This Body Is Just Right / Birdsong

"..."

Kevin was not weak. When he learned that he was about to become captain, his first thought was not whether he was qualified, but whether he could do a good job.

He could not act like a rookie. He had to lead his teammates with maturity, but that naturally brought a series of doubts about his own abilities.

After hearing the news, Lin had only one question about the arrangement.

"Kevin, what is your Honkai Energy Adaptability?"

Once Kevin gave the obvious answer, Lin had a clear idea of what this arrangement meant.

One person carried a lamp ahead, while those behind followed the hopeful light. That was how hope came to be.

That was what those who supported Mei believed.

"Lin, I want to know, what should I do?" Kevin looked at the helmeted man lost in thought. His youthful face had changed. After joining Fire Moth for Mei's sake, he had learned responsibility, and after witnessing farewells, he had matured.

The days when the three of them laughed and chatted had drifted away, but it was no one's fault. They had merely been swept forward by the current of fate. Even if they did not wish to take up weapons, they still had to fight.

Lin sighed. "In what regard?"

Kevin answered firmly, "Everything."

"Then let's start with a spar."

The moment he finished speaking, Lin's fist was already in front of Kevin's eyes.

"Soul, haven't you been going on too many missions lately?"

Himiko watched Soul, who had returned after a day and night of fierce fighting, collapse headfirst onto the sofa. Her fingers clenched the hem of her clothes as she asked the question.

She was happy to see that Soul had pulled herself together after Lin talked her through things, and that she had become stronger. Yet since that day, Soul had become just as much of a mission fanatic as Lin, fighting on the front lines day and night. Just like Lin, she often carried out missions alone.

At times, Himiko even felt that Soul was more devoted than Lin. Relying on her superior adaptability, she often went deep into the battlefield. Unlike Lin's methodical combat style, Soul frequently fought nonstop for days and nights, sometimes even for over half a month. Himiko could not help worrying about her health.

"Phew... It's fine, Captain. As long as I can save even one more person this way..." Soul pushed her disheveled hair aside and rested an arm over her forehead. She truly felt weak, but whenever she thought of preventing those tragedies from happening again, an endless stream of strength surged from within her.

Team Member Lin must want me to do this too.

Himiko could not bring herself to say much. She pushed a file folder toward Soul. "This month's physical examination results are out. Some of your readings are above the limit. When there's no squad mission, stay at the base and rest. Understood?"

The readings in question naturally referred to her Honkai Energy coefficient. Once it exceeded the tolerable range, it became dangerous. If she still did not take care of herself, Honkai Energy would eventually erode her.

Soul smiled gently. "Don't worry, Captain. I inject inhibitors every time."

"Sigh, honestly. That kid left, and now you've started too. I'm a captain with no troops under me. Even Hua feels more like my teammate than you do."

While casually dealing with Himiko's complaints, Soul picked up the file folder and took out her examination report.

Her coefficient had indeed exceeded the limit somewhat, but it did not matter. If she could shoulder even a little more of Lin's burden and let him rely on her a little more...

No one would die. Lin would not die either... No, he absolutely could not...

"Hm? Soul, why are you smiling?" Himiko suddenly caught sight of Soul's face behind the file and froze for a moment before asking.

"Huh? Oh... it's nothing."

Soul's expression returned to normal. She shook her head at Himiko with her usual smile.

"That's good. The way you smiled just now was a little creepy. Are you under too much pressure?"

"Nope~"

Soul smiled brightly, without the slightest trace of gloom.

This Body Is Too Suitable

"Ah! Ah! Ah! What the hell is the problem?!"

Delta clutched his greasy, bird's-nest hair and rolled around on the floor. Then, without paying attention, he slammed his head into a cargo container with a crisp bang.

"..." Ignoring the Head of Research and Development throwing a tantrum like a child, Lin picked up the tablet. The Floating Cannon blueprint displayed on it was covered in crosses. Comparing it to the actual prototype, whose appearance had made almost no progress, Lin could not decide whether to criticize Delta or comfort him.

Compared to half a year ago, it was not entirely without improvement. It was just that he could not find even the difference of a single screw.

"Damn, that hurt... Anti-gravity levitation... Tch." After venting his frustration, Delta got up irritably and snatched the tablet from Lin's hands. "How do those damn Herrschers know how to fly the instant they get a Herrscher Core? Is it instinct? Can someone explain it to me?"

The assistant standing nearby shrugged. "That is Honkai-related knowledge. Director, trying to understand Honkai itself using human common sense is an extremely difficult challenge."

"I know! But aren't we here to challenge the fields humanity has yet to understand?" Delta gritted his teeth unwillingly and glared at the Floating Cannon in front of him. "If we had anti-gravity flight like the Herrschers, we wouldn't have to passively take hits on the ground anymore. Giving humanity wings has been the dream of countless people before us!"

He turned around. "Lin, how about you install a Herrscher Core, become a Herrscher, and tell me how to break through this technical bottleneck?"

"..." Lin's gaze was cold enough to freeze.

"Ahem, I was joking. Herrschers are all women. How could I possibly make you do that?"

Lin ran his fingers over the Floating Cannon's outer armor. It used a new material, and its flexibility was much better than he had expected. He asked, "What does Vill-V think?"

"Uh... She said something a little hard to understand." Delta imitated Vill-V's tone and said seriously, "'Wouldn't it be enough for Lin to awaken as a NewType?'"

"..." Lin might have to thank Vill-V for not renaming Titan into ν Titan.

Technical problems were not something Lin could help with. Mei, who should have been at the Research and Development Department the most, had been unable to participate in cutting-edge technology development because of all sorts of matters. Even the development of Prometheus Unit 2 had been postponed.

"Can the other armaments and the main body still not be put into actual combat?" Lin asked about the issue that concerned him more.

"The floating flight backpack is Titan's top research priority. Titan's overall specifications need to be adjusted throughout development." Delta naturally understood Lin's thoughts. "Later armament additions only need to be added according to the existing specifications, but the Floating Cannons are different."

"Besides, you definitely want to see a perfect Titan too, right?" Delta waggled his eyebrows at Lin, though all he could see in the helmet's reflection was his own ridiculous face.

From a pilot's perspective, Lin did indeed have reason to look forward to a complete Titan rather than a half-finished one.

"Well, as compensation, I've already calibrated this thing. Here." Delta handed the Phase Transfer Device to Lin. "Based on the original model's development, we've now equipped every soldier's armor with a Spatial Fracture system. It's a weakened, stable version of Phase Shift. It won't malfunction, it won't kill you, and more importantly, its requirements are low."

"Of course, you'll definitely keep using the high-risk, high-reward Phase Shift, so I made this thing as stable as possible. During the first few uses, you won't experience the consciousness loss from last time."

Lin silently put away the Phase Transfer Device. Indeed, the technologies he often used all carried matching risks and rewards, including Delta's added Burst Mode, Phase Shift, and Doctor Mobius's toxins.

With little lifespan remaining, he no longer needed to consider side effects.

"Ugh..." Delta kneaded his stiff neck and looked at Lin with relief. "Come to think of it, we've known each other for more than a year now. Back then, you were that kid who questioned why we weren't making Titan lighter. Now you've got a bit more human warmth to you."

Lin looked back at him. "So do you."

"Maybe it's because I'm getting older. Lately, I've been worrying about hair loss. Do you think I should go to Doctor Mobius's laboratory and ask for a prescription?"

"..." The most likely thing she would do was graft the hide of a hairy ape onto your head.

"Oh, right. Research on the Third Herrscher is still ongoing. Unlike the Second Herrscher's utility, the Third Herrscher is more weapon-focused. Do you have any ideas?"

He was asking for Lin's opinion. Once research reached a certain stage, it could hit a bottleneck. At times like that, an outsider's perspective could have unexpected effects.

"I'm very comfortable using Raikiri and Plasma Shadow Show."

"But you can't use them for your entire life, can you? What about something cooler? Like miniaturizing the Floating Cannons and mounting them directly on you..."

Lin listened helplessly as Delta rambled on about his wild ideas, leaning back in his chair without saying a word.

Delta's gaze softened like a gentle drizzle.

This scene made him feel as if he had returned to the past, when he had also described those fanciful dreams to someone else in this way.

"Left arm, raise it horizontally to ninety degrees."

Vill-V set down her top hat, picked up a camera, and turned it on, recording a great experiment in progress.

Under a lone spotlight, an arm so pale it was nearly bloodless rose into the air.

"Very good. Lower it. Switch to the right arm, alternate three times, then raise both legs forward and backward to ninety degrees."

It followed every instruction. Its movements were fluid and no different from those of an ordinary person.

"Basic mobility is fine. Good, now look forward. We'll conduct a vision test." Vill-V turned on the projector. "How many Lins are there in the image?"

"Two." The voice was calm and completely flat.

"Uh... Looks like the monitor needs further adjustment." Vill-V crossed out the vision test item in her notebook. "There's only one Lin in the image. It should be a problem with light-based visual imaging... Next, the operation of the consciousness circuits. Don't disappoint me. The answer you gave last time, Maiden Machine 1.0, made me wonder whether we were even from the same world."

"Doctor Vill-V, that was because the question you asked was not one that anyone from this world should ask. At least, my database has no corresponding record."

"It's Vill-V, the great mechanical engineer." Vill-V corrected it unhappily.

"..."

"Honestly, your original form of consciousness was more convenient in my opinion, and it suited your design philosophy better. Having a body is not necessarily a good thing." Vill-V licked the corner of her mouth excitedly. "Still, this truly interests me. Everything needs to be challenging to be fun."

"Doctor Vill-V, the great mechanical engineer, please continue."

"Oh, right. I nearly forgot the important part. Then, do you know who you are?"

Its red eyes, like mechanical indicator lights, lit up.

"I am Prometheus Unit 1, the Artificial Intelligence assisting Lin."

Birdsong

"This time, we're heading to a small coastal border city on the Mu Continent. Due to repeated small-scale Honkai incidents and natural disasters caused by its geographical location, the area has long remained in a state of lawless chaos. That is something we need to keep in mind."

Immer explained the upcoming mission area to Lin and Hua. Neither Fire Moth nor the government wished to waste resources and manpower on such a remote town. Even the nearest shelter on the map was over thirty kilometers away.

The definition of a small-scale Honkai incident was fairly narrow. It generally referred to low-level Honkai Beasts and zombies formed from beasts and humans corrupted by Honkai Energy. Their scale was not large, but ordinary people still had difficulty handling them, so it was only natural for the area to fall into disorder.

"This mission is a joint investigation with Squad One and Squad Four into the high Honkai Energy readings appearing in the area, as well as the abnormal typhoon phenomenon that has continued for a month."

As Immer moved his finger, a map of the region and the typhoon's distribution were projected onto the transport aircraft's inner wall.

"Every year, typhoons make landfall on the Mu Continent from here around this time, so Fire Moth initially considered it a normal natural phenomenon. However, this Category 12 typhoon did not continue inland. Instead, it stopped over this small city, and its wind level has continued to rise. Yesterday, it developed into a severe typhoon. It is estimated that within three days, wind levels will rise above Category 16."

A super typhoon was almost never seen over land. At peak intensity, its winds could exceed three hundred kilometers per hour, easily creating massive waves fourteen meters high or more. It was often accompanied by torrential rain and tsunamis, making it one of the most severe natural disasters.

A typhoon that had stayed over a city for an entire month while continuing to intensify was no longer a natural phenomenon. Combined with the abnormal high Honkai Energy reaction, it was no wonder three squads had been deployed to investigate. At the very least, an Upper-class Honkai Beast had been born.

"Squad Seven and Squad Three will mainly be responsible for evacuating the remaining residents and investigating the source of the typhoon. Squad One will maintain vigilance. Any important developments must be reported to headquarters... Captain, is there anything else to add?"

Lin, who had remained silent, stared at the map and said, "Do not split up in bad weather with low visibility. Contact the other squads at regular intervals."

"Yes." Hua and Immer replied in unison.

This disaster sweeping across the entire city, this unnatural "natural disaster," carried a certain sense of déjà vu...

Lin, Delta is calling.

Lin, who had been deep in thought, glanced at the words in the upper-right corner and accepted the communication.

After Prometheus returned from Vill-V's place, it had not shown any abnormalities. Lin had asked Vill-V what exactly she intended to do with Prometheus, but the only answer he received was something vague like, "Looks like I still need to make adjustments for version 3.0."

As for Prometheus... Lin had practically given up on asking that disobedient AI anything.

"Hello? Lin."

"..."

"Hello, hello... Seriously, I thought the call hadn't connected because you weren't saying anything. Fine, just listen. This is incredibly good news."

Delta stood in front of the suspended Floating Cannons, grinning smugly.

"Delta, wouldn't it be wonderful if humans could grow wings?"

"What? Did you sleep yourself stupid? If you want wings, go ask the people in those laboratories."

"No."

The man rubbed his bleary eyes and gazed at the empty sky.

Out at sea, the sky was like a flawless dome. It felt as though one could reach out and touch it.

"Growing wings isn't quite right... What I mean is, it would be nice if humans could fly more like birds."

His fingers tapped on the keyboard as Delta yawned. "We already can. Aren't airplanes enough?"

"Not like airplanes."

"Then what do you want?"

"Mm... It's hard to explain." The man clasped the back of his head and sighed. "That feeling of not being bound by gravity."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Delta laughed at him. "You aren't thinking about anti-gravity levitation flight, are you? That's just a concept. There's neither enough energy to support it nor theoretical knowledge to reference. You want to create an imaginary technology from scratch without any underlying foundation? What, do you think humanity advances by reading the Creator's design manual?"