10-2 Thank You, Suu-san

Author: Bishamon Mine
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n0664js/13/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

◆◇Side: Yachimata Alice◇◆

 

After I told Suu-san’s viewers how amazing what she was doing was, I looked forward.

Grand Harpies swirling in disorder around Maika and the clan members.

Too many enemies.

What a number…… I can’t count them.

Why does Maika have to go through this.

No, it’s my fault.
If I hadn’t gotten angry over one dress…… if we hadn’t fought——if I’d been at Maika’s side like always, the moment I noticed something was wrong we would have withdrawn.

“Please, Maika, don’t die.”

While I prayed with my chest full of regret, Grand Harpies started getting shot down in a strange way.

Suu-san was only firing the 〈Multipurpose Vulcan〉 normally, and even the enemies around the one she shot down burst with it.
Like an area attack.

This…… no way.

❝This kid…… isn’t she using even the debris to take enemies down?❞

I knew it!

——Doing that against something moving at that kind of high speed is insane.——That’s the sort of thing that happens by chance; you can’t aim for it!

While I’m staring in shock, Suu-san flies at the Grand Harpy mothership in an outrageous way.

——Eh…… eh…… at this rate won’t we hit the enemy mothership!?

Then she fires 〈Critical Blackbody Beam〉 and dives into it.

I can’t see ahead because of the light!
W-we’re going to hit!!

“〈Excitation Wings〉”

Eh, no, no no no!!

What is this person saying!?

You’re going to take a fighter in space and smash the wings into the opponent at this speed!?
And the field of view is wrapped in flash, so you can’t even see the enemy!?

——A-are you insane!?

I know Suu-san is strong——b-but this is too much!!

Aaaah, we accelerated——!!

I may have asked the wrong person for help——!

“It’s fine. I know the route.”

What do you mean, route!?
What is this person saying!?
Someone please translate——!!

“The target is the mothership!”

And from the front, tremendous G!

“Khh——the G!”
“Sorry, camera person, hang on……!”

〖Gravity Control〗!!

“I-I’m all right. I have the 〖Gravity Control〗 skill.”
“——G-good.——Then is it okay if I put on pretty reckless G?”
“It’s okay!”

Even with 〖Gravity Control〗, the G still coming on is harsh!

“Ill-san, can we use 〈Excitation Wings〉!?”
“Already deployed, My Master.”

Suu-san dives at a place where the enemies have stacked into a wall.

“Y-you’re diving in there!?”

I’m so scared I start crying.

❝There’s no gap!?❞
❝They’re going to collide!❞

Suu-san runs Swallow-san through almost no-gap enemies and barrage.
And while she runs through, she only hits the enemies with the wings and destroys them.
What kind of training lets you do a stunt like this……!?

What kind of movement is she actually making?

I check the footage from the camera drone I have set a little telephoto in space.
A band of light was drawn across space.

The band of light wriggled as if a dragon were being born in space.

“Y-you’re really drawing a crazy orbit——!”
“Eh——camera person, don’t say crazy orbit!?”

❝No, this is crazy❞
❝Madman’s orbit❞

See, everyone agrees!

“I can see it, the mothership.”
“The number of enemies keeps increasing!”
“Ill-san, after 〈Critical Blackbody Beam〉, stretch 〈Excitation Wings〉 as hard as you can!”
“〈Critical Blackbody Beam〉 firing. 〈Excitation Wings〉 full deploy. Yes, My Master.”

The front is wrapped in the flash of 〈Critical Blackbody Beam〉.

When the flash stops, this time there’s darkness ahead.

“Eh, what!? ——The enemy mothership that was in front until just now, where did it go!?”
“Camera person, right!”

At Suu-san’s words I turn the camera right.

There, the enemy mothership’s surface riddled with holes is like a road.

“You’re already cutting with 〈Excitation Wings〉!? ——How did you make a sharp curve grazing the enemy inside the flash!?”
“I calculated from distance and speed!”
“In that instant!?”

What is Souha’s top student’s thinking speed!?

Suu-san went on and destroyed the mothership just like that.

(——I knew it. “Suzuhi-chan” is cool.)

 

◆◇◆◇◆

 

When the mothership sank, a comm came in from Knights of the Stars.

“This is Knights of the Stars (Stellar Ritter) carrier Last Answer. Thanks for the assist. Please reveal your affiliation.”

Suu-san suddenly started worrying, “My affiliation?”, so I spoke first.

“Maika, everyone, are you okay!?”

Then Maika’s surprised voice came back first.

“……O-Onee-chan!?”

After that I hear clan members’ voices.

“Ah, that filtered voice is Alice-san! Everyone, we’re okay now! Alice-san came to save us!!”
“Uooooooooh!!”

Ah, they have the wrong idea!
It wasn’t me, Suu-san saved everyone.

“No——Maika, everyone! I didn’t save you——that’s not——……!”

After a bit of a fuss after that, I apologize to Suu-san.

“Or rather, Suzusaki-san saved everyone and I let them think I did it. I’ll tell them later.”
“Eh!? Th-that kind of thing, you don’t have to worry……?”

❝Suu-tan, Alice-tan. Find a combining mecha and combine.——True-Brave Combination Aliceuu❞

Suu-san and I combining!?
What are you saying!?

“P-please stop with the shin’yu combination!”

While my face is red, Suu-san sends a comm to carrier Last Answer.

“Then, everyone of Knights of the Stars. After this it’s just mopping up the small fry!”

“There’s someone else in Alice-san’s frame?”
“Alice-san’s copilot, please!”
“Even with the mothership gone, Grand Harpies are still rough for us.”

Suu-san answers everyone.

“Leave it to us! Then we’ll draw the enemies, so annihilate them with max wide-area firepower!”

“Okay! Photodisintegration engines to max output!!”
“Understood, photodisintegration engines to max output!”
“Charge start!” “Charge start!”
“Alice-san, please hold the enemies for three minutes!”
“‘‘‘Please!!’’’”
“O-Onee-chan……”

Everyone still seems to have the wrong idea.
I bow my head to Suu-san.

“Ah, I’ll tell them later.”
“No, you really don’t have to worry……”

After that Suu-san shot down Grand Harpies one after another.
I felt bad not helping at all, so I shot as a gunner, and I missed magnificently.
……The bullets I fire, for some reason, never hit at all.

Why do I miss this much? I was tilting my head when it happened.
Maika’s frame——Lob took a hit.
I was screaming before I knew it.

“Maika——!!”

The cockpit is stripped open——bad……! There’s nothing protecting that girl!
A Grand Harpy stands in front of Maika.

Maika’s face froze.

If she takes an attack there, Maika will vanish completely.

Is it fine because she can come back?
——No. Union revival is what’s called Swampman.

Even if you come back after dying, that isn’t the person.——It’s like a clone.
If that Maika dies, that Maika is called to heaven……!

While I’m going pale, Suu-san blew a sharp breath through her teeth.

“——Ssh.”

Then she slams her feet on the floor.

“——Uoooooooooh!!”

I could tell the light in Suu-san’s eyes on the monitor went out.

Suu-san’s arms move fast.

〈Excitation Wings〉, acceleration limiter release, triad-boost acceleration.

While I’m amazed at Suu-san’s outrageously precise, agile movement, I prepare 〖Gravity Control〗 so I can endure whenever powerful G hits.
——If it comes to it, I’ll put 〖Gravity Control〗 on Suu-san.

I have more muscle than Suu-san, so I can take a certain amount of G.

“Title activate———〖Legend〗!! Gooooooooooo——!!”

A further sense of acceleration hit my body.
A-amazing acceleration——I’ve never felt acceleration like this!

“I can’t catch Mother!!”
“Mama, too fast!!”

The drill drones can’t keep up either.

The seats move, and Suu-san and I go into a lying posture.

Parallel mode; this is my first time experiencing it.
I’ve never accelerated this far——I couldn’t control a speed like this.

Swallow-san’s color changed from black to silver-white.
So beautiful.

Suu-san, eyes peeled, heads for Maika.
Amazing, while putting out this much speed, she’s holding the G at the last line.
I can only say as expected.

But another Grand Harpy tried to stand in front of Swallow-san.

“Out of the way,——move!!”

Suu-san shoots the Grand Harpy with 〈Multipurpose Vulcan〉 and knocks it away in space.
The Grand Harpy flies off like it was juggled or shot from a slingshot.

Then Suu-san made a pretty reckless curve.

Here——!

“〖Gravity Control〗!”

I put the skill on Suu-san.

In exchange I put all my strength into my abs and lower body.
Even so I don’t have enough muscle, and I black out for an instant.
But I seem to have recovered from the blackout right away.
The scenery hasn’t changed much.
But Maika’s figure has gotten a lot closer.

Maika is pulling the side lever on the seat with the escape transfer unit.
But no transfer happens.

(She can’t escape……!?)

——A-at this rate Maika will be killed!

Then only Maika’s voice came through the comm.

It was a hard, heavy voice unlike usually bright Maika.

“Onee-chan, I’m sorry——”

What is that voice……

“——I didn’t know that dress was Onee-chan’s precious memory……”

Did she hear it from Father?
———But that doesn’t matter anymore!!

I had leaned forward before I knew it.
If you’re alive, that’s enough for me!!

“Maika! ———It’s fine, I’m not angry anymore! Don’t give up!!”

——Far-off Maika’s teary smile looked toward me.

“Onee-chan——I love you. Always, always……”
“……Maika, that’s the same for me! ———So survive!!”

The comm from Maika cut.

“Suu-san, save Maika——!!”

Maika squared her posture and shut her eyes as if accepting death.

“Leave it to me!!”

While I shout, Suu-san roared.

“I’ll maaaaake iiiiiit——!!”

A voice loud enough to make the air crackle, something you could never think belonged to timid-looking Suu-san.
——A beast’s war cry.

The Grand Harpy aiming at Maika opens something like a mouth.
——Inside the mouth, an energy body is pooling.

Maika’s body locks with tension.

Suu-san rapid-fires 〈Multipurpose Vulcan〉.

They hit the Grand Harpy perfectly.——But she can’t finish the Harpy.
The juggled Grand Harpy is still aimed at Maika.

“You’re persistent——disappear! ——Like I’ll let you kill that kid——!!”

While Suu-san spat surprisingly rough words, she smashed Swallowtail’s wings into the Grand Harpy.

The Grand Harpy split in two.

——We did it——!!

(——Maika, is Maika okay!?)

While I’m looking for Maika,

“M-Maika-chan,——go back to the carrier right now!”

R-right, we have to get her back to the carrier!
I was completely panicking and had forgotten the first thing I should do.
Then Maika’s confused voice came back.

“Eh, who——I’m save——? Ah,——y-yes!!”

But even while confused, Maika headed for the carrier.

Thank goodness…… I’m really glad.
With a breath of relief I felt tears overflowing from my eyes.

“———Maika…… Maika……”

I can’t hold the sobs.

“……Thank goodness. Suu-san, thank you…… thank you so much———”

Suu-san looked back at me.

“Are you okay!? Camera person! ——Sorry, I flew in an outrageous way! The G——is your body all right!?”

Did Suu-san notice I blacked out for an instant——fighters have rearview mirrors too.
This person worries about me before words of thanks.
I stood and hugged the classmate I respect.

“———More than that, thank you for saving my sister! G is no problem!!”
“I-I see, good, sorry. After saving Maika-chan, if something happened to Yachimata-san…… I…… good.”
“No! Please don’t apologize!! More than that, thank you so much for saving Maika……!! I almost would have stayed in a fight with Maika.”
“……Yeah. I’m really glad Yachimata-san’s sister made it.”

Suu-san hugs me back.
Warm———it calms me.
I knew it, this person is my hero.
While I’m relieved, a shadow in the rearview.

“Ah!——From behind, the Grand Harpy we knocked away and dodged is coming!”
“——Crap!”

From here too Suu-san shot down Harpies with splendid skill while doing decoy duty.

When we wiped the enemies out we were called to Last Answer’s briefing room and movie theater.

So I explained that the one who saved Maika and everyone wasn’t me, it was Suu-san.

Then everyone bowed their heads to Suu-san.

“It wasn’t Alice-san, the other person saved us!”
“T-that there was someone stronger than Onee-chan……”

Last Answer’s captain Yamashita-san bowing his head, and Maika clinging to Suu-san.
Or rather, why is Maika clinging to Suu-san?
I’ll get angry again, you know?

“That’s why I said Suu-san is the one saving you, any number of times!”

Suu-san soothes me.
But Suu-san is Suu-san too.
Please stop going all sweet over my little sister.

Suu-san and Maika are mine, you know!?

Suu-san panics, looking embarrassed.

“Everyone, please don’t worry! Yachi——camera person, what if you fight with Maika-chan again.”

That’s true……

While I’m a little quiet, Suu-san notices Maika looking at her face and starts rubbing her own face.
Suu-san looks like she’s thinking something weird.

I’m good at reading people’s insides, so I can tell somehow.
While I’m watching Suu-san knead her own face, Maika said something she didn’t need to.

“Hey, Suu-oneechan…… Onee-chan’s phone——”

I hurriedly cover Maika’s mouth.

“Mmgh.”
“Shhh!!”

Wh-what is this girl about to say!
If it comes out that I, who am supposed to have barely met her, made Suu-san my phone wallpaper a few days after we met, it’ll come out that I’m a creepy girl who watches Suu-san from far away!!

But Maika in my hands seems to be screaming 〔I won’t say it! I won’t ask!〕 so I take my hand off.

When I take my hand off, Maika stares at Suu-san’s face again for a while and nods.

“……No mistake after all.”

She seems convinced, but if she says something she doesn’t need to, this time I really won’t forgive her……

 

And so Maika was saved, and everyday life came back to me.

The night of the incident, I lay on my back on the living-room sofa and watched Suu-san’s first stream on a tablet PC.

“Ah, she did another weird drift.…… What is this.——She isn’t even rocket-thrusting, and she isn’t moving any part of the frame, but the frame is rotating a little.”
“Onee-chan, the bath is free~”

Maika, out of the bath, came into the living room wiping her hair with a bath towel.
I wanted to check the archive a little more, so I hung my head off the sofa armrest like I was flipping it over and looked at Father, who had been drinking sake.

(Ah, he’s drinking before the bath again——Okaasan is going to get mad, “That’s dangerous!”)

“Otosan, you go first~”
“Nn!? ——Oh!”

After Father made a “crap!” face, he quietly put the sake on the shelf, left the living room, and headed for his room.
Maika set the dryer on the table and came closer.

“Onee-chan, what are you watching?”
“Suu-san’s stream.”
“Ah, the archive of the other day’s stream?”
“Yeah yeah.”
“I want to watch too!”

Saying that, Maika came down on top of me lying there.
Maika, that isn’t “lying down,” that’s called a “body press.”

Maika’s fairly large chest, inherited from Kagami-okaasan, squishes on top of my Father-like chest.

(———Khh. Whether it’s Suu-san or Maika……!)

I turned the tablet PC sideways and we started watching together.
Then Maika, seeing for the first time what Suu-san had been doing, started showing surprise.
For example the scene where she fires 〈Critical Blackbody Beam〉 and dives into a flock of Grand Harpies.

“——Eh, you can’t see ahead because of the 〈Critical Blackbody Beam〉 light…… 〈Excitation Wings〉, no way……”

A screen wrapped in light; pure white, you can’t see anything.

“N-no way no way……!”

When the white clears, countless small craft and barrage.

“Hih——”

At the outrageous sight, Maika let out a small scream.
The space opened by piercing enemies with 〈Critical Blackbody Beam〉 closes in a blink as Grand Harpies rush in like a curtain shutting.

Maika asks me with an expression like a horror movie is on the tablet PC screen.

“Suu-san is going to dive in here!?”
“That’s right.”
“No no no!!”

As expected of sisters; it’s the exact same reaction I had when I first saw Suu-san’s piloting on the Strider Association monitor.

Grand Harpies and barrage rushing the screen at high speed graze past the cockpit.
Through almost no gap, Swallowtail weaves while repeating rolls and drifts.

Then she splits the mothership in two with 〈Excitation Wings〉.

“I-isn’t she too strong?”
“Doesn’t make sense, right.”

After that Maika takes a hit and gets in a pinch.
When on-screen me screams, Suu-san roared.

“I’ll make it——!” she said.

At that voice, Maika trembled a little.
Eventually my sister sniffs.
Looking, tears were overflowing in Maika’s eyes.

“I had already given up.”
“You had.”
“She was trying this hard to save me……”
“That’s right.”
“With her life on the line.”

While I slowly stroke Maika’s head, on-screen Suu-san was making a lightning-like curve.

Maika buried her face in my chest with drops overflowing from her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

I answer while still slowly stroking Maika’s head.

“Thank you for being alive.”
“Yeah…… thank you for saving me.”
“The thanks go to Suu-san, okay.”
“Yeah.”

Suu-san, thank you so much.
This time I truly understood how irreplaceable my sister——Maika is.
And thanks to Suu-san I didn’t lose her.

I hug Maika.

“I love you, Maika.”
“Me too…… Onee-chan.”