The Eternal Zero Page #4

Sorry, I've got to go.

What a pain in the ass.

That sword has tasted human blood.

Kageura-san...

What time do you think it is?

About Kyuzo Miyabe...

I mean, my grandfather.

Please tell me what you know.

You seem to have changed your tune.

Before

you called your grandfather a coward.

So I figured I had nothing to say to you.

You've learned a few things since then?

Yes.

But one question remains unanswered.

Why did a man like Miyabe

sign up for the Kamikaze?

Right.

I knew full well how he longed for life.

But

at the very end of it all,

he turned his back on that very desire.

That man...

God, how I hated him...

1943 Autumn, Rabaul.

I loved the dogfights.

I came alive amid the clouds.

I wouldn't have minded death

in a hail of enemy bullets.

The more vicious the fight,

the more my blood thrilled.

I imagined myself

a master swordsman of old.

but Amid that intense combat

there was always one

heading home untouched.

He was obviously avoiding the fight.

Yet he was supposed to be

this amazing pilot.

I could hardly bear the sight of him.

Warrant Officer Miyabe, I have a favor...

What is it?

Can we go up for a mock dogfight?

It's unnecessary. Petty Officer Kageura,

you're a fine pilot.

I've heard that the Chief's skill

is unrivaled.

- Please show me...

- I decline.

Is it a waste of your time?

Are you so sure you won't lose to me?

Got you at last, Warrant Officer Miyabe.

Here I go.

How on earth...

Shoot...

Shoot me!

I shot you, now you shoot me!

Shoot! Kill me!

I won't make excuses for myself.

I did the unthinkable.

Why didn't my bullets hit him?

He appeared to be flying straight

but was actually yawing slightly.

So my bullets, heading straight

seemed to drift off to the side.

He was testing me.

From that day on,

life became precious.

I would survive

until I could shoot Miyabe down.

This I swore to myself.

Our military situation got worse.

We pitted all our strength

in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

Only to suffer the annihilation

of our Navy

and lose Saipan on the perimeter

of our national defense.

The enemy gathered,

then moved on the Philippines

and Okinawa itself.

With the Japanese military's back

to the wall,

a strategy of insanity emerged...

The Kamikaze...

When I first heard of it

I was horrified.

Had things already reached rock-bottom?

Against overwhelming odds,

I'd gladly risk my life.

But the Kamikaze had no odds.

To succeed meant to die.

It shouldn't be called a strategy!

If that was the best we could do,

I knew Japan would lose.

Then I got a new deployment,

far away from Miyabe.

I was sent to the Kanoya Base in Kyushu.

I was a Kamikaze escort.

Ordered to guide them

to the enemy eet then return.

There' for the second time'

I was reunited with Miyabe.

But the Miyabe I met there

was no longer the guy I thought I knew...

1945 Kanoya Air Base.

Flight Instructor Miyabe...

Teranishi... Yamada... Kagawa!

Fully recovered?

Walking tall now, eh?

Mother...

What you saw

is the Kamikaze strategy.

Those we lost today

were all my students.

Every single day,

I witness the same thing.

What are those kids supposed to achieve?

The enemy planes are far superior

to the Zero now.

Their anti-aircraft fire gets better

by the day.

Today, again,

barely anyone made it near an enemy ship.

Not a single one of them

ought to be dying like this.

These kinds of guys should be

the survivors

for the good of Japan's future.

Yet even though I say this...

I don't do a thing for them.

In a situation like that...

It can't be helped.

Don't make it so simple!

How many lives was that today?

Cover fighters must protect the Kamikaze.

Our duty is to shield them at any cost!

And yet...

And yet I ran away!

I left them to die!

My survival

is at the cost of their sacrifice.

Thanks to their deaths,

I'm able to live on...

What should I do?

What on earth...

What do I do?

What do I do?

What do I do?

So my grandfather signed up

because of that experience?

I don't know.

Seeing him that day,

it was like he was prepared for death.

Everything about him projected that.

Like he was no longer of this world.

Around that time,

even us veteran pilots

were pressured to volunteer as Kamikaze.

But there was no way I was going.

I thought it was a senseless way to die.

Then one day

on the Kamikaze flight roster,

I saw Miyabe's name.

Kyuzo Miyabe.

What's going on?

Why are you on a Kamikaze mission?

How dare you!

Objecting to a superior's decision?

Tell them how veteran pilots

mustn't throw their lives away!

We've seen the reality of the Kamikaze!

Barely anyone gets near the target!

It's a senseless death, you said!

It's all right, Kageura.

It's all right...

I then swore with all my heart

I'd protect him until the very end.

I wouldn't let a single bullet

scratch his plane.

I'd shoot down anyone who came near.

If I was out of ammo,

I'd ram my plane into them.

But in the end...

I lost sight of him again...

On the day of the mission

we were still 100 miles from target

when we ran into an enemy ambush.

In the midst of it all,

my engine started playing up.

I spotted Miyabe heading away

and I tried to follow him,

wanting to accompany him.

But I couldn't keep up...

And suddenly his plane was out of sight.

There was one other thing.

On the day he flew,

he chose an old Type 21 Zero,

over his usual Type 52.

He switched with another pilot

just before departure.

Why was that?

I've no idea.

But he was adamant

about taking the older plane.

Maybe out of nostalgia

for the Pearl Harbor days...

But this story

has a strange ending to it.

The Type 52 he switched out

developed engine trouble.

It never made the target

and ditched offshore.

You mean to say...

The pilot of that plane

survived the war?

Right.

Soon after that, Okinawa fell

and Kamikaze operations came to a halt.

How terrible...

If he hadn't switched planes,

Grandfather would've survived?

Nobody knows.

But it's certainly possible.

So, he had a final chance

at surviving the war

but ironically, he gave it away?

Why on earth...

I wish

I could've gotten to know him.

On that day,

the day of his mission,

the look on the face

of the man in that old plane

wasn't that of someone going to his death.

It was the Wok of a man heading home

back to his family.

You want to know who survived

in his plane?

If he's still alive, I'd like to meet him.

To ask him what it was like on that day.

The squadron roster.

Thank you very much.

I don't need thanking.

That's all that I've got to tell.

Drive the kid home.

My sister's coming to pick me up.

I see.

I've always loved young guys.

What on earth's he doing?

You're soaked to the skin, you fool.

What's wrong?

It was Grandpa...

It was our Grandpa

in the Type 52 that ditched.

It was Grandpa.

What does that mean?

Kenichiro Oishi.

Someday,

I knew I'd have to tell you about this.

Matsuno said there was no need

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