The unleashed bullet changed direction and, as always, returned back to Canti's gun barrel. It was a recyclable bullet.
Without a moment's hesitation, Canti fired again.
However, the giant robot also aimed its gun, firing as it was falling down.
The two weapons made simultaneous blast sounds, and then the two bullets collided in midair. They both had been unleashed at the same exact angle and with the same exact timing. There was an instant explosion, obliterating the bullet the giant robot had fired. While that bullet scattered to fragments, Canti's bullet, having been knocked off course, slammed into the side of a building close to where Mamimi was. Though the impact wasn't enormous, it still caused concrete debris to scatter across the vicinity.
Despite that, Mamimi continued to stand in place, without dodging the debris, transfixed by the bullet that was buried into the wall.
Its cannon mode having failed, Canti returned back to humanoid form and continued flying. It seemed it didn't have spare bullets, having always recycled that one shot. When it lost its one bullet, the cannon was no longer of any use.
However, bright light started spewing forth from Canti's face monitor. Then, from the face of that shining monitor, a protrusion appeared. Canti gripped the horn coming from its face and quickly pulled it out.
"That's…" From where she'd hid on a rooftop to shield herself from the blast, Haruko saw the protrusion coming from Canti's monitor. She watched in shock.
It was a guitar. No, it was probably the same as Haruko's—a guitar-shaped superweapon. But they way it differed from hers in shape was what made Haruko unable to believe her eyes.
"A Gibson EB-0!"
This was the first time she'd been this surprised since coming to Mabase.
Watching the battle unfold, Amarao also was shocked when he saw Canti's weapon. It seemed the weapon Canti had pulled out was highly recognizable for everyone involved.
With a stunned expression on his eyebrow-less face, Amarao whispered, "It's him. It's the real Pirate King."
With the guitar in hand, the crimson Canti took off like a flash—Land in the next instant, it swung into the giant robot's body. It was a magnificent, lightning-quick attack, with beautiful, elegant movement.
The belly of the giant robot flew up, and its internal parts scattered through the sky. It seemed that Canti's one hit had destroyed it, because it no longer made any response, and the sound of its internal machinery ceased completely. Its balance controls must have stopped working, as well, because as it flew back, it flipped and went completely upside down.
Just barely grazing the tops of civilian homes, what used to be the head of the robot sank into ground and caused a local earthquake.
And then, the sheet that had covered its entire body dropped.
It was a warm gaze. With flush cheeks, Haruko looked up at the brave figure of crimson Canti. Haruko Haruhara had become a simple girl in love with the one she loved right in front of her.
The girl whispered the name of her beloved: "Atomsk."
The truck that Gaku, Masashi, and Ninamori were riding in finally reached the area where the action had unfolded. And because all the adults had been thrown into complete panic, there was nobody to stop the children for operating a vehicle without a license.
When they came across Mamimi, she was still staring at the side of the building. And when they turned their gaze in the direction of hers, they also became captivated by the bullet that had sunken into the side of the building.
The embedded bullet slowly peeled away from the wall and fell to the earth, making a heavy sound on the asphalt.
That "bullet" was Naota Nandaba.
As the cellular stiffening mode dissipated, Naota sprawled out untidily in that place, his eyes still closed. From his light breathing, they knew he wasn't dead.
Mamimi muttered, "Looks painful."
The MM factory on top of the hill spewed out white smoke. Usually, this was only momentary, but today, the gushing did not stop. Mabase was immediately enveloped in that smoke, reducing the field of vision.
And within that mist, a large, eerie shadow became visible. As the upside-down sheet peeled off, the entire giant robot was revealed—and what appeared within the mist was a giant hand.
FLCLimax
Chapter 1
"Today, we're all going to learn how to use chopsticks."
The school lunch menu that day at Mabase Elementary School was rice and mushrooms, and Miyaji was using this as an opportunity to instruct them on the correct way to hold chopsticks, a plan that must have been decided in the staff meeting that morning.
However, Miyaji couldn't seem to use chopsticks very well herself, so she was finding it doubly hard to teach. From the way she held her own chopsticks, it appeared that she'd grown up handling them the wrong way, by crossing the sticks—but to set an example for the students, she'd tried to correct herself quickly, all while attempting to maintain the respect of her students. Perhaps this was her way of giving her all to something that had come back to haunt her after she'd grown up enjoying her incorrect method.
Naota, however, was not showing even the slightest indication of interest; he was daydreaming and gazing out the classroom window. Recently, he hadn't been speaking much, instead spending most of his time staring out the window at the world outside, which was shrouded in a thick fog.
Since that memorable day, the white smoke had become like a fog and settled, covering the city of Mabase without any sign of clearing. Coming out of the center of that fog, you could see the imposing robotic hand, which the people in town called "the towering hand."
The giant hand extended from the earth upward, as if it were trying to grab the heavens themselves. And considering the robot the size of a building was in actuality one giant hand, its size was unparalleled. That hand was on the same scale as the MM factory, which it was situated next to on a large hill.
On a morning ten days earlier, the day after the incident, their homeroom teacher, Miyaji, had instructed them to make sure they didn't get close to the hand that towered near the factory, which only the day before had been a violent robot.
That warning—similar to the ones given when a typhoon was coming—was the only reference made to the towering hand at school; no other explanation was given.
But that towering hand near the MM factory was far, far, far more dangerous than a typhoon. In fact, it had the potential to be more destructive than a nuclear meltdown. The residents didn't know this scary truth, and so had not evacuated, instead continuing to live in Mabase. That was because the public authorities were skillfully working to manipulate information.
And so the school children went to school as normal, and now it was mealtime. It was truly reckless.
"Naota, do you want to help out with the part-time job?" Masashi called out. He was talking about his part-time job making deliveries with his truck.
"It's pretty nice," Ninamori said. "Next month, I'll be able to buy a new computer game."
But Naota had no interest in his friends' invitation; he stood up, tray in hand, as if being spoken to had been annoying.
"Hey, Naota…" When Gaku saw the plates on Naota's tray, he was surprised; his classmate hadn't touched his food at all, having left all his mushrooms and rice.
It was a school rule that students weren't allowed to waste food. But Naota was permitted to leave the classroom, anyway, satisfying Miyaji by saying that he wasn't feeling very well.