Gatekeepers Encore
"Some people have too much leisure. They spend entire days on the roof and forget to go home for the holidays."
"Hn."
Megumi sat down on the concrete ledge next to where shun sprawled on his back against the slant of the stairwell-attic roof. She unwraps her lunch in silence and dines quietly, giving no further acknowledgement to his sulking presence.
It was the first day of school after the New Year break. She was glad to be back in school. Holidays are always hectic at her place, where her parents run a ramen shop and demand she help with deliveries and all that.
A hand hovered over her lunchbox for a tidbit and got a sharp rap for its trouble.
"Ask." She mumbled resentfully.
"Gomen." He puts the inari piece in his mouth with as little thought. Chances are if you asked him what it was he just said and what he'd just put in his mouth, he wouldn't have been able to answer you.
"Idiot."
"Hn."
They were third-years, now. The finals would be here soon. Then graduation and college. She'll get in a better college than Ikusawa. She was sure of it. There, people will appreciate her more. Talk of self-sufficiency aside, it was still her secret desire to be noticed and noted.
"Oh, look. There's a monster flattening the city."
"Cool."
"… … baka."
Silence.
He was as good as brain-dead.
Oh well. At least he isn't freaking out over Kageyama and the Invaders today. Really. They ought to just lock him up.
Only the two of them ever come to the roof anymore. All the better. Ideally she would like to have the space to herself, but since Shun mostly just sulks and does nothing, he was easily ignored. At times, you could even take him for some bizarre statue.
Ah, peace.
She liked the wind in her hair, sharp with the frost of Winter.
They just had to ruin it with a P.A announcement for the "Special Committee".
"Hn." Megumi packed her lunchbox and stood up. Shun remained stoned.
"Come on."
It took some rather physical efforts to get him up and down to the AEGIS base, but she managed.
"Pig. Block of wood. Brain-dead. How do you even bother staying alive? Such a nuisance…"
* * * "Will you leave the poor boy alone?"
"But it's fun! He's turned into a rock, I think. Look, there's some moss…"
"Shh."
All eyes went to the TV.
"Whoa!"
"Masaka…"
"Invaders."
* * * "Kaidenpo was detected earlier at this location…"
"That's…!"
"The TV station."
"That's right. They've captured the site. Only the AEGIS agent made it out."
"K'so!! Despicable! I, Bancho, will not let them get away with this!"
"This is…" Ruriko faltered. "This is the biggest attack since…"
"That's why I'm sending all of you this time."
"Yes! Let's go! We can't let them get away with this!"
"How right you are, Kaoru-hime!"
"…Monkeys."
"The people there look really in trouble desu…"
"Gatekeepers, move out!"
"Ryokai, AEGIS!"
"… …"
"Sugoi… This is just like the old days."
"Shirei…"
"Come on."
Megumi resigned herself to the degrading job of hauling an inert Ukiya Shun and protesting Ikusawa Ruriko along. "You are Gatekeepers, not babies. I shouldn't have to baby-sit you two. Earth Defence soldiers. Haha."
"Megumi-chan…"
"Move."
It is 1971, the 46th year of Showa. Japan is in a period of high economic growth and enjoying rapid development. However, most people are unaware of an unknown enemy wriggling in the darkness… actually, most of the Japanese people know. They just don't know what they are or how they got here or that they are still around.
Similarly, they have a vague concept of a special group of High School students who supposedly protect them from these "Invaders" and the AEGIS organisation they belong to, but not who they are or what it is exactly that they do. It protected what little of an ordinary life they had. The lack of media coverage soon killed off most of the excitement surrounding the party. They could now almost pass through the streets unnoticed, like retired heroes.
They were far from retiring, of course. The bus screeching its way across town was sure enough sign of it. Bancho, prowl-figuring the bus, got thrown off the minute they stopped and immediately turned on the driver, Megane.
Megumi paid them no attention, instead looking to the Invader composite. There were two types of Invaders that combined to any number of formations and operate as one unit commanded by the red Core. The one they were now faced with took a variation of a familiar form, a sinewy snake like thing with a vivid red broadcast dish on the end, twined on the scaffolding of the largest broadcast tower. It wasn't as big as some of the monsters they have seen. The Cores, it seems, were having trouble finding help.
Kaoru didn't wait to start the show, bounding off the bus and hurling, with the help of her Gate powers, the scrapped remains of a smaller broadcast tower at the evil villain. She missed and it impacted the Invader's trellis, dislodging debris on the helpless hostages at its foot.
"Never uses her head…" Just as the hostages screamed, expecting to become hostage-pancake, a green dome came up around them with the consistency of jell-o, catching and slowly guiding the metal pieces to the ground. Megumi smirked. She was good.
Ruriko exited, racing to get within range. Bancho went with her and headed for the Invader's tail, obviously hoping to scale it, for whatever reasons. Ruriko aimed. Kaoru found more pieces of debris to throw around. Reiko, in her usual enthusiasm, started to play. The Invader swayed, like a mesmerised cobra. Unfortunately, that helped it evade Ruriko's volley. Shun stayed in the bus and stared out the window. "What's the point. There'll just be more of them. And we created them…" Not that anyone was listening to him.
"Disorganised blockheads, like a bunch of headless shrimps trying to find their tails. Some kind of heroes that forget about their hostages. Brainless musician, can't even control her own power or consider the situation, doing more harm than good. How you managed to save Japan is incomprehensible…" From her perch on top of the bus roof Megumi saw clearly a second red spot writhing around in the midst of dark Invader bodies. A second Core? Since when did composites have more than one Core? She slipped down the side of the transport and walked in.
"Asagiri-san, Megane, go help the hostages." You would never have guessed the stiff acting in those self-assured words. She had been mumbling those lines since on the roof. They were so firm, so steady, so Ikusawa Ruriko.
"Huh? Release the hostages desu?"
"You're just pretending not to hear me. No, of course you can't. You've got cotton wool stuffing in your head for brains… Yes, go get them out."
"Oh, okay, right away…"
"Talk less, move faster." Stupid fools.
"You know, we are the real source of it… us, people… Gatekeepers…"
"Urusai."
* * * "This blows. What the hell do they think they're doing down there? Comedy?"
"Oh, don't laugh at them. It's mean."
"Damn! I should be down there kicking ass!"
"And stop being so violent."
"You two can't just watch quietly, can you."
* * * "Worthless bugs, just like Kageyama said…" The Gate-Engine was useless, being on the bus and seeing as how it couldn't get close enough to the Invader. Megumi walked up to the site and started scaling her way to the roof where the Invader's scaffold support was fixed, mumbling angrily all the way. "You never see how good I am even when I'm doing most of the work. I should just leave all of you to die…"
"Reiko! Megane! What are you… It's dangerous here! Oh…" Ruriko paused and realised, with mortification, that she had forgotten all about the hostages, too distracted with the Invader. What kind of Earth Defence soldier is she? How could she forget about the hostages? Ruriko no baka! She joined them as soon as her reverie broke, covering the two while they reached the green-shielded civilians. Megumi removed her shield and pulled herself up, breathless, to join them on the ledge.
"Hai, douzo, don't rush, watch your step please… oh! Are you okay?" Reiko would have made a great mall elevator operator.
"Senpai! Hurry!" Megane ran around, trying to hurry people along, deathly afraid of being noticed and crushed by the Invader.
Ruriko was daunted. The Invader was too fast. The Core always dodged her bolts, so that all she managed to do was take inconsequential pieces out of the rest of its snake-like structure while it continuously recalibrated to get thinner and repair the holes. Kaoru and Bancho hanged on to its back. There was no way she could do this on her own. Ukiya. Where was Ukiya? She started to panic. Someone sniggered quietly behind her. She jumped.
"You will just stand here and wait to be crushed?"
Ruriko shuddered, still spooked to be at close proximity to Megumi, but bravely, for her sake, tried to hide it. "Ukiya-kun wa?"
"Don't bother. He's in the van."
"Senpai! Ikusawa-senpai!"
It was Kaoru. She had made it to the top and now rode the serpentine thing like a rodeo, clinging on for dear life to the red dish, wrestling it to still. "Hayaku!"
Ruriko looked around, suddenly realising that Megumi was gone. Kaoru! Ruriko startled and notched an arrow. "Hikarinoya!"
The Invader bulked and threw Kaoru over. She screamed, echoed by Bancho's distraught "Kaoru-hime!"
"Please let it hit, oh please, let it hit…" Ruriko screwed her eyes tight, praying, afraid to watch.
Megumi looked up at the red and black thing and couldn't resist a tremble at its eerie uniform patterning of shades and suits. It was as if they were all watching her, waiting for her to slip up. Her knees grew weak. She shook herself. "The Invisibility Cloak works fine." Of course it does. She made it. She was good. Yes, but was she good enough? One wrong move and…
"You can do this. You've done this before. Just like training." She steeled herself and put out her hand, ready. The moment of reckoning. A year of secret intensive training for this. Yes. "Here goes."
"Are you sure?"
All of a sudden, she was looking into unpleasantly familiar red-and-blue eyes. She paled for a second.
"Omae… iya! I can do this. You can't trick me into being used again." Green circles glowed in her eyes. The blonde Stranger stepped aside. A flash of red skittered by, quick, but not quick enough for her.
"Geeto Open."
"No!" Ruriko screamed at the missed bolt. Two more shots! That's all she had left, how could she miss? Hang on, was that… Megumi? How? When?
"Ikusawa!"
It was her. A green globe glowed amidst the Invader body, capturing a red Core. The perfect target. Nani?? A second Core? The dish was still there, still lurid.
"Ikusawa!"
No time! She notched the arrow and let fly. Last bolt. She needed to make both count. She prayed.
"Senpai!"
She whipped around, just in time to run into the arms of a blood-red cybernetic suit.
"Ikusawa!" Megumi screamed, scrabbling out of the way. The coils came down on her. She wasn't quick enough after all. The moment the Gate opened, they had located her and she lost grip on the shield that rendered her invisible. She stumbled, tripped, stumbled, "Ikusawa!" It was now or never. She screwed her eyes tight shut, desperately trying to put up an Iron Wall, doubting if it would hold… Green light. Yellow light. The Invader coils dissipated, suddenly, into a shower of green crystals on her shield.
The rest of the Invader screamed.
Megumi opened her eyes and looked around. "No… not failure again… I will not fail here. This is… This is…" She cursed their luck. Megane, Reiko and Ruriko were caught by a squadron of Invader infantry, now distorting, ready to crush them between themselves. The hostages were nowhere in sight. The Invader over her squirmed and changed shape, four-legged, tower like, smaller, but just as deadly. Worse. They knew she was there.
"No… I will not…"
"Is this the best you can do?"
The red Core dish swooped down face to face with her.
"IYA! I am better than anyone else! Geeto!"
Her green, triple-ringed circle opened. Power shot forth to engulf the Invader Core. The rest of it writhed to get her. Then, something happened.
She wasn't sure what, but it seemed as though the light of her gate was refracted outwards and intensified with a touch of orange. She had hoped only to take the Core, but the mould that would freeze the Invader in place took the whole construct.
"Good girl."
She looked, but there was no-one there.
The sky opened a perfect circle, a small black-hole that distorted the light and clouds just over her head, not unlike the one that took Kageyama and his Invaders, letting through an ashen arm adorned with heavy gold and silver bangles. The finger traced a black circle on the Invader Core and the collective shuddered and shattered into a million crystal shards with a swirling motion, as if something had sucked it dry inside-out. The vision vanished.
Over the ground troops, confusion ensued. Then, snow, unseasonal, drifted gently over them and started freezing them, literally, to the ground. In their panic, they made the fatal mistake of releasing their hostages. With the last shot, Ruriko took out the Core that had dared lay hands on her. The company collapsed, lending their shower of crystals to Yukino's entrance.
Megumi closed her eyes and slid down to the concrete with a soft sigh of relief, although why she should feel relieved for them is doubtful. They will just forget about her and everything she has done today and even leave her here if she didn't go down to join them soon. Megane and Reiko and Ruriko were busy celebrating Yukino. Bancho came round the buildings carrying Kaoru despite her protests of well-being. "Of course she's okay. I made sure of that." Not that anyone cared, of course. "Fine. Leave me here. See if I care. Hmph." She could always go to them, but there was no way her body was going to co-operate with her any more today even if she wouldn't admit it. She leant back against something and closed her eyes. "That's right. Forget about the ugly geek that saved your miserable lives… The real heroes are the smart, rich, pretty people like Ikusawa Ruriko. It's always that way…"
"Kurogane-senpai? Did you say something?"
Huh?
Megumi opened her eyes, shocked to find Kaoru bending over her.
"No… nothing."
"Daijoubu ga? Can you walk?" The younger girl was already hauling her on her feet. Megumi blinked dumbly. "Senpai, you're bleeding…" Is she? She hadn't noticed. It was just a nasty scrape on the outside of her calf… "Here, let me help you."
The world's ending.
"You're just pretending to care. Why should you…"
"Huh? What did you say?"
"Betsu ni."
It was still, of course, Ruriko's moment.
"Senpai was so cool!! She saved us all!!"
"Iya, it wasn't like that… anno… not at all… please stop it…"
"Liar. You love it. You want to be the hero even though you know you're not. Fraud."
"Ne, Kaoru-chan, you're getting it all wrong…"
"Senpai! You're my saviour!"
"I… I……"
"Okay, Kurogane-san. Please take care and remember to keep the wounds clean and dry or they'll scar."
"Not that scars on an ugly geek makes much of a difference."
Megumi got off the bed as Ochiai-san packed up the first-aid equipment. The party, sans Shun, had packed themselves in the Nurse's office, eagerly recounting what happened to the Ma'am Secretary. Exaggerating everything and forgetting she was even there. Typical.
"Sou desu…"
Leaving them to make whatever they will of the day, Megumi went back to class. Lessons were over, so she had a wonderful moment of respite in the dark solitude of the room, packing her bag. She paused slipping her pencil case into her bag and looked out the window. Ukiya's seat was cleared. He would be on his way home already. Maybe she should tell them about the black gate and the stranger with the red-and-blue eyes. Maybe not. They wouldn't be interested in any of her stories. Her thigh throbbed. There was far too much work involved today.
She almost walked into Ruriko in the corridor as she left.
"Watch where you're going."
"Gomen."
That look on Ruriko's face, however, was worth everything.
She stored away, darkly triumphant, Ikusawa's guilt.
New Opening: Omedetou, 1971!