My first mission
I’m what you’d call a robot.
Not that I have a real job or anything—
mostly I just sit around and chew on chemical potatoes all day.
Then one day, I got an order.
Apparently I was supposed to shoot down a missile heading toward our country.
Seriously?
Savages, the lot of them.
The ones firing missiles and the ones telling me to intercept them.
They promised to double my daily chemical potatoes if I succeeded.
As if I eat those things because I want to.
But fine.
If I refuse, I’ll probably end up in a scrapyard.
“Okay, but why is the interception device a gaming controller?!”
I complained to my superior.
“It can’t be helped! The engineers who built it were gamers!”
…Sure. Whatever.
My job doesn’t change.
“I’ll shoot down every last one!!”
I mashed the buttons like my life depended on it.
“They’re nuclear warheads! You must hit them!!”
Ahaha☆ Defense is hard, huh☆
That day, a giant mushroom cloud bloomed over our country.
“Hey, you still alive?”
Someone tapped my head with what sounded like a metal rod.
When I opened my eyes, I was lying in what looked like an old research lab.
Dust everywhere.
And a girl was standing in front of me.
“Hi. Can you understand me?”
I had no memory of what happened after the failed interception.
“My country! Is my country okay?!”
She said,
“Oh, the missile hit a few thousand years ago. But everything’s fine now.”
A few thousand years?!
I’ve been out that long?!
So I really did fail…
Crushed by guilt, I sank to the floor.
“You okay? Need some oil?”
“N-no, I don’t run on oil shortages or anything.”
“Then let’s go look for food together.”
Food?
Has civilization collapsed that far?
We climbed up to the surface.
Turns out the lab was underground.
At first glance, the world looked green and peaceful.
But beneath the plants, I could see the remains of buildings.
Buildings I recognized.
“This is where I failed my mission!!”
Looks like the blast shifted everything a bit.
Still, my armor is impressive.
Surviving a nuclear explosion?
If any scientists were still around, I’d pitch myself as premium hardware.
“Do you want fish or meat? I’m getting fish.”
“I don’t need food.”
No way chemical potatoes still exist.
Not that I’d ever eat them again.
Maybe it’s time to quit snacking altogether.
I mean, I am fourteen.
Just as I was thinking that, the ground shook violently.
The earth heaved upward with a heavy thud, thud, thud.
When the shaking stopped, the girl was gone.
Right—she said she was going to get fish.
Stumbling over the uneven ground, I headed toward the river.
