The underground passageway was narrow and straight.
And with the facility's various anti-esper measures including the AIM jammer, Musujime's power couldn't be counted on. If she used it carelessly, there was a danger of it going out of control and killing all of them instantly.
That was why Tsuchimikado didn't rely on Musujime and didn't try to approach Teshio as he didn't know how she would attack. He merely held up his handgun and shot an even scattering of bullets to prevent her from escaping.
In response, Teshio kicked up something at her feet.
It was the cloth bag full of the explosive Saku had been using. If he hit that, countless ricocheting bullets would bounce around the narrow passageway like a game of pinball. When Tsuchimikado stopped moving his trigger finger, Teshio ran down the passageway. Her fists were tightly clenched.
"!!"
Tsuchimikado just barely managed to pull the trigger before she got within punching range.
However, Teshio entered a boxing stance and bent over far enough to kiss Tsuchimikado on the knee causing the bullet to pass her by.
Before Tsuchimikado could adjust his aim, she straightened out and tackled him square in the gut. Receiving a blow that felt like it would have been able to destroy a door or even a thin wall, Tsuchimikado's body flew a few meters back.
A tremendous sound rang out and he had trouble breathing.
"Those movements…Is that Anti-Skill's arresting technique…?"
"This is my own arrangement. If Anti-Skill used this, the children would die."
Tsuchimikado fired his gun as they spoke, but Teshio easily dodged his shots just by moving her upper body. She kicked towards him aiming for the moment his clip emptied and the gun was torn from his grip.
Another tackle followed.
With a dull crushing noise, Tsuchimikado became pinned between Teshio's shoulders and the wall. She quietly moved away from him and his limp body slid to the ground.
"!!"
That was when Musujime Awaki swung down her flashlight behind Teshio.
Teshio lifted her hand above her head to receive the blow from the blunt weapon.
"A professional does not need strange powers or one-liners."
Teshio responded by connecting a backhand blow to Musujime's face with her other hand. With a dull impact, Musujime's body flew to the side and struck one of the doors lining the wall.
"A professional needs only to use her accumulated knowledge of basic strategy to rationally defeat the enemy."
Then Teshio threw a kick.
With a great noise, the sturdily built door and Musujime's body were knocked into the cell. Musujime thought her insides had been knocked out of whack by the great shock. She felt an odd urge to vomit, but nothing came out as if her throat was clogged up.
One of her companions must have been in the cell, because she heard someone nearby call her name. From that alone, a bit of energy returned to her limp body.
Teshio stood blocking the broken entrance to the cell.
Musujime held up her flashlight and unsteadily stood up using a hand on the wall to balance. Her companion was urging her to get behind him.
"…You want me to tell you the route through which materials are brought into the windowless building that can't be destroyed even by nuclear weapons so that you can try to destroy it from the inside with a synchronous multilayer bomb, right?"
"Are you willing to speak now?"
"You can't defeat Aleister like that. If that was enough, anyone with a teleportation-type power could take him out. Do you really think Aleister of all people doesn't have some kind of counter-measure for that?"
"It's true that we may not be able to kill Aleister. He truly is a monster. But," Teshio said, "the life-support system he relies on is different."
"…"
"It's just a machine. The reason a monster like Aleister is holed up in a stronghold even tougher than a nuclear shelter is clear. I'm saying that he has no replacement for that system. It would be a problem for him if it was blown up."
"No."
Musujime worked to regulate her breathing even if just a little bit.
"First of all, that isn't a 'windowless building'. If you don't even know that much, you don't have any real information. A plan you came up with while only knowing that much has no chance of succeeding."
"What?"
"You didn't realize it? A building with no doors or windows would normally be impossible. There are plenty of hints that lead to the truth. For instance, everything needed to live including oxygen is produced inside. And it can stand up to a nuclear attack because it can block radiation. It can also block all the different kinds of cosmic rays emitted by stars."
"Cosmic rays? …You don't mean…?"
"No," Musujime cut her off. "It isn't that."
Becoming aware of her own powerlessness, she laughed slightly.
It seemed that response had caught Teshio off guard.
"With those hints, you can guess to a certain extent. I have a few ideas myself. But none of them are the answer behind which Aleister lies. The ideas I have are merely composed of the information that has been presented to me. And I highly doubt Aleister has presented all of the information to me."
"…"
"The one thing I can tell you is that the plan he is carrying out is well beyond our wildest imaginations. Most likely, this planet itself is nothing more than a disposable tool for him. Do you really think this grand plan can be overcome by the clichéd methods you're using?"
Musujime was trying to stall for time.
She was trying to recover from the damage she had taken.
"That may be, but it doesn't change what I intend to do."
"…Why are you going so far to take out Aleister?"
"I have experienced a tragedy in this city. I do not know whether Aleister was involved or not. I want to ask him for the truth. That is all."
Teshio's words were blunt. She didn't have a boiling desire for revenge, but that was why there was truth remaining in her words. There was no superfluous spin to the story based on passionate emotions.
"That's a clichéd reason."
"Perhaps."
"I was once obsessed with 'truth'. But I didn't obtain inner peace by chasing after it." Musujime's voice was calm. "If Aleister admits that he was involved in the tragedy, will you accept it? If he denies involvement in it, will you accept that? Whichever answer you get, you will think it's a lie. You will suspect that there is still something he's hiding from you. If the answer to a question brings no meaning, it's useless to ask it."
"…True."
Teshio did not say anything more than that.
She had already made up her mind, so she would not waver.
"So what will you do?"
Musujime did not respond to the question.
They were in an area treated as top secret within the juvenile hall for criminal espers. It was secured with esper counter-measures including the AIM jammer. Because of this, she could not use her Move Point to attack.
Deprived of it, Musujime Awaki was nothing more than a normal girl. She didn't have the sharpshooting skills of Accelerator and she didn't excel at hand-to-hand combat like Tsuchimikado.
Thinking about that, a small smile appeared on her lips.
She spoke as she smiled.
"…It's because I think like that that I will never be able to protect anyone."
As she moved her lips, Musujime brought her hand behind her. She grabbed the bundle of cords there and forcibly pulled on them. They belonged to the low frequency vibration treatment device. The electrode device measured the irregularities in her brain waves and emitted a matching stimulus to lower her stress. She pulled the whole thing off. Next, she tossed her flashlight aside.
Musujime now had nothing, but her smile did not collapse.
Seeing that, Teshio of Block spoke with a curious look in her eyes.
"You're going to use it?"
"Yes," decisively responded Musujime immediately. "Sorry, but I'm going to go all out."
A metal stake suddenly appeared in her hand that had previously held nothing. It was one of the parts used in the sturdy lock of the cell door. But Move Point's precision was a bit off. Musujime could feel some of the skin on her palm being scraped off.
The trauma that had eaten at her heart showed its face all at once.
She forced it down and used Move Point again.
This time, she herself disappeared.
Using theoretical 11th dimensional vectors, she overcame the three dimensional boundaries and appeared right in front of the muscular woman. As she teleported, she felt a violent pressure in her stomach, but she ignored it and tried to stab the metal stake into Teshio's gut.
In response, Teshio stepped back.
Musujime instinctively knew that she could not win if she let this chance slip away.
But when she tried to step forward, she realized she couldn't move her right leg. It felt like a bunch of powerful instant glue had stuck it to the ground, but Musujime remembered that feeling well.
The repulsive feeling was caused by her leg being stuck into the ground from about halfway down the calf and below. She had transported to the wrong spot.
Pain.
Fear.
Shock.
Those emotions she had once experienced exploded in the bottom of her stomach.
(I can overcome this…)
Musujime gripped the metal stake tightly, bit her lip, and suppressed it all. There was a companion she had to protect behind her. In order to protect that life, Musujime Awaki would crush the past that was creeping out!!
(I will overcome this!! I'll overcome everything related to this annoying scar!!)
She stuck with it and moved her leg as if she was pulling it out of mud.
As she did, she heard a tearing sound.
Musujime Awaki did not avert her gaze.
She moved forward.
Like a bullet, Musujime moved towards the Block assassin who was threatening her companion's life while gripping the metal stake and ignoring her torn up leg.
A noticeably thick noise rang out within the cell.
All strength left Teshio's body. She looked like she was leaning up against Musujime and barely moved her lips as she spoke in Musujime's ear.
"…You went easy on me."
The metal stake was in Musujime's hand. However, just before impact, she had spun the stake around so the flat back end hit Teshio instead of the sharp tip.
"Unfortunately," Musujime responded in an uninterested manner, "this is the kind of leadership I wanted."