Ochiba Kareki, still standing in midair, watched them. “Please leave these hostages to me, oh great Demonic Middle Manager.”
I had a lot of concerns about what she was saying; unfortunately, she’d allied herself with the Demonic Middle Manager. I would have preferred she take the Masked Sailor’s side, but given the situation, she hadn’t had a choice. Now the story of our little stage play was spiraling out of control.
Oblivious to our apprehensions, the terrorists tried to flee the scene.
“Forget about that thing. We’ll use this guy’s power to withdraw.”
“We’re not taking the girl with the ToD he captured?”
“Don’t be an idiot! We’d be wasting our lives!”
Of the three psychics now onstage, only two of them spoke. The other one stood next to them, not saying a word. Had the mind-stealing psychic taken him captive the same way he had Ms. Futarishizuka? Looking at his empty eyes made me uneasy.
Ochiba Kareki raised an arm toward them. A magic circle appeared before her hand, then she unleashed a burst of light like a laser beam—similar to what the Masked Sailor had fired earlier. Actually, the midair image of Ochiba Kareki was probably being projected the exact same way as the laser.
But this time, apart from the light, there was a high-pitched bang. Just for an instant, a powerful flash shot through the center of the beam. It was aimed at the bureau employee—probably to block the teleport psychic from fleeing the scene.
The attack was headed straight for his head.
“Type Twelve!” I exclaimed under my breath. “Don’t kill him if you can help it!”
“Father, this is a nonlethal directional energy weapon. It is designed to disable medium- to large-size mammals, such as humans. During normal usage, it delivers a nonlethal wound. It also leaves very little in the way of aftereffects. I developed it to help fend off Grandmother.”
“Oh, uh, I see.”
She’d just repeated the same line I’d heard over the earphone a little while ago. The bit at the end made me a little concerned for the future of our pretend family.
This was the same attack Miss Hoshizaki and the others had been talking about. The laser beam was only an effect made by the midair displays—a mere distraction. The flash of light, similar to a lightning bolt, that had zapped through the middle of it was the actual weapon.
“Hey! Get the one with the ToD to cover us!”
“A-all right!”
With the bureau member down, the two remaining terrorists immediately moved to dash off the stage, running for the path between the rows of metal folding chairs lining the hall.
Since the telekinetic psychic was with them, they could have flown through the air. But they opted to stick to the ground. I wondered if it was to use the audience members present in the hall as a shield.
They cleverly chose their path so that the audience was always in Ochiba Kareki’s line of fire. Not only that, but Ms. Futarishizuka had jumped off the stage and run after them as if to serve as their rear guard. From the audience’s point of view, the Masked Sailor was fighting hard to let the hostages escape.
But the position of the 3D model was completely unrelated to that of Type Twelve’s pods and terminals—of which there were plenty all around, concealed with optical camouflage tech.
“Masked Sailor. Only the virtuous need protection—ignorant fools must be eliminated.”
I was pretty sure middle school first-years didn’t say things like that.
As my neighbor’s voice rang out, several magic circles emerged out of thin air. They resembled the ones used by magical girls. Light appeared to converge near the middle of the circles, readying another round of laser beams. With a swing of my neighbor’s arm, they shot straight at the terrorists.
“What the—?”
“What’s happening?!”
The two psychics didn’t stand a chance. Their bodies froze up instantly, as though they’d been hit with a powerful electric current. Then they flopped down onto the floor and lay motionless. It looked so convincing from where I was standing that I was worried Type Twelve had lied about the weapon being nonlethal.
Just then, there was a change in Ms. Futarishizuka.
“What…? No! What a disaster! To think someone would do something so nasty to another human being. No respectable individual would dare! Why, there is little doubt you carry a great deal of darkness in your heart!”
She stopped running and delivered a lighthearted comment that struck me as very in-character. It seemed she’d regained control.
I suspected she’d regained her freedom when the mind-stealer went down. Judging from her words, she was aware of everything that had happened in the meantime, including the conversations that had taken place over our earphones. If she wasn’t, I doubted she’d have made that dig at Type Twelve.
“Mother, Grandmother is indirectly criticizing the youngest daughter.”
“You said that thing isn’t lethal. But it still hurts, right?”
“Stimulating pain improves learning efficiency in humans. If we wish to more efficiently educate a target, delivering pain is essential. In fact, when it comes to Grandmother, I believe it would be appropriate to do a little more than necessary.”
“……”
“Could you at least cut the earphone link before you verbally attack me? I can hear you, you know.”
Meanwhile, my neighbor—or rather, Ochiba Kareki—floated down to the ground and headed toward the fallen mind-stealer. “It seems the tables have turned, Masked Sailor,” she said, stepping on the man’s back with one foot and striking a pose.
Despite splitting the work of controlling the 3D model, with Type Twelve handling the overall movement and my neighbor in charge of the gestures, the action as a whole was smooth. The former stayed mindful of the situation, while the latter was extraordinarily good at making snap decisions to coordinate with her partner. Though the way she’d casually stepped on that man filled me with an odd sense of danger.
“If you value the lives of these pathetic hostages, then capitulate. Surrender to us.”
“Grrrr! Who…? Who are you?!”
“I am the Demonic Nerd Girl, loyal servant of the esteemed Demonic Middle Manager.”
There it was—my neighbor’s official transfer to the dark side. I realized she hadn’t had a choice, but her backstory still concerned me. Would this hamper her activities as Ochiba Kareki in the future? If you lose subscribers for this, I’m really, really sorry.
“Argh! I must retreat. But only for now!”
Ms. Futarishizuka probably agreed that taking this any further would invite disaster, so she made one final statement, then headed for the wings.
“Wait right there, Masked Sailor!”
As my neighbor moved to chase her, I hastily called out, “Let her go, Demonic Nerd Girl.” The terrorists were dealt with. We needed to leave. Now. “More importantly, I must sincerely thank you for saving me from a dangerous situation. If not for your arrival, I would have been defeated at the hands of the Masked Sailor. You have my deepest gratitude.”
Without my neighbor’s and Type Twelve’s efforts, the psychics might have been long gone by now. Perhaps they would have taken me and Ms. Futarishizuka with them. A chill ran up my spine at the thought.
“Please, no thanks are necessary. Weak though I may be, I am ever at your disposal, for I am your loyal servant. Whenever and wherever you call me, I will run straight to your side.”
“Then we should leave as well, Demonic Nerd Girl.”
“Yes, my lord.”
And with that, we followed the Masked Sailor’s example and withdrew. We ran down from the stage and dashed back through the audience, ending up in the same staff area we entered from.
Onstage, the performance shifted back to the VTubers. The music, which Type Twelve had turned down upon our entrance, was cranked up to its original level, and the visuals were returned to the big screen, where they once again became the center of the audience’s attention.
As this was going on, Miss Inukai led a group of SDF members and bureau employees to recover the fallen psychics. In just a few minutes, they were gone again. A few of the attendees looked confused, but not enough to cause a stir.
Instead, audience conversation was focused on the dramatic performance they’d all just witnessed.
“Hey, what the heck was that? A comedy show?” “Probably just more promotion for Ochiba Kareki.” “She’s clearly the management’s oshi.” “Wasn’t it weird how she was flying around above the audience?” “The story was a load of nonsense, too.” “The Masked Sailor and the demon were both manhandling the hostages.” “How was she moving around like that?”
Not a soul had realized we were dealing with a terrorist group. In that sense, our performance was a huge success. I’d had a few big scares while it was going on, but we’d managed to settle the issue with everyone safe and sound.
Once we’d secured the two terrorists involved in the hostage situation, the group’s activities wound down pretty quickly. To me, this signified that they didn’t want to pick a fight with the mechanical life-form directly.