Sakura Amano's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Sakura kept her phone pressed to her ear as she crossed the city council building's lobby. The woman at the front desk had already told her the mayor wasn't available. The deputy mayor wasn't taking calls. Emergency services needed proof before they'd even consider an evacuation order. She ended the call and walked straight to the waterfront instead. The kaiju had come ashore during the night, leaving a trail she could follow. She found what she needed two blocks from the industrial sector: a footprint driven so deep into the concrete that the street had buckled around it. Six toes, each one wider than her body. Cracks radiated outward like a spiderweb. She took photos from every angle, measured the depth with her arm sunk to the elbow, then sent the files to every city official whose contact she'd saved. Within an hour, her phone rang. The deputy mayor's voice was tight. They wanted confirmation. Sakura pulled out the crystal ball she'd been carrying in her bag since yesterday, the one that had shown her the kaiju's exact position for three years. Pink light swirled inside the glass, and there in the center was the silhouette she knew better than her own reflection. The thing was already past the waterfront, moving toward the commercial district. She held the crystal ball up to her phone's camera. The evacuation order went out twenty minutes later. Sakura wrapped the crystal ball back in its cloth and looked at the footprint one more time. She had maybe twelve hours before it reached the city center. Twelve hours to do what she'd failed to do for three years. But this time, she'd bought herself a clear battlefield.