Clockwork Planet: Volume 1 Read online

  Of the three of them, Punk A accosted RyuZU in an obnoxiously familiar tone,

  “Hey hey heyy! You’re a reeeeeal babe, aren’tcha?”

  “Yes. What of it?”

  “Ahahahaha, ‘what of it’ she says! But she seriously is a fine jewel isn’t she!”

  “Say, say. Won’t you come play with us? We’ll treat you to dinner, y’know~?”

  Naoto grasped the situation immediately.

  Lured by the ultimate prize that was RyuZU, Punks A, B, and C had gathered around her. They were a type that Naoto would normally have no point of interaction with. They normally wouldn’t even register in each other’s field of vision, after all. If he somehow did end up getting involved with them, he could get by by laughing sycophantically like a fool, but—

  “——”

  Naoto’s entire body flared red-hot.

  Abiding by his impulse, he grabbed RyuZU’s hand.

  “RyuZU, we’re going.”

  “Yes.”

  RyuZU nodded and tried to leave with Naoto, but the group of three men didn’t permit that.

  They quickly routed in front of them, blocking their path.

  “Hey now, little boy... What’s this about alllll of a sudden?”

  “This girl is about to go on a date with us, y’know? Kids should get the hell outta here.”

  Punks A and B threatened Naoto as they surfaced a smirk bordering on obscene.

  The remaining Punk C looked Naoto up and down with bloodshot eyes.

  “Who’re you supposed to be anyway? Don’t tell me you’re her boyfriend—?”

  “Nice joke, Taku-chan! I’m telling you, no man, there’s no way!”

  As the three of them exploded in laughter together, the one who first accosted RyuZU, Punk A, reached his hand towards her.

  As soon as Naoto noticed that, he immediately struck the punk’s hand down with all his might.

  “——That hurt... What’s with this kid? Aaah?”

  The smirks disappeared from their faces, replaced by the signs of swelling fury.

  Even so, Naoto continued to yell at them, driven by his own fury.

  “Shut up already—She’s not someone that’s okay for a sorry lot like you to touch. Can’t you even tell that much, you self-proclaimed homo sapiens?! Keep your shamelessness limited to your ugly faces, you walking pieces of waste!”

  —Uh, what the hell am I saying? warned the relatively calm portion of his brain.

  Even though his opponents were punks that didn’t look too fit, they were still a group of three young men, whereas he was only a sixteen-year-old boy, and a small and frail one, at that.

  If it came down to a fistfight, no matter how much he struggled, there would be no future for him but to become a punching bag.

  Even though they might have been able to escape peacefully if he had conducted himself more wisely—for some reason, Naoto’s heart harbored no regret.

  If he had had the chance to start over, he definitely would have done the same thi—No, he would have thrown in a kick as well next time.

  —That’s right. If they’re gonna make a move on RyuZU, I’ll protect her at any cost.—

  The three punks, whose faces were made even uglier as they were distorted by fury, came grappling towards Naoto.

  Naoto glared at the three of them as he pressed his lips tightly together.

  Immediately after, he heard a refreshingly cool voice.

  “—Thank you. Allow me to revise my perception of you up a notch, Master Naoto.”

  “Whah?” Naoto asked back spontaneously.

  Right after that, RyuZU’s skirt began to flutter slightly.

  That was as much as Naoto could tell with his eyes at least.

  However, wind and sound, along with—”something” else—flew past the three punks, as if brushing by. A strange sound of things unfolding rang out.

  Everything, from the punks’ shirts, pants, accessories, to their shoes, underwear, and hair, was torn asunder, falling down while fluttering in the air.

  “—I apologize.”

  RyuZU pinched the hem of her skirt and made a curtsy to the punks who had sunk to the floor, naked.

  “I was already in a bad mood as things were from the attitude the riffraff at school displayed towards Master Naoto, so when you all pushed me over the edge, I inadvertently ended up doing this in a flare of anger. I do not particularly regret anything either.”

  “Ah, ah, holy...”

  “On another note, I offer my gratitude to all of you, as I am truly glad that you stopped before striking Master Naoto. No matter how much of a pervert you are, even you would feel queasy seeing a freshly severed head, right, Master Naoto?”

  RyuZU surfaced a thin smile.

  However, the temperature of her gaze was absolute zero, as if she were looking at flies swarming rotting flesh.

  Even the dumbest blockhead on the block would surely know what her gaze was implying.

  The three naked punks scrambled off like stray dogs. Their screams caused a commotion to grow, and the angry roar of what was probably a policeman could be heard from afar.

  “...L, Let’s enter the manga cafe already. It’s too dangerous for you to walk around at night, RyuZU!”

  Naoto pushed RyuZU’s back, entering the store hastily.

  This manga cafe was one that Naoto knew well.

  The store was wide and bright inside, and every nook and corner of it was thoroughly cleaned. None of its facilities was damaged either, and the refreshment bar had many choices for drinks as well.

  RyuZU stopped and surveyed the interior of the store.

  “...It is so-so, I guess.”

  She pouted, looking unsatisfied.

  “However, I believe that ‘The Oh, Yes’ is a better place to stay in after all. Do you prefer a narrow and suffocating room over a broad and comfortable one, Master Naoto?”

  “Yeah, whatever, let’s just say I do. Okay?”

  As the two of them approached the counter, a young male employee came out from the back. He opened his mouth blankly for a moment upon seeing RyuZU, but he immediately pulled himself back together and surfaced a smile.

  “W, Welcome. Do you have a membership card?”

  “I want the overnight deal,” said Naoto, presenting his card.

  “If you start now, you’ll be charged the standard rate for one hour. Is that fine?”

  “Yes. I’m fine with that at this point.”

  “Thank you. What seat would you like?”

  Naoto hesitated.

  He troubled himself over the map of the store’s interior that the employee presented. Cafeteria seat, box seat, business seat, reclining seat... there were many kinds of different seats, but as far as ones that were suitable for two people to stay in...

  As Naoto wavered, RyuZU stepped forward from the side.

  “We’ll take a couple’s seat.”

  “Eh...?”

  “Certainly. Your seat will be box number four.”

  Ignoring Naoto, who was stiffening up, RyuZU promptly finished the process, taking the receipt and Naoto’s membership card back from the employee.

  “Wha, RyuZU?! A couple’s seat?”

  “Was that not your intention? Rather than a wide bedroom, you would prefer to glue yourself to me in a confined seat. Are you impressed by my keen eyes that were able to grasp your perverse desire?”

  “No, that’s not it! I didn’t even think of that!”

  “If I think about it that way, then there would be a rational explanation for why you obstinately rejected the love hotel, but?”

  “That’s because I’m underage!”

  “Please rest assured, Master Naoto. No matter what kind of peculiar lusts that would be condemned by society you harbor in your chest, I intend to accept them in full.”

  “I’m saying—no, never mind. If I think about it, it’s safer this way.”

  “True. It seems that the public order is not excellent around here after all. As
long as I am here, there is no problem at all, but it is still important to avoid unnecessary danger.”

  “Right, yeah... Danger not for us, but for those that would harass us,” Naoto muttered in a small voice.

  —If by any chance, an idiot shows up and makes a pass at RyuZU, a murder might end up happening in the store...!

  Upon entering the designated cubicle, Naoto collapsed onto the two-person sofa, completely exhausted.

  “...Today was long, too long...”

  Fatigue that felt as heavy as lead weighed down on his entire body.

  He wanted to sleep like a log just like this, but he couldn’t. Naoto sighed deeply, straining his body as he stood up sluggishly.

  “Master Naoto, where are you going?”

  “I’m going to borrow the shower here. I sweat a bunch in the morning after all, so it’d feel gross to sleep like this.”

  “I see. Understood.”

  —Passing by RyuZU, who bowed lightly at him, Naoto walked towards the shower area.

  However, after advancing for a short while, he stopped and turned around.

  “Say, why are you following me?” asked Naoto. RyuZU made a puzzled face with her eyes slightly widened.

  “...? Was the order not for me to wash your back?”

  “I didn’t say anything like that at all!”

  “Yes. However, Master Naoto, you do not appear comfortable being candid with your desires, so I tried to make a read on the true intentions hidden behind your remarks.”

  “Don’t bother!”

  “...Really? Are you sure? You mean to say that you do not wish for a special act of servitude involving body lotion and sponges after we have both stripped in a narrow, locked room?”

  “............”

  “Master Naoto?”

  “......No, I’m fine. I’ll be showering by myself.”

  “Is that so. In that case, I shall return to our seat and wait for you.”

  “...Yeah. See you later then.”

  RyuZU returned to their seat after bowing once.

  After her figure had fully disappeared, Naoto spontaneously collapsed onto his knees.

  Sniff. Naoto wiped the tears that had formed at the corners of his eyes, muttering,

  “......Seriously, what the hell am I doing...”

  ●

  “Whoa! What’s this?”

  When Naoto returned, refreshed from his shower, the couple’s seat had become buried in magazines and manga of various genres. RyuZU was reading them at a startling pace as she sat modestly on the far side of the sofa.

  She stopped her hand temporarily and faced him.

  “Welcome back, Master Naoto.”

  “Ah, yeah, I’m back... What’s up with all this?”

  “I am gathering intelligence; these are a part of that. I had been asleep for as long as 206 years, so I thought I should fill in my knowledge of the modern world as much as possible.”

  “...This manga is a part of that too?”

  “Mass entertainment is an important reference.”

  “I, Is that so... You do that then; meanwhile, I’ll be sleeping, because unsurprisingly, I’m pooped.”

  “I see. Please have a good night,” said RyuZU, turning towards Naoto and sitting on her heels.

  As he sat down beside her on the sofa, Naoto asked, “What about you, RyuZU? ...I guess automata don’t sleep. What about your spring?”

  “Do not worry, it is self-winding.”

  “Ahh, I see... Huh? The winding is completely automatic? For turning over four trillion gears?”

  “Yes. What about it?”

  Naoto took a breath, then nodded.

  “—Oh, nothing. Rather, it’d be weird if you couldn’t do that much, huh.”

  Even a state-of-the-art automaton seems to need to have their spring wound about once a week, you know...

  Naoto realized once again just how high-end RyuZU was.

  Compared to the capabilities she’s shown me up to now, I guess having a self-winding spring isn’t anything special at this point... Naoto convinced himself like so as he made his arms into a pillow for his head before closing his eyes.

  Immediately after, RyuZU whispered in a cold voice, “—Could you be ignoring me?”

  “Huh?”

  Naoto reflexively opened his eyes, upon which he saw RyuZU’s unsatisfied-looking face right next to his, making him swallow his breath.

  “Are you ignoring my lap pillow?” RyuZU asked as she tapped her thighs. Pon-pon.

  Naoto darted his eyes about before asking back, “...Can I?”

  “You have already done so, both this morning and during lunch. Not to mention, Master Naoto is my master now. Would it somehow be inconvenient for you to do so?”

  “No siree, not at all.” Naoto replied immediately as he placed his head on RyuZU’s lap.

  As the soft and warm, almost melting sensation made him sigh, he wriggled in his seat slightly before closing his eyes, upon which he immediately began to drift off.

  “Master Naoto.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I watched you for the whole day today.”

  “Yeah.”

  “To be perfectly honest, Master Naoto is completely inexplicable.”

  “Is that so? Well, I guess I can’t deny that.”

  “Yes. In addition, Master Naoto is self-deprecating to the extreme.”

  “You’re right,” Naoto groaned as if regretful. “Sorry... for being an uncool Master.”

  “—It is important to be humble of oneself, yes... But even so—”

  Naoto waited for her to continue, but—

  “...No, it is nothing important. —Good night.”

  “...Yeah.”

  He fell asleep immediately.

  As RyuZU combed Naoto’s hair gently with her hand, she let out a whisper, “...Master Naoto, what do you think of me?”

  There was no answer. RyuZU didn’t really wish for one either. After observing him the entire day, she understood that Naoto wasn’t interested in anything but machines.

  In that case, the reason he had desired her, an automaton, was that she was an excellent machine. But if that was all there was to it, then why did he treat her like a human girl?

  “Really, how incomprehensible.”

  RyuZU slipped out a chuckle as she cast her eyes downward. She thought back to the trouble they had gotten caught up in just a little while back.

  Whether it had been because he saw her as his possession or as a girl remained unclear. But whatever the case, Naoto had tried to protect her.

  ...I am treasured.

  She had been able to ascertain that fact—Then, wasn’t that enough?

  Surfacing a smile that hadn’t even a single drop of poison, RyuZU continued combing Naoto’s hair.

  ●

  It’s been 26 hours since the entire staff began analyzing the phenomenon together.

  The work was proceeding smoothly.

  Of the 27 floors that the core tower had, they’d already finished confirming the first two floors.

  Unfortunately, they hadn’t discovered a point of malfunction yet. Still, if they continued at this pace, they had estimated that it should be possible to verify all the floors within two weeks.

  However, in spite of that—they couldn’t genuinely rejoice.

  “...The work is proceeding too smoothly.”

  Indeed—that was the biggest irregularity of all.

  The reason why the work was proceeding smoothly—That was solely because there were no nuisances in the way.

  Nuisances, or namely, the military.

  Of course, as long as the treaty was in place, the military couldn’t openly obstruct Meister Guild. The most they could do is to offer “assistance” politely. While Meister Guild expressed gratitude towards that offer, the guild gently declined the offer so as to be able to work smoothly. Nevertheless, the military took pride in maintaining the municipal mechanisms from day to day and were surely displeased to have o
utsiders intruding and taking charge. There was also the issue of appearances in front of the city’s residents.

  As a result, the military was quick to cut in citing excuses like ‘preventing leakage of classified information’ and ‘bearing responsibility’; Meister Guild advanced its work as it evaded that interference.

  From the military’s perspective, Meister Guild was a vulture who snatched away their work and the credit that went along with it.

  From Meister Guild’s perspective, the military was nothing more than a group of incompetents who were all talk.

  That was something Marie and her staff were confronted with regularly; however—

  “To think that I would only spot a few clocksmiths from the military’s Technical Force the whole day today...”

  She wasn’t entirely indifferent.

  After all, she had been offered “assistance” when she had arrived, and even now, there was an auditor belonging to Technical Force silently monitoring them from the corner of the meeting room.

  However, that was the extent of the military’s presence.

  After she had refused the first offer of assistance, the military had readily drawn back. The core tower, the heart of the city, was usually crammed with over a thousand staff members, but those staff members also accepted their dismissal from the case without a fuss.

  If anything, for them to be understanding to this extent made Marie feel suspicious instead.

  The impenetrable order of Meister Guild.

  The sudden fluctuations in gravity before dawn.

  The suspicious response from the military.

  Even if they were small abnormalities one-by-one, them being lined up together made Marie envision the worst-case scenario in her mind.

  “There’s a possibility that this really is the possibility I’ve considered.”

  “Dr. Marie...”

  A young member of the staff addressed her in a small voice.

  Sensing what he wanted to say from his expression, Marie nodded.

  “I know. Don’t worry, I’ve already prepared for that.”

  “Then, as expected, did they...?”

  “I can’t say anything for sure. However, I think I can find out soon enough.”

  Perhaps the staff member sensed an unsettling tinge to Marie’s countenance, for he returned to his station after clearing his throat meekly.