Spring Upon the Solstice

XXV - Why Are You Here, Philosopher?

{ Jhiro Fukiyama }

The Third Harbinger...just made landfall?

No. No way. Why now? Why, of all the possible times, did a Harbinger have to surface now?

"Katsune, what's going—"

"—Jhiro, I need you to step back."

"What?"

"Step back from the hatch."

"Wait, what? Why? What are you doing?"

She turns away and sits herself in the lone chair at the center of the room, pulling over a helmet to mask whatever sadness her expression might betray. But even so, long before she hid behind that visor, her grin had already vanished. All it took was Kizuna.

In less than a second, Katsune transforms from civilian to soldier, mechanical in the way her emotions turn off, as though at the heart of the giant Akuma-1 mecha lies a smaller, fleshier machine—a robotic human controlling a humanized robot.

"Katsune!"

No response.

"Kat! What are you doing?" I move deeper into the cockpit area, but her outstretched hand pushes me away. "Katsune!"

"Fives," she takes painful effort to avoid stumbling over her words. "I need you to step outside this Akuma, back away from the hatch, and get off this catwalk."

"Wait! Are you seriously going to—"

There's no sense in finishing that question; her eyes answer it for me. But I ask anyways. I ask because I'm afraid, because I still haven't found what I want to uncover behind her unassuming exterior, and I don't want to lose the one opportunity I've been given to find the correct path through this chaos. If Katsune holds the secrets to my sister's death, I refuse to let her ship off to Hokkaido without any closure. Trust me, I understand how selfish of a demand that is. My selfishness cost me so much already.

"Kat...are you actually going to go off and fight that Harbinger?"

She takes an eternity to respond, but finally, she says, "Yes, I am. Because it's my job."

"But...the rebellion!"

"The rebellion doesn't take priority anymore. Look, I may want to carry you to freedom, and I may want to fulfill my promise to Kizuna Fukiyama. That's my self-interest talking." She continues, "But if the Third Harbinger has made landfall on Hokkaido, it means that innocent people are dying. I have a duty to protect them, too."

Innocent people? Is she talking about sunwalkers?

"I don't get it. Why would you want to protect an ungrateful world? A world that has no idea what you've done for it already?"

"The world may never repay me. I accept that. However, the world is also blissfully unaware, and I'm not entitled to ruin its dream. Human, Yomiborn, friend and foe—they're all asleep just the same. And if this is what I need to do, in order to keep this fragile, delusional peace we've established alive, then I'll fight."

"Are you really okay to risk your life for people you've never met?"

"I am. You know this about me already. But I think you'd be better off answering that question yourself. Haven't you done the same?"

I...have?

"—Sure, I'd like to call myself a freedom fighter," Katsune sighs. "But even then, I'm a freedom fighter second, and a pilot first. I was born for this, to prevent another World War. Please, don't try to stop me."