Semelparous Chapter 4

Semelparous

NOTE: Text outside bubbles come after "-", otherwise, ">"

Chapter 4
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p01
-A perfectly-coordinated combination attack

(STORIES PART)
-To stop the otherworldly "Kaijuu" from invading Earth, individuals wielding special powers known as "Aegis" are tasked with the protection of the world. Aratsugu Yorino, is one of the aspiring "Bastioners" - soldiers who fight the invaders within the wall between the two worlds.

-Yorino has been steadily getting used to her life as a Bastioner. Her partner, Youko, seems to have many things that she can't stop thinking about, but there's also something about Yorino has been weighing on her mind.

-After making some friends upon Youko's recommendation, Yorino, who only had revenge in her heart, is now slowly finding comfort in friendship.

(CHARACTERS Part)
-As long as you are here, I will fight.

-Terminology from the previous chapter
-"Astral Body"
-Generated from the heart, this energy governs the consciousness of living things. Aegis energy is also a part of the Astral Body.

-Kaminoi Youko
-Elite Bastioner
-A woman with an easygoing attitude. She achieved high marks in her studies and she also had a high aptitude for battle since her cadet days. She dances to the beat of her own drum even when in combat situations. It seems that she senses something special from Yorino's powers...

-Aratsugu Yorino
-Girl who lost her best friend
-A girl with a prodigious aptitude for battle. She shows very few emotions. She had a very close friend who she was always together with, but she lost her life after saving Yorino. From then on, she became a Bastioner with strong determination.

p02
>Whenever we kill a Kaijuu... a person dies...?

>W-What does that mean...?

>.....

p03
>Aratsugu-san! Want to go shopping with me on the way home?
>I have some plans today... Sorry.

>Shall we go?

p04
>The lonely pair.

p06
>Here.

>I brought her along, Keiko-san.
>Welcome!

>Nice to meet you.
>I'm Matsushiba Keiko. I'm one of the analysts here.

>I'm Aratsugu Yorino.

>So you've noticed what's inside the Kaijuu, huh?

>The other world where the enemy resides in,
>and the world we live in now, were originally one and the same.
>However, at some point in ancient times, the world split into two potential branches, creating a parallel world...
>but you already learned this during your training, right?

>Due to this divergence, some bizarre biomechanical phenomena have occurred in the other world... (hope you like all this technobabble, because I sure don't)

>Have you already been told about Astral Bodies?
>Yes.

p08
>These amalgamations of living tissue and machine houses humans within them,
>using the energy of their Astral Bodies to move. They're Biomechanoids, so to speak.
>That's what Kaijuu are.

>They're using humans as batteries...

>So the man that has been powering that Kaijuu
>is the same person as the one in the news yesterday?
>Yes.

p09
>After the divergence, the other world has gone through its own separate timeline,
>but it was still originally one and the same as our own, only with a different history,
>so many of the humans born here also exist there.

>"Also exist...?"

>The other world generates a connection between the two humans.
>We call this "shared existence."

p10
>Even if the two people have different personalities or minor differences in appearance,
>they still share the same Astral Body. That's what shared existence means.

>Astral Bodies have electromagnetic energy-like properties,
>so they each have a frequency, so to speak.
>Like radio channels?
>Yes, exactly like channels.

>Having the same Astral Body
>means having the same frequency.

p11
>Two people with the same Astral Body frequency can't be born in once world,
>but if they are from different worlds, they will have a shared existence.

>Normally, the two-layered wall separates the two worlds,
>so shared existence should not have an effect,

>but if there's only one layer of the wall left to separate them,

>the two Astral Bodies stop being isolated. Since they have the same frequency,

>They would both connect to the same "channel."

p12
>And if one of the "ends"
>of the Astral Body link goes out,
>the other end would go out with it as well.

>In other words, whenever you kill a Kaijuu inside the wall, you inevitably kill
>both the person inside the wall and the person they share existence with in this world.

p13
>......

>When a person dies because of an extinguished Astral Body, most of the time,
>the causes of death that manifest in our world are heart failure, stroke, or other similar causes.

>Then, for the past three weeks...
>I've killed... seven people...?

p14
>Did you know about all of this, Captain...?
>Yeah...

>Why... didn't you tell me about it...?

>The higher ups decided that soldiers who don't find out about it are to be kept in the dark.

>Most of those who find out end up requesting to be discharged.
>If more soldiers knew about this, it would reduce our numbers greatly...

p15
>If that happens, we'll lose the fight,
>and the enemy will succeed in their invasion.
>That's why we have no choice but to hide it.

>I am willing to do anything to protect this world.
>You're a capable soldier. I don't want you to quit.
>That's why I avoided telling you about this.

>......

p16
>Now that you already know this,
>decide for yourself what you want to do, Yorino-chan.

p17
>Captain, why do you keep on fighting?

p18
>That's because I've already gone insane...

p21
>Oh, Yorino-chan...

>Do you need something?
>......

>Do you have the data
>on the people that I've killed?
>Eh?

p22
>I'd like to know more...
>about the people whose lives I've taken.

>Nakajima Takenori, 34 years old. Civil servant.
>Had his first-born son two months ago.

p23
>Tanaka Naoya, 24 years old. Was seeking employment in the medical food industry starting last year.
>Miyamoto Yoshie, 30 years old, mother of two. Interior designer.
>Sakai Shinji, 42 years old. Automobile mechanic. Had three daughters.
>Sakamoto Daiki, 26 years old. Full-time part-timer and volunteer activist.

p24
>Shinjou Ami, 16 years old. High school student.
>Horiuchi Kouji, 28 years old. Sports instructor.
>Had plans to register with his girlfriend as a married couple next month.

>That's all seven...
>......

>Since when...
>did Captain Kaminoi know about all this?

>She found out...
>soon after she joined us, after leaving middle school. Just like you, Yorino-chan.

p25
>She was fighting for half a year, unaware of the truth. That is,
>Until her younger sister passed away.

>She felt a sense of dread the moment she killed the Kaijuu.
>It was as if her sister died at the exact moment too.
>Then she saw the girl inside the monster.

>Then, the captain...
>Yes...

p26
>She killed her sister with her own hands.

>Why is she...
>still continuing to fight?

>Youko-chan is searching for the purpose of her sister's death.
>The "purpose?"

p27
>She said that if she stopped fighting,
>she will never find out the reason why her sister had to die...

>By ending the fighting with her own power, she wants to prove that the death of her sister had a purpose in saving the world.

>"Purpose..."

p28
>Ah, geez! You're getting on my nerves, Four-Arms!

p29
>Purpose...

p31
>!

p32
>Yorino-chan...

p33
>Are you alright?
>Are you sure you want to keep doing this?

>I'm the same as you, Captain...

p34
>If I stop now, Haruka's death will be meaningless...
>I'm scared of that happening...

>If there has to be someone to take the burden...
>I'll gladly bear all the sin,
>and end the fighting once and for all.

>I've never met anyone as strong as you until now...
>someone who could fight with me on the same level.

>I've always wanted a partner
>that I could rely on. Someone like you...

p35
>I don't know how many more lives we have to take
>before the fighting is over...

p36
>We must take in all the sin, for the sake of saving the world...

>Do you want to fall into hell with me?

>...Yes.