Summer 1945
The rays of the tropical sun shining through the acrylic glass were slowly burning Koichi Shikishima's shoulders. The Sakae 52 engine of the Type 0 carrier-based fighter makes a light sound. Normally, they would have found the enemy ship and rammed it...or they would have been torn apart by the enemy's heavy anti-aircraft fire and scattered over the sea. Probably none of the comrades who went south at the same time are still alive.
However, Shikishima made a big U-turn on the way. If he continued straight ahead, he should be able to see Odo Island, where the emergency landing base was located. I didn't know if it was possible to get away with it. However, if they complained of an engine malfunction, it would have taken them a day or two to investigate. He can think about his next move during that time. This war should end soon. As long as he survives until then, he can fulfill his promise to his mother. There were supposed to be only maintenance soldiers on Odo Island. There was a slight hope that he might have a gentler temper than the officer.
Soon, Odo Island began to appear from behind the horizon. For a while, the shadow of the island did not change much, but once it started to get a little bigger, it was only a matter of time before he could see the runway. It wasn't obvious from a distance, but the island's airstrip was littered with holes from bombs, making it impossible to land properly even on a plane Shikishima circled once over the island and decided on a landing course. Shikishima slowly descended while squeezing the throttle, determined to prepare for a bomb. After that, he was completely absorbed.
By deftly using the flaps and vertical stabilizer, the Shikishima aircraft managed to avoid the large bomb scar and finally came to a halt.
It descends slightly to the left of the runway, then swerves to the right after a while. If he took that course, he might be able to avoid the marks.
He was just a few centimeters away from falling into a large mortar-shaped bomb hole that spread out in front of him.
If that happened, the plane, which still had fuel left in it, might have burst into flames. Shikishima breathed a sigh of relief and at the same time felt a large amount of sweat dripping down his body. It was nothing but solid proof that he was alive.
While Shikishima was resting near the command post, a man who appeared to be a superior officer of a maintenance soldier approached him. Behind them, the maintenance soldiers who were inspecting Shikishima's aircraft looked at him with accusing eyes.
...He was suddenly exposed.
But...it's impossible to take off a fighter jet from that runway.
In other words, the Shikishima aircraft would never be able to take off again.
No matter how much he was accused, it seemed like if he could survive, he would be able to stay on this island until the war was over.
"I'm Ensign Shikishima, right? I'm Tachibana from the maintenance department of the Tsukuba Naval Air Corps. Do you remember me?"
Shikishima remembered that there was indeed such a maintenance worker. The maintenance soldiers remembered Tachibana as being someone they could rely on and adored.
It was quite embarrassing to meet someone he had known for a long time under these circumstances.
Shikishima tried to hide it by acting cheerfully.
"...Tachibana-san! Of course. Thank you for your help with that section."
to unload that old aircraft on the airstrip full of holes on this island. You seem to be as reliable as ever.
"No matter how good your results are in the mock air battle, you're suddenly on a special attack without experiencing actual combat..."
"...However, we were given a little bit of a reprieve due to a malfunction in the aircraft."
Tachibana approached and whispered.
"Actually, no matter how hard I check I still can't find the malfunction you're talking about," Shikishima replied, suppressing the trembling in his words.
"...What do you want to say
Then, pretending to be offended, he started walking toward the shore.
This island didn't seem to be such a sweet place either.
A mechanic approached Shikishima, who was sitting pale on a rock on the shore. The name tag on Saito's chest says "Saito."
"What is it?"
"No, Tachibana-san should call me."
"What is it for?"
Saito sat next to Shikishima and looked out at the sea, muttering to himself.
"Isn't it okay? There's someone like you out there Even if you faithfully follow orders to die, this war has a long way to go."
With that said, Saito got up and headed back the way he had come.
For the first time since coming to this island, Shikishima was greeted with such kind words that he almost burst into tears.
Just as Shikishima managed to hold back, he saw a strange object washing up on the shore.
A strangely shaped fish that looked like a deep-sea fish was dead, with its stomach vomiting out of its mouth.
And it's not just one. The carcasses of several deep-sea fish are being washed by the waves.
Some of them even had eyeballs sticking out.
It had a slightly ominous feel to it.
When Shikishima returned home at dusk, Tachibana was waiting for him.
Tachibana motioned with his chin to enter the command post.
Perhaps a private trial will begin.
Evading special attacks is a serious crime. Shikishima walked into the command post building, feeling his breathing become irregular.
Inside was a scene completely different from what Shikishima had imagined.
A large pot of fish was being prepared in large quantities.
Around him, the smiling maintenance soldiers were beckoning me to sit down.
Shikishima sat down, not understanding why, and the maintenance soldiers started talking.
"I was waiting for someone like you to come."
"Isn't it quite difficult to evade special attacks?"
"This war is almost over. It would be foolish to die now."
"If you hang out here with us, you'll be able to go back to the mainland soon." He couldn't resist.
These maintenance soldiers accept him even though he ran away. That made him so happy.
Shikishima turned his face to the floor and sobbed.
"Now, don't cry and eat. It's a deep-sea fish hotpot, a specialty of Odo Island."
"I just picked it up on the beach. It doesn't look good, but it's fresh."
"You don't eat much inland, do you?"
The hotpot was so delicious.
Shikishima remembered that he hadn't eaten anything since his departure, and he stirred the pot.
However, we caught quite a few deep-sea fish today.
"Isn't Gojira going to appear?"
"What is that?"
"The people on the island said that on days when a lot of deep-sea fish are caught, Gojira will appear."
"I heard that too. When Gjira moves, the panicked deep-sea fish will come up to the surface without worrying about what he's doing, and their stomachs will come out, right?"
At that moment, an air raid siren sounded. The maintenance soldiers, who were a little frightened by Gojira's story, all reacted with a twitch.
However, immediately after that, the maintenance soldiers instantly regained their soldierly faces and rushed outside with infantry guns in hand.
"Enemy attack?"
Taki, a soldier standing guard from the top of the watchtower, answered Tachibana's question.
"No, there's a big shadow."
At that moment, the roar of a beast that shook its belly was heard from the shore
"Is this a new weapon for the U.S. military?"
After muttering that, Tachibana said to the lookout tower.
"Waterfall! Shine your searchlight. It's twards the coast!"
As he was told, something extremely strange appeared in the strong light of the searchlight that was directed towards the coastline.
Beautiful claws on thick limbs. And its jaws were lined with sharp teeth. From its tail to its back, it had a row of independent, shell-like dorsal fins. It was a horrifying monster that resembled an ancient dinosaur. Is he 15 meters tall?
"Is it a living thing?"
Shikishima stood dumbfounded at the sight, which was so unrealistic.
Is this the monster called Gojira?
The monster roared aloud as if to protest the searchlights, and then charged forward, slamming its huge body into the guard tower.
With one blow, the tower collapsed along with the guard.
"Taki!"
"Mr. Taki"
Taki did not respond to the maintenance soldiers who were shouting at each other.
Next, the monster, believed to be Gojira, grabbed several drums of gasoline that had been stockpiled. He crushed it. He touched the spark of the destroyed searchlight and produced a huge plume of smoke. Gojira was illuminated by that orange light.
Its epidermis is covered with rough scales, and its eyes shine golden.
"Gojira" stepped on the explosive smoke and started walking towards the group step by step.
"Go down to the trenches."
At Tachibana's words, the maintenance soldiers all jumped into a trench dug along the coast.
From the ground, Gojira seemed to be wandering around looking for humans. However, his eyes were blinded by the gasoline flames, and he didn't seem to be able to see us yet.
Tachibana said as he alternately looked at the Shikishima machine stationed in front of the command post while looking at Gojira.
"Mr. Shikishima, can you go up to the Zero and shoot a 20mm?"
"...!"
"You're the only one who can shoot that thing. The only one here is a mechanic."
"...but"
"Hurry, before he gets in the line of fire!"
"Wouldn't it be bad if I were to get injured?"
"There is no living thing that can survive after being eaten by 20 millimeters! Come on, hurry up!"
Shikishima was pushed out of the trench. Reluctantly, Shikishima quietly ran toward the Zero Fighter's cockpit.
He thought it was insane to fire a 20mm gun at that monster.
Instead, the chances of survival would be much higher if the monster got tired of the destruction and waited for it to return to the sea.
However, if you shoot a 20mm, you might be able to defeat that monster named Gojira.
Perhaps that could be the "meaning" that Shikishima escaped from the special attack.
Shikishima settled into the cockpit, making as little noise as possible, and gripped the firing lever.
At that moment, Gojira heard that faint sound and stuck his head right in front of the Zero Fighter.
He looked into the plane with searching eyes and stayed there for a while, as if thinking.
Its terrifying eyes, huge mass, and unexpectedly agile movements...
Shikishima's body stiffened as if he had been shot.
There's no way you can shoot a machine gun at a monster like this and be safe.
That's what Shikishima's instincts were screaming at him.
In the first place, these creatures are not something humans can do anything about.
Shikishima just held his breath and waited for Gojira to leave.
In the trenches, Tachibana was getting irritated.
"What are you doing! That guy?"
Gojira remained in the perfect position to kill him with the Zero's machine gun. However, Shikishima did not try to shoot.
"Now! Shoot! Shoot!"
Tachibana's muffled voice did not reach Shikishima.
Eventually, Gojira slowly turned around and headed towards the trench.
The young soldiers hiding in the trenches were breathing louder and louder in fear.
Tachibana himself was slowly being cornered by that gigantic unknown being.
Now was the time to escape into the forest on the mountain side.
But he ends up being chased and hunted by that beast.
Some of these people will not survive.
If this continues, Gojira may eventually return to the sea.
Those thoughts were drowned out by a sudden gunshot.
Unable to bear the fear, the young soldier instinctively fired his Type 99 short rifle.
As a result, short rifles were fired one after another.
"Don't shoot, idiot."
Without even hearing Tachibana's attempts to stop them, short rifles were fired one after
Fear had made the trigger of the gun lighter.
As the rifle bullets were fired one after another, Gojira roared so loudly that the ground shook. And with amazing speed he came toward the trench.
Get out! Get out of here!"
At the same time as the soldiers came to their senses and jumped out at Tachibana's yell, Gojira's feet stepped through the trench.
A piece of wood broke and jumped, hitting Tachibana's leg.
One of the young soldiers supported Tachibana from behind and pulled him as he struggled desperately to leave, dragging one leg.
"Tachibana-san, hey..."
As his voice turned into a muffled scream, the young soldier was lifted into the air.
It was caught in Gojira's jaws and thrown away.
Gojira crushed the soldiers who were frantically firing short rifles, biting them, throwing them away, and smashing them with his tail until there were only a few soldiers left alive.
Several people escaped to the command post, but the entire command post was destroyed by Gojira's tail. Shikishima sat in the cockpit and simply watched in shock as the tragedy unfolded before his eyes.
――― Was it because he didn't shoot? Is that so?
As he was questioning myself, Saito, the same person who had said those kind words to me, came running towards him while shouting something.
"I'm going to take Gojira with me. Shoot him with a 20mm gun!"
As soon as he finished saying that, Saito was also grabbed by the fangs of Gojira, who came from behind, and was thrown away, leaving behind a scream that could be considered a scream or a scream of death.
"Aaaaaaaaaa!"
Desperate to escape from the approaching Zero fighter, Shikishima jumped out of the cockpit and ran in the opposite direction.
Gojira opened his huge jaws fully, took the Zero Fighter in his mouth, and threw it into the air.
The fallen Zero fighter's remaining fuel ignited, causing a huge explosion.
Shikishima, who was running, was thrown into the air by the blast from behind and slammed into the ground.
It smelled like blood.
When Gojira saw the area turned into a sea of fire, he let out a roar of victory.
Shikishima stared blankly as he fell into the darkness.
He felt the grass on his cheek.