A Heartbeat That Won't Stop
Something heavy and solid landed on her back, and she nearly toppled — but a pilot's reflexes flared to life.
In an instant, she had donned her pilot nano-suit.
Shrrraaak!
It unfurled from the nape of her neck in a rush, sheathing her entire body save her face.
Crunch!
A bare fraction of a second later, sharp fangs sank into her throat.
"Ngh!"
The nano-suit kept her neck from being pierced through, but the pressure of those jaws crushing down against it sent a sickening chill racing along her throat.
Crack! Crunch!
Beasts lunged in from either side and began tearing at Beatrix's body wherever they could get a hold.
Through the nano-suit she felt it — the sensation of meat being savaged, ripped apart.
"Kyaaaaah!"
Beatrix threw both arms over her head — the only part of her left bare — and lay exposed to the pure malice of carnivores.
One of them had her leg in its jaws and thrashed its head from side to side, trying to tear the wound wider, whipping her lower body back and forth. The beast clamped on her nape headbanged as well, dragging the back of her skull roughly across the ground until her hair was a tangled mess. The last one raked its claws over her body, trying to shred the nano-suit open.
For the first time in her life she had become an animal's prey. She could do nothing — nothing but pray, desperately, that someone would come and save her.
Thud!
"Kehek!"
A dull, heavy impact rang out, and the pressure on her nape vanished.
"KRAAAAAH!!"
Jincheon's battle cry followed — raw, black with fury.
"J-Jincheon! Jincheooon!"
Beatrix sobbed his name like a plea for her life, and Jincheon answered that cry.
"Die, you fucking bastards!"
Bamboo spear in hand, he charged. A saber-toothed tiger — something between a leopard and a lion — leapt at him; he dove low, under its belly.
Shunk!
"Kgrrk!"
Most beasts are softest under the belly. He drove the spear up into that weak point and dropped the creature, then stabbed the wound several more times for good measure.
"KRAAAAAH!!"
"Kyiiing!"
The last beast still clamped on Beatrix's leg saw its packmate with a spear through the skull and the other thrashing, blood gushing from its torn belly — and fled in terror.
Jincheon did not give chase. He checked on Beatrix first.
"Beatrix! Are you okay!?"
"Hic… hwaaaah…!"
The sight of him lifting her, checking her over, flooded her with relief — and the tears came pouring out.
"Why… why did you only come now…!"
"Sorry. I was too late."
"Hic… hic…!"
Freed at last from the terror of being a carnivore's meal, Beatrix burrowed into the warmth of his body. Jincheon gathered her up in both arms and carried her toward the hut.
Even once they were inside, she would not let go of him — still raw from the wild violence and malice she had been exposed to.
"It's all right. You're safe now."
The soft voice meant to soothe her hit her like a wave of exhaustion she could no longer fight. She went limp in his arms and dropped into sleep as if she had simply blacked out.
Jincheon looked down at her and felt a flicker of unease.
Strange. When we explored the forest, there was nothing like these. Where did they come from? Did they swim?
Sometimes tigers or bears would establish themselves on uninhabited islands — swimming across, surprisingly enough. On islands close enough to a mainland, it happened more often than people thought.
But here, no matter how far he looked, there was no continent in sight.
I thought the ones we drove out of their territory had come back for revenge. Instead, carnivores we've never seen on this island just appeared out of nowhere.
Of course he had felt the killing intent. He had been ready to intervene at any moment — deliberately waiting for her most desperate instant, aiming for the suspension-bridge effect.
What actually came out, though, was a species he had never found on this island at all.
Did they swim over from another island? For that, their coats were bone-dry.
There was some secret on this island he did not know yet.
He tried to set Beatrix down for a moment so he could spread his sensory field —
Squeeze!
— but the woman asleep in his arms showed no intention of letting go.
The shock of nearly becoming an animal's meal must have cut deeper than he expected. She was a soldier who had walked battlefields, and still she was this terrified.
She had probably always assumed that if she died, it would be clean — cut down by an enemy. In reality, most pilots died caught in the explosion of their own machines. Being torn apart alive by beasts had never been part of her resolve. No wonder she was this shaken.
Nothing for it, then.
Still holding her, Jincheon spread his sensory field and caught the presence of the lone saber-tooth fleeing into the distance.
All right. Where are you running to?
Then the fleeing presence simply vanished.
He pushed his senses in that direction and found a space that opened downward.
So there was a place like this.
It was nothing but rock — a spot he had dismissed as not worth visiting. Apparently a narrow cleft led down beneath it.
He had never imagined an uninhabited island would hide something like this. Curiosity stirred.
He considered pushing his sensory field harder for a better look, then decided he could simply go there himself later and let the probe drop.
A space under the island. Could there be a Calsorn Empire facility down there?
Calsorn Empire installations had a habit of turning up anywhere, anytime, in any form — so it was not an idle thought.
Jincheon held the sleeping Beatrix close and waited for her to wake.
So warm…
When Beatrix stirred from sleep, she could not quite reclaim full consciousness. A warmth she had never known, and a scent that felt good, fed an unconscious hunger to stay asleep just a little longer.
"Mmnh…"
She shifted, uncomfortable in her posture — and instead of hard ground, she felt herself brushing against rough, uneven skin.
Something felt wrong. As awareness trickled back, she remembered what had happened before she blacked out — and her eyes snapped open.
Where…?
She looked around. The first thing she found was Jincheon's torso, one arm wrapped around her body.
Realizing she was being held, Beatrix lifted her gaze. Above her was Jincheon's face — bamboo spear in hand, eyes sharp as he scanned their surroundings.
Thump!
There was no playfulness in that look. Only a hard, unwavering resolve to keep her safe. Morning light fell across his face, and Beatrix's heart slammed hard in her chest; heat flooded her cheeks.
He protected me? All the way until dawn?
Thump! Thump!
She was grateful he had pulled her out of danger — but the sight of him standing watch without sleep for her sake moved her even more. Her chest pounded harder still.
Warm… and so soft…
Held in those steady arms that had kept her safe, she felt warmth and the deep relief of being protected.
"Hm? You're awake?"
He noticed she was up and gave her a light smile — and her heart began to hammer harder than it ever had.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
What do I do…! It won't stop!
The beat was so violent she half-feared someone else might hear it, the sound rolling through her whole body.
"Thank you… for… saving me…"
"I only did what I was supposed to."
Then he shifted the hand that held her upward and stroked her hair.
"Ah…"
"Rest a little longer."
Beatrix wanted to say no — but the touch of his hand in her hair felt so good she simply surrendered to it.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Her racing heart only beat faster.
And yet —
It's so warm and feels so good…
— she let herself sink into his touch, into his heat and his scent.
You bastard. You could make a face like that all along…
That manly face stripped of every trace of a smile, set only on protecting her — Beatrix grumbled inwardly that he never looked like that on ordinary days.
If she had seen that face from the start, she never would have hated him.
She stayed in his arms until the midday heat rose, leaning into the comfort of being protected by him, and let the time pass.
"You want to go exploring again?"
Once she had steadied herself, Beatrix echoed Jincheon's plan to track the saber-tooth in a voice that still held a thread of fear.
The shock of that day seemed to have left a kind of trauma.
"Something's off. When we searched this island, we never found those things. If they'd been here, we would have been attacked half a dozen times during the sweep."
He laid out why they had to go.
"Whether they swam over from another island or got here by some other means — we need to know for certain. Only then can we set up defenses, or any kind of countermeasure."
"…You're right."
"What about you? If you want more rest, you can stay here."
"I'm coming too. Splitting up is more dangerous."
She decided sticking together was safer, and chose to go with him.
After a solid meal, they armed themselves and set out on the saber-tooth's trail. In the heat of the day they each carried a reed-woven belt and a bamboo water flask — and just as they were about to leave —
"Hey."
"Y-Yeah?"
"Didn't you say that thing was too hot before?"
Jincheon pointed out that Beatrix was already wearing her pilot nano-suit even though they were not in immediate danger.
"W-We don't know when an attack might come!"
"They ran off scared. Up to a point, we should be fi—"
"Just drop it and let's go already!"
She bulldozed past him and insisted they move. Jincheon warned her not to regret it later, and they started the hunt.
But she had another reason for keeping the nano-suit on.
W-What is this? The idea of him seeing me in just my underwear is way too embarrassing…!
She had already been seen in her underwear every which way — and only now was the shame hitting her.
This nano-suit shows every line of my body. I wish I had something — anything — to cover myself with…
Even the body-hugging nano-suit felt shameful now. She regretted not making something to hide under.
Huh? Wait — why am I even thinking this is embarrassing?
As of yesterday, standing around in her underwear had not embarrassed her in the slightest. Today, even a nano-suit that traced every curve of her body made her burn with self-consciousness, and she was suffering alone over it.
"Beatrix. You're lagging."
"S-Sorry!"
He tossed a light rebuke at her dawdling pace. Beatrix answered in a rush and steeled herself.
Don't be embarrassed. He doesn't even see me as a woman anyway.
He had looked at her in her underwear this whole time and never once made a move.
But thinking that only made her sink further.
…Am I really that unattractive as a woman? He told me I was pretty before…
He had called her pretty once — and then never laid a hand on her. The thought made him feel cruelly distant.
Suddenly she was embarrassed. Suddenly she was angry that he had not touched her. Recognizing those feelings in herself only left Beatrix more confused.
What on earth is wrong with me?
She found herself wondering why she was so conscious of Jincheon's eyes. Then, following behind him, she looked at his back, his hips, his thighs — at the masculine muscle of him — and her face went hot.
That does it.
He felt all of it through his sensory field. One more step, he judged, and Beatrix would spread her own legs for him. A satisfied smile touched his mouth.