86 - Volume 10 - Chapter 3.6

Varlet—Extra

Even after reactivating the Para-RAID, there were no Resonance targets to communicate with. His Juggernaut’s feeble radar couldn’t detect any nearby consort units.

Another squadron wiped out.

Throwing the radio, which only spurted out static noise, into his cockpit, Shin leaned his back against his unit’s armor and sighed. The captain and the squad members under him were all gone.

The battlefield he was on was an abandoned, desolate autumn pasture. The Legion had retreated, and Shin was left all alone beneath a sky dyed with the particular hues of blue that were unique to the fall. The wind blew on, indifferent to the battle that’d just taken place and the human lives it’d claimed. The needlessly clear azure sky hung above him, the petals of flowers he didn’t know the names of fluttering through them.

Having turned twelve, Shin had finally been charged with being a squadron’s vice captain. It was a squadron without any veterans. And as always, they were all wiped out, with him being the sole survivor…

…or not.

“You’re still here,” Shin said, turning his eyes to the old-model Scavenger tottering loudly toward him.

“Pi.”

Perhaps Shin was lucky, because for how old it was, it had apparently been graced with some learning ability. This admirable Scavenger was better at surviving battles than its peers. And this was despite the fact that it always followed Shin closely, even as he engaged the Legion in melee combat with his high-frequency blades or when he charged deep into enemy lines to break their formations.

“They’ll probably be transferring me. Are you going to follow me again?”

“Pi.”

“That right?”

Apparently, it was.

It went without saying, but Touka wasn’t in this ward. Which meant this time, he’d have to talk the Republic soldiers into letting Fido come along, Shin thought idly. And it didn’t stop there. He’d have to care for a lot of things on his own from now on.

Processors eventually leave him and die. And the maintenance crew stays behind as he bids them farewell. So if he was going to survive, he couldn’t rely on anyone else. He’d have to handle it all on his own—

“Pi.”

“Mm.”

Shin realized the Scavenger was staring at him. Its round optical sensor wasn’t flickering. It was observing him thoughtfully, its fuselage leaned slightly forward, like an intelligent dog.

Somehow, that gesture made it look concerned about Shin. Even though a garbage-collecting machine made by the Republic couldn’t possibly have any advanced functions like thoughts and emotions.

But just as that thought crossed Shin’s mind, it lifted both of its crane arms up toward the sky and started waving them left and right. It then bent the joints connecting its legs to its body one after another, rocking its ten-tonne form to the same rhythm it was moving its arms in.

“…”

It was…dancing. Shin watched the Scavenger’s odd, unexpected motions with blank amazement for a moment before he burst out laughing. Between this, how it’d followed him to help him carry supplies, and how it’d basically forced itself onto the transport plane…

“You’re one weird guy, you know that?”

Even though it’s just a machine that can’t possibly be capable of emotion.

The Scavenger’s optical sensor peered at him again, as if asking if he’d cheered up.

“I guess I can’t just call you you all the time,” Shin said, gazing back at it. “It’d be confusing.”

“Pi?”

“Do you have a name…? No, I guess you don’t. Then how about…?”

Even the Republic, which stripped the Eighty-Six of their original, human names, at least used numbers to manage them. Shin mulled over it for a moment, and then a name came to mind. He said it aloud without overthinking it.

He couldn’t recall when he’d heard of it anymore, but apparently, it was a name one would give to a dog. And for some reason, it felt nostalgic. Shin didn’t remember why that was the case, either.

“Fido. I’ll call you Fido.”

“Pi…!”

The Scavenger—Fido—flickered its optical sensor like it was overcome with emotion.

Apparently, it liked the name. It shook its crane arms and body again, this time in larger motions, dancing around with noisy footsteps. It danced so cheerily that it almost looked like imaginary flowers or hearts might start blowing around it. Shin watched it frolic with a sardonic smile.

“Once you’re done dancing, let’s get back to base. The head mechanic might get worried if we’re late.”

“Pi!”