Yasui’s heart pounded. Don’t tell me...?
However, Yasui’s fears proved unfounded. The handcuffs on Sago’s wrists remained in place, showing no signs of being destroyed. Sago’s face turned into an expression of disbelief. “How could this be......! With just a simple pair of handcuffs......?!”
“What has happened to your pretense, Kinemitsu Sago? Or should I say, demon lord?” Putting down the wine bottle in her hand, Baba-Nyan walked forward. Kaburagi moved to stop her, but Yasui got in her way. Without her chronoprohiberis, Kaburagi was but a normal woman.
“Oi oi oi oi, ‘demon lord’? Who, Master? What’re you talking about?”
“Shouta, you possess the right to know the truth. Touka, you as well. Listen well, and listen close.”
“Baba-san......? Are you possessed again......?”
“There’s no way. That’s impossible!” Hasumi’s murmur was immediately refuted by Kaburagi.
With a natural motion, Kaburagi removed the strangely bulky barrette that she was wearing. However, after having been informed by Baba-Nyan, Yasui quickly snatched the barrette that was actually a modified foldable-type beretta from her hands. This barrette beretta was actually a firearm that Kaburagi, being the cautious person that she was, always kept on her person in case her superpower ever failed her. The disguise was perfect. If Yasui had not known about it beforehand, she could have shot him when his guard was down. Or at the very least, she could have turned the situation into a stand-off.
However, this hidden ace that no one would be able to see through at first glance was easily exposed and snatched away. Kaburagi ground her teeth in anger and glared at Baba-Nyan with certainty. “No, she has betrayed us of her own will.”
“I, a betrayer? Nay, I am the betrayed! The gall of you to level such accusations at me after everything that you two have done!”
Takahashi and Hasumi seemed to understand that for some reason, there was a “Kaburagi and Sago” vs “Baba-Nyan and Yasui” stand-off happening at the moment, but it was taking all their mental resources to keep up with the abrupt shift from a happy birthday party to whatever this was.
Kaburagi had declared Baba-Nyan a traitor.
Baba-Nyan was saying that Kaburagi and Sago were the real traitors.
While looking at the two students who were frozen with confusion, Baba-Nyan began talking in broken phrases, seemingly having trouble forming coherent sentences from extreme emotion. “Master, or Sago, he... he’s been pretending to be a non-esper... but the reality is... he is the world’s oldest... and most powerful—”
“Oi, Baba!” Sago had the chain of his handcuffs wrapped around a faucet and was desperately pulling at them, but to no avail. The fretfulness that was usually absent from his voice caused Yasui to smile thinly while enjoying a rush of sadistic euphoria.
“—esper of all, the Boss of Amaterasu himself. Have doubts never crossed your minds? Where is Boss? What is he doing? Why does he always seem aware of the deeds that you had performed? Why does he know your likes and dislikes? Well, wonder no longer, for the answer is simple: he has been there beside you all along!”
“Stop talking! You’re going to destroy everything!”
Unfortunately, those words of rebuke only served to give Baba-Nyan’s words greater credibility. “The appearance of the World Shadows, and the World Shadows attacking humans. Shouta, Touka. Your awakening to your superpowers, and indeed, even the numerous trials and tribulations that have befallen you—”
“Shit, shut up!”
Kaburagi tried to push Yasui back to grab Baba-Nyan, but he utilized a bit of the martial arts that he had learned from Kumano to subdue her and press her against the ground.
“—everything has been the result of Sago’s self-serving actions!”
“SHUUUTTT UUUPPPPPPP!!!!!” In accompaniment with Sago’s scream, the handcuffs on his wrists began to vibrate unnaturally. Although they still seemed to be holding, the creak of metal pierced the air, causing Yasui to start having second thoughts.
“O-Oi! Your handcuffs aren’t suppressing him fully!”
“So it seems. In that case......” Baba stomped the floor hard, at which point a floorboard rotated and a magnificent silver-colored sword that exuded an incredible sense of presence shot out. Baba-Nyan caught it, then directed it toward Sago. “I shall strike him down here, without fail. Worry not, this Demon Lord Slayer is far beyond that which you can endure!”
“......Wait, what? Hold on hold on hold on h-h-hold on, this is different from what we agreed on!” What Baba-Nyan had told Yasui was that she was going to help him arrest Sago. All the credit laid in ‘arresting the esper behind the Super Water Sphere incident by himself,’ and there was meaning only if he remained alive, whether to remain an experimental subject or to become forced into labor. In contrast, arresting a corpse would be of no meaning whatsoever. Rather, Yasui himself would be in hot water for suspicion of aiding and abetting murder. The whole premise of the agreement between Baba-Nyan and himself was based on taking Sago alive.
“Think not that I have forgotten the deep-seated resentment of having been summoned to this piece of shit world. As if I would forget! And if the hero has already been brainwashed and can’t do the job himself, then I must do the job myself, must I not? Ahh, long have I awaited this moment of revenge!”
Baba-Nyan held her sword in a low stance, then rushed toward Sago. Sago, whose hands were still constrained by the handcuffs, clumsily rolled about on the ground in an attempt to distance himself from her onslaught, but then found his back hitting the wall. He had been cornered. It was clear to everyone present that the next swing of the sword was finally going to reach him.
Yasui suddenly drew his gun, then shot a warning shot near Baba’s feet. The dry pop of the gun heightened the tension in the air even further. “Drop that sword, Lonalia Linalia Baba-Nyan!”
Baba-Nyan shot a sideways glance at Yasui, then scoffed as if in ridicule. That pissed Yasui off, causing him to continue threatening her with his finger still on the trigger of his gun. “I’m serious. I’m arresting you red-handed for the crime of attempted murder. If you don’t drop your sword, I’ll shoot.”
Even while speaking, Yasui quickly did some mental calculation. If he managed to stop Baba-Nyan here, then he could make two arrests in one fell swoop. That would be an even greater achievement than arresting only Sago alone. Baba-Nyan knew what Yasui was doing on the down low, but Yasui also knew that Baba-Nyan was not the little girl that she appeared to be. If he handled this well, he could still turn this unexpected development to his advantage.
“Master, calm down. Baba, you too. More like, everyone, just chill. Or do you all want me to chill your heads for you?”
“Let’s talk things over. It wouldn’t be too late to draw conclusions after listening to what everybody has to say.”
Takahashi shifted into mediation with white frost emitting from his hands, and Hasumi stood up to support him.
However, Baba-Nyan clearly had no intention of listening to them as she once again kicked off against the ground in a lunge toward Sago.
The next second seemed like a tiny slice of eternity, as the world moved in slow motion.
Yasui felt like he was spectating in third-person mode as he felt his finger pressing on the trigger of his gun as if guided by fate. Kaburagi thrashed about while wailing and crying. Fire and ice exploded in between Sago and Baba-Nyan.
Baba-Nyan somehow made it through the mass of elemental energy, and her sword flashed forward like a spear. The same instant that the handcuffs shattered from extreme vibration, Baba’s sword pierced Sago’s chest at precisely the position of his heart.
Sago’s eyes shot wide open, then he roared like a beast as an invisible power dashed Baba-Nyan against the far wall like a rag doll. Blood spewed out of her mouth as her back made forceful impact, then she slid to the ground limply. The sight of her head being turned all the way around to her back and her limbs all being twisted in unbelievable angles spoke volumes as to her ghastly demise.
Sago, too, reached out to grip the sword in his chest with shaking hands, but then fell over as bloody foam came out of his mouth.