But Mamimi turned her face away and refused him.
'What's the matter?' Naota yelled at her. 'You like me, don't you?'
The loneliness was in Mamimi's eyes.
And at that moment—
The time was 3:32 pm.
With a loud pistol shot, something unnatural fired out from between Naota's eyebrows.
That was the beginning of the massive transformation.
Chapter 4
What had fired out from was not a small thing like a bullet; rather, what flew from his forehead with incredible force was a liquid metal not unlike a jet of water from a fire engine's water cannon.
All Naota's previous strange horns were robots that had used Naota's head as a route, allowing them to pop out from the other side. Those past experiences hasn't been particularly pleasant. Naota expected this one would turn out to be the same kind of humanoid robot as the others, and he prepared himself for that horrible feeling once more.
But… this time things were a bit different from his other extraordinary experiences.
'It's overflowing from Takkun!'
Even Mamimi, who had witnessed such a thing happen before, was sitting down on the ground and staring dumbfounded in amazement. She wasn't incredulous in regard to the incident happening, but she was blown away by the
This new projection was already a lot larger than the past robots that had come out, and it just kept on coming from Naota's head with incomparable momentum and speed. The thing was of an unimaginable scale, and it just kept coming and coming, like a never-ending snake firework.
That liquid metallic snake firework soared into the sky above Mabase, where it started to gather into a giant ball before morphing into a particular shape. It was a weird sight, almost like watching a clay model of a skyscraper take form.
And because of its size, the spectacle could be seen from anywhere in Mabase.
At the riverbank, Kitsurubami, who had been doting over Canti, opened her eyes wide with surprise. 'What is
Engaging his gravitational controls, Canti suddenly floated up and flew off into the sky.
The Masamune truck that Naota's classmates had been driving by the side of the river came to a sudden stopped. Intuitively, Masashi had hit the brakes. The three truck passengers sucked in their breath at the huge shape they saw developing in the sky.
'Let's go take a look,' Ninamori said to the boys.
Realizing the danger, the city residents started to evacuate. But a massive blackout, caused the traffic lights to go out on the chaotic roads, resulting in traffic jams near the intersections. People started climbed out of their cars and running—which would've caused a much greater panic if Mabase hadn't been blessed with a small resident population.
In the sky above the chaos, the MM factory siren blared out.
Inside the MM Mabase Factory, a medical machinery site with the exterior shape of an iron that was situated on a large hill in Mabase, a host computer started receiving battle reports.
«MMR Class [B].GH manifested in Mabase. Manifestation configuration M mode. 15:33.
Manifestation area is 1600 meters from Mabase plant 15:33.
From now, GM mode commences movement on ground through walking 15:33.
PS, this is to lure MMR Class [K].001 ATOMSK 15:33.
End 15:33.
Good luck to GH in executing battle strategy 15:33.»
The fluid metal jet kept shooting out, and the giant coagulating structure in the sky continued growing, becoming a towering metal obelisk as it ate up the endless stream.
Amarao and Haruko watched the scene with serious looks on their faces—but Amarao's inferiors fled out of terror.
Still in her hairdresser's uniform, Haruko watched the drama unfold. Needless to say, she knew where that giant snake firework was coming from; the chain link on the bracelet she wore on her left arm was receiving some kind of special energy, reacting like a magnet. It was probably indicating Naota's location.
Finally, the liquid metal stream stopped spewing. It seemed it had all come out, right down to the very last drop. But that enormous fluid thing was stilling changing shape in the sky. What in the world could it be?
When the solidifying body finally finished arranging itself, its true form appeared above the skies of Mabase: Thrusting into the heavens like a giant tower, the monster still had two legs. With the exception of the head portion, its entire body was covered in a thin, gleaming, metallic sheet. It looked exactly like a giant wearing a poncho—or a giant long cactus. Only the two feet at the bottom of the poncho and huge manipulator arms hinted at a humanoid shape. Any way you described it, though, it was absolutely enormous.
The head towered above the tallest building in Mabase. If it was a robot, how was this giant thing going to move?
'Look!' Amarao pointed at the enormous robot and pleaded, 'MM is sending those monsters! They're going to destroy this planet! It's over. That's a Class B robot.'
But Haruko didn't act at all daunted as she regarded her enemy; she simply took the bass guitar from her back.
Amarao already had lost all his composure. 'You're responsible for all this.'
'Shut up and watch, Sir Eyebrows.' (She meant Amarao by 'Sir Eyebrows')
'That guitar is not up to it!'
'You, SHUT UP! You're a hundred years under-evolved, primitive MONKEY!'
'That's derogatory language toward people of developing planets!'
Haruko looked like she was disgusted with this fussing man next to her, and she started to wave her guitar angrily. She made only a light swing through the air as if she were waving a tennis racket, but—
'Uwagh!' As if he had been stuck by an invisible impact, Amarao flew back and landed on the floor. At the same time, those very peculiar eyebrows were torn off his face and sent flying somewhere. Those unnaturally fat eyebrows—which had looked as though they'd been drawn on—actually were thick black stickers.
'My eyebrows!'
When he realized his eyebrow stickers had fallen off, Amarao's face went pale. He went into a panic so frenzied that it was comical. He always had been frightened of Haruko, but now he was so scared that he looked like an herbivore plucked up by the claws of a natural predator. Apparently, those eyebrow stickers were precious to him. He was more shaken by the loss of his eyebrows than by the menace of the enormous robot that had just appeared.
Amarao looked up at Haruko from the spot where he was sitting on the road. When she took a pose with her guitar in hand, his body began to tremble from the fear. 'No… you can't!'
'Fooly Cooly Fooly Coola, Fooly Cooly Fooly Coola…'
Haruko suddenly started chanting words like a curse. And as she chanted, she spun the guitar at the ends of her fingers as if it were a cheerleader baton. Then…
Through some incomprehensible technology, the rotating guitar started emitting light, which spread into
