86--EIGHTY-SIX

Chapter Vol. 1 Ch. 4

After his entire squadron was wiped out, he fled from pursuit in the ruins of the city. It was getting dark, and it was snowing outside.

Choosing an abandoned library as a hideout, Shin allowed himself to take a short nap, leaning against the juggernaut's finely scratched hull, which had appeared during his year of service. We had to wait until dawn.

A little 12-year-old boy can't help a cold winter night. The walls of the library were thick and completely unharmed, and Shin climbed into the farthest windowless room of the archive, where he was now wrapped in a thick blanket. The Legion's machines combed the ruins for a while, but soon began to retreat to avoid being trapped in the snow without power. At dawn, it will be possible to reach the base safely. However, it seemed to Shin that before that, he had to be found by a scavenger, whom he gave the name of Fide. He had been following him since the last squadron, but what explained this strange affection, Shin couldn't say.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of his own name, and he opened his eyes abruptly.

It wasn't like the voices of ghosts that began to sound after death. It wasn't so much a sound as a feeling. He hadn't experienced it in quite some time.

The cockpit canopy was torn off. A faded image of a headless skeleton rider could still be seen on the rumpled hull.

Shin walked over to the juggernaut, sinking into the snow every now and then, and peered into the cockpit.

— ... Brother...

If he had been asked how he knew it was his brother's juggernaut, he would not have been able to answer. I just knew, for no reason. It was a fait accompli.

In the cockpit, as in a snow-covered dungeon, lay his brother. He couldn't say anything to Shin, the bone-naked body was missing a head.@@@@