Down below, over the humid air of the island, Airi lifted about twenty feet up and hovered—
light, glowing,
like gravity simply didn’t apply to her.
“Minna, kite kurete arigatō! Tasukatta yo! ⸜[｡˃ ᵕ ˂ ]⸝♡
Saa, mou kaeru jikan da yo!”
SHIRŌ–KAGE instantly straightened and struck their right fists to their chests, bowing their heads—
perfectly synchronized, like a single shadow.
Airi pointed at one of them:
“Taichō-kun, anata wa watashi to issho ni kite. [☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°]☞”
Taichō stepped forward—two sharp steps—
jumped, placed his left foot onto hers,
grabbed her hand—and stood beside her in the air.
A slight flick of her wrist—
and he launched upward like a projectile,
straight toward Shiori’s ship,
where the side hatch was already open.
Taichō entered without a single error.
Perfect. As always.
Airi giggled, satisfied,
and after one last look at the entire SHIRŌ–KAGE army, clapped her hands:
“Hora hora! Nani shiteru no? Hayaku, minna, kaerinasai!
[ ,,⩌’︿’⩌,,]”
Then she glanced at Zeros—
a look sharp enough to make even mathematical drones sneeze:
“Zerosu-onī-sama… (•ˋ _ ˊ•)
anta mo hayaku Buraindi-kun no tokoro e itte.
That baka’s gonna mess something up on the ship again.”
She spun upward in a spiral,
twisting through the air,
leaving behind a thin, shimmering trail—
and disappeared into the ship.
Zeros’s jaw tightened, a faint whirr running through his frame.
“She’s so fucking annoying—” he snapped.
“All that politeness—
and still ordering me around. I’m getting real tired of her.”
He looked at SHIRŌ–KAGE—
all hundreds of thousands of them—at once—
and barked:
“And you—FUCK YOU. All of you. Every single one. Bastards.”
Then he turned and headed toward Z-P-N-E-S 2.0,
still quietly waiting at the edge of the shattered island.
The Drone made a sweeping pass, capturing the full panorama.
Z-P-N-E-S 2.0 began to lift—
and SHIRŌ–KAGE activated cloaking,
vanishing one by one—
like someone was deleting them from reality.
The Drone gave a short chirp:
“Dzz-zz-plik bi-di-di-di-di!”
—and shot back toward Shiori’s ship.
The fuselage sealed behind it.
Inside—the hatch opened, and Taichō stepped in, followed by Airi—already back in her normal form.
Dick straightened.
Jackie placed her hands on her chest and let out a soft gasp.
Taichō dipped his head slightly:
“Minna-sama, konnichiwa.”
Then immediately took position by the weapons wall.
Airi stepped to the navigation terminal,
replacing Shiori—
who returned to the pilot’s seat.
The Drone flew in, still smoking—
and dropped straight into Jackie’s lap.
“Big-Eye… what happened to you…”
she whispered gently, lifting the little sphere, inspecting the damage.
The lens was cracked. The body scratched all over.
The top dented inward—like Exponent had personally taken a swing at it.
Dick grunted:
“Round Idiot… who the fuck told you to fly into a hit?!
Hope Tss’Kura doesn’t dock our pay for repairs!”
Jackie stroked the Drone.
It let out a quiet whine—like a beaten puppy.
“It’s okay… Big-Eye…
I’ll fix you myself.
You’ll be good as new.”
Both ships accelerated,
heading back toward Dumsta—
leaving behind the island Schrottnadel,
and everything that had just happened there.
Waves slammed against the shore,
like they were trying to erase memory itself—
and as they broke through the cloud layer,
the sky opened into a steel storm of fleets.
Above them hovered massive flagships:
- MACROHARD™
- QUINCE™
- GOGLE™
- XEREX™
- HANS & SAUSAGES™
- KANZAKI ARC FOUNDATION™
Heavy. Silent. Like predators drawn to blood.
Dick glanced at the GNN feed—
huge ships descending from orbit,
while dozens of smaller ships launched from Dumsta,
racing like scavengers to tear off a piece.
Every gang in Mülldeponie was heading for the island…
Mashers Mashers leading the pack, Yellow Mashers, Pink, Brown, Blue, Purple, Magenta, Orange—all surging forward together.
And even the Stinky Four—a “gang” nobody considered a gang, something closer to a statistical error—somehow dug up their rusted bucket of a ship. It rattled. Smoked. Sparked. Drifted off course two degrees every second—but somehow—it was flying. Bug-eyes clung to the tail of the swarm, praying to every god and algorithm that this time—just this once—at least half the ship would make it.
Dick rubbed his cheek:
“Look at them… every single one of them’s gone completely fucking insane.”
He exhaled sharply:
“We need to get off this planet. Fast. Soon this turns into a full-on warzone.”
Silence settled in.
“I’m telling you—at the end, the Admiral’s gonna show up
and beat the shit out of everyone.”
He pointed at the screen:
“BUT BEFORE THAT—these lunatics are gonna turn this into a full-scale cosmic shitstorm.”
The Author nodded.
“Yeah… Dick, this time your instincts are right.”
A small smirk.
“But you caused this yourselves.”
A quiet chuckle:
“If you hadn’t broadcast everything to the entire galaxy—
none of this would be happening.”
He leaned back slightly:
“You started the chain reaction… and now you want to be the first one to run?”