The Bitter Fruit of Humanity's Own Making

It took minutes to fly there and seconds to fight. The battle lasted less time than the trip. It was utterly ridiculous.

As a light fighter, the cockpit of the GUTS Wing 1 was too cramped to carry out any rescue work. Zhou Hong could only fly back to base as quickly as possible, then take the brand-new GUTS Wing 2 to the rescue.

By the time the rescue was over, dusk was approaching. The ruddy light turned the sky and sea red where they met, and, beneath the shimmering waves, the fighters returned to the TPC Far East Headquarters.

At that moment, Daigo heard something in Shinjoh's words that left him feeling uneasy.

Shinjoh said it was only a rumor, but Daigo couldn't calm down.

He hurried over to Rena and said a few things that were painfully blunt.

Rena promptly left him in the dust. Zhou Hong patted Daigo on the shoulder and comforted him. "Women are like that sometimes. Whatever happened, it's always best to just apologize."

"I don't get it, A-Hong. What did she mean?"

"Why bother figuring it out? Just apologize and you're done." Zhou Hong didn't understand it himself, but spoke like an old hand.

Since he'd taken part in the mission, Zhou Hong was also asked to stay in the Command Room for the post-operation briefing.

"The analysis report on that monster is ready."

"It's carrying a large amount of radioactive material," Yazumi said, then suddenly looked up. "Based on our observations, the monster appears to be a fish that mutated after a leak of nuclear waste from an underground nuclear test."

"The monster codenamed Raybeak is a massive source of radiation contamination."

As Yazumi spoke, he looked fearfully at the teammates who'd just returned from the rescue.

They'd gone deep into that area and only just made it back.

"Which son-of-a-bitch did this? If that bastard were standing in front of me, I'd beat its head in!" Zhou Hong cursed, his face dark.

Anyone dumping nuclear crap into the sea could go straight to hell!

This never came up in the original story! Wasn't the next thing after this mission supposed to be a trip to Izu?

Was this what the world was really like?

He knew his immune system would be fine, but there was no way he could go home now.

And from now on, he'd have to be even more careful about eating fish. That damned nuclear test had cut off the path for generations to come.

Munakata and the others looked grim, too. They'd have to take anti-radiation medicine and undergo decontamination.

Suddenly, Zhou Hong's expression changed. "Yazumi, seal the Command Room doors and lock down the corridor on the way here. Don't let the Director in."

Megumi Iruma reacted at once. The Director had left the Command Room midway through the meeting on other business, and now that the operation was over, he'd surely come back to check in.

"Yazumi, seal the Command Room doors. Also, notify everyone at headquarters to stay clear of GUTS's route and get the warning out immediately."

"Send out a notice, and make sure the people at the rescue station stay put. Put everyone under quarantine."

Almost everyone in the Command Room was carrying radiation now.

They'd already walked through the corridors, but they hadn't stopped there, so it was hard to say how much they might have left behind.

There was no time to worry about whether the Director might be exposed outside. With so many sources of radioactive contamination in the Command Room, they absolutely couldn't let him in.

"We should keep our distance from the captain and Yazumi," Munakata said, setting an example by backing away a long way.

It probably wouldn't make much difference, but the farther apart they were, the more they could tell themselves they were probably going to be fine.

"No wonder my head's been feeling all woozy since we got back." As Shinjoh listened, he started imagining himself on his deathbed. "Does this mean I can't say goodbye to Mayumi?"

"I just started dating Minako, too!"

"Hey! Stop being stupid. You're not going to die that easily!" Horii slapped his thick thigh. "I'll take care of this."

"Horii! We're counting on you. Hurry up and think of something!" Munakata shouted.

"Leave it to me. There's no problem I can't solve." Horii thumped his chest.

He wasn't doing it for any other reason. If he wanted to enjoy a happy life in the future and keep living, he had no choice but to give it everything he had.

After seeing Horii pull off so many incredible things, Daigo and Rena weren't worried at all.

Shinjoh, who'd finally found a girlfriend thanks to his sister's help, was by far the most anxious.

Sure enough, after a short wait, Horii brought out a reliable device with a clatter.

He said eliminating the radiation wouldn't be difficult. The only tricky part was repairing the cells, and that had taken most of the time.

They watched the radiation levels on the detector drop rapidly, while the cells that had been altered were restored to their original state.

The black technology left even a brawny guy like Zhou Hong staring in amazement.

After all, they'd managed to crack something like the Miniaturizing Beam in no time. A relic from the war years like this was bound to have a solution, too.

Director Sawai, unable to enter the Command Room, joined the meeting by other means.

His image appeared on the Command Room's giant screen. "I've reviewed the information about Raybeak."

"Now we must bear the bitter fruit of the experiments we humans conducted."

"Enemies don't only come from distant planets. Our own actions are causing changes in places we can't see."

"In the distant depths of the sea, or buried far below the ground."

"That monster was a victim of our experiments. The harm we inflicted on it has come back to haunt us, and you've already felt the consequences of what it can do."

Everyone had personally experienced the adverse effects of radiation. Without that advanced technology, they'd probably have met their end after a while, all while pretending everything was fine.

"We wronged Raybeak."

"But that monster, Raybeak, must be destroyed. We have no choice but to find a way."

"Do everything you can."

As a huge, mobile source of radioactive contamination, Raybeak could cause terrifying damage if allowed to roam freely.

Fish could mutate, nearby coastal waters could become contaminated, and boats heading out to fish or sailing long distances might be attacked by the monster. The radiation left behind wherever Raybeak swam was invisible, but it would constantly threaten people.

They were ordered to do everything they could, but they lacked underwater surveillance equipment and couldn't determine Raybeak's exact location.

After hearing Director Sawai's words, all they could do was return to their rooms and sleep, waiting to search for traces of Raybeak the next day.

Please vote! The second update's at ten. Maybe earlier—I've done my best to sneak in some writing during my night shift!