CHAPTER 2 Who Is My Real Enemy? Secret_Promise. 1 Dinner for two at a neighborhood hamburger joint with Thor, the thunder god, a combat specialist belonging to Gremlin. “…What is this?” “What is this? It’s their brand-new salsa burger, remember? Urk. It’s a little too unique, if you catch my drift. The flavor is way too rich. And holy crap, it’s spicy!!! Now I know why their bestselling large burger never goes out of style.” “Not that, dumbass! Us! Here! We’re enemies!!! We ran into each other, and now we’re relaxing over a meal?! Don’t you see how messed up that is?!” “Oh, come on. I just wanted to talk. Is that so weird? My Gremlin connections aside, you wouldn’t be speaking to me like that if I was a short girl with huge mommy milkers, sitting here exuding a protective instinct.” “I wouldn’t? You underestimate me.” “Please. That’s why I transformed myself into a girl, you know. I was being considerate.” “Really? By what logic?” “Well, I could go on and on about sorcery, but it would all be Greek to you. But right, let’s see. This one time in Norse mythology, the thunder god has his weapon stolen. So to lure out the thief, he transforms into Freyja, a superhot goddess babe. That’s the legend I based my transformation spell on when I composed it. Too bad I can only become girls because of how the story works.” “…How do you know about what me and Misaka talked about in Hawaii?” “Right. When you guys wrapped everything up, the F.C.E.’s surveillance network—using all those cameras in the U.S.—was still in operation. Gremlin heard everything. You know, that Misaka chick really gives off a ‘pure maiden’ vibe, eh?” “Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! My yooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuu-uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuth!!!” screamed Kamijou, cradling his head in his hands. Thor the thunder god laughed, obviously entertained. “Hey, no worries. At this point in your life, why get embarrassed over little things like that, right?” “You’re being so violent with your words! I knew you wanted to fight!” “Well, you’re not wrong.” Thor nodded, making his blond hair sway a little. “It’s just, like…Hawaii and Baggage City, right? To be honest, I’m not into battles like those. I guess since I decide everything based on my likes and dislikes, I’m probably one of the bad guys, but still.” “……” “C’mon, eat something. Don’t just clam up. I’m not treating you. Anything you waste is money coming out of your own pocket.” Possibly due to his distaste for spicy food, Thor took only that one big bite of the salsa burger before settling on his soda and salad instead… Had the allure of a brand-new addition to the menu won out over his aversion to heat? Kamijou grabbed the paper hamburger wrapping to keep the red sauce off his fingers. “Anyway, what do you want to talk about?” he asked. “Are you here to declare war?” “It’d be real easy if I could, but no. Stuff can get tangled pretty badly even if you stay quiet. I guess, before I get into the meat and potatoes of all this, I should unravel all that stuff.” “What are you getting at?” “Ollerus,” said Thor, giving a single name—one that Kamijou couldn’t stay detached from, either. “He probably looked down on you and fed you some bullshit, right? And I bet you’re anxious about the crisis about to fall into our laps, aren’t you?” “…Fed me bullshit? You mean he was lying to me?” “And you’ve got a vortex of concern bubbling inside; you’re worried you’re fighting for someone else’s schemes. Just like with Leivinia Birdway in Hawaii and Kagun Kihara in Baggage City.” “……” “Hey, don’t glare at me. Look, I get it. We’re to blame for all that. But can I ask you something? Do you actually think you can magically trust Ollerus is completely good-hearted and on the side of justice just because Gremlin are the masterminds here? And let me do you one better. True righteousness, true justice—those aren’t the right words for when someone uses violence to hurt others and unilaterally solve problems, are they?” That wasn’t just about Ollerus. That perspective went against every choice Kamijou had ever made, too. And Kamijou personally believed Thor wasn’t wrong about it. Take Komoe Tsukuyomi. Or Last Order. Or Monaka Oyafune. Good people in the truest sense, who’d sought justice in the truest sense. They were people who could choose not to fight at all, even in a predicament, and whose choices could save even their enemies. Kamijou solved every problem with his fist. Those concepts were still far in the distance for him. “Let’s talk about Ollerus, then, shall we? He’s just like Gremlin. He likes to resort to violence for everything,” said Thor, dipping a nugget in ketchup. “He didn’t come to Academy City alone.” “He didn’t?” “Sylvia, a saint. Fiamma of the Right, former essential leader of the now-defunct God’s Right Seat. Brunhild Eichtbel, the Valkyrie. Leivinia Birdway, the boss of the Dawn-Colored Sunlight sorcerer’s society. All monsters every bit as bad as Gremlin. And not one of them is just a simple sorcerer… Anyway, I’m pretty sure they’re all in Academy City because they sniffed out our plans and want to stop them.” Leivinia Birdway. The name produced an unpleasant stir in Kamijou’s chest. The boss of the sorcerer’s society Dawn-Colored Sunlight. After Kamijou and the others had gone to Hawaii to solve the problem there, she’d tricked them, causing a major rift between Academy City and its cooperating organizations, kicking off the events that led to the mess in Baggage City. But now wasn’t the time to get hung up on that. “…Okay, and? They’re gonna protect the city folk from people like you, right?” “If that was the case, why would they choose the inside of Academy City as their battlefield?” pointed out Thor, looking amazed Kamijou hadn’t figured it out. He tossed a nugget into his mouth. “If they actually wanted to protect the city, they’d have settled the score with us before sneaking inside, stupid. In simple terms, they would have stayed outside. A defensive perimeter around the city would make sense, whether it be out in the ocean around Japan or just the mountains around Kanto.” He licked the ketchup and oil off his fingers, then lowered his voice a bit. “…So why send such a massive fighting force inside of the city? Especially when they understand the threat Gremlin poses? They probably worked Gremlin’s entrance into their plans right from the start. Looks to me like they set it up so Academy City would be caught in the cross fire on purpose. But what do you think? Would someone who only wants peace do something like that?” “……” “Ollerus’s faction has its own goal, just as Gremlin does. To achieve it, they’re taking advantage of Academy City. That’s the arrangement we find ourselves in now. It doesn’t matter how effective they are; if we get violent in here, the city’s defense forces will focus on us and not them. I doubt they’d be able to kill me. But a tag team attack from both the science side and Ollerus’s faction? I’d need to prepare for that. That means I have to be very cautious how I play things here.” Each individual sorcerer belonging to Gremlin wielded monstrous power, but that wasn’t the most fearsome part. It was the fact they were going to leverage the might of the organization as a whole. “So what you’re saying is Ollerus and his goons want to steer the usual situation off the road and use it to disrupt Gremlin’s coordination…? And that’s the only reason they chose the city?” “Could be. Just a hypothesis, though.” Kamijou put his half-eaten burger on his tray, wrapper still attached. The conversation had stolen his appetite. These people dared to spark war through Academy City for their own ends? If that was true, then he’d been vastly mistaken about the current state of affairs. “…Any idea what Ollerus is ultimately after?” “Nope. Think about the opposition between Ollerus and Othinus. They found the domain of magic gods and decided to dive in headfirst. There’s no telling what their real goal is—at least, not for a regular old member like me.” “And you just expect me to believe you?! The literal bad guy?!” “I never said that, numbskull. The point I’m trying to get across is not to rely on a single source of information too much. Ollerus got a chance to talk at you, right? So listen to what we’re telling you this time. The more information you get, the better equipped you’ll be to make your own decision when the time comes. If you don’t want them to toy with you like a marionette anymore, then you’ve gotta start using your own head. And for that, you’ll want as much information as you can get. Am I wrong?” “…Maybe not, but what are you after, then? No matter what path I choose, we’re still gonna be enemies.” “Look, I’d be perfectly fine setting us up a nice little duel. Enemy battling against enemy and all that. But the situation you’re in is miserable. Everyone around you is only out for themselves. They’re desperate to grab your right hand and point it here and there like a monkey trainer. So what’s the point in us slugging us out? What is your perspective on all this?” Thor wrestled with his salsa burger as though in the midst of a throwaway match, then continued. “I will say, though, there’s something weird about Ollerus. I see it here and there. I don’t know if it’s just his nature or if he got like that because he’s so close to being a magic god, but…” “…?” “At heart, the guy’s a philanthropist. He sees someone in trouble, and he’ll wield any amount of power to help them. But he tends to get tunnel vision because of that. I’ll give it to you straight—he’d annihilate a million soldiers just to save one kid he doesn’t know. I don’t know what he’s trying to save this time, but if it’s not Academy City, then he could decide he’s totally fine taking advantage of the city to save them.” Kamijou couldn’t tell how much of what this boy told him was true. But he didn’t understand Ollerus as a person, either. Ollerus had saved him in Baggage City, but that didn’t mean the sorcerer was a steadfast ally with no ulterior motives in any regard. Just as it hadn’t meant that for the boss of the sorcerer’s society Dawn-Colored Sunlight—Leivinia Birdway. Kamijou asked his next question carefully. “…If Gremlin is up to no good and Ollerus and his people aren’t exactly the good guys, either, then where do you stand? You’re practically bragging about knowing all this stuff.” “Oh, that’s easy,” said Thor the thunder god casually. “Gremlin’s in the city because they want something. Ollerus is here to stop them… Both of the parties are being really annoying and indecisive. But I think there’s a fun way to make both of them freak out so bad that they start frothing at the mouth. Don’t you?” “?” “The two of us find and rescue the prize of this little contest.” 2 The reconstructive surgery on Fremea Seivelun’s mouth was complete. “Mgh. Mgh, mmmrrrrrrr…” Fremea groaned at the strange feeling inside her cheeks, probably due to the results of the healing or the lingering aftereffects of anesthesia. Once they were safely outside the dentist’s office, she turned to Hamazura and Takitsubo—who were there to stop her from escaping—and spoke. “Anyway, I want something to eat!” “Did she not learn her lesson at all?! Even after crying and screaming that whole time?!” A restless mood hung in the streets; prep for the Ichihanaran Festival was in full swing. It was basically a whole bunch of culture festivals, so stalls and such would normally stay on school premises. Now, though, all sorts of things lined the sidewalks, like stands selling inexpensive goods targeting the students currently helping set up. Hamazura couldn’t help but feel like it added an unexpected twist to the festive atmosphere formula. Rikou Takitsubo, wearing her pink tracksuit, let her vacant gaze drift about, taking in the scene. “What should we do now, Hamazura?” “I didn’t have any plans. We should get Fremea back to her dorm first.” Say what you will, but Hamazura and Takitsubo currently lived under the same roof. Incidentally, the rest of Item was there, too, including Shizuri Mugino and Saiai Kinuhata. Calling it “shared housing” made it sound too nice; Hamazura couldn’t have dreamed of a more constrained scenario. He certainly wasn’t carefree enough to flirt with Takitsubo in front of the other girls, so if anything, he had to solve some pretty complex scheduling puzzles to be with her. (And during those times specifically, Takitsubo would often be absorbed in popping bubble wrap instead of looking at him anyway, for example.) “Hamazura, we need to pick up detergent on the way home.” “Right.” “So get some money from the bank.” “Sure thing.” “But convenience store ATMs charge a fee, so we have to go before the bank’s ATM is locked for the night.” “…Holistically speaking, this is so dull.” “Hamazura?” The tracksuit girl lightly grabbed his arm and gave it a tug. He frowned. “?” “Fremea’s gone.” Wsshhh-zpppp!!!!!! Hamazura’s head shot one way and then another in a complete panic, but the girl was already nowhere in sight. He did hear a soprano voice yelling from the crowds, though. “Nya-nyaaaa!!! Anyway, this says there’s thirty kinds of bite-size fruit marshmallows! I’m gonna keep eating until I get them all!!!” “You damn runt!!! Aren’t you afraid of getting more fillings in your molars?!” cried Hamazura as he launched into a peacekeeping operation to secure the girl’s mouth. They simply couldn’t afford to excite any more jet-black guys with road construction machinery. 3 After finishing most of his hamburger meal, Thor, for whatever reason, made an additional order for hot coffee and cheesecake. “…By the way, like, what do you think about the coffee at fast-food joints? Can you accept that it even exists?” “Man, if you don’t like it, then don’t order it… Actually, I’m a guy who’s even happy with coffee in a can,” replied Kamijou, looking disheartened. Thor took another sip of the cheap coffee; despite his attitude, he seemed to like it. “Anyway, where were we?” “The magic god Othinus and Gremlin are fighting over something with the not-quite-magic-god Ollerus and his heavy hitters, and we’re supposed to get whatever that is before they do.” Kamijou wiped his greasy fingers with a paper napkin. “But what even is it?” “Othinus is after someone,” Thor answered simply. “A person who isn’t tainted by sorcery or science—in other words, someone who might swing either way. Plus, because of all the physical strain, they’d need to be so durable they can just shake off modifications that would cause any normal person to die of shock.” “…Yeah, I don’t get it.” “If I’m being honest, neither do we. There is one name that stood out to us in our historical records of the witch hunts, the most ridiculous disturbance in the Middle Ages, though. Back then, the clergy were totally okay with slaughtering anyone they found suspicious, along with anyone they were jealous of or simply hated as a little bonus. But this lady? She was so durable that the holy men couldn’t kill her, so they gave up. A very strange incident.” “……” Kamijou couldn’t quite see how everything Thor had mentioned linked back to the present situation. These records or whatever were from centuries ago, weren’t they? And Academy City was Japan’s headquarters of science, so he doubted all that stuff had anything to do with it. When he asked Thor about this, the thunder god gave him an easy response. “That incident isn’t over.” “…What?” “That woman? The one who they tried to immolate and crush with a giant spindle, but she just kept on smiling? Apparently, not even the flow of time could slow her down. It’s all contiguous. She might have appeared in records dating centuries back, but she didn’t end with those documents. We should assume she’s still out there somewhere, smiling that smile of hers.” “She’s…she’s still…alive…?” “Yup. Course, you need more than just durability to live that long. Whoever she is, her core, the foundation of her essence, must be something else. Her exceptional durability is probably only a single facet of her essence.” Thor tried to split off a piece of his cheesecake with his plastic fork, but it just got smooshed instead. “And if you ask me, she’s more than likely in Academy City right now.” “Wait, why? If she appears in records of the witch hunts, wouldn’t that link her to the sorcery side instead?” “This woman just so happened to get caught up in the witch hunts; they were a huge thing in European society back then. So we don’t actually know which side her essence belongs to. It might not even fit in with either.” Thor stabbed the smooshed cheesecake with his fork, but before he could get it into his mouth, it plopped back down onto his plate. Seeing that, he just picked up the blob with his fingers and tossed it into his mouth that way. “But if Academy City did secure her, then it can’t be because they want to use her for some kind of scientific research… If that was the case, the research results would be out and be easier to understand.” “Then what’s going on?” “A last resort.” Thor licked his fingers and smiled thinly. “After all, leaving aside the why and how, those awful religious courts proved she can’t be killed by any means. Even if that woman did run contrary to the intentions of Academy City leadership, they can’t exactly assassinate her to get her out of the picture. She only needs to smile her smile and wander around the globe to shatter the plans of world leaders. So like I said, nobody can kill her to remove her from the world. In that light, if the leaders had their collective panties in a wad about it, how do you think they’d have gained control over the situation?” “They can’t kill her to silence her. But letting her walk free would be a problem for them. She’s apparently in Academy City, but nobody’s ever heard of her…” Kamijou thought for a moment. “Wait. Could she be locked up in some kind of prison? Like, a closely guarded one?” “She certainly could.” Thor took another sip of coffee and scowled, probably because he’d just finished the sweet cake. “She’s unkillable. So to separate her from the rest of the world, you’d have to take away her freedom. That would be the easiest, fastest way. I bet she’s isolated even from the rest of this city, trapped behind the walls of the most impenetrable building here… And that makes the situation way more annoying than it needs to be.” The most impenetrable structure here. Kamijou frowned and thought about what that could be for a moment. Would it be a District 22 shelter? That place had a sprawling underground mall. Or maybe District 2 or District 23, with all their secrets…? But Thor shook his head and said, “There’s one place that’s even more obvious.” “?” “The Windowless Building.” So simply, so casually, Thor the thunder god named the very heart of Academy City. “The greatest fortress in this city—the one said to be the personal castle of Aleister, chairperson of the Academy City General Board. That’s where Fräulein Kreutune is locked up.” 4 There was once an experiment known as Project Dark May. A research institution that lay in a particularly dark part of Academy City’s underbelly had implemented it. The gist of their objective was to analyze the thought patterns of Accelerator, the strongest Level Five in the city, and implant parts of that into other espers in order to boost their baseline capabilities. Few of the participants could be called successes. Even fewer were still alive. …However. “Look, I just—” “I’m, like, super annoyed right now, so please don’t talk to me.” Two girls walked down an Academy City street at sunset, surrounded by the giddy atmosphere of Ichihanaran Festival preparation. Both were survivors of that nightmarish project, Level Four espers who could control the nitrogen in the air. One was Saiai Kinuhata. A girl of around twelve, she wore a fluffy knit one-piece dress and had her brown hair in a bob. Her ability was called Nitrogen Armor, which specialized in defense. She could cover herself with armor made of nitrogen that hovered just a few centimeters from her body, automatically blocking or parrying most attacks that came at her. The coating was so tough that it could easily block a bullet from a sniper rifle. The other was Umidori Kuroyoru. She was also about twelve, wearing a black leather punk outfit consisting of pants and a tank top, plus a white coat, its hood hanging from her head. Her hair was long and black, except for the part around her ears, where it was dyed yellow. Her ability was called Bomber Lance, which specialized in offense. She could create spears of nitrogen from her palms, each up to a few meters long… Oh, and she wasn’t just an esper but also a cyborg. By equipping additional mechanical arms, she could make as many spears at once as she wanted. Both girls belonged to Academy City’s underworld. Neither cleanly fit into the “victim” category, as each possessed a vicious personality. Their dispositions were such that the two couldn’t even comprehend the idea of getting along just because they had been forced into the same shady experiment. In fact, the mood between them was so tense that if a pin dropped, their arms would instantly cross, each girl aiming for the other’s throat. Kuroyoru scowled. “…I know it’s rich coming from me, but what the hell are you up to? I’ve got no clue where you stand. If you’re just trying to protect Fremea Seivelun, wouldn’t it be faster to just kill me and bury me somewhere?” “Oh, I totally will if I have the chance. Unlike Hamazura, I have, like, literally no intention of getting along with you any more than I have to. So, like, don’t worry.” “Who is that Hamazura guy anyway? You’re doing this on his orders, too, aren’t you? And you’re listening to him…why, exactly? We’ve got the thought patterns of a demon inside us. Aren’t we made to destroy anyone who gives us orders?” “No, like, that’s just you. You’re the one who got implanted with his offensive nature. I’m specialized in defense, so I literally don’t care. And Hamazura didn’t order me, either, though I’m sure you can’t even, like, wrap your head around us not having someone who bosses everyone else around,” said Kinuhata. “Yeah, whatever. Where the hell are you going?” asked Kuroyoru dubiously. For the first time, Kinuhata grinned. But it wasn’t a smile in the way most people did it, with kindness and thoughtfulness. No, this was more a grin of dark delight, perhaps. She gave this answer: “To the same place as Fremea Seivelun.” “Eh?” “Ta-daa!!! The scariest, most terrifying dentist’s office in all of District 7, nicknamed the Cave of Heroes!!!” There was a ruckus. It was the sound of Kuroyoru automatically stepping back, then Kinuhata’s grabbing the top of the girl’s tank top. Kinuhata gave her a full smile. “…There’s no point in, like, hiding it. Hamazura picks up on even the tiniest changes in his friends. We know how much it bothers you that your molars don’t quite align.” “Friends?! This is how you treat friends?!” “Hey, don’t worry, I hate the thought of it, too, so I brought you to this dentist’s office. It’s the best around, and it’s the one all the little kids in town, like, fear the most.” “…Rgh!!!” “Wait, are you scared? You’re telling me the representative of the almighty Freshmen, Umidori Kuroyoru, is scared of a dentist? Wait, are you a crybaby? Like, if he told you to raise your hand if it hurt, you would actually do it?” “I… Look, I…!!! I’m a cyborg!!! If something goes wrong with a body part, I swap it with an artificial one! That’s the whole point!!! I don’t need anyone shaving down my molars! It’s inefficient!!! I might as well just swap out all my teeth right now, easy! What’s the point of any of this…?!” “Right, right. Anyway, let’s get you inside. And don’t worry, I brought your insurance card.” “…Now, you listen to me, you little bitch. Run your mouth one more time, and I’ll do more than rip a tooth out of it. I’ll disassemble your whole body.” Kuroyoru exhaled a quick breath, then tried to create a nitrogen spear that could even cut through steel plate from the palm of her hand, but… “?” “See? Like, nothing’s happening,” said Kinuhata. “What…?! What the hell is going on…?!” “Hmm. Your ability is super reliant on mechanical arms, right? Hamazura, like, stuck some chewing gum in the terminal in your cyborg parts. Must’ve ruined the contacts. And you can’t use your power without arms. Ha-ha-ha! Now you’re totally just a harmless civilian. Problem solved, right?” “I’m sorry, what?! Did you do something to me while I was asleep?! Why are we bothering about cavities when there’s a foreign object inside my body?! Isn’t that more dangerous?!” “Haaa-ha-ha. Doesn’t matter what you say. In Academy City’s underbelly, only the fittest survive. So, like, anyway, let’s get into the dentist’s office, my interim Level Zero. Resistance is, like, futile.” Dragging Kuroyoru, who was actually starting to tear up, behind her, Kinuhata passed through the doors of the dentist’s office. 5 The Windowless Building. The personal castle of Aleister, Academy City General Board chairperson. Apparently, that was where a woman named Fräulein Kreutune was imprisoned. For whatever reason, Gremlin was out to get her, and Ollerus’s team was prepared to stop them by any means necessary. The Windowless Building was, of course, known for its sturdiness. But did common sense even matter to people like those? It seemed safe to assume the important bit when it came to Fräulein Kreutune wasn’t the fact she was in a known, locked-down location—but that her location wasn’t even known at all. Easy to say. Nevertheless. It boiled down to this. “We have to personally break into the most impenetrable fortress in Academy City. Before anyone else does.” Thor took a sip of his coffee, which had cooled off, before continuing. “That’s our best shot. Othinus is obviously leading Gremlin in an attempt to get their hands on the woman. They know they’ll need to do something about the Windowless Building, but they won’t use petty tricks. The building is said to be completely indestructible. But they want to take it on headfirst and try to demolish it anyway.” “……” “Not even nukes can make a dent in that thing. But if it means getting their hands on the woman, Gremlin will still try and smash it. And Ollerus just wants to make sure Gremlin doesn’t get their hands on her, right? It’s perfectly possible they could somehow put a deadly curse on her without even getting inside.” “Wait, I thought we were assuming Fräulein Kreutune couldn’t be killed.” “That’s the theory put forth in sane histories. Do you think someone on Ollerus’s level will have to care about that? Even I don’t understand the mechanism underlying Fräulein Kreutune’s supposed immortality. But if they uncover it, they might be able to reverse engineer it and find a way to kill her. We should assume two blades are already at her jugular.” On one side, Gremlin could have enough firepower to destroy the building, even though the structure was supposedly impervious to nuclear weapons. On the other side, Ollerus’s group could have the sorcery to kill the woman, even though she was supposedly so durable that everyone had given up on putting her to death. Both groups were monstrous. Both were of an entirely different order of magnitude. Then again. On the other hand. “…Is it even possible?” Kamijou murmured. “Is what possible?” “That Windowless Building is supposed to be impenetrable. How are we gonna get in there?” “Well, it’s very literally impenetrable—no ways in or out. Every wall around it is built to withstand nuclear attacks, and it has its own infrastructure inside that can keep it operating independently from the rest of the city. The people who really need to get inside apparently do so with the help of a teleport esper, but we have to assume they cover their own Achilles’ heel.” “Well, then—” “That said, it’s still a system someone created. Humans have figured out how to get to the moon. I’ve already thought of a way in. I’m just waiting to hear what you decide to do. So? How about it?” “……” “And just so you know, I’m not on your side here. I’ve got ulterior motives just like the next guy. So let go of your meaningless suspicion I might betray you. You’re only supposed to double-cross people at the very end. And I’m asking you to come anyway—because you can cut me off when necessary, too, and say it’s fair play.” Thor shook his paper cup, swirling the dark liquid inside. “…And no matter what ulterior motives anybody has, Fräulein Kreutune is guiltless. That much is clear. She did something someone didn’t like and ended up being dragged into their awful witch hunt entertainment, their torture, and then she got thrown in a dark room with no exit and left there to rot. It’s wrong is what it is. Don’t you think so? …Just as I plan to pursue my own motives, you’re free to betray me the second the woman is safe and sound. Simple, right?” “……” “Hey, don’t give me the silent treatment. You gotta give me a yes or no on this.” Thor smiled thinly, then asked, “Are you in or out?” 6 Academy City had been infiltrated by two groups: Gremlin, led by the magic god Othinus, and some monsters under the command of Ollerus. Both groups shared an objective: Fräulein Kreutune, the woman locked up in the impenetrable fortress that was the Windowless Building. After causing so much destruction in Baggage City, Gremlin wanted to get their hands on Fräulein Kreutune because she had a nigh-impervious constitution. There was no telling what would become of her if they succeeded. Meanwhile, Ollerus and his group believed preventing the success of Gremlin’s conspiracy in any way would be a massive success. If left up to them, the results might still not be favorable for Fräulein Kreutune. They would move immediately. Time was up. “……” Kamijou frantically waded through his limited pool of information. Who would it be better to ally with? Ollerus? Thor? Or Academy City, a place that continued to suppress all information about Fräulein Kreutune? Every party was perfectly capable of hiding their own true intentions and interests, and they were in fact doing so. Kamijou tried to use what everyone had told him to see through to the truth of the matter; it had to exist behind all the noise. And after that. He arrived at his conclusion. “…I can’t.” “Can’t what?” “There isn’t evidence for anything you’ve told me. If Fräulein Kreutune is imprisoned in the Windowless Building, then yeah, that’s an issue. But nothing even proves she’s even there at all.” “……” “And besides, you’re telling me you want to betray Gremlin to save her? That’s unbelievable, right up front. What reason could you possibly have? If you were part of Gremlin at all, then you would have had shared interests with the rest of the group. And I know they’d really put you through the wringer if you turned traitor. And yet you’re here, going against Gremlin, approaching me instead. Why?” “……” “I agree with you. Ollerus isn’t necessarily a purehearted, good person or whatever. But to use that as proof I should ally with you instead? What kind of logic is that? I’d sooner believe you were lying about Fräulein Kreutune and all that stuff about attacking the Windowless Building. It would make more sense. You’re probably trying to lure me into doing something to achieve a goal you haven’t revealed. I should assume that—” “Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” An interruption. Thor brushed his bangs up and back, breathing a very long and very shallow sigh. As Kamijou frowned, Thor spoke again, as if to explain himself. “…Well, yeah. After what happened in Hawaii and Baggage City, I’m not surprised you’d mistrust people. Including the pity and sympathy. “However,” he continued. He downed the rest of his cold coffee and lightly crumpled the paper cup. “Feels to me like my enemy is so much smaller than he used to be.” It happened right then. A moment later, Kamijou’s vision blurred. After tossing aside his paper cup, Thor had grabbed Kamijou by the hair and slammed him face-first into the synthetic resin table. Kamijou only realized this after the ripples of intense pain began to spread from his nose to the rest of the face and thinking he’d heard a muffled whump!! It wasn’t quite dinnertime, and he certainly heard the students congregating in the no-smoking seats for a break start screaming all of a sudden. Thor ignored them. When Kamijou stood up, Thor—hand still latched on to his hair—twisted his hips to add rotational force. As Kamijou panicked from the sudden burst of pain, Thor tossed him aside. Kamijou smacked into the floor, though not before scattering a few tables, all of the same design. The students directly affected by this shrieked and hastened away. A short distance off, in what was essentially a safe zone, people almost cursed at having their juice or other beverages almost spilled. But when they saw Thor, their throats dried up. Maybe that was a reasonable reaction. They’d never been involved with violence beyond the level of a street brawl. And the violence Thor wielded was beyond that of any killer. “If you’re gonna be that glum about it, then fine. I’ll do it myself.” “Gah, geh…urgh…?!” “But you know…” No matter what anyone thought, he believed his expression was still calm—at least for now. Ignoring the frightened onlookers, Thor slowly walked up to Kamijou. “Lies? Motives? Who the hell cares about any of that stuff? There’s a woman rotting away in a cell. That should be enough for you to help her. What does it matter what someone’s ulterior motives are or what other people are after?! A woman is imprisoned by herself in a dark room for a completely unfair reason! That should be sufficient grounds for you to save her, you coward! I was hoping for an excellent enemy to face—but you sure ain’t acting like him!” Kamijou recovered from the shock, but before he could get up, Thor’s foot landed squarely in his gut, knocking the air out of him. Thor ignored that, kicking Kamijou’s stomach another two or three times. Nobody stopped him. In fact, nobody even ran away. Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing: If someone went straight for the exit and pissed off Thor, they’d be struck by a chance blow. Nobody wanted to be the first. “Sure, maybe some assholes with ulterior movies played you like a fiddle in Hawaii and Baggage City. So what? What the hell does that have to do with the woman suffering now? You’re gonna let those miserable experiences make you abandon her smile?! Because if you are, if you seriously are, then there’s no hope for you. The only reason you’ve been tolerated in the professional world until now has been the fact you only ever think about saving people, no matter if you succeed or fail in the end. If you don’t even have that anymore, that means your fist is just a tool for you to fulfill your own selfish desires now!!! Is this getting through your head?!” Phwump. The next kick sounded muffled. But no. It wasn’t Thor’s toes digging into Kamijou’s stomach. Right before that happened, Kamijou had caught the thunder god’s foot with both hands and protected himself. “…Shut…the hell up.” His growl was so low that it could shake the earth. “…I don’t know if you remember, but Gremlin started all this. How dare you lecture me as if you’re any better. This has nothing to do with Leivinia Birdway’s ulterior motives. And another thing!!! You and the rest of Gremlin, too!! If you hadn’t started throwing your weight around across the globe, you wouldn’t be causing all this suffering to begin with!!! Not in Hawaii, not in Baggage City, and not even this time with Fräulein Kreutune!!!” “Listen, you…” Thor raised his right foot away from Kamijou’s hands slightly, pretending he didn’t want him grabbing his leg. But in reality, he used his somewhat raised foot to brutally stomp down on the prone Kamijou’s abdomen. “Geh, brph?! Gh, gah, gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!” “Did you miss the part where I’m trying to stop Othinus and her cronies from causing a disaster even if it means leaving Gremlin?! The infighting in Hawaii? The collapse in Baggage City? Do you think every single person in Gremlin wanted that shit to happen?!” “Gah… Grph…” “Screw Othinus. She left us all out in the cold to sneak around and plot, and then we realize she’s putting actual goddamn effort into bullying the weak. Yeah, that’s right. I don’t have any grand ulterior motives. None of that shit. I don’t like her, so I’m gonna kill her. And I’ll betray Gremlin to do it!!!” He swung his right foot farther out this time, then slammed it into Kamijou’s stomach like a soccer player kicking a ball downfield. Kamijou flew a couple of meters. Thor continued. “But what you said is pretty grand. What do you have? You just reject everyone else’s viewpoint and suspect them of a million different schemes. And where does that leave you? …I don’t know if you get off on tragedy or if you’re trying to pretend to be wise or something. Before, you shined. Now, you don’t. I’d rather have the old you back. The one who got tricked and deceived by a million other people but still managed to rescue a crying girl.” “…How many lives do you think were at risk in Hawaii? Or in Baggage City?” said Kamijou almost to himself. He grabbed a fallen table and got himself to his feet. “The answer is I don’t know. Too many people to count got mixed up in the fighting. And every single choice I made had the potential to make it better or worse!!! It’s not just a numbers game. This is people’s lives we’re talking about! What the hell is wrong with being careful?!” “Careful? You’re hesitating. You sure doing that is the best idea right now?” Kzzztt!! came a snapping noise. Thor’s fingertip glowed with some kind of pale-blue light. A light representing his very name. Scorching lightning like an arc fusion cutter, capable of slicing through thick steel plate. “But if you’re just too scared to make a decision…,” Thor said. “If you’re just too afraid to accept the results of any decision you make…” He walked closer. “Using that as a reason to abandon someone in need makes you a villain. Nothing more, nothing less.” The blow came from the side. The pale-blue sparks had swelled to the size of a sword, and they slammed mercilessly into Kamijou’s neck. The sparks exploded. As the light scattered, it melted through the synthetic resin tables that had been haphazardly mowed down and ignited nearby objects, like the hamburger wrapper. However. Even after he was hit with an arc fusion cutter that could slice through ten-centimeter-thick steel plates like a goldfish-scooping net, Kamijou’s head remained on his body. The reason: his right hand. With Imagine Breaker, Kamijou had dispersed the sparking blade Thor had unleashed. “Don’t look down on me,” he spat, then spoke more clearly. “…I’ve never had any ulterior motives, either!!!”
Chapter 96
34 min read