The elevator stopped on the 25th floor.
Hamazura exited through the automatic door that opened to the left and right and what he saw was the scene he had expected to see.
"Oh, you came back?"
The one who lightly said that was Kakine Teitoku, the Level 5 from School.
Near him, Kinuhata Saiai lay on the ground looking exactly the way she had when he had left.
But now Takitsubo Rikou lay face down by the unscathed man's feet so he couldn't see her face. He couldn't even tell if she was alive or dead.
Kakine continued to speak as he cracked his neck.
"Well, she did pretty well considering that she had no direct battle power. She must have used her search power to interfere with my AIM diffusion field and then 'reversed the flow' in an attempt to take control of my power. Really, if she grew some more she could even become the 8th."
Every one of his comments of praise made it sound like he was mocking her.
Hamazura did not say anything in return. Instead, he took the handgun hidden in his sleeve and thrust it forward.
"Oh, you aren't done?" came a sudden voice.
A girl in a showy dress came walking from around a corner behind Kakine.
(It's that crane woman!!)
For a second, Hamazura couldn't decide who to aim the gun at. But…
"You should stop that."
With those words, Hamazura Shiage couldn't move his body.
"It was necessary to kill you before, but now that we have the Tweezers, there's no need to kill someone from their subordinate organization."
(…!?)
It wasn't that his body had become paralyzed for some reason. There was no problem with his body physically. It was just that a "sense" that he couldn't shoot even if he wanted to grew up unnaturally within him.
It was the same way he wouldn't be able to crush a napping cat under his foot.
It was the same way he wouldn't be able to kill a sick kid and steal everything the kid had.
It was the same way he wouldn't be able to turn his gun on Takitsubo Rikou.
"From the look on your face, you must be fairly kind on the inside. I should have just used my power from the get-go."
A broad smile appeared on the girl in the dress's face.
"My Measure Heart can freely regulate the distance between people's hearts. What do you think will happen if I set it to the distance of the various people you know?"
"Kh…!!"
(What is this? An application of Telepathy!?)
"How about you stop. Currently I'm at a distance of 20. In other words, I'm keeping it at the same heart distance as 'Hamazura Shiage – Takitsubo Rikou'. You can't shoot me the same way you wouldn't be able to shoot Takitsubo. If you were willing to come back for her, you would never hurt her, right?"
His hand holding the gun was shaking.
He couldn't shoot. He knew Takitsubo and the girl in the dress were two different people, but he just couldn't do it.
That was when Kakine spoiled her fun by breaking in.
"How boring. You make it seem like we're the bad guys here."
"A guy and a girl protecting each other like this is such a moving story. It's such a rare sight that it makes me not want to destroy it."
"Yes, it is unfortunate that the girl is going to die on her own regardless of what we do."
Hamazura gave a start upon hearing those words.
"What…? What the hell did you just say!?"
Kakine kicked the clear case that had fallen next to Takitsubo over to Hamazura.
"It's this Body Crystal. Did you know she was using it?"
"She was…using it to activate her power…"
"Strictly speaking, it intentionally causes a rejection that causes an esper's power to go out of control. If you want to get into the details, it was used to induce an explosion of an esper's power in experiments to analyze how out-of-control powers work. Most of the time, it's just a bad thing, but in rare cases the out-of-control state is actually quite useful. She must have been one of those kinds of espers."
Kakine was explaining it all in a voice that showed how tedious he found it.
"In the state she's in, she won't last long. If she never used her power again, she'd be fine, but she'll be destroyed if she uses it one or two more times."
Destroyed. Hamazura's face stiffened at that disturbing word. Kakine ignored him and continued.
"We don't even need to finish her off. If she doesn't have her search power, I don't care if she dies or not."
"Just so you know, she collapsed on her own," said the girl in the dress. "It's because she forced herself to keep using Body Crystal in order to fight us in this building. If we had seriously attacked her, there wouldn't have been even a scrap of flesh left."
Hamazura stared at them without moving much, but he still managed to ignore the two members of School and press the elevator button.
"Now then, what to do?" asked Kakine simply as Hamazura waited for the elevator. "Should I kill her or let her go?"
"We can just leave her alone, right? A member of Item on the verge of destruction can't stop us."
Hamazura ground his teeth when the girl in the dress said "on the verge of destruction", but he still couldn't pull the trigger. He was completely trapped by her Measure Heart power.
"But it would be easier to kill her."
"That search esper used your AIM to mess up your Personal Reality, right? Shouldn't you check on that? Your power going out of control would be much more dangerous than a half-defeated member of Item. And I'd rather not die from an ally who went out of control."
Kakine Teitoku cracked his neck in dislike of being ordered around.
Kakine did not have a gun because of how much confidence he had in his power. But if his powers did go out of control, he would be the first person to get caught up in it.
"Fine, let's leave. Checking is easy enough, but we don't have the equipment here."
With perfect timing, the elevator arrived.
"Damn it!!" yelled Hamazura as he used his thumb to bring down the handgun's hammer.
But the girl in the dress's expression did not change.
"I'm currently at distance 20. It's the same heart distance as 'Hamazura Shiage – Takitsubo Rikou'. But I can lessen that distance."
"!!"
"You don't want your true feelings to be painted over with lies, do you? You should share the joy of living on with that dying girl."
The two got on the stopped elevator and the automatic door closed.
Hamazura looked down at the case of Body Crystal at his feet and at Takitsubo Rikou who still wasn't moving. He then slowly sat down.
(After using her power one or two more times, Takitsubo will be destroyed…)
An idiot delinquent like Hamazura did not know specifically what that "destruction" entailed. But he could guess it was nothing good.
(What do I do?)
Hamazura stared at Takitsubo's face. Her body did not even twitch. She showed no sign of waking. She must have been going through a lot because she was covered in an unpleasant sweat.
Takitsubo Rikou had fought Kakine to the point that this happened to her.
Most likely she did it in order to save Hamazura Shiage.
And she had used something called Body Crystal to do it.
(…)
Hamazura gritted his teeth silently.
He wasn't prepared for this and he had nothing so refined as determination. Even so, he had obtained something that gave him the motivating force to move his arms and legs.
"Damn it…"
He couldn't return Takitsubo Rikou to Item. That organization was made so it could easily replace a member if one disappeared. Even in her precarious state, Takitsubo would most likely be made to use her power.
Hamazura put the ladies' hand gun back in his sleeve with a shaking hand. He took the magazine out and checked how many shots he had. Maybe it was because the clip had been made to be short, but he didn't have many. No, even if he had thousands upon thousands of bullets, it probably wouldn't be enough to get through this. The dark side of Academy City would pursue Takitsubo and even Item would become an enemy. Could he fight them?
"God fucking damn it!!"
Even so, he had to do it.
If Takitsubo continued to use her power, it would truly be over.
That was when Kinuhata who was collapsed next to Takitsubo looked over at him without moving a finger. It seemed she had figured out what was going on from Hamazura's impatient demeanor.
"…Well, that's the right answer. Take Takitsubo-san and disappear."
"Thanks."
"I didn't say it for thanks. I was speaking ill of you. We don't need super useless people like you and Takitsubo-san in Item so I'm telling you to get out of our way."
As she spoke, there was a slight smile on Kinuhata's lips.
She wasn't unscathed. There was blood spilling from her mouth. And yet she smiled while watching Hamazura act on Takitsubo's behalf.
"Is there any last thing I can do for you?"
"…Hmm. Use Code 52 to contact the subordinate organization and call in the information suppression team and an ambulance. As you can see, I super can't move."
"Will do," said Hamazura.
It was painful leaving Kinuhata like that, but he had to take Takitsubo and flee.
(Anyway, as long as she doesn't use her power, it'll be fine. She'll have to retire from Item, but that's better than being destroyed.)
As Hamazura thought, his cell phone suddenly began ringing.
It was from Mugino Shizuri.
"Haaamazuraaa. Is Takitsubo Rikou there?"
"…Are you okay!? You fought Kakine, right? What happ-…!?"
"Oh, shut up. It's time for our counterattack on School. We need to use Takitsubo's power to track them. If she's there, bring her here. She'll give us an answer even if it kills her."