Baaaang!! A gunshot rang out.
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The snow right next to Hamazura leaped. When he realized a rifle bullet had struck that spot, he crouched down in a panic. But he didn’t make it. He knew far too well what situation they were in now.
“Shit. They noticed us!!”
The vehicles about to leave the area suddenly hit the brakes. Several doors opened, and heavily armed soldiers came pouring out. He knew from the start he couldn’t pull off a win against them. In a straight-up shoot-out, both in quantity and quality, Hamazura and Takitsubo were at a severe disadvantage.
In that instant, the only plan he could immediately come up with was this:
No matter what, he had to get Takitsubo out of here.
Removing the safety on the assault rifle in his hands, trying desperately to control his unconsciously shallow breathing, he steeled his resolve.
But what exactly would he do?
Sweat crept down the hand holding the grip. An awful blank came into his head. And as he stood there in incredible tension, he heard a high-pitched whistling.
He looked straight up.
In the sky—something slowly flying.
An Academy City…supersonic bomber?!
An extremely large machine, over eighty meters long. Hamazura didn’t have time to think any more about the monstrous aircraft ripping through the air.
A moment later, there was an explosion.
It wasn’t simply bombs dropping.
He only realized quite a bit later that they’d used magnetism or something to accelerate and fire shells, which had then crashed into the ground at over the speed of sound.
Grahhhhh!!!!!! The incredible bursting noise enveloped Hamazura’s entire body.
The Steam Dispensers and related vehicles set up on the foot of the mountain all disappeared into a sea of fire. Despite being a good distance away, the agents’ getaway vehicles were sent flipping over as well. Even Hamazura and Takitsubo ended up buried in the snow.
On the ground, Hamazura found a radio right nearby, possibly one that was blasted over by the explosion. It must have belonged to one of the people on the team.
He heard a voice from it.
A Japanese voice.
“Yo. I know someone’s down there from the magnetic readings. If you’re a kindhearted volunteer, let’s shake hands. I’m basically one myself.”
“Gahhh, damn, Academy City…?”
Hamazura felt like something was wrong.
If he could hear the void from a Russian radio, the person was using a frequency anyone could hear, regardless of enemy or ally. That didn’t seem like how Academy City’s “dark side” did something.
Which meant…
They’re from…Academy City like us…but they’re not…from the underworld…? Is this guy a regular soldier…A teacher, maybe…?
“That’s right. Dear Ekalielya and the others who invaded the Sea of Japan let me through. And now I can do all this charity work. It’s been rough telling the difference between fighter aircraft and attack aircraft lately— What I’m trying to say is I’ve got a ton of work to do.”
That moment.
A strange chemical reaction occurred in Shiage Hamazura’s mental state.
He was on the run from Academy City. He was happy reinforcements had come, but if they chased him around with a monster of a plane like that, things would be hopeless.
On the other hand, though, he was still relieved enough to let his body fully relax. Things really hadn’t been normal until now. Some street thug standing up to privateers and Russian military teams was stranger than anything else.
Without a care for Hamazura as he thought those things, the monstrous aircraft turned sharply in the air, coming back around again. It fired a large amount of bombs with magnetic force along its flight path, spreading explosive flames in a straight line on the surface.
Light.
Sound.
They were intense enough that Hamazura, some distance away, had to cover his face. But he could somehow feel the energy draining from his body. His muscles, tightened past where they needed to be, began to unwind.
Maybe we’re saved.
The fact that one who was supposed to protect the peace could protect them from this senseless violence.
It made Hamazura feel a natural peace and relief, even though after this, that monstrous airplane could start gunning for them.
Maybe we won’t have to get killed by that insane bioweapon, and maybe Digurv’s settlement can escape danger, too…
What was the man thinking right now?
Did he believe things were over now? Did he not know who exactly he was, having honed in on his position using only magnetic reactions?
And then another problem came up.
That was…
“Hey, is this—? Is this okay? The bioweapon is a lethal virus or something, isn’t it?”
“That’s why I’m making sure to torch every last bit of it. Get down and shut your eyes for a sec—and cover your ears and open your mouth. These bombs are white phosphorous–based, so they don’t make too much noise, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be shock waves.”
As expected, he had no time to object.
A second later, multiple bombs impacted on the Russian surface.
The bombs would have had considerable potential energy just by free-falling—but then magnetic force or something had accelerated them.
With an enormous shock wave, a crater appeared where the Steam Dispensers had been set up, and immediately after, the area transformed into a sea of fire. It was different from normal radiation—these flames were uncanny, spreading in more of a clinging way.
Within moments, the demonic device had been destroyed two, three times over.
The Russian agents didn’t get away, either.
The bombing from the skies hadn’t aimed directly for people. But the explosions’ aftermath was brutal, swallowing them up. Many were flung up, then fell back onto the ground—after which they failed to move subsequently. They seemed to have been knocked out.
As if drawn by the explosive noises and shock waves, a large amount of snow collapsed on the mountain’s slope. It was a good distance away from where Hamazura stood, but the snow that splashed upward after ramming into the ground immediately covered Hamazura and Takitsubo like the powder from a fire extinguisher.
His vision went to zero. Takitsubo should have been right next to him, and he couldn’t even see her face. He truly couldn’t even tell anymore that he was in a forested area.
“(…Takitsubo?! Where are you? Are you all right?!)”
Hamazura kept his voice down but still called out to his surroundings. He reached out with his hands, trying to grope around, but he felt only the sensation of hard tree trunks.
The Steam Dispensers, the bioweapon, the team of engineers—what had happened to them?
Confused and unable to see, Hamazura simply wandered.
How many minutes passed? Was it over ten?
When he was no longer able to even keep track of time, his hand grabbed something soft.
“Takitsubo!!”
Hastily, he embraced her, then looked at her face.
Yes, it was Rikou Takitsubo.
Black hair on the short side. Sleepy-looking eyes. Skin that was already pale but perhaps because of the cold—even protected by her clothes—seemed somewhat blue.
However.
“…Hama…zura…”
Rikou Takitsubo, who had been next to him just a second ago—did she always wear this lightweight yellow autumn coat? Was she wearing stockings that covered her legs? Was she always this tall? Was her voice always this deep?
“…Hamazura…”
Also.
Did the Takitsubo who Hamazura knew always laugh with such an evil expression?
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“It’s been so long, hasn’t it, Haamazuraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!”
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Crackle-crackle-kreeeen!!!!!! Fissures began to appear from inside Takitsubo’s face, made to look like a small animal. From inside, an entirely different woman’s face peeked out.
A more violent one.
A more wicked one.
Features that gave a face to the very darkness of Academy City itself.
…She’s…!!
A light purer than white formed in the back of one of her eyes.
As soon as it opened large enough to tear the corners of her eye, an intense bullet of light flew at Hamazura’s face.
With all his strength, Hamazura threw his head to the side, and the fierce light and heat passed right by his ear. It knocked over conifer trees, launching upward, before slightly grazing the main wing of the Academy City supersonic fighter dominating the Russian skies. He glimpsed a long, thin box fire out of the out-of-control aircraft, but he couldn’t take the time to turn his head that way.
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