01 The Happiness That Exists Now
I wanted to ask the fathers of the world.
Jin does not know what to do.
Perhaps I truly am not capable of becoming a parent to another person.
Jin faced the scene before him, chastising himself.
The figure of a girl stained with blood.
Avert one's gaze—instinctive.
But evasion is not an option.
If you are Mio's father, you cannot look away.
If you cannot do that, you have no right to call yourself a father.
Mio's lips moved.
All neural focus directed toward the ears, ensuring not a single word was missed.
Heightening focus.
Jin, who sharpened his mind more in battle than ever, could not predict this second ahead of time.
Dad, I won!
The fathers of the world.
What do you do when a girl bleeding from her nose reports a victory?
I'm really, really in trouble. Please help me.
◆ ◆ ◆
Two weeks had passed since that day—the day Jin and the others ate barbecue in the mess hall.
During that time, there had been no humanoid attacks.
Fourth-year cadets had graduated… commissioned as regular officers.
And Mio was.
"Otō-san, does it suit me? Does it suit me?"
"Yeah. Looks good on you."
Carrying a brand-new bag and wearing freshly issued clothing, Mio kept asking.
Since today marked her enrollment, Jin had taken leave.
Formal attire meant the ceremonial uniform for ceremonies.
But Jin thought that would stand out too much, so he wore a suit instead.
He was just struggling with preparations.
Fighting to tie his tie properly.
"Not quite coming together…"
He almost called out to her with his right hand.
Every day, he was reminded how reliant he had become on the command.
That reliance had been noticed by Mio. And it had hurt her.
Jin learned of this from Jake and reflected deeply.
He could not deny the truth.
He had questioned, even within himself, whether he had taken Mio not as a replacement for Rei, but as an extension.
Not a replacement.
Only to give Mio what Rei had not been able to—double the care, double the devotion.
He had resolved to love her more than anyone else ever had.
“Daddy, do my hair!”
“Yes, yes. As you wish, miss.”
“Intake!”
“Sorry, I can’t manage a hairstyle like an assault frame’s component.”
He ran a comb through her long silver hair.
As he did, a memory surfaced—Rei once arranging hair in the same way.
He mimicked the motion Rei had used, carefully smoothing Mio’s hair.
Gently, meticulously.
If Rei had lived.
Would she have done this for her, too? He wondered.
The thought tightened in Jin’s chest.
But it no longer brought pain.
Things he had not been able to do for her.
Things he had wanted to do.
He had decided to give those things to Mio, in full.
Jin accepted that.
Yet he knew someone else did not accept it.
To mask the slight dimming of mood, Jin spoke with an unnaturally bright tone.
“Alright, done. Yeah. The convoy’s the cutest.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Not entirely indifferent to praise.
The facial muscles still refused to cooperate, yet a hint of humming surfaced as she moved toward the sink.
Jin watched her back, then resumed his own preparations.
He checked the tie—adequate, if barely passing.
“Time to go, Mio.”
Jin prompted her, watching Mio check her reflection in the mirror again and again, thinking faintly how even small, she was still a girl.
“Hai!”
The two walked down an unfamiliar path, hands clasped.
“From tomorrow on, you’ll be going alone. Make sure you memorize the way.”
“It’s fine! After 79 steps straight, turn left—179 steps!”
Jin was surprised she’d been counting, and explained.
“Mio, if you vary your stride, you’ll end up lost.”
“Mio, I’ve never gotten lost before.”
Jin smiled wryly—she’d forgotten she’d once been lost in a toy shop.
No, he recalled, that wasn’t quite right. In Mio’s memory, it had been she who was lost.
“You need to memorize things that don’t move.”
“Hai!”
Pointing, Mio confirmed the route—turn right here, left there.
Fortunately, the destination was within walking distance. They didn’t need the hyperloop.
"Then, Mio—listen well to what the teachers say, okay?"
"Understood."
Jin parted from Mio, walking toward the spectator seats in the gymnasium, thinking, Good response, that one.
Scanning the area, he saw various families gathered.
"The Third Fleet has a relatively balanced male-to-female ratio, I heard."
The war with ASID, once their homeworld.
Humanity suffered catastrophic losses then.
Nearly complete extinction of male-bodied individuals.
ASID spreads by consuming and assimilating lifeforms, multiplying its kind.
It devours entire planetary ecosystems.
Most distinctive trait—almost entirely female-bodied.
Jin still wonders if those metallic monstrosities possess gender at all, but apparently they do.
Extremely rare exceptions.
Those individuals selected from the most advanced lifeforms on a planet, designated as Queens, transformed into male-bodied ASID units.
Investigations in that area have not progressed significantly.
Naturally.
To investigate it, one must necessarily sacrifice humans to become ASID units.
Regardless, the Queens who fought on the homeworld attempted to claim the majority of humanity—male—under their dominion.
And—unable to endure the transformation—perished entirely.
Only a few dozen men survived, as reported.
Considering humanity at the time numbered only around one hundred thousand,
the exodus from the homeworld, rendered uninhabitable by war with ASID,
overlapping with a crisis of species survival.
Jin marvels at how they managed to overcome it.
There were further developments afterward, but the key point remains: near extinction.
And a severe imbalance in gender ratio.
(Too few men...)
Thanks to artificial sperm and other technologies developed to enable human reproduction with only females, extinction was avoided.
Such prolonged conditions had erased the convention on the immigrant fleet that marriage equated to a union between male and female.
It was startling to learn, upon tracing history, that before the conflict with ASID erupted on the old homeworld, marriage between male and female had been the majority norm.
Jin had become naturally familiar with this subject, having had experts nearby.
Scanning the crowd, one saw that partnerships between women were overwhelmingly common.
Next came single women.
Mixed-gender pairings followed, with solitary men appearing only rarely—Jin being nearly the only one.
Feeling a slight unease, Jin waited for the commencement of the enrollment ceremony.
Unconsciously, his finger brushed against the crooked ring hanging from his neck.
School ceremonies, he thought, never changed—listening to the monotonous speech.
He searched for Mio, wondering if she was paying attention.
She was found without difficulty.
Silver hair was rare among them.
Most were black. A few had gold or chestnut tones.
Other colors, such as blue and pink, also appear among the new recruits.
Mio's gaze is fixed straight ahead, directed toward the platform.
There is no memory of being taught, yet she sat with perfect posture.
As if held in place by wires.
The difference becomes clear when compared to the other children.
Jin sighed in relief, glad he had not dozed off.
Incidentally, Jin spent most of his student days sleeping through anything named 'Shiki'.
From the entrance ceremony, all the way to graduation.
I’m glad Mio wasn’t that way.
"How's it going, Mio? You seem to be making friends?"
On the way back, having received various explanations.
Jin asks Mio while holding her hand.
Hmm... I don't know.
It's better to have friends.
"...Daddy, do you have friends?"
"Jake or Sharon"
"Sharon?"
Who—tilting their head, asking.
Jin suppresses a smile at the corner of his mouth.
"Like that time we ate meat, the one with the blonde hair—"
"The lady who served the meat! Wait, but Dad, you called her Gunsoo."
"That's a rank... more like a job title. They were classmates from training school... back then."
He recalls the trio known as the Problem Children.
Their teacher used to hold their heads in despair.
"Still friends?"
"Yeah. Basically."
They drifted apart at times, but somehow still meet up now and then.
The phrase 'rotten bond' crossed his mind.
"Can Mio make friends too?"
"That depends on Mio's effort."
"Understood. I'll try."
Mio clenches her fist, determination set in her eyes.
What kind of friend will she become?
Jin feels a mix of anticipation and unease.
◆ ◆ ◆
Mio returned home the next day, bloodied.