?"
Keith, who had been moving briskly, stopped dead.
"What do you mean?"
"···."
Ash couldn't answer right away. Now that the question was put to him, he found himself with nothing to say.
What could he possibly say? That Anderson was dead — was she all right? That the two of them had seemed close — didn't it hurt? That with the score at 1–0, didn't she feel the weight? That could she even see the second match through?
How could anyone say such things to this woman — so obviously clinging on for dear life, whipping herself onward for the sake of the next match?
Ash slowly shook his head.
"···No, it was nothing. I misspoke."
At the flat apology, Keith gave a small laugh. That faint smile was a far cry from her usual sultry charm.
She studied Ash's bowed head for a moment, then spoke, slowly.
"You know, the truth is Andy came from Underland."
"···Underland?"
"Oh — right, you might not know what Underland is."
"No. I know it well enough."
"Mm."
Keith shrugged.
"Andy ran away from one of the crime syndicates down there. He barely made it to the surface, and even then they kept hunting him. And then, in his absolute darkest hour — Foundation took him in. After that, it was the one thing he never stopped saying: that someday he'd repay that debt in full. That's probably why he got the full-neuralization procedure, too."
She tapped her own visor with a fingertip.
"He volunteered for this Cyber Warfare match, you know. Said the moment for him to finally step up had come. Said he'd take responsibility for the first win."
Keith gave a small, wry laugh.
"And then he lost by five points. Idiot. If he'd just held on ten more seconds."
A heavy silence settled between them. Keith, apparently hating it, clapped her hands together sharply and brightened.
"Anyway! That's why I'm going to win. I have to take the victory Andy couldn't get. For his sake."
"···Hm. Would that alone not be a little insufficient?"
"What?"
"You must take two victories. Best of three, is it not?"
Ash raised the fist he held loosely at his side.
"Go and win. I will finish this. Let us turn it around, and beautifully."
His tone was matter-of-fact. And precisely because of that, there was nothing more trustworthy to be heard. Keith stared at his fist for a moment, then slowly curled the corners of her mouth upward.
"···You are just unbearably charming, you know that. No wonder our lady fell for you."
She extended her own fist and bumped it lightly against Ash's steel one.
"Get ready. I'll be right back."
"I will believe in you."
Their gazes tangled in the air between them. It lasted only a heartbeat, but within those eyes fixed on each other lay any number of things left unspoken.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for your patience!"
The broadcast speakers installed throughout the M&A Arena carried Chatterbox's commentary to every corner of the stadium, and the tens of thousands of spectators who had been waiting for exactly this let out a cheer in perfect unison.
"The second match, arriving before the heat of the first has even cooled! This event may be a little unfamiliar to some of you! A brand-new discipline boldly proposed by Foundation Systems — SKY BALL! Yes, that's right! It's the drone soccer every one of you played at least once as a kid!"
As Chatterbox's explanation rolled on, the murmur of the crowd gradually gave way to cheers.
"But I'm sure some of you don't know the exact rules! So we've prepared them for you! Here are the rules of Sky Ball!"
With Chatterbox's shout, a massive hologram rose into the air above the center of the arena. Every eye in the stadium turned toward it at once.
"Ooooooh!!"
Gasps and exclamations burst from every corner of the stands. The rules alone were enough for everyone to picture exactly what was coming.
Break, and respawn. Smash, and smash again. Scoring amid an endless chain of explosions and dogfights in the sky — it was entertainment tailor-made for the adrenaline-starved palate of Sanctum's citizens.
"Ah — and there they are! The players are entering! Time to meet today's stars!"
The hologram that had displayed the rules now showed the face of a man — Vortex's player, wearing a crude visor much like Keith's.
"Can he ride the momentum of match one and take it two to nothing! Not famous, but determined to win on nothing but raw skill! The CEO of Vortex Energy — BEEENJAMIIIN!"
The man fiddled with his goggle-like visor even as he raised one hand to acknowledge the crowd. Behind him, hundreds of drones painted blood-red rolled into view atop a long cart.
"And standing against him — the CEO of Foundation Systems! Of all the drone lovers out there, there's no one who doesn't know this player! Quite possibly the greatest drone expert in all of Sanctum! Better known by her nickname 'Queen Bee' than by her own name — the one and only! KIIIIITH! VALENTIIIIINE!!"
Keith appeared from the left side of the arena. The crowd squealed at her curvaceous figure and sultry wave; those long, queen-bee antennae atop her visor swayed with every step she took.
"WAAAAAAH!!"
She entered blowing a leisurely kiss to the crowd, and gliding in behind her came the massive armored vehicle Ash had once seen in the Outer.
The drone carrier, Honeycomb.
It was essentially a mobile hangar, built to haul everything drone-related. Sure enough, Honeycomb's enormous top hatch ground open, and countless drones began their pre-launch warm-up. The roar of the crowd swelled even louder at the spectacle.
"Both players, please take your stations!"
At the referee's signal, the two operators stepped into their respective positions. Complex holographic interfaces were already floating in the air around them.
"Both players appear ready! Then — let's start the countdown!"
With Chatterbox's cry, an enormous holographic number materialized above the center of the arena, and tens of thousands of voices shouted it back as one.
"FIVE!"
"FOUR!"
"THREE!"
"TWO!"
"ONE!"
"BWEEEEEEEE!!"
"THE MATCH BEGINS!"
The buzzer sounded, and Keith's fingers carved through the empty air. In the same instant, a deep tremor rolled out from the Honeycomb behind her.
Thoomp! Thudoomp!
A crisp launch report, like a volley of grenades. One after another, drones shot from the honeycomb-shaped ejector ports.
Across the field, Vortex's red-painted drones rose shrieking into the sky as well, and all of them alike came surging toward the energy core hovering at the center.
KA-BOOOM!
An explosion. The lead drones of both sides had collided head-on in a burst of flame. A mere drone bumping into another would never cause a detonation — which meant they had rigged their drones with explosives.
Through the hail of shrapnel, Keith gestured again.
Thudoomp!
Replacements, rushing to cover the losses. And it was devastatingly effective.
"Tch!"
Benjamin, Vortex's operator, immediately replenished his own drones as well — but there was a clear gap in speed. A moment's difference. And in that sliver of a moment, it was Keith who seized the energy core.
"WAAAAAAH!!"
Amid the crowd's roar, Keith's fingers danced. This was no mere matter of piloting drones. She wielded all eleven of them as though they were a single organism.
One drone threw itself into the vanguard and self-detonated to shield the core-carrier; the drones following behind shot down Vortex's red units in turn. A flawless chain of coordination, flowing like water. Multitasking so extreme it was hard to believe a single operator was controlling them all.
"Eat this!"
A drone that had been drifting down like a dead engine suddenly rocketed upward — and at the end of its climb sat Vortex's gate. The crimson drones scrambled to converge on it, but the ascending drone slipped gracefully through their encirclement and slammed itself into the gate.
BWEEEE!
"G-Goal! Less than a minute into the match — it's in! Foundation Systems! Casually draws first blood!"
The score on the holographic jumbotron changed — and the cheering exploded.
And that cheering did not flow from the stands alone.
"That's it!"
"Keith! I never doubted you!"
"Show them! Show them you're more than just a pretty face!"
Chaos erupted in the Foundation waiting room as well, the support team members hugging each other and whooping. Even Ash, watching the scene, found his own two fists clenching before anyone could notice.
Overwhelming skill on an entirely different plane. And to Ash's optical sensors, it looked for all the world like the fierce devotion of a woman fighting tooth and nail to mourn someone.
Magnificent. Truly magnificent, chivalrous Keith.
Ash murmured to himself. That was how beautiful Keith's flight was.
And perhaps that was why Vortex, to shatter that beauty, reached for the most efficient — and most loathsome — method available.
Vweeeeng!
Two red drones slipped away from their formation in secret. It was not the movement of some new strategy or a defensive realignment. Had it been, they would never have gone into a dive — straight at Keith.
"Huh?"
Nowhere in the Sky Ball regulations was there a clause forbidding an operator from being attacked directly. Vortex had aimed for exactly that loophole — and was now aiming for Keith's life.
"Keith!"
Findriel, who had caught on, let out an involuntary scream. But there was nowhere to run. The drones were already upon her!
KA-BOOOM!!
A massive explosion swallowed the spot where Keith had been standing. Black smoke billowed, and debris sprayed in every direction. It had all happened in an instant.
"······."
The entire arena froze solid. Chatterbox's commentary cut off mid-word. Everyone scrambled about, at a loss for how to react to the sudden catastrophe.
And at that very moment —
BWEEEE!
The goal buzzer ripped through the silence.
Every head turned toward the jumbotron.
"···Huh?"
While everyone stood stunned by the completely unexpected goal, the smoke that had blanketed the stage began, slowly, to clear.
And what emerged through the acrid haze, cutting right through it, was Keith — a pistol clenched in one hand. Her suit was smeared with soot from head to toe, but not a single wound marred her; not one hair was out of place. Evidently, in the instant before the blast, she had shot down every drone bearing down on her.
"Darling, you give a girl far too little credit."
She spun the pistol in her hand in a lazy flourish and slid it into her holster, then flashed her opponent a cold, twisted smile.
"Did you really think I hadn't seen that coming?"
"O-Ohhh···! Oooohhh!! Keith Valentine! Even under direct attack, she scores with style to spare — an additional goal for Foundation!"
"WAAAAAAAAH!!"
The roar shook the stadium to its foundations. And within it, Keith moved her fingers, light and effortless.
Thoomp! Thudoomp!
The drones launched from the Honeycomb wheeled around her and fell into formation.
Faster. Sharper. A figure truly worthy of the name Queen Bee.