Ailee had been made into a core.
The pilot seat inside the core that each test subject boarded was reduced to one again.
As time passed, the attitude of the researcher in charge of TB13 changed.
TB13 learned that this was the researcher who played blues music in the laboratory.
Compared to the other test subjects, TB13 was granted autonomy on the basis of superior performance and stability.
Not autonomy of personality, but autonomy of action.
In particular, that autonomy increased greatly in the customization of Titans.
TB13 repeatedly applied every part in the laboratory to TB12, then removed it again.
TB13 seemed completely absorbed in Titans.
TB13 took the most active part in every experiment involving Titan piloting.
A machine that amplified one’s strength and made possible what was impossible with a human body.
There was no reason not to fall for it.
In truth, TB13 had fallen for Ailee.
Aside from contact with the Titan, there was no way to come into contact with Ailee.
As TB13’s customizations continued, the black junk parts for prototypes increased.
The more actively TB13 participated in experiments and placed themselves under control, the less surveillance there was.
So long as the entry records and customization records were left clear, it was possible to move to the hangar for customization.
“The sync rate is not important.”
That was how it was until Count Luna came to the research institute.
Mani Luna did not look through the glass window of the laboratory.
From the beginning, he had no interest whatsoever in the appearance of the test subjects or the experimental process.
He looked only at the numbers and the results.
“With the combination of TB14 and TB15, the sync rate can be raised to seventy percent. The actual sync rate is inevitably affected by irregular factors, like a person’s disposition. We have no need for high-performance items that cannot be mass-produced.”
“But TB12 and TB13 are…”
“I hear those two even have far too much autonomy to be kept under complete control. Is that true?”
“It is… true.”
“And it is also true that they are guaranteed considerable autonomy in their actions?”
“Yes.”
“I see. Cancel it starting tomorrow. Variables that cannot be controlled are to be cut off. What matters in a weapon is reliability.”
“…Understood.”
“Begin by developing the technology to maintain the sync rate even with two artificial intelligences placed inside a core.”
Autonomy.
TB13 knew that, by tomorrow, that autonomy would be over.
In that brief period of autonomy, everything necessary had been confirmed.
If TB12’s dream was to be fulfilled.
The only time they could escape was before dawn that very day.
***
TB13 got out of bed at 3:30 a.m.
It was the time when the cameras monitoring the test subjects underwent a thirty-second check.
TB13 confirmed that none of the other test subjects had awakened, then went outside.
There was no one in the corridor, either.
Just as TB13 had expected.
But there was one thing TB13 had failed to realize.
Even at 3:30 a.m., the blues music had not stopped.
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
TB13’s steps halted.
It was a familiar researcher.
The researcher in charge of TB12 and TB13, the one who had spoken with Count Luna.
TB13 did not know why he was here.
Perhaps he had stayed until late in order to inform TB12 and TB13 that their autonomy would be restricted.
Being caught was not good.
“I-I was g-going to the b-bathroom.”
“The bathroom shouldn’t be in that direction.”
Cold sweat ran down TB13’s hands.
It was an excuse worse than saying nothing at all.
When TB13 tried to turn back, the researcher moved.
“There is a bathroom near the hangar, though.”
Without looking at TB13, the researcher passed by and entered the hangar control room.
TB13 looked back too late, but could not confirm the researcher’s name tag.
TB13 had never once seen the researcher’s name tag.
TB13 ran toward the hangar.
The corridor cameras were on, but the hangar cameras were off.
3:37 a.m.
At this time, the guard watching the hangar would step outside for two minutes to check the exterior.
And inside the guard room, there was a spare security key.
Having found the security key, TB13 ran into the hangar.
“TB12!”
Vwoom.
The Titan started up and turned its head.
“Number 13? What are you doing here at this hour? No, how did you get here?”
“We’re g-going to e-escape!”
“H-huh? Escape? From the facility? How?”
When the security key was inserted, the customization device activated.
“While c-customizing TN-TB12, there were a l-lot more j-junk p-parts.”
TN-TB12’s frame belonged to the Luna count family, but the exterior could be changed.
“It’s d-dark right now, so we’ll p-paint it black, change the exterior a-armor, and escape.”
The hangers, cranes, and maintenance manipulators began moving quickly.
From the moment the customization device moved, every movement would be recorded on the server.
A response would come in an instant, too.
“I’m in minimum-power mode, you know?”
“If we s-start the g-generator, you can m-move for ten minutes!”
TB13 knew that much.
If power was not running, the person inside the core could neither be supplied with nutrients nor breathe.
And they said memory loss could happen too, but TB13 did not know that far.
If they succeeded in escaping in the first place, there would be no need to worry about it.
“The hangar door won’t open, though?”
“We b-break it.”
“What about the others, if we leave?”
“There’s n-nothing we can do! If e-even we get out…”
TN-TB12’s exterior customization changed.
The junk parts had already been painted black, so it did not take long.
If anything, it was much faster than planned.
“O-open the h-hatch.”
“We have to save the others too!”
“O-open the h-hatch first!”
“If you promise.”
The goggle eyes had no true gaze to speak of.
And yet, within them, there was a firmness that could not be bent.
“Fine!”
Chiiiiik!
With the sound of cylinders, the hatch opened.
TB13 boarded the pilot seat and placed their limbs on the sticks and pedals.
There were no weapons.
There was no way the people of the research institute would allow a test subject to be armed.
But a Titan was a weapon by its very mass.
It did not even have fuel loaded, but the Titan ran on two legs and struck the wall.
Dooong!
“Ghk!”
It did not break with one blow.
The hangar bulkhead was sturdy.
“If we h-had a w-weapon.”
“Then we hit it one more time!”
“No!”
Craaaack!
TN-TB12’s left arm and the bulkhead shattered at the same time.
“Now the l-left arm!”
“We have a right hand, don’t we?”
“It’s n-not that simple!”
An emergency alarm began to ring throughout the entire laboratory.
It was already too late.
Without thrusters, TB13 turned on the hover unit, ignored the balance between the two systems, and placed a foot against one wall.
If there was a suitable obstacle, the hover unit could be used as a substitute for thrusters.
The fist, now accelerated, smashed through the hangar door in one blow.
“Done…”
TB13’s judgment had been ordinary common sense.
Naturally, if the hangar door was broken, the outside should have been there.
“A c-corridor…?”
TB13 did not know what lay beyond the research institute’s hangar.
The one fortunate thing was that no bulkhead came down to replace the broken door.
Vibrations rang through the corridor.
It was the sound of a Titan walking.
“Kh!”
TB13 tore off TN-TB12’s left hand and attached one of the junk parts that could serve as a gauntlet.
It was loose and could not move, but in a state with no armaments, it was the only weapon.
“TB12!”
“There are three of them!”
Inside those Titans’ cores, there were people too.
Not only pilots, but people like us.
With no fuel for the thrusters, TB13 pushed the sticks and pedals forward.
The most effective means of attack was mass.
“Grrrrgh!”
There was no inertial control device installed, either.
There was no safety belt.
The impact of slamming in with their whole body was transmitted directly to TB13’s body.
When TB13 swung the gauntlet-shaped fist, bullets pierced through TN-TB12’s body and made it shudder.
Junk parts.
They were merely armor plating designed with aerodynamics in mind, and aside from the core, they had almost no effective defensive power.
Craaaack!
The fist landed and knocked down one Titan. At the same time, the left arm became useless.
The muzzle of a mass-produced Titan pointed at the core.
TB13 moved the sticks and pedals.
After avoiding only a direct hit, the glancing round struck the generator of the Titan collapsed on the floor.
Craaaack!
The generator exploded, slamming TN-TB12 into the wall.
“Aaaaaagh!”
The impact was transmitted in full.
“TB13!”
“My leg, my leg, my leg…!”
It was broken.
With the broken leg, TB13 forced the pedal down and ran forward.
With the intact right arm, TB13 reached toward the mass-produced Titan.
The instant the Titan used reverse thrust to widen the distance, TB13 clenched the fist and brought it down.
Thoom.
A grenade mounted beneath the rifle was fired.
It was the wall TN-TB12’s body had crashed into, leaving cracks.
The instant the grenade exploded, the wall shattered along the cracks.
“Grrrrgh!”
Pushing the mass-produced Titan away with an arm, TB13 fell through the hole in the wall.
It was not a cliff.
But it was a downward slope.
A snowstorm was raging. That was fortunate.
TB13 turned on the hover unit and descended straight along the slope.
There was no more pursuit.
With weather like this, of course they could not be tracked.
“TB13.”
“Y-yes?”
Or perhaps there had been no need to pursue them.
“It’s been ten minutes.”
Thud!
As the hovering cut out, the Titan began rolling along the ground.
“A-ah, agh, kh, ugh!”
Thud.
Thump!
The core slammed into a wall and finally came to a stop.
Minimum power.
Barely enough to keep the Titan’s power on.
There was not even a safety belt.
Inside the core, TB13 hit their head and passed out where they were.
TN-TB12 raised its head.
There was an underground waterway.
“I’m sorry.”
Just as TB13 had said, they should have broken the door down and gone out from the start.
If both arms had been intact, they could have broken through the wall before the guard Titans arrived.
There was no way they could escape.
There was no way for them to escape together like this.
Together was impossible, but alone, it was possible.
“Let’s meet again next time, okay?”
TB13 was still unconscious.
TN-TB12 grabbed the crushed hatch and slowly bent it open.
TB13’s body rolled down into the underground waterway.
If we can.
As the power was cut off, TN-TB12’s body also slammed into the underground waterway.
Several days passed.
TN-TB12 was discovered by a drone dispatched from the Western Front.
A test-type Titan painted black from head to toe.
Instead of returning the Titan to the Luna count family, Charlotte Keria retrieved it herself and examined its combat data.
She thought there might be hidden information, but perhaps because the power had been cut, there was nothing in particular.
To prevent it from becoming a political issue, Charlotte Keria modified the armor so that it differed from its original form, then initialized the data stored in the artificial intelligence.
Afterward, through several detours, she sold it to the Academy and erased the records.
TB13 woke inside the underground waterway and, carried by the water, barely reached a garbage dump.
They managed to survive for several days.
The broken leg knitted slightly crooked, and the exhausted body could neither eat nor drink anything.
The beginning of the story
came from an ending that had occurred before the story even began.
On the day TB13 died, they opened their eyes again.
And picked up the identification card lying before them.
***
An unfamiliar ceiling.
I sat up.
“What the—awake after just one day…”
A doctor, perhaps.
I got up, leaning on the cane beside me.
“Wait, your leg should hurt, shouldn’t it?”
It hurt.
It hurt, but I forced myself to move while leaning on the cane.
“Where are you trying to go?”
The doctor grabbed me and supported me.
“White Reaper.”
“It’s in the hangar right now.”
“Is it far?”
“What the hell is with this bastard? Don’t you care about your leg?”
“Is it far?”
“I’ll bring the car around, so wait.”
I got into the car the doctor brought and headed for the hangar.
The sound of iron colliding and machines moving.
My heart felt at ease.
Or perhaps I was excited.
My heart was pounding.
When I leaned on the doctor and began walking again, I felt countless gazes.
Among them, there was one person at the center.
I met that person’s eyes.
“Did you come to thank me or something? You don’t have to do that.”
It was the White Reaper.
“Please lend me a Titan.”
“What?”
“Please lend me a Titan.”
I will save her.
I will save Ailee.
Just as Ailee saved me.