Chapter 16

## Chapter Chronology

**Chapter Sixteen** is the 16th chapter of the Kaiju No. 8 manga series.

## Summary

As Leno is confronting the kaiju, he remembers that even Kikoru got defeated by him. But although he considered himself no match for the kaiju, he would still attempt to buy time for Iharu to get the senior officers. In a flash, Leno attempts to shoot the kaiju while dodging the kaiju’s own attacks. Although he can’t see the action, Iharu can still tell that Leno had improved greatly from the day before. His thoughts are soon interrupted, however, when he nearly gets hit by an attack, and it still slows him down nevertheless. At this, Iharu starts to panic.

In a flashback from not long ago, Soshiro is telling the rookies that their range of release force is about 20-30% and that only a few people can surpass this “wall” during their stage of training. From that day, Iharu only focused on getting stronger. Despite this, Leno still managed to easily surpass Iharu, which is something that he acknowledges. Back to the present, Leno is still putting up a fight against the kaiju. However, the kaiju seemed to have only been warming up all that time because he transforms into a bigger and stronger version of himself.

Iharu, seeing Leno being attacked, jumps into their fight to push his friend away, which manages to injure him instead of Leno. Iharu then realizes that it’s himself who hasn’t been satisfied with himself rather than him Leno. However, out loud, he tells Leno that Iharu was going to protect himself instead despite his injuries. Iharu then assures that he sent out a flare to alert the senior officers beforehand. Seeing their determination, the kaiju tells the two that their stubbornness is pointless as that no living beings can leave the barriers he put up without his permission. Leno begins to panic but Iharu tells him that the solution is just to defeat the kaiju and they both rush to do so.

During their attack, Iharu fires an electric bullet and refers back to sometime in the past where Leno himself had experimented with different bullets. Despite this, the monster retaliates, and Iharu, being used to its attacks dodges them and calls for Leno to shoot from behind. His attack seems to be working, however, a wall made from monster corpses reveals to have protected the kaiju. Having gone through another strengthening transformation, the kaiju mocks the two rookies, confident about its victory. Where the Hoshina platoon is located, Soshiro is informed about the Humanoid kaiju and Leno and Iharu not having responded back to any contacts. Not far away, Kafka sees one of the kaiju corpses moving, but before he can say anything, Kikoru speculates that the kaiju they had fought is back.

## Chapter Notes

* Iharu's inferiority complex towards Leno starts to grow, and he barely manages to save Leno from a close range attack.
* Iharu and Leno face the kaiju once again, managing to hit it before it hides behind a barrage of corpse, taunting them soon after.
* Leno is subsequently hit as Vice-Captain Hoshina and the others are informed about Leno and Iharu's disappearance.
* Hearing this, Kikoru warns Kafka about the Humanoid Kaiju's presence.

## Characters by Appearance

* Leno Ichikawa
* Kaiju No. 9
* Iharu Furuhashi
* Soshiro Hoshina
* Aoi Kaguragi (Flashback)
* Mina Ashiro (Flashback)
* Kafka Hibino
* Kikoru Shinomiya