At the shock of an explosion, the entire building shook making it feel unreliable.
Kinuhata Saiai walked through the lobby of the indoor leisure facility as guests ran about in panic.
Some men from School's subordinate organization lay collapsed on the floor. Kinuhata had knocked them out. She walked over next to them and kicked away their handguns and rifles.
Suddenly, her face blurred to the side.
By the time she realized she had taken a bullet, a few more blasts hit her and her small frame was knocked to the ground. She let her body go along with the force of the blast and slid behind a nearby pillar.
(…A sniper. Where?)
She had been hit in her head, her chest, and the bottom of her gut. All of them were vital areas. If it hadn't been for the shield her power gave her, she would definitely have died. As she lay on the floor, she held one of the crushed bullets in her palm.
(A steel bullet…Is it that magnetic sniper rifle? Given how crushed the bullet is and assuming its initial velocity was subsonic, the sniper must be at distance of 500 to 700.)
As she thought, Kinuhata reached a hand towards her pocket. What she held between her 5 fingers were metal rods about 30 cm long with masses of metal about the size of drink cans on the ends. They looked a little like maracas and little like hand grenades with old fashioned grips, but neither was the correct answer.
They were handheld anti-tank missile warheads.
The guests running around looked shocked and said something, but Kinuhata ignored them.
She pointed the various warheads held between her fingers away from her and grabbed the short strings on the back ends with her other hand. It was a similar gesture to using a party cracker and it was also similar to holding an arrow in a bow. She paused for a second and then jumped out from behind the pillar while looking at the scene beyond the broken window. When she did, she took a bullet right between the eyes, but she ignored it and readied her aim.
She pulled the strings without hesitating.
With the sound of air being released, the power of the compressed air took effect and the warheads flew from the handles. After advancing 10 meters, they ignited and quickly traveled the 500 meters while scattering flames about.
The multiple missiles hit the side of a building which exploded like crushed mille-feuille. The building must have been built to resist earthquakes, because it narrowly avoided completely collapsing.
"Ooh, nice. I guess that bastard Sunazara was blown to pieces along with the magnetic sniper rifle, huh? Well, he was brought in as a replacement on short notice, so I suppose I shouldn't have expected too much of him."
She heard a cheerful voice.
Kinuhata spun around just in time to see Dark Matter Kakine Teitoku walk out of the hallway.
"Ah, so you're a remnant of the Dark May Project. What a pain. That was where they saw how Accelerator's calculation pattern worked and tried to optimize specific espers' Personal Realities, right?"
"…"
"And as a result, you got an automatic defense power. Although, it seems you were originally an atmosphere control type. It's just like with Accelerator's reflection, but your limit is automatically opening a defensive field around you with your power. Have you ever thought about how pathetic that is?"
"Not really," quickly responded Kinuhata. "I'm super happy compared to test subjects from Produce. They had their brains chopped up like a Christmas cake in order to figure out where in their brains their Personal Realities lay."
"I see," said Kakine with no real interest.
Kinuhata cautiously watched the man in front of her and opened her mouth.
"What happened to Mugino?"
"Oh, nothing really," was his short reply.
And with that Kinuhata knew. A Level 4 like her couldn't stand up to someone who had dealt with the 4th most powerful Level 5 in Academy City so easily. When they had fought in the particle engineering laboratory, she had gotten a rough idea, but now she had proof.
"So where is AIM Stalker? That's all I want to know. If you tell me where she is, I can just let you go."
"Do you really think anyone would be stupid enough to go along with that?"
"Yes. There's Frenda from Item for example."
"…"
"I'm just letting you know that you have that option. And just so you know, you can't defeat my Dark Matter with Level 4 Offense Armor. I'm not someone you can defeat with some ingenious plan or something."
Kinuhata did not say anything.
Kakine spoke again to the girl who was silently staring at him.
"Where is AIM Stalker?"
"It seems I don't have the right to refuse you…" said Kinuhata with a small smile on her face.
As she spoke, she grabbed a nearby bench and threw it.
But…
An unidentifiable explosion appeared with Kakine at its center.
The bench was blown to pieces and even Kinuhata was blown away.
Her small body flew through the air 10 meters before landing. She broke through the thin wall and into some room.
Watching that, Kakine smiled thinly.
"So you weighed your pride against your death. That's sentimental but not realistic."
Kakine ordered a man from the subordinate organization to retrieve her.
"Retrieve her? …You mean she's still alive?"
"That's the kind of esper she is."