“The Siblings Kirei and Yudai Amanogawa Know No Bounds!” Episode 3 [Creative Award 2024, Manga Original Story Category Entry]

3
“Phew...”
Yudai sighs in the classroom.
“Hey, are you still into manga and anime lately?”
Sato calls out to him.
“I’m even tired of trending on social media...”
“Th-that’s a line I’d love to say at least once...”
Sato gives a bitter smile.
“Ugh...!”
Yudai ruffles his hair. Sato is surprised.
“Hey, hey, it’s rare to see you get annoyed. What’s wrong?”
“Things just aren’t going my way...”
“What isn’t?”
“...Do you want to know?”
“I definitely want to know.”
“I see... Then, come here in five days...”
Yudai shows his smartphone screen to Sato.
“Is this in Sendagaya...?”
Sato tilts his head. Yudai stands up from his seat.
“I want to iron out a few things. I’m leaving early today.”
“O-oh, okay...”
“See ya.”
Yudai leaves the classroom. Five days later, Sato and Suzuki are sitting in the spectator seats of a gymnasium in Sendagaya. A man in a suit raises his voice through a microphone.
“The annual robot festival! I hereby declare the opening of the ‘Robot Championship’!”
“A-a robot contest!? That’s not what I expected!”
“To be precise, it’s the ‘Robo-Chan’...”
Suzuki corrects him.
“Is it different?”
“Anyone can participate in Robo-Chan as long as they have a robot.From students and housewives to part-timers and evenanti-social forces...”
“Anti-social forces!? S-seriously...?”
“That was a joke, obviously.”
Suzuki chuckles.
“D-don’t scare me like that...”
“But it’s true that they keep the doors open that wide.”
“Hmm... Yudai has been leaving early every day lately, though.”
“Kirei is the same.”
“Does that mean... the two of them are entering this Robo-Chan?”
“...It certainly seems so.”
Suzuki points toward the arena.Kirei and Yudai were each piloting a robot about three meters tall.Sato is bewildered.
“A-are these robots piloted!?”
“Robo-Chan is basically for piloted robots. Most people use bipedal robots.”
“R-robot anime is becoming reality...Before I knew it, Japan had started something...”
Sato mutters in surprise.
“Now that all the participants are here... let’s move right along to the competition!”
“What do they do in the competition?”
“The specific events change every year, but... it’s mostly aboutcompeting in speed, power, and technique.”
Suzuki answers Sato’s question.
“I see...”
“Then, the first event is the ‘Triathlon Showdown’!”
The announcer declares.
“A-a triathlon!?”
Sato is surprised.
“And... start!”
“Wh-what’s going to happen...?”
Sato watches intently.
“Oh my! In the first swimming area,robots are short-circuiting and retiring one after another! What is going on here!?”
“No, that should have been predictable! You shouldn’t get precision machinery wet!”
Sato can’t help but retort to the announcer’s words.
“Now, moving on to the bicycle area! Oh my! Robots are failing to straddle the small bicycles one after another! What is this!”
“Of course that would happen! The machines are all huge!”
Sato retorts again.
“Now, the final running area! Oh my! The machine piloted by Kirei Amanogawa, ‘Beautiful’, is running at incredible speed! She’s in the lead!”
“F-fast!?”
“It seems she put extra effort into speed...”
Suzuki mutters calmly next to the astonished Sato.
“Beautiful crosses the finish line in first place! The triathlon showdown is won by Kirei Amanogawa of the Amanogawa Academy team!”
“She did it!”
“Yes!”
Sato and Suzuki high-five.
“Next is the second event, the ‘Tug-of-War Showdown’!”
The announcer declares.
“Oh, a pure test of strength...!”
Sato leans forward to watch.
“Oh my! The top favorite to win is eliminated here!”
“...!”
“Oh my! The most likely candidate to win is eliminated here!”
“...!!”
“Oh my! The strongest contender to win is eliminated here!”
“...!?”
“Oh my! The top pick to win is eliminated here!”
“Just how many top favorites are there!”
Sato can’t help but shout.
“The one left standing is ‘Majestic’, piloted by Yudai Amanogawa! Amanogawa Academy team, that’s two wins in a row!”
“Whoa!”
“You did it!”
“Yeah!”
Sato and Suzuki high-five again.
“Next is the third event, the ‘Technical Showdown’!”
“Technical?”
Sato tilts his head at the announcer’s words. Suzuki mutters.
“They’re competing on technique, I suppose.”
“No, I mostly understand that, but...”
“Well, let’s see what it’s like.”
Suzuki and Sato watch the arena closely.
“Now, can they use the robot’s left hand to pick up a grain of rice with chopsticks, and use the right hand to write the Heart Sutra on the grain of rice with a calligraphy brush!?”
“No way, that’s too technical!”
“It’s tough to be required to have that much precision, even for a robot...”
Suzuki chuckles as Sato shouts.
“Oh my!? Beautiful, piloted by Kirei Amanogawa! She’s writing not just the Heart Sutra in classical Chinese, but even the Japanese translation! This is meticulous!”
“What...”
Suzuki is speechless.
“Oh my!? Majestic, piloted by Yudai Amanogawa! He’s using his left and right feet to perform the same movements as his hands! This is accurate!”
“S-seriously...”
Sato is also speechless.
“Precision, meticulousness, and accuracy! This is the ‘Shin-Sanmitsu’!”
The announcer shouts excitedly. Suzuki tilts her head.
“I don’t really understand the meaning of the words... but more importantly...”
“Yeah, if things keep going like this, their victory is almost certain!”
Sato nods.
“Ugh! I can’t deal with this anymore! This is ridiculous!”
“!”
A pitch-black machine scatters the grains of rice.
“It’s too tedious! I’ll just take it by force!”
“What!?”
“Oh my! ‘Hansha’, piloted by the player Waru from the South Kanto Gang team, has gone on a rampage! Was this an anti-social force aiming for the tournament’s high prize money!? This is a completely unexpected turn of events!”
“That was perfectly predictable! You’re too oblivious, tournament management!”
Sato shouts.
“Hey! Tournament management! Hand over the prize money now! Otherwise...”
“!!”
Hansha pulls out a rocket launcher from somewhere and points the muzzle at the spectator seats.
“...The audience will become victims, you know?”
“...!”
Tension runs through the surroundings.
“Stop right there!”
“Huh?”
“I will never forgive evil...!”
“Huh?”
Kirei’s Beautiful and Yudai’s Majestic stand side-by-side in front of Hansha.
“...Kirei!”
“...Yudai!”
Suzuki and Sato call out.
“...Pfft, hehehe... Hahahaha!”
A skinheaded man named Waru, who is piloting Hansha, laughs loudly. Kirei asks.
“...What is so funny?”
“That’s funny, isn’t it! You really think you can challenge this Hansha with such small machines!?”
Hansha’s machine size is a size larger than Beautiful and Majestic.
“Fufufu...”
Kirei laughs quietly. Waru frowns.
“...Huh? What are you laughing at?”
“...The difference in machine size can simply be compensated for.”
“Don’t talk nonsense! How could you possibly do that...”
“We do this! Yudai!”
“Yeah! Big sister!”
“...Are you ready?”
“I’m ready whenever!”
“Excellent! Joint sequence, action!”
“!?”
Just as they are enveloped in a dazzling light, Beautiful and Majestic combine to become a single machine. The machine size is larger than Hansha.
“Beautiful Majestic, reporting for duty!”
“Th-they combined...!?”
“Whoa, that’s so cool!”
Sato is excited next to the astonished Suzuki.
“Damn it!”
“You’re too slow!”
“Ugh!?”
Hansha tries to aim the rocket launcher at Beautiful Majestic, but Beautiful Majestic instantly gets inside Hansha’s guard and pins down its right arm. Yudai shouts.
“Not only is the speed... but the power is doubled too!”
“Guh!?”
Beautiful Majestic crushes Hansha’s right arm. The rocket launcher rolls onto the floor. Yudai mutters.
“Any further resistance is futile...”
“D-damn it!? Don’t look down on me, you brat!”
Hansha tries to strike with its remaining left arm. Yudai clicks his tongue.
“Tch...”
“It’s time to punish those who don’t understand!”
“!?”
Beautiful Majestic delivers a powerful punch. The upper half of the Hansha machine that took the hit is torn from the lower half, flies toward the wall, and embeds itself into it. Waru, who lost consciousness from the impact, falls out of the cockpit and is taken into custody by security guards.
“Th-the two of them just subdued an anti-social force, or rather, terrorists... Haha, it’s so amazing it makes me laugh...”
Suzuki calls out to Sato.
“It took me a while, but I’ve realized something...”
“What?”
“Couldn’t those two just handle everything themselves...”
“Indeed...”
Sato and Suzuki both raise their hands in a gesture of surrender.
“Now... what should we do next, big sister?”
Yudai asks Kirei from the cockpit of Beautiful Majestic.
“Hmm, there are too many things I want to try...”
“I’m the same, I have too many dreams...”
““We know no bounds!””
The siblings say the same line in unison.
“! Fufu!”
“! Haha!”
The siblings look at each other and laugh.