That vast underground s.p.a.ce naturally had no windows. Once inside, everything was ruled by a thick darkness in which we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces.

I had considered buying a flashlight, but we didn't have time to visit a discount store. Muramatsu Yukie the Dark Elf had a quick charger for a smartphone, so I used my phone's backlight. And we entered the underground s.p.a.ce. We opened the kind of thick round door found in a bank vault and stepped inside.

…Who would have thought this horrific dark side of Kukyou City would ever actually save our lives?

Maxwell had overwritten the thick door's lock, so the Bright Cross's key couldn't open it. Even if they brute forced it open using their simulator, the pa.s.sageways spread out like a spider web and connected to the entire city. We could escape to anywhere and not even the Bright Cross could hope to cover all of that.

"W-wow. What is this…place?"

In her black dress and feathered witch's hat, Itou Helen sounded half impressed and half worried as she looked around the tunnel with a hemispherical cross-section.

I simply responded that it was the remains of a former Bright Cross underground facility.

There was no need to explain what exactly had been done here.

"Maxwell."

"Sure."

"Monitor Itou Helen's home, Muramatsu Yukie's home, and my home. Even if they're being watched from outside by cameras, we should be able to slip inside from below the houses undetected. And that includes the city's security cameras and satellite cameras. Let's gather what food, water, and other necessities we can from our houses. It would be best to end this quickly, but we don't know how many days we'll be holed up for."

I wanted to laugh at the dark humor of fooling them with the system they had built. I hoped I could repay them for the many Archenemies who had lost their lives here.

…I honestly wanted to go home, climb in bed, and go to sleep.

But I couldn't have the Bright Cross directly attacking my house. To prevent that, it would be safest to make sure not even my family knew where I was.

The information you had wasn't everything.

Not knowing could sometimes be a weapon of its own.

"And, Itou-san. How much of the chemicals taken from the Colosseum do you have left?"

"Um, I have most of the full set left, but…hyah."

That was good.

My undercla.s.sman had colorful test tubes hidden in the decorative sash of her hat, in her sleeves, and on her thighs, so I rubbed her head like I did with Ayumi.

Even with Archenemies, we were terribly unreliable compared to the Bright Cross who could send in machineguns. The dark elf's attacks were generally used to stop her opponent and lacked immediacy. I was only a scrawny guy. Our only hopes were Maxwell's processing power and Itou Helen's potions.

There were 3 things we had to do:

1. Secure our safety for the time being.

2. Wait until Itou Helen could heal her injuries.

3. Destroy the Bright Cross's simulator.

The brown-skinned dark elf was apparently going to help us for now. Her corpse had not been "handed over" yet, so she had yet to be released. If the Bright Cross recovered her, who could say what they would do with her.

"But do you know where they're hiding such a large computer? That must be top secret information even among the Bright Cross."

"It would be, but I do know."

It had to be there.

If they hadn't begun the 3rd round so suddenly, I might have been able to deal with it then.

"Public Kukyou 1st High School. That's my school. It has to be there."

I didn't know why something like that would be at my school. Or why the Bright Cross would have a connection there.

But it fit all the conditions.

It used a lot of data and electricity even at night and circulating the pool water could be used for a cooling system.

I wanted to run right in there and ruin it all. I wanted to swing a giant hammer around and smash it all to bits.

But.

"…Senpai?"

Itou Helen looked up at me as she leaned against the wall of the hemispherical tunnel and held her gla.s.s wand in both hands.

It helped a lot that we had visited each of our houses to gather blankets, freeze-dried food, and a simple lamp from some camping supplies. The light would last longer than my smartphone's backlight, we had warmth, and we could boil water.

That meant we had food, but the girls seemed happy that they could soak a towel in hot water and wipe down their bodies.

We focused on letting battered Itou Helen rest as much as possible to recover.

"How are your injuries doing?"

"I'm fine. I can fight at any time…"

"Be honest. Do you want me to rub your body again?"

"Okyay!"

She must have remembered the pain because her face grew a bit red and she curled up within her cape.

"B-but the potion really is working. In another day or two, I think my ribs will be fully healed."

This reminded me that Itou Helen, with her free control over those colorful potions, really was an Archenemy. Finding a way to fully heal broken ribs in a day or two would win her a n.o.bel Prize and let her start a pharmaceutical company.

"U-um, if you're in a hurry, you can leave me here and go on ahead…"

"Maxwell is the only one who can freely open and close the doors when the Bright Cross gets in. If we leave you here, you'll be trapped."

"But."

"It's true I want to make use of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But they can't move such a largescale supercomputer so easily."

The Bright Cross had pulled out of this underground s.p.a.ce so cleanly that that was probably an option they were considering. But the conditions needed for a supercomputer were complex and few facilities qualified. And transporting it while powered on would definitely be out of the question. If it took a week or two to get it set up again at the next location, the machine would essentially be committing suicide. I would just have to use Maxwell to his fullest to end this before they could switch the simulator back on.

The Bright Cross would have to be fearful of Maxwell's presence.

We were targeting their simulator, but they would have to defeat us before they could safely transport the simulator.

So I wasn't worried.

Our odds of success increased significantly if we waited for Itou Helen to regain her full strength to use her gla.s.s wand.

She was an Archenemy, but unlike a vampire like Erika or a zombie like Ayumi, she could fully control the scope of her infection. It didn't stand out as much, but that let her use it without holding back. It was like the difference between a nuclear bomb and a GPS precision-guided aerial bomb. Looking at it that way, Itou Helen might have the advantage.

In fact.

Despite how cornered we were, running crying to Erika or Ayumi still did not seem like a realistic option.

I could do it.

But if I did, I would be crossing the point of no return. Or so it seemed to me.

"This place really reminds you how big the Bright Cross is."

That comment was made by Muramatsu Yukie the Dark Elf.

All of the doors were locked, but that girl in a sleeveless blouse and tight skirt spent all her spare time exploring the spider web of pa.s.sageways with longbow in hand.

Incidentally, with all of the equipment removed, this underground s.p.a.ce was like a large and complexly-arranged box. There were no barriers for when Itou Helen or Muramatsu Yukie wiped their bodies down with a wet towel or changed clothes. But I did my best to keep my distance so we wouldn't meet.

Yes, I did my best.

But for some reason, the pa.s.sageways would loop back around on themselves and I would receive either a tearful slap or a ton of high-voltage arrows from a half-naked girl, but I was generally enjoying myself!

"User, I have a report."

Maxwell sent a message after I moved a bit away from Itou Helen.

"It concerns the sniper shot that nearly hit Itou Helen at the end of the 3rd round."

"Oh…"

That did happen, didn't it?

On the pretext of confirming the Archenemy's death by covering its corpse in gasoline and burning it, they had induced an incomplete combustion and filled the s.p.a.ce with carbon monoxide smoke to kill Itou Helen in what looked like an accident. And the Bright Cross had even brought out a silent sniper rifle to try to shoot her in the head inside the bug cage.

"Given the conditions at the time of the shot, that was not a normal rifle bullet. It was most likely a .45 subsonic round, but then it would not break through the reinforced gla.s.s made to hold an Archenemy. In that case, I can estimate that the bullet was made from tungsten, depleted uranium, or another metal with a heavier relative density than lead."

"Make it simpler."

"Sure. That means it is extremely quiet and highly destructive, but it should also reduce the stability and make the ballistic path waver. Accurately firing such an idiosyncratic sniper unit would require special skills. Simulator support is not enough to explain it."

For example, I couldn't win a gold medal in figure skating just because I had Maxwell's support. I would also need a mind and body able to keep up with the displayed instructions.

"…So was the Bright Cross just showing off their soldiers' specs? What does that matter?"

"User. When Miss Erika the Vampire and Miss Ayumi the Zombie settled things in the simulator, do you remember fighting the Bright Cross in this underground s.p.a.ce?"

"Hm? What about it?"

"It was only within the simulator, but there was a member who used a submachinegun - or rather, an odd sniper unit with full-auto functionality added on - that was equipped with .45 subsonic heavy metal rounds."

The suspect's face and name appeared on the screen.

I normally wouldn't have cared. Every member of the Bright Cross was an enemy, so my opinion of any particular one was irrelevant. That should have been enough.

But not in this case.

I couldn't ignore this.

I finally understood why Maxwell had waited to report this until I was away from Itou Helen in her black dress, witch hat, and large cape.

The name listed there was Itou Tamago.

"What…does this mean?"

"Sure. He seems to be Itou Helen's blood-related older brother. Unless there is an error in the simulation results, he is a Bright Cross member. He is also part of a field team and one of the few capable of using an extremely idiosyncratic sniper unit that uses.45 subsonic heavy metal rounds."

No, not that.

That wasn't what I was asking.

"Then…Itou-san just about had her brains blown out by her own family member…?"

I couldn't believe it even as the words left my mouth. This was as much of a shock as learning that the town I lived in was used to dispose of Archenemies.

As I watched, Itou Helen hesitantly raised both hands and stretched in her black dress and large cape. Then she slowly twisted her hips around.

She was moving her entire body while probably focusing on her ribs. After a while, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"It seems I'm fine. I don't feel any pain…"

"Really? You aren't just saying that like before?"

"Hyes!"

"See? I just touched you a little and your shoulders jumped. What about here? Are you fine here?"

"U-um, Senpai, uh, eek…"

I was only worried about her, but the dark elf snuck up behind me and chopped the back of my head. Then my blus.h.i.+ng and tearful undercla.s.sman clung to and hid behind Muramatsu Yukie whose thin sleeveless blouse allowed her skin color to show through. Well, as long as she's feeling better.

"If you're done with your amateur game of doctor, what are we going to do now?"

"Game of doctor…? Gulp. I didn't realize that casual exchange contained such a meaningful metaphor. Okay, let's try that again…!!"

"Get to the point. And quickly."

The dark elf drew the bowstring and aimed the invisible arrow at point-blank range, so I did everything I could to look the other way and put my hands up.

Please don't shock me. Unlike a punch or a kick, I'm not even sure how to brace for that!!

"I-if Itou-san is healed, then we don't have to wait around any longer, so I was thinking we could go destroy the Bright Cross's simulator…"

"I see." The tight skirt dark elf slowly lowered her bow and gave me a dubious look. "But in all seriousness, is that possible?"

"It won't be easy. But there's no surviving this unless we overcome this challenge."

We just had to think about it a bit. I was unarmed, so did I stand any chance of escaping a group with Maxwell-level support if I fled through Kukyou City?

…To be honest, I wasn't confident I could last even a day. That was partially due to the simulator, but they could also just overwhelm me with pure numbers. They could completely surround me and secure me with minimal time and effort. If I couldn't avoid that chemical reaction, we were in trouble.

So we traveled through the vast underground s.p.a.ce to arrive directly below the school. We could move safely, but we could not use the trains or buses. I had left my collapsible bike at the stadium. And even if I did have it, riding it through the dark with Itou Helen on the front and Muramatsu Yukie on the back would have been too difficult.

I also wanted to avoid bringing up Itou Helen's brother if at all possible. I worked at directing the conversation elsewhere.

"By the way."

"There's been a witch and a mermaid, but why is a dark elf considered an Archenemy? I know your lifespan might be incredibly long, but, y'know, I've never heard of you quickly growing in number like with a vampire or zombie."

"…You're bringing that up just because you're bored? That's kind of the most important aspect of my life, you know?" The brown-skinned girl sighed. "In my case, the infection level is low. We only have one way of interacting with humans and encroaching on society."

"Hm? Do elves bite people or something?"

I only really saw them as people living in the forest, so I couldn't even imagine how they lived. They seemed about as real as a ghost standing on the side of the road. And this was a dark one.

"Kh."

But Muramatsu Yukie's words seemed to catch in her throat as she blushed, pouted her lips, and muttered to herself.

After a while, she gave in and answered with her long ears lying flat.

"Y-you know. There are half-elves, right? So when I marry a human man… D-don't make me say any more than that!!"

Oh, I see.

That would indeed require a much larger invasion plan than my vampire older sister or zombie younger sister. Of course, elves had long lives, so if they continued creating half-elves and quarter-elves, they might be able to fill up a decent percentage of the population eventually.

…In fact, did that mean there were Archenemies that couldn't have kids with humans?

"I don't know. Are you willing to test it out with the gargoyles that are moving statues or the one-horned unicorns?"

Archenemy certainly was a broad category.

"But that's just how it is," readily said the longbow-wielding dark elf. "You've drawn the line there, but other people draw the line sooner than that. Some will reject a mermaid or fairy right away. Everyone has 'that emotion' somewhere."

…Did that mean the Bright Cross that ran the Colosseum and the frenzied gallery did not have defective minds? Was that something everyone had? Was it something that existed in my own heart?

I had trouble accepting that.

And it must have shown on my face.

Muramatsu Yukie giggled and added more.

"Although it seems you've drawn the line way, way back. So far back that it's hard tell where the line is."

"Right."

For some reason, Itou Helen nodded in agreement while holding her gla.s.s wand in both hands. It was a little hard to tell whether she was praising me or criticizing me.

Eventually, we arrived at our destination.

We had simply been walking on and on through the hemispherical tunnel, so there were no actual landmarks. There were occasional alphanumeric markers on the wall, but only the Bright Cross could tell what those meant.

It was Maxwell on my smartphone that told us.

"You have arrived within Public Kukyou 1st High School's grounds. The high school is directly overhead."

"So where do you think the giant supercomputer is on the grounds?"

"Sure. I doubt it is aboveground. I suspect there is a gym-sized s.p.a.ce below the school.

…Probably so.

That was not going to make this easy. Did we have to rise to the surface and then search for another secret entrance? And when we were already underground now?

With that in mind, we climbed the stairs and I held my smartphone out to the thick round door. Several metal rods unlocked and it slowly opened outwards.

And just as that happened, I heard sc.r.a.ping metal and saw orange sparks.

By the time I realized we had been fired on from beyond the door, Muramatsu Yukie had grabbed my hand and dragged me back.

"Maxwell!"

"No. I was unable to predict the possibility of an attack at this timing."

"I wasn't criticizing you. Can you close the door!?"

"No. The door can receive no further instructions until the entire opening process is complete."

Intermittent bursts of orange sparks entered the tunnel.

We couldn't let the gap widen any further. That would give them a wider angle with which to target us and it could easily allow them to enter the tunnel itself!!

"The gunshots are extremely quiet for the power of the gunfire. These are most likely the .45 subsonic heavy metal rounds I mentioned."

I was thankful I had not set the phone to read Maxwell's messages aloud.

Itou Helen curled up inside her cape and trembled like lightning had struck nearby, but she still gave me a puzzled look.

I couldn't let her notice.

"Maxwell, do you think we can break through this door?"

"No. Given the frequency and precision of the gunfire, you would be fatally shot while pa.s.sing through the door."

"Then there's no point in staying here. Maxwell, open all the doors within a 300m radius of the school!!"

"Warning: that increases the risk of allowing the Bright Cross in the tunnels, so it will eliminate the safety of the entire underground s.p.a.ce."

"We're ending this tonight either way. If we can't destroy their simulator, our situation is only going to get worse. Just do it, Maxwell. There's only the 1 sniper. If we open 10 or even 100 exits, they won't be able to cover all of them!"

"Sure."

Deep metallic sounds reverberated from all over the dark underground s.p.a.ce.

We turned our back on the dangerous exit that allowed bullets in, took a detour through the spider web of tunnels, and made our way to another opened exit.

Once outside, I found we were on the edge of the schoolyard. The trash area and fire hydrant were located there, so I hadn't really checked on it before, but the exits near my school were apparently not buried underground. It may have been like a portion of the subway that came aboveground.

We were surrounded by silent darkness.

There were no lights on at the school. The nocturnal group which included my older sister must not have arrived yet. I had lost track of time while underground, but the clock on the school building's wall said it was just before 8 PM.

…In that case, I wanted to finish this within an hour, before my older sister and the others arrived.

Where was he?

I didn't want to think his name. If I accidentally spoke it aloud, it could easily cause Itou Helen to panic as she held onto my s.h.i.+rt.

He was her family.

Her big brother.

How had he ended up with the Bright Cross and why had he aimed a gun at his own little sister? I simply couldn't imagine it. I certainly couldn't do that. No matter the situation, I could never aim a deadly weapon at Erika or Ayumi in real life.

I could not understand him.

I knew this was no time to give up on thinking, but I felt on the verge of throwing in the towel. No other opponent could have been more frightening here. I couldn't predict what he would do next. Especially when he had the full support of a simulator more powerful than Maxwell.

Without an a.s.surance of safety, the dark schoolyard was like a jungle minefield. I didn't know if the number of mines was 10 or 100, but stepping on just one would mean death. Could I really take the first step under those conditions? The dark shadows seemed to wrap around my feet and pin them to the ground.

"Maxwell, do you know where the sniper is?"

I quietly called to him, but he did not answer. The backlight did not activate and the screen was dead.

"Maxwell."

I spoke more loudly, but still no response. My hair stood on end as I feared the device had malfunctioned at the worst possible time, but…

"It would be better not to activate the backlight in this darkness," said the dark elf. "He's saving your life here."

That made sense.

But wait. The sniper couldn't produce any light either. Then how was he receiving support from their simulator?

"Itou-san."

"It can be methane gas or whatever else, but can you give yourself an animal's ability to produce flammable gas? Muramatsu-san and I will search for something to use as a smokescreen."

"What are you…going to do?"

"A sniper can't do their job if they can't see where we are. And yet this one can fire just fine even in the dark night or a smokescreen. That's because he's predicting his target's location with a simulator."

"Then there's nothing we can do."

"But how is he getting that data? He can't read it if he's in an environment that doesn't allow him to activate his smartphone's backlight. In that case, sound is the most likely option. He might have an earpiece that provides support with a synthetic voice."

Muramatsu Yukie's second had seemed focused on an earpiece he wasn't used to.

"First, Muramatsu-san and I will set up a smokescreen. That will force him to focus on the simulator's voice. Then you detonate the flammable gas to surround him…no, the entire school with explosive noise. Once he can't hear the voice from his earpiece, the sniper can't get through the smokescreen or the darkness. That gives us a chance to turn this around."

We got to work.

Living things could create methane. For example, humans could just by eating potatoes. There was also the fermentation of anaerobic bacteria and the synthesis of formic acid.

Formic acid was the toxin and source of pain found in a wasp's stinger or an ant's fangs. And with all her colorful potions, Itou Helen could easily use the structure of a venomous insect. Using that slightly differently would allow her to create a gas bomb.

A deafening explosive blast shook all the gla.s.s in the school.

"Now!"

Muramatsu Yukie and I used her quick charger's electrode and a metal clip to start a fire. Lighting the gra.s.s clippings stuffed in a burnable trash bag started an incomplete combustion.

We threw a few fireball trash bags into the schoolyard and let the wind spread out the black smokescreen while the dark elf and I ran. We ran separately. Without the simulator's support and with the double punch of the darkness and smokescreen, he could not target us properly. But a random shot through the dark smoke would still be fatal if it hit us. We couldn't complain no matter how we were hit. So including Itou Helen, all 3 of us approached the reinforced concrete school building from different angles before he could recover from his confusion.

"Maxwell!"

"Sure. Move 15m north-northeast. It would be quickest to break through the 1st-floor cla.s.sroom window."

It didn't work out as cool as in a movie. It probably looked like I was completely sprawled out as I dove into the window.

I heard a high-pitched shattering sound.

And my jump wasn't quite high enough, so my toes caught on the window frame and I tripped quite spectacularly. I only stopped after getting caught in several desks and chairs.

Itou Helen and Muramatsu Yukie arrived safely inside a step behind me.

This wasn't the time to groan about the pain filling my body. There was also no sign of the security system activating despite the broken window.

"Was that you, Maxwell?"

"No. Someone else shut off the sensors. a.n.a.lyzing route…"

The Bright Cross, huh?

Since they had gone out of their way to eliminate the "power of numbers" provided by the adults, they must have really wanted to finish us off with the sniper rifle. And the Bright Cross both despised and feared Archenemies. A dark elf like Muramatsu Yukie was one thing, but a witch like Itou Helen could ma.s.s-produce monsters by sprinkling her potions on humans. Did they think going with quant.i.ty over quality would only give the Archenemies more power to work with?

I glanced down at my smartphone as I spoke.

"He's more skilled than us. There's a stairway on either end of the building, so let's surround him. I doubt he can use his sniper rifle properly indoors, but make sure he never has a direct shot at you, Muramatsu-san. You use electricity, so if you find a way to bend the current's path in a right angle or crank-shape, you should be able to unilaterally attack him. Think of ways to send your conductive materials through the air other than your bow. Itou-san…oh, I know. You use a turtle sh.e.l.l or something to create a large s.h.i.+eld as you advance."

After giving them those instructions, I watched the 2 girls head for the different staircases.

"No. I have not provided that support information."

"That's fine."

How could I show them this?

I grabbed a nearby chair and threw it toward the teacher's desk.

With a loud collision, a large object rolled out from the back.

That was likely Itou Tamago.

He had probably noticed us entering the room he had been in and was waiting for us to leave.

Even if it was full-auto, a sniper rifle was a poor choice for a close-range battle against a group.

Or had he not wanted his little sister to see his face?

The man in a black night combat outfit immediately raised a thick firearm that looked like a combination of a rifle and a handgun.

But I gave a shout before he could pull the trigger.

"Maxweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell!!"

I grabbed another chair and chucked it forward underhand.

Several holes opened in the plywood as he fired those bullets that had a long name like subsonic heavy metal round. Normally, they should have hit me between the eyes or in the heart, killing me instantly. But that wasn't what happened. Due to the board between us, the course of the bullets was ever-so-slightly diverted.

Even so, I felt as if something had bitten me in the right shoulder.

I had not entirely avoided them and one grazed my shoulder.

Before the pain and fear could catch up, I moved forward. I didn't have time to clench my fist like a bada.s.s. I just about tripped over my own legs and pitched forward while only running 4 or 5 meters straight ahead.

Instead of my shoulder, it was the top of my head that collided with Itou Tamago's gut.

I heard the low, disconcerting sound of the air erupting from his lungs.

The two of us rolled along the cla.s.sroom floor.

Even after being tackled to the floor, Itou Tamago maintained his grip on the sniper rifle, but it seemed to be too long to aim properly. I moved my head aside to avoid the muzzle and stuck my smartphone's lens right in front of the sniper's nose.

The flash activated.

"Ghhh!?"

With a lightning-like flash, Itou Tamago's groan accelerated. Meanwhile, I grabbed the sniper rifle's long barrel and pushed it to the side like a lever to switch train tracks.

And his index finger was still inside the loop of the trigger guard.

His wrist was made into the axis of rotation which could not have been pleasant. This time, he uttered a short scream and let go of the grip.

I had stolen the gun, but I wasn't about to mimic him and try to use it myself. Even with Maxwell's support, I'd probably just shoot myself in the thigh. So still sitting on top of him, I grabbed the opposite end of the weapon and swung it down like a club. With the force of driving a hoe into the dirt, I slammed the upside-down sniper rifle's stock into Itou Tamago's face again and again.

I glared down at the man who futilely tried to guard his face with his hands.

My throat shook with a cold voice that frightened even me.

"…Why?"

With the weapon raised, I felt the weight of the sniper rifle in my wrists.

"Why did you force this onto Itou Helen!? Is the Bright Cross that important to you!? Aren't you…aren't you her big brother!?"

I just couldn't understand it.

If Ayumi's life was targeted by the Bright Cross, if she was shoved in front of the TV cameras, and if everyone in the world jeered and booed at her, I might think about standing up for my little sister's sake, but I would never think of siding with the Bright Cross. That line of thinking simply made no sense whatsoever.

"…I didn't know."

I heard a scratchy voice.

"The stage was full of smoke and I didn't know who was in there. I was only following Laplace's instructions. So…"

Once I realized how pathetic an excuse he was making, all hesitation vanished from my mind.

I seriously swung down the upside-down sniper rifle like I was trying to smash that arrogant nose.

I heard a soft sound and felt a raw sensation in my wrists.

"Everyone knew the 3rd round was between Itou Helen and Muramatsu Yukie!! The announcements, the electronic screens, the odds tables, and the banners and fans made by those strange, so-called fans! You expect me to believe you didn't see or hear any of that!? Yeah, right!!"

"Ah…gah…"

"And what about this time? Who were you told to wait for as you hid in this school at night? Did Itou Helen's name really never come up? If not…why did you decide she was an enemy and aim your gun at her when she came running up!? She's a 1st year here, so it would be perfectly normal for her to come here at night to grab something she forgot at school!!"

If he wasn't proud of his actions, why did he obey his instructions? Had he really sold his family's soul for something he couldn't even come up with a good excuse for? Did he have any idea what he was weighing on the scales!?

"…Shut…up!!"

"Kh."

When I swung the sniper rifle down again, he grabbed the stock with one hand. And he pulled it toward him. I lost my balance and he raised his hips to build up momentum.

We flipped over.

I at least managed to deflect his wrist so he couldn't take the sniper rifle from me. I was now on my back and Itou Tamago was on top of me giving a regretful look toward the ma.s.s of metal sliding along the floor, but he quickly rethought that. He instead reached toward his back.

And with the unpleasant sound of something slipping out of a sheath, a knife with a blade longer than a 30cm ruler reflected the moonlight.

"I!"

"Gh…!!"

I even threw aside my smartphone now. I used both hands to desperately hold back his wrist instead of the blade itself. But he had the advantage since he could put his body weight behind it. Little by little the tip of the blade approached the center of my chest.

But I oddly didn't feel like I was losing.

Maybe that was because his sweaty face only spewed complaints.

"I didn't want to do it! I just about fainted when I saw her name on the doc.u.ment! Besides, I'd hidden it all until now. No one in my family knew about the secret side of the Bright Cross! And yet…why did this have to happen!? There's no way I can course correct now that I'm surrounded by all those lunatics! Anyone who goes against 'policy' ends up disposed of in the ocean or mountains. I had no choice! No one can fight it! So!!"

…So you aren't at fault?

He was basically saying the same thing as someone whose group of friends started bullying people and then ended up choosing his own little sister as a target. Sure it would be painful and sure you wouldn't want to defy the leader kid.

But.

When faced with his crying family member, he laughed and clung to the fact that the leader said he would be forgiven if he hit her too. Except he was using a deadly weapon instead of just his fists!

This is the worst! Everything about it is!!

You are! And so is the environment around you!!

"…Fight back."

The blade tip was now less than a centimeter from my heart.

But I didn't look away. I glared at this person who was undeniably "human", but was absolutely unforgivable because of that.

"It doesn't matter how long you agonize over it. You can hold her knees in her arms, hesitate to take that final step, tremble in fear, and flail around all you want. But you have to fight back in the end! You could have made up for everything if you'd done that. You could have become the kind of 'human' that everyone hopes to be! But…but you're just part of the Bright Cross through and through! You're just a monster!!"

"…!! What do you…understand…!?"

"I'm fighting back. These aren't just words. I'm risking my life right now to save Itou Helen! That's the entire reason you and the rest of the Bright Cross are trying to kill me!!"

"Kh."

Don't let that shut you up.

This is the privilege you should have announced to this cold world.

Why is it me?

It's because you couldn't be her "Onii-chan", Itou Tamago!

"She's held it inside this whole time. When I first met her, she kept talking about her 'Onii-chan', but she hasn't said a word of it ever since getting caught in the Colosseum. Because she didn't want to get her family involved! She didn't want to even mention your name in this abnormal world!! And yet you smugly abandoned her. You just resigned yourself to this cold world and rejected even the possibility that Itou Helen is fighting on her own!! How can I forgive you for that? How can a b.a.s.t.a.r.d like that call himself her big brother!? If you want that t.i.tle, then protect your family!! Become the kind of human who stands as a s.h.i.+eld in front of her even if it means making an enemy of the entire world, you cowardly piece of s.h.i.+t!!"

My wrists had gone numb as they held back the knife. I felt like the muscles were going to separate from the bone. I couldn't think of any way to turn this around.

"Are you telling me to go out in a blaze of glory? Don't act ignorant. You know how hard it is to fight the Bright Cross on your own!"

"Then work with me."

But this alone I had an immediate response for.

We weren't talking about a video game or a simulation. This was reality, a harsh world where a single mistake meant death. But that was the entire point. When you only had one life and no redos, there were some things you simply couldn't compromise on.

"If you can say you're the kind of 'human' who would risk your life and fight the Bright Cross for your little sister, then I won't abandon you either. So you aren't alone! There can be more than one person in the world wis.h.i.+ng for Itou Helen's survival!!"

"Kh."

For just a moment, it looked like the madman's face really did twist around.

But then he pushed down with his body weight even more. As if he had shaken free of his doubt.

Was it over? What had I lacked? Why hadn't I gotten through to him? I thought we might be able to understand each other since we both had troublesome little sisters. Did the giant framework of the Bright Cross really distort your humanity this much?

The tip of the large knife pierced my clothing and stabbed shallowly into my skin. If he continued to push down with his body weight, he would break my breastbone like he was stepping on it with high heels and then pierce my heart.

Yes, I just about gave up.

But in that very moment, a metallic vibration rang out.

While he straddled me, Itou Tamago's head wobbled and then he collapsed to the side.

Then I saw the dark elf standing behind him after swinging the snipe rifle like it was a metal baseball bat.

Muramatsu Yukie wiggled her long ears and spoke with clear exasperation in her voice.

"You're making too much noise."

"…Oh, dammit."

"Only that girl would obediently continue up the stairs with this kind of racket going on down here. It was difficult finding a chance to enter the cla.s.sroom when he had a sniper rifle, though."

She tossed aside the sniper unit and reached a hand out toward me.

I grabbed her hand and she helped me up while adding more.

"This just goes to show how much Itou Helen trusts you. Although it can be hard to tell because she's quiet and tends not to speak up on her own. You just about gave up at the end there, didn't you? Don't you dare get yourself killed and betray that trust."

…I can't believe this.

I couldn't speak ill of Itou Tamago like this. I had promised to fight alongside her, so I would be betraying her if I didn't struggle to the very last moment.

I looked back down at the man lying unmoving on the floor. He could have been the one by Itou Helen's side instead of me. No, he was the one that should have been there. This was all that remained of what had once been a big brother.

"Help me tie him up."

"Sure."

The division between them was clear

We tied up our enemy and hurried back to our ally.

We returned to the girl named Itou Helen.

Laplace.

I spoke that word after meeting up with Itou Helen in her witch hat and cape in the school building.

The blonde witch in a black dress tilted her head like a small bird.

"Senpai?"

"Oh. The sniper mentioned it. Laplace. That seems to be the name of the Bright Cross's simulator."

They probably took the name from Laplace's Demon. It was the perfect name for a computer or simulator. There were probably tons of supercomputers with the same name around the world. Just like you could find people named Tanaka or Yamada everywhere. I had honestly thought it was too cliché and named mine after Maxwell's Demon instead.

If this Laplace surpa.s.sed Maxwell in scope, I could only imagine it was larger than a school gym. The Bright Cross was an international organization with near-endless supplies of money, but something about it bothered me.

"…Why choose this school?"

Yes. It would make sense if it was an engineering college with a strong focus on computing. Or if it was a defense academy that restricted who could enter the campus.

But this was a normal high school. Even if they could use plenty of electricity and the cooling pool water, it didn't seem that special.

"Perhaps they intentionally chose a normal facility with little relation to themselves?" suggested Maxwell. "To deceive thieves when transporting valuable artwork or antiques, noticeable security is intentionally avoided."

"The Bright Cross managed to build that giant underground s.p.a.ce below the entire city, but you think they struggled to hide a single supercomputer? That would be like adding just one more large room for them."

Besides, I wasn't one to talk, but the students at my school weren't exactly good at keeping secrets. It was like we were forced into a tiny, stifling box and were starving for any new information that would get our faces above the muddy water. So while a gag order or NDA might work with adults, it was almost meaningless with us. Word would spread like wildfire with nothing but "this is just between us" tacked onto the front.

Would they really want to place a large computer that could cause a scandal in such a dangerous location? Not matter what it was, if there was a secret facility constantly using lots of power and water which didn't show up on the official school plans, they would receive a flood of criticism for wasting taxpayer money.

If even one of the hundreds of students attending the school noticed, there would be no stopping the spread of information.

"There might be more to this." I wasn't celebrating it, but those words naturally escaped my lips. "It isn't just for camouflage. They might have some other reason for choosing this school for Laplace."

Now, then.

If part of the administration was helping and thus creating a connection between the school and Laplace, they would have a terminal for monitoring and controlling it. They would need to adjust the values and increase efficiency if the cooling was not working well.

They could always control it remotely via fiber optic cable, but resolving problems often required you to work with both the software and hardware. They would want an engineer near the supercomputer in case it overheated or was. .h.i.t by a power surge.

Which meant…

"Um, Senpai? Wouldn't anywhere connected to the school network be most suspicious?"

Itou Helen didn't seem to quite understand as she peered at the smartphone screen from below her witch hat, but she still made that hesitant suggestion.

"Maxwell."

"Sure. All of the school's students have their grades and physical measurement data stored and shared in a database on the school intranet. That means the faculty room and infirmary are the core. In addition to projectors controlled by tablets, there are electronic book devices available for the students to test out in the cla.s.srooms, so a wireless LAN environment is maintained. There are also POS terminals at the cafeteria and school shop registers, security sensors and cameras, and other sensors in the bathrooms and locker rooms, so almost the entire facility has a functional internet environment. It would be easier to list the places where the internet cannot be used."

"Eh? …The bathrooms too?"

The caped blonde girl covered her mouth with a hand in surprise.

And I sighed.

"These days, they have sensors that automatically detect and notify the plumbing company if there's a clog in the pipes. And if someone stays in a stall for too long, a sensor will trigger an alarm in the security room. It's officially to check on anyone who might have collapsed in the stall, but I hear it's actually to prevent anyone from setting up hidden cameras."

"Uehhh…"

The black dress witch didn't seem to know how to respond.

Well, I understood it wasn't a pleasant topic. The sensors were like the infrared ones for automatic doors, so it wasn't like they could record a clear image like with a camera. But it was only human to not exactly celebrate it. You didn't want machines watching over you quite to that extent.

Then the dark elf stood up and she spoke with exasperation in her voice.

"If you're done showing off what trivia you know, does that mean we have no hint? It will take time to investigate each and every cla.s.sroom in such a large school."

"I'll have this settled before my sister's group or the management shows up. Maxwell."

"Sure."

"In that case, tell me where the wireless signal doesn't reach. Or to put it another way, the areas that are s.h.i.+elded well enough to keep any outside signals from getting in."

"Sending a test signal and detecting reaction…"

Maxwell fell silent for a moment.

"Complete. A location was found in the library on the old building's 3rd floor."

"And there you have it. Let's go check it out."

"Eh? Eh?"

Itou Helen sounded confused as she held her gla.s.s wand in both hands. Muramatsu Yukie brushed her long silver hair back with a hand and interrupted with a bit of irritation in her voice.

"Is it really there? I feel like a major secret would more likely be in the princ.i.p.al's office, the board chairman's office, or somewhere else close to the bigshots."

"Those important people are exactly the ones that don't want any possible scandals anywhere near them."

"But they're the leaders of this school, aren't they? If anything is found on the school grounds, won't responsibility fall to them?"

I also found Maxwell's answer surprising, but I wasn't about to doubt him. And when I thought about it again, it made sense.

"Even if that happens and even if it's terribly unnatural, they'll find a way to cut it away like a lizard's tail. According to the Cla.s.s Rep, the library was sponsored by the vice princ.i.p.al and a lot of the books were donated by him."

That meant the others had set things up so the vice princ.i.p.al would take all the blame if anything came to light. I kind of felt bad for him. I just couldn't hate someone who loved reading books called Our Princess Went Delinquent and Became a Dark Elf or As a Master Strategist, I'm Unmatched in this Fantasy World.

"And on the topic of digitization, managing the checked-out books would normally be the very first thing. If there's no sign of that, then it really is suspicious."

With that, we visited the library first.

In her witch hat and black dress, Itou Helen tilted her head like a little bird.

"Um, what do we do about the lock?"

"Maxwell."

"Sure. For better or for worse, the school's security has currently been shut off by the Bright Cross."

"Meaning?"

"Nothing you do will be reported. And any traces you leave can be blamed on the Bright Cross."

A loud sound soon followed.

It was the sound of me kicking down the library's locked sliding door.

"You two really make a good team," sighed Muramatsu Yukie the Dark Elf as she aimed her longbow into the darkness while I walked right on in.

I could see the many bookcases in the darkness, but I ignored them and focused on the flat-screen computer on the reception counter.

"Maxwell, is that it?"

"No. The s.h.i.+elded region is through the door behind the counter. That is likely the archive used to manage donated books."

We didn't have the key, so I kicked down that door as well.

An archive.

It was about the size of a large cla.s.sroom. All 4 walls were covered with bookcases, but the type of books contained there were mixed together and they were clearly only being stored there temporarily. There was a work desk in the center that contained glue, needles, and thread. There was also a small bottle of ethanol, absorbent cotton, cotton swabs, and more. There was even a paint set.

I see.

The donated books would be gathered here to have their damage and stains repaired before they were placed in the library proper.

From the looks of things, I could tell it was definitely sponsored by a dedicated individual. That probably helped it play its role as camouflage and a lizard's tail, but the vice princ.i.p.al's love of books was not a lie. He wouldn't go to this extent otherwise.

But that wasn't the main point now.

"Maxwell, I don't see anything like a computer. Where do you think it's hidden?"

"Sure. Simulating individual movement patterns based on the room's layout…complete. The paint set on the work desk. It likely has a false bottom."

I followed his instructions and discovered a thin tablet computer.

I switched it on and had Maxwell get past the pa.s.sword lock. I checked inside and found it was completely empty. It didn't even have the bare minimum of preset apps. Instead, it had a few unfamiliar icons.

"There are a few doc.u.ments related to supercomputers: photos, texts, and designs. Is this spreadsheet related to the financial costs?"

"Isn't this a good discovery?" asked the dark elf. "What is that bitter look for?"

It was too obvious. I had to wonder if the vice princ.i.p.al was even aware of the room's s.h.i.+elding or the false bottom in the paint set. Although the a.n.a.lysis of the room was likely correct that he cared for the paint set.

Most likely, these secret doc.u.ments had been intentionally placed here to blame the vice princ.i.p.al if anything happened. It was as fishy as the "secretary's memo" ordering the transfer of money when a politician's corruption came to light. I was really starting to feel bad for the vice princ.i.p.al now.

But if they were trying to blame him, the contents had to be real. They might be restricted so blame couldn't make its way back to the true culprit, but this should be enough to get a general idea.

Why was the largescale computer even in our school?

The answer was given there.

This matter is somewhat unrelated to the Bright Cross Disaster Prevention Foundation's true desire to conquer all disasters, but we have determined it will help prevent manmade disasters and we will commit personnel, funding, technology, and information management to this task.

We have a strong connection to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, so keep in mind that we are making a show of good faith in leaving Laplace with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.

This machine will prevent human errors. You could also say it will divide up personnel.

National standardized testing, IQ tests, student reports, athletic tests, and other qualifications… We have so many methods of measuring a student, but there is no single determining factor.

Laplace will gather this varied information on a national basis and divide them up on a logical basis to accurately predict which students have potential for future growth. From the government offices to the many corporations, they will be placed in the appropriate genre and ranked.

This will prevent talent from never seeing the light of day and rotting there. It will also prevent incompetence from pa.s.sing itself off as talent and taking up a position in a major corporation.

Appropriately dividing up personnel will directly lead to the stabilization of the nation's economy. That will in turn prevent unpredictable crimes.

It is useless to pretend that unneeded personnel are necessary and betting on their success. And it is equally useless to oppress necessary personnel as unneeded.

Laplace will perfectly predict human potential.

And this prediction will reach every last educational inst.i.tution in the nation. The digitization of grades, student reports, physical measurements, and other data is already complete, so the hiring corporation must only enter the type of person they need into a search engine.

This will spell the end of the worthless employment testing and interviewing process and the inefficient recruitment process where both sides attempted to deceive the other. And the concept of unclear intermediaries and connections will die out.

The age is coming in which you can find a list of the exact personnel you want at the click of a b.u.t.ton.

Most manmade disasters - that is, serious criminal actions - are the result of erroneous evaluation of personnel.

When useful personnel is not recognized by the world or incompetent personnel mistakenly sees themselves as geniuses, that discrepancy between their self-evaluation and other people's evaluation produces various negative emotions which lead to actual harmful actions.

Laplace will correct all of that.

The useful will be placed in the useful box and the incompetent will be placed in the incompetent box. Everything will be examined and people will be placed on the appropriate course for their life.

If you live a life based on the proper evaluation, those errors and discrepancies will not occur and everyone will live the lives they were meant for. That is the best way of avoiding manmade disasters.

We will conquer all disasters.

Disasters caused by human hands are no exception.

"What…is this?"

My throat grew dry.

I mean…what was this?

Did it mean your entire life would be decided for you before you were even tested in the center exams or employment interviews!?

Or more bluntly, it was a national level blacklist.

Anyone listed there could never advance in school or find employment. It would look like they were given an equal shot at it, but in reality, the answer had been decided before they even faced the test. Even if they scored a perfect 500 in all 5 subjects, they were doomed to fail. And if someone was predicted to pa.s.s, they could hand in a blank sheet of paper and casually walk on through.

If this was working as described, it was still a major problem.

…But there was no guarantee that the Bright Cross would use it properly. What if they decided they didn't like me because I was opposing them, so they decided to mess with Amatsu Satori's parameters a little and reregistered me into the failing group? I would be doomed to an unemployed life where I was rejected even from interviews for part-time jobs at convenience stores or gas stations.

Not to mention the Archenemies that the Bright Cross so hated. No matter how many late nights of hard work Erika or Ayumi put in, the Bright Cross would simply laugh. They could ignore it all, give them the "failure" stamp, and rob them of their dreams. The Bright Cross didn't like it, they didn't care, and they thought monsters should crawl around like monsters. They could easily validate all of those malicious words!

I felt like I finally understood how the ridiculous Bright Cross was so solidly rooted in the underside of society.

All of the successful people like elite bureaucrats and young corporate executives had been helped out by Laplace. The coconspirators of these national-level backdoor admissions were covering it up at the highest levels of the government. They had gained so much power by acc.u.mulating money and playing nice and they were letting the schools and corporations they liked make reservations for renting out that power in the future.

I could see why the Bright Cross needed this.

There were far too many people who would be in trouble if the Bright Cross's evil deeds came to light. In all seriousness, this scandal contained the destructive power to break the very framework of j.a.pan as a nation and throw is into a great depression.

Even if the Bright Cross didn't do anything directly, the people around us could easily silence us for them.

"So this is why they left the supercomputer at a school. They're using this to rank every student in j.a.pan and then 's.h.i.+pping them out' at the click of a b.u.t.ton."

They were preventing manmade disasters.

On its face, the phrase looked nice enough. But this was definitely not a way to create a peaceful world free of strife. It only robbed the oppressed of any chance to resist. In fact, it gave all fortune to those who supported the Bright Cross, left any who resisted with no lives to live, and filled the top of the financial world with the people they wanted.

How long had Laplace been in place?

I doubted it had been there since the gray-haired old men had been students. But in that case, they would all be replaced eventually. There would be a turning point when the cowards helped by Laplace usurped all the top seats. That felt like the year when sensibility would die.

It was so ridiculous that I felt dizzy.

But it was definitely on the crazy scale of the Bright Cross which had remade the entire s.p.a.ce below the city into a giant kidnapping facility and worked to efficiently reduce the number of Archenemies by having them kill each other.

…That diabolical system could not be allowed to exist.

This wasn't just a simulator more powerful than Maxwell. It had far greater meaning and was a far greater evil.

The tablet contained a few diagrams.

They included Laplace's location and the maintenance entrance.

Once I saw that, I spoke to the witch and dark elf.

"I'm sick of this. Let's end it as soon as possible."

The entrance to Laplace, the personnel dividing simulator that the Bright Cross had placed in Kukyou City, was behind the outdoor pool.

At first glance, it looked like a drink vending machine next to the pool's largest wall.

But when I held up my smartphone and had Maxwell decode it, the entire vending machine opened up like a giant refrigerator door.

And there was no refrigeration equipment or drink cans inside.

Only a hole leading into a dark, dark subterranean s.p.a.ce.

"That's a stairway, isn't it?"

Muramatsu Yukie sounded confused as her long ears twitched.

In her cape and black dress, Itou Helen held the back of my s.h.i.+rt with her small hand.

Even I knew this was not going to lead anywhere good. But that was what it meant to approach the truth of the Bright Cross. We were doing the right thing in divulging these secrets, but it seemed to wear away my soul. That was the kind of evil they held.

But there was an end to that evil.

We would end it.

If we didn't lose sight of that, we could fight. If we didn't turn away because it was hard to look at, we could face it head-on. We had to do that. They claimed this was "for the world" or "for the human race" or something like that, but it was definitely wrong to place a preset cap on Erika and Ayumi's lives and happiness when they were working so hard.

Possibility should be equal for everyone.

Even if people temporarily came into conflict, that wasn't a disaster. It was the compet.i.tion and rivalry needed to reach even greater heights.

The optimum answer given by the Bright Cross would only make them happy. And there were no new possibilities there. A pleasant world void of compet.i.tion and rivalry was a world that would gradually decline and shrivel up. The preexisting values would simply be reprinted and anyone who diverged from that standard even slightly would be rejected. It was a dull, happy world where everyone would slowly be worn away and decline. If we didn't destroy that, humankind was done for.

We walked down the stairs into that dark, dark s.p.a.ce. We walked into the abyss. And with each step, the thick darkness and great pressure of the Bright Cross seemed to wrap around us all the more.

How far down was it?

We barely spoke and it grew hard to tell how much time had pa.s.sed.

But we finally reached the end.

We were in the depths of the earth.

We had arrived at the infernal palace where the demon named Laplace slept.

At the bottom of the long, long stairway, we were faced with a giant door. It was a double door and there was a clean room after it to keep any unnecessary dust, dirt, or germs from getting in.

That meant nothing to us since we were here to destroy it.

We ignored the cleaning procedure and opened the next door too.

"Kh…!?"

The oddly inorganic white light of LED lightbulbs stabbed at our retinas since our eyes were adjusted to the darkness. I forced down the sharp pain that ran between my temples from right to left and I half-violently kept my closing eyelids open.

It was an unbelievably large s.p.a.ce.

It was about 3 stories tall. More than a large pool or school gym, it seemed to cover the entire schoolyard.

And countless gravestones towered up across that entire s.p.a.ce.

They were colored black.

They were 2 meters long, 5 meters wide, and tall enough to just barely fit below the ceiling. I could not quite call them stone pillars, obelisks, or monoliths, but those solid objects towered up at even intervals. There had to be more than 200 of them in all.

This was Laplace.

This was the grave of humankind's possibilities.

It was the ultimate simulator that easily surpa.s.sed my Maxwell. Just one of the gravestones probably had greater specs than container-sized Maxwell. And they had hundreds of them hooked together in parallel for vast processing power and flexible logical thoughts.

It made sense that it could overpower Maxwell.

I had expected a national project level of supercomputer, but I was still overwhelmed by the scale of the enemy. I was stuck at the individual level where I filled a metal container with new handheld game systems sold cheaply due to defective parts and hooked them up in parallel, so this level of equipment funding was on another level entirely.

It was like the difference between a housewife's new idea for a dish and a 3-star French restaurant. My entire body felt the great sense of defeat from the difference in power and difference between professional and amateur.

But.

Even so.

I ultimately didn't break because I did have one thing I was confident in.

…Laplace. I haven't used my computer for anything as evil as you. No matter how great your specs, that will never change.

"Hm, hm, hm, hm, hmm☆"

At that very moment, I heard a female voice with a mixture of adorable and seductive that sounded like someone rolling a piece of hard candy around in their mouth, like the ringing a small bell, and yet like it was mocking me.

From where?

Yes, she always looked down on us from above. Just like she preferred to stand on the top of those clear, die-shaped bug cages.

A blue form was sitting at the top of one of the many giant gravestones.

"…The bunny girl."

"C'mon, we know each other better than that. Call me Karen-chan."

Had she expected Sniper Itou Tamago to lose? Had Laplace predicted all of our desperate efforts and informed her in advance?

When we were the ones being manipulated, I suppose it didn't matter how many calculations we performed.

"Listen up."

I opened my mouth as if accepting the challenge. I didn't care if I was merely relying on others. If I could gain any kind of advantage over that blue "monster" that s.h.i.+ned like a tropical b.u.t.terfly, I would use every weapon I had.

"Your insane Colosseum system doesn't apply here. You might have your precious Laplace, but does the winning route determined by its perfect predictions work on the level of physical bodies? I have two Archenemies and Simulator Maxwell with me. Even if none of us is perfect, you might not be able to handle all of us if we go after you together."

When I said that, the witch and dark elf by my sides adjusted their grips on their gla.s.s wand and longbow.

No matter how overwhelming and merciless the Bright Cross was, they used their superior numbers. No matter how much influence they had on human society, the individuals didn't have superhuman powers.

And yet.

Sitting on the edge of the giant gravestone rising close to the ceiling, the blue bunny girl giggled as she slowly held her arms around a knee wrapped in black tights.

She was still confident enough to laugh.

"I could say the same to you."

"…What?"

"Mr. Second. You seem to be under the mistaken impression that only you have that power."

As soon as she said that, it arrived.

A great tremor shook this s.p.a.ce which was larger than the entire schoolyard.

My thoughts ground to a halt.

Itou Helen and Muramatsu Yukie had stood by my sides, but the witch and dark elf were targeted first. By what, you ask? I didn't know. I hadn't seen it at all. I only saw the result: I felt the frightening shaking of whatever-it-was. .h.i.tting and I saw dust rising like cotton candy in the computer storage room that should have kept all dust out.

"Cough! Itou-san? Muramatsu-san!? Cough, cough cough!!"

I couldn't even see a meter in front of me.

But I still noticed some of what had changed. As pathetic as it might be, I was only a high school boy, so those 2 Archenemies were my absolute trump cards.

But they had entirely vanished.

I felt an overwhelming sense of silence, like I had been left alone in a hospital late at night. It was the hopeless feeling of having nothing left to rely on.

And.

And.

And.

"Just a mom