At the very last moment before losing consciousness, the leader of the "Hunters" caught sight of the guards rushing in.
He immediately let out a long sigh of relief.
—I'm saved… finally!
Once the security forces arrived, even a criminal would receive medical treatment as a top priority. In that regard, the Guard Force's reputation was impeccable.
Reassured, the "Hunters" leader allowed himself to slip into unconsciousness—
Smack!
A sharp slap snapped him awake.
"The hell are you sleeping for?! You're nowhere near dying yet!"
When he opened his eyes, a female guard was glaring down at him, gripping his collar tightly.
"Was it this boy who took you down?"
Yomikawa Aiho thrust her phone in front of his face, displaying a photo.
"Talk. How is he now? Where did he go?"
"H-he…"
Overwhelmed by the sheer pressure coming off this woman, the "Hunters" leader forced a bitter smile.
"He already left. I don't know where… No—wait. They might be heading to Black Moon Technology. That was our employer this time. I already told them everything…"
At this point, he had no mental resistance left. He spilled everything without hesitation.
"Black Moon Technology?"
Yomikawa Aiho muttered thoughtfully.
"If he still has the energy to go after them, then he's probably not in critical condition. You said they—what do you mean by that?"
"There was another one… a female demon—no, a girl," the leader confessed honestly.
"She's the one who almost stabbed me to death. Please—just get me to a hospital already!"
Yomikawa Aiho casually tossed him back onto the ground, then pulled out her phone and began searching for information on Black Moon Technology.
She immediately noticed the laboratory that had relocated from the building where Kobayashi had fallen.
In a few quick strides, she jumped into a patrol car. Her partner, Tessou Tsuzuri, looked startled.
"Yomikawa-sensei, did you forget something—"
"Drive. To this location. Now," Yomikawa snapped, fastening her seatbelt as she spoke.
"Eh?"
Though confused, Tessou Tsuzuri started the engine.
"Why there? Did another incident happen?"
"If we don't get there fast enough, it will," Yomikawa Aiho replied grimly.
"Honestly… those kids never give me a break."
Then she reconsidered.
Kobayashi was usually reliable.
So really, the blame lay with the people who tried to hurt him in the first place.
Whether for public duty, personal feelings, or simply her own job security, Yomikawa Aiho didn't want Kobayashi to do something foolish in a moment of anger.
Everything up to now could still be classified as legitimate self-defense—and aside from the unlucky guy who'd gotten his head blown off by his own side, there were no other fatalities at the scene.
As long as no one died, the situation remained manageable.
But what came next—
If Kobayashi stormed the enemy's headquarters, that could no longer be considered "justified self-defense," no matter how you looked at it.
And with Torahachi Toumi—that mentally unstable girl—by his side…
Yomikawa didn't even want to imagine how badly things could spiral.
"We have to stop them," she urged desperately, almost wishing she could switch seats and drive herself.
________________________________________
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
Tōumi stood on the rear footrest of the wheelchair, riding it like a scooter as it tore down the road at full speed—keeping pace with the cars beside them.
"Yomikawa-sensei will probably track down the trail we left pretty soon," Kobayashi said.
"We need to move fast. If she catches us, I won't be able to take revenge myself."
Toumi nodded in agreement.
"Can your mental strength handle this…? Using your ability at such high intensity?"
"Don't worry," Kobayashi replied.
"Since I couldn't move because of my injuries, my telekinesis has been running twenty-four hours a day. I'm used to it now."
After a moment, he asked her, "Why are you helping me? What we're about to do is very likely illegal. You could be held responsible, too."
"I hurt you by mistake before, so I'm helping you now," Toumi said simply.
"And they're also the ones who hurt Sakurai-sensei. I want revenge, too."
Kobayashi nodded and said no more.
His enemy was a fairly large corporation. Handling everything alone might have been pushing it—but with Torahachi Toumi as an ally, it was a different story.
He trusted her strength completely.
With every second counting, the wheelchair raced toward the headquarters of Black Moon Technology Development Co., Ltd.
At the same time, however, Yomikawa Aiho misjudged the situation and headed toward the new location of the laboratory that had relocated last month.
________________________________________
Inside the headquarters of Black Moon Technology Development Co., Ltd., the personnel directly responsible for the "Dark May" Project had gathered once more in the conference room.
They were discussing Kobayashi Nana.
During this time, they had collected as much information as possible about his abilities and conducted the most detailed evaluations they could manage—
But even so, lacking concrete sample parameters, they were forced to rely on fragmented intelligence and hearsay. Even for a professional institution specializing in Esper development, the results were extremely limited.
"…In summary," reported a middle-aged man,
"Based on eye witness accounts from the hospital, we can confirm that 007 has achieved a very high level of proficiency in telekinesis. As long as he remains conscious, he can keep his ability active almost continuously."
"Considering that both his arms and legs were fractured, leaving him physically unable to move on his own," he continued,
"This actually accelerated his reliance on—and mastery of—his esper ability."
"But for someone who only awakened his ability less than two weeks ago, that level of proficiency is highly suspicious," someone else immediately objected.
"We re-investigated the records of Kobayashi Nana—Experimental Subject No. 007. Before he left the institute, he was definitely a Level 0. His AIM diffusion field was nearly nonexistent. We couldn't even determine a basic ability classification, making pre-training impossible."
That made Kobayashi's rapid mastery—and near-instinctive control of telekinesis—extremely abnormal.
"According to the experiment logs," another researcher added,
"Subject 007, rated the lowest in aptitude among all Level 0s, was actually the first to undergo the procedure. As a result, what we injected into his brain was an unprocessed, 'original' version of the personality data."
"Because it lacked clear direction or categorization, the experiment produced no observable results at the time. The subject only exhibited mild dissociative symptoms before quickly returning to normal. His personal reality showed no changes, and the trial was deemed a failure."
The middle-aged man nodded slowly.
"Now, however, it appears that the experiment may not have failed after all," he said.
"The reason 007 displayed such exceptional proficiency immediately upon awakening his esper ability is likely due to the influence of Accelerator's cognitive patterns."
(End of Chapter)