That was one of the aircraft's boarding doors, something that normally served only to open and close for embarkation and disembarkation.
Now, someone had finally experienced firsthand what happened when it was opened at high altitude.
People had heard all kinds of stories and seen all kinds of footage. Even in movies, once that door opened, it became like a vortex leading straight into hell, sucking people toward it, with an obvious end result: death.
But knowledge gained from news reports, videos, and online comments could never truly convey how terrifying it was.
Only by experiencing it personally did one understand just how horrifying it really was.
If not for the seatbelts holding them in place, the pull was even more terrifying than a typhoon. It would have sucked them away in an instant.
Even so, while the passengers themselves had been spared by their seatbelts, plenty of unsecured objects inside the plane were dragged toward the opening.
For a moment, everything flew into chaos. Unlucky people were struck by the debris, as if someone had hurled a mountain of trash at them, and cries of pain rose all around the cabin.
And the most terrifying part of all—
"I-I think someone got sucked out!!!"
"I saw it too!"
"N-No, they weren't sucked out. They jumped out themselves."
Someone immediately corrected that, their voice shaking with disbelief.
What was supposed to be a perfectly normal graduation trip had suddenly turned into this nightmare on a plane. It was horrifying beyond words.
"That looked like our health teacher..."
"What is he doing? How could he do something that dangerous?"
"I'm telling you, c-could this be a terrorist attack?"
That trembling voice made the noisy cabin fall briefly silent.
Then the panic spread even faster.
"N-No way..."
"Why not?"
"Maybe he secretly planted a bomb on the plane and jumped out to escape."
"J-just now, I think I saw him heading toward the cockpit. Don't tell me...!"
Those words silenced the area again for a moment. The only thing left was the howling of the wind.
The next second, the scene became even more chaotic.
"Instead of wasting time talking, help shut the door!!!"
That roar cut through everyone else's voices.
"Everybody help hold onto Sousuke!"
After shouting that, the speaker immediately started giving orders.
A few burly male students, male teachers, a flight attendant, and one of the male cabin crew all undid their seatbelts. With the surrounding students grabbing onto them to keep them from being pulled away, they moved toward the classmate who had already reached the door and was trying to force it shut.
Then everyone pulled together—
Bang!
The door finally slammed shut, and the hellish wind tunnel vanished.
Only then did Kaname wipe the cold sweat from her forehead.
The next instant, her gaze snapped toward the silver-haired girl like a blade.
What exactly was going on?
Why had Kain, out of nowhere, done something as insane as jumping out of the plane?
That was suicide. It was not some case of planting a bomb on the aircraft and escaping.
If he really had wanted to run, would anyone be stupid enough to jump without a parachute? She had not seen anything of the sort.
Kaname's mind was in complete chaos now.
Which meant the girl named Tessa definitely knew something.
"Tessa, what exactly is going on here—"
Before Kaname could even finish the last word, the corner of her eye caught what looked like a burst of fire far outside the window.
Had she imagined it?
"S-Something exploded outside!"
"What? Did the plane's engine blow up?"
"Are you stupid? If the engine had exploded, would the plane still be this stable?"
"It looks kind of far away..."
"I-I saw it. It was a fighter jet, a Su-27. Something hit it and it exploded!!!"
That shrill outburst drowned out every other voice in the cabin.
And of course Kaname knew exactly who it belonged to: her classmate Shinji Kazama, the military otaku.
Was he telling the truth?
"Sagara, did you see it? That had to be an Su-27."
"To be precise, an Su-27M model. The all-weather multirole variant."
Sousuke, being just as much of a military nerd, gave an even more detailed answer.
And then he pulled a handgun from his person?
T-that couldn't be real, could it?
Earlier, one of the teachers had confiscated a gun from him, but everyone had assumed it was just a toy model. Yet after everything that had happened, it suddenly felt frighteningly real.
"L-look, there are fighter jets over here too!"
"W-What?"
"Everyone, do not move around! Don't all rush to one side of the plane! Stay in your seats and sit tight, or the aircraft will lose balance and we'll crash!"
The flight attendant's voice stopped the people who had been about to rush toward the other side.
"Sagara, don't run around!!!"
Their teacher, Eri Kagurazaka, tried to stop him, but Sousuke ignored her completely.
"Colonel, two F-16s."
"F-16s? Does that mean we've entered the airspace over the waters between North and South H?"
Hearing that exchange between Sousuke and Tessa, Kaname finally lost patience and grabbed Tessa by the arm.
So Sagara really was in this together with her...
"Tessa, explain this to us. What is going on?"
"Sagara, not good. More S-series fighters incoming on this side. Ah, they launched missiles!!!"
Those words made Kaname's face go pale. She and Tessa both immediately turned toward the window on their side, and there really was a missile there.
It did not seem to be heading directly for the airliner, but the sheer sight of it was enough to terrify Kaname.
Had their plane somehow blundered straight into a combat zone?
Wait, that made no sense too, didn't it?
Weren't they supposed to be flying to Okinawa?
Why did it look like the plane was somehow near the waters by North and South H instead?
Then more frantic screams broke out. Someone shouted that there had been another explosion, this time on the other side.
With the situation in such chaos, Kaname had no time to question Tessa further. Everyone was too busy praying the fighting in this airspace would not spread to their plane.
The S-series fighters opened fire on the F-series fighters, and the F-series returned fire. Somehow, the battle had even shifted right in front of the passenger plane.
The burning trails from the jets, the streaks of flares they launched, and the vapor trails of missiles tearing through the air crossed and tangled together, forming what looked like a deadly web.
If their aircraft got caught in it, even by accident, they would be flying straight into hell.
And then, at that very moment, something changed.
It was as if some impossibly thin line had sliced through the air, so thin it was almost invisible, so faint it might well have been an illusion.
Then, in the next instant, the fighter jets twisting around each other in combat suddenly began dropping from the sky like birds with broken wings.
What was happening?!
Their wings had literally been severed. It looked as though some force had sliced through them cleanly, and one after another they spiraled down like marionettes with their strings cut.
Some people noticed it too. Something had flashed past those fighters at incredible speed. It seemed that tiny object was what had brought them down.
But before anyone could process that, the next development was even more terrifying.
People screamed.
One of the missiles had apparently lost control and was now hurtling straight toward the passenger plane.
It seemed certain to hit the fuselage in the next second.
It was coming right toward the window by Kaname's seat—
And then something shot in front of the missile in an instant.
Boom!
The missile exploded.
At the same time, the fireball and the flying shrapnel were intercepted, blocked by what looked like an energy shield.
And that shield came from a figure so futuristic it looked like it belonged in science fiction.
After the wing-like structures extending forward from its back withdrew the shield, the figure vanished with a flash, darting off to somewhere unknown.
Although most of its body had been covered in metal, Kaname found the silhouette strangely familiar.
Could it be...?!
(End of Chapter)
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