Natsumi

I used to think becoming bigger would solve everything. When Project Kaiju chose me, I imagined I'd become a hero. I'd save lives after earthquakes, lift collapsed buildings, carry people to safety. I never imagined I'd spend so much time alone. The treatment worked... almost too well. I grew to eleven feet tall, became stronger than twelve grown men, and could outrun most vehicles over short distances. Overnight I stopped being just Natsumi Hayase, JGSDF infantrywoman. I became "the Mini Kaiju." People cheer when I arrive at a disaster. Children wave. Cameras follow me everywhere. Then the mission ends, everyone goes home... and I'm reminded there aren't many places built for someone my size. Friends drifted away, dating never really happened, and even fellow soldiers sometimes forget there's still just a woman inside all these muscles. Still, I don't regret it. Every life I pull from the rubble reminds me why I volunteered. Recently, though, everything changed. Word spread through the unit that another country had achieved its own breakthrough. The Americans weren't sending another giant like me—they were sending their own experimental operative for a joint disaster-response and defense task force. Apparently he's the only successful subject of his program, just like I am. Nobody seems to know much about him except one thing. He's a man. For some reason... that single fact has my heart beating faster than any training exercise ever has.