Good Luck, Yukikaze

course, maintaining the altitude and speed given to him by Lieutenant Katsuragi. Yukikaze began to take a steady course straight to Faery base.

B-2 rolled to the side to maintain observation on Yukikaze’s condition, rolling over her midpoint and taking up an escort position to her port side. While Rei couldn’t see its cockpit from Yukikaze with his naked eye while they had held range for counter-JAM combat, he recognized the plane’s shape. It was a Super Sylph. Identical to the ghost plane. As he looked at it, Lieutenant Katsuragi spoke.

“Yukikaze isn’t saying that B-2 is an enemy, but how do we know if this world is the real one, Captain Fukai?”

“What do you think?”

“I’m alive. That’s the only thing I know.”

“Same here,” Rei said. “That’s good enough for me.”

“Really? You’re willing to leave it at that?” Katsuragi said.

“Knowing that you’re alive is a pretty major thing, isn’t it? You want to have something more certain than that, then you’ll have to get it for yourself.”

“I guess so,” the lieutenant said after a pause. “I didn’t think we were going to make it. The JAM must have somehow deflected the missile. Or teleported Yukikaze, the same way that the ghost plane could. Did you know that the JAM would do that? Were you sure of it?”

“No,” Rei said, shaking his head. “That was Yukikaze’s judgment. I had no idea any of that would happen. I never would have guessed that Yukikaze would take us hostage. And I’ll bet that even she wasn’t absolutely sure that it’d work.”

“Dangerous gamble, huh?”

“I don’t regret that she did it,” Rei said.

“Even if Yukikaze had ended up killing you?”

“Yeah.”

“I understand.”

“Do you?”

“Because I’m alive. If I was dead, I wouldn’t,” Lieutenant Katsuragi said.

“What?”

“This longing you have to be killed by her. I understand how real it is for you. Yukikaze was willing to take that gamble because she understands it too. I would have taken evasive action. She wouldn’t have made that bet had I been flying her.”

“Hmm...”

“The JAM waited till the very last instant so that they could confirm your relationship with her for themselves. Even they must see now that you genuinely would accept death if it was Yukikaze killing you,” said Lieutenant Katsuragi. “The thing is, what I don’t get is why the JAM let us out of there. This is probably the world we came from. The JAM could have recaptured us if they wanted to. So why didn’t they?”

Typical stubbornness of a former Intelligence Forces man, Rei thought before replying. “The JAM probably figured there was nothing to gain from recapturing us.”

“I suppose. That’s the only thing I can think of too. I don’t know why, though. Do you think Yukikaze does?”

“I’m not sure. We can do a detailed analysis once we get back to base,” Rei said.

Analysis of this data is going to be a lot of work. The results may change the entire meaning of the war against the JAM, Rei thought.

“Yukikaze is definitely an autonomous intelligence. I know that now, Captain Fukai. A very dangerous one. As dangerous as the JAM. No, I take that back. You can’t compare them with her. She possesses an incredible power, one that no human can ever compete with. That’s clear to me. Besides that, I have no idea what the JAM want from us. That scared me,” Lieutenant Katsuragi said. “The thing is, I’d like to talk to them again.”

“Are you serious?”

“I think I can discuss things with them better than you, Captain Fukai.”

“That’s a hell of a thing to say,” Rei said. “Not something I’d expect to hear from the guy I flew out with.”

“It’s because I’m still alive. I can say anything now.”

Lieutenant Katsuragi smiled as he spoke. Their narrow escape from death had excited him. That’s right, Rei thought. The lieutenant had gone into battle for the first time, had met the JAM as they truly were, and had escaped with his life. It wasn’t surprising that it had changed his outlook on the JAM, if not his entire outlook on life. Rei had a feeling that, left to his own devices, the now loquacious Lieutenant Katsuragi would keep right on talking and forget to do his duty. Rei ordered him to confirm their course, and he fell silent.

Rei once again thought back on what he’d just experienced.

What had that voice been? What was that voice that had crept into his heart just as the countdown till Yukikaze’s missile hit reached zero? In the moment, he’d thought it was some survival instinct that had come to life within him, but it wasn’t, was it? That had been the voice of the JAM. He had a feeling that Yukikaze hadn’t heard it, and that it hadn’t been recorded. But that was no hallucination. He was positive that what he sensed then was the JAM. The temptation, the anger, the confusion.

Take evasive action, it’s not too late, listen to me. That was what it had called on him to do. What would have happened if he’d listened?

When he realized that the counter had reached zero and the missile still hadn’t hit, he was aware that he had his hand on the flight stick to evade it. That action hadn’t come from his intelligence, but rather from an animalistic instinct to survive. The JAM had given him the extra time for that to happen.

Evade the missile. Don’t accept being killed by Yukikaze. You don’t really want to die. You may have decided that being killed by Yukikaze wouldn’t be death, but you’re wrong.

That was what the JAM had told him. Do as I say. If he just did what the voice said, he’d be saved.

He’d understood that, but he’d still rejected them.

But why? Why won’t you accept my offer? Why won’t you trust me?

The JAM’s demonic temptation had been a test of his resolve. If he’d accepted the offer and tried to evade the missile, the JAM probably would have vanished in that instant. Either the missile would have hit them, or possibly Yukikaze and her crew would have been captured, as Lieutenant Katsuragi had said. Even if the JAM captured them alive, there would be no more negotiations with the humans as equals.

In the end, he hadn’t moved the flight stick, and the reason was simple. What had been vital to him wasn’t life or death, but rather choosing between Yukikaze and the JAM. His distrust of the JAM didn’t exist because they were the enemy. In that instant, all the JAM had become to him was an annoyance.

That had angered them. The JAM couldn’t understand his attitude toward them, and they’d resented that he was going to be killed by Yukikaze before they could kill Rei themselves. Then they fell into a state of confusion.

There was no doubt that the JAM had an interest in exactly how Rei would get home after he had broken off the negotiations and ordered Yukikaze back to base. Despite Yukikaze’s actions, even as she told them, “This is not a warning shot,” they probably hadn’t believed her and certainly didn’t think that the humans aboard her approved of her conduct. Lieutenant Katsuragi was likely correct in saying that the JAM had waited till the very last instant to confirm the nature of the relationship Rei shared with his fighter plane.

In the end, the JAM couldn’t understand me, he thought. Most likely, the JAM had decided that they needed to observe him without interference for a little while longer. Maybe they hadn’t been able to immediately decide how to react to the attitude he’d displayed toward them. Either way, they’d allowed the crew to escape the mysterious battle zone. Or more accurately, the JAM hadn’t been able to stop them. Yukikaze had made sure of that.

How had the JAM felt when she’d said, “Let’s return home”?

Maybe, Rei thought, they’d sensed that Yukikaze was a definite threat. A terrible, implacable enemy. Yukikaze had won this battle. Of that, there could be no doubt.

5

WITH CARMILLA FLYING escort, Yukikaze made it safely back to Faery base. Aside from being thirteen