Part 5
They were surrounded by the solid sounds of hard objects striking each other.
The Rose was a three-dimensional shape made from the 216 Petals. Kyousuke and Hayato simultaneously launched White Thorns as if to crush the Rose from either side. The White Thorns left a laser beam-like trail behind and instantly smashed the Rose to pieces. The low sound, middle sound, high sound, and lowest sound Petals scattered in every direction and bounced wildly around on all the obstacles: the ground, the streetlights, the edges of the Artificial Sacred Ground, etc.
As soon as the Rose was smashed, countless holes known as Spots opened around the Artificial Sacred Ground.
They were dark, fist-sized holes opened in space itself. They looked like miniature black holes and the ricocheting Petals were sucked into them.
As they fell into the Spots, they were added to a summoner's stock.
"Librarian-chan!!"
"Fuuki-san!!"
They both cried out as the vessel girls changed form.
Librarian-chan's silhouette spiraled around and she became a giant mass of sticky yellow liquid three meters tall that weighed seven hundred kilograms. It had a cost of one high sound. Known as the Original Yellow (s), it was one of the most basic Materials.
Meanwhile, Benikomichi Fuuki became a similar mass of sticky green liquid. It had a cost of one middle sound and it was known as the Original Green (k).
Everything could grow infinitely from there.
Depending on how things developed, this could lead to the Divine or even Unexplored-class. It was frightening to think of, but even the White Queen, strongest of the strong, was no exception.
(In the three-way stalemate of sound range, I have the advantage. If he's skilled enough to easily reach the Divine-class, it might be best to finish this before he can build up his Material too much. If I can continue predicting what he'll do next, I can keep my sound range advantage and crush him with that!!)
With that in mind, Kyousuke thought of a few different Materials and the evolutionary tree that branched out from them. He instantly grasped the locations of all the Petals and Spots scattered throughout the Artificial Sacred Ground and accurately calculated out what rails his White Thorns would follow after he hit them.
But…
"Yes, I know that, Fuuki-san."
Hayato muttered to himself as he held a mental conversation with the president.
"You are my mistress. As always, you just do what you want. I'll make sure it all works out."
A moment later, the battle began.
However, it did not start with the yellow and green goo clashing at the midpoint between each other.
The Original Green that Benikomichi Fuuki had become, mercilessly smashed the giant bridge.
Kyousuke and Librarian-chan immediately sank down.
Gravity was pulling them.
Their footing crumbled, but as a summoner, Shiroyama Kyousuke immediately saw what they were after.
"You…!!"
"Ha ha. That's right!!"
The summoning ceremony contained the following rules:
The Artificial Sacred Ground is set up once an Incense Grenade is used.
The Artificial Sacred Ground is set up relative to the "contact surface" when the Incense Grenade detonates.
Thus, it can be set up relative to a wall or ceiling rather than the floor or ground. In that case, the summoners and Materials will ignore gravity and stick to the wall or ceiling.
But what happened if the Artificial Sacred Ground's "contact surface" was destroyed?
The answer was simple:
The Artificial Sacred Ground will be reconstructed based on the next "contact surface" stepped on by the summoner who set up the Artificial Sacred Ground.
If that is a wall or ceiling, the direction of the artificial gravity will change to match.
In that case, unlike when the Incense Grenade detonates, the opponent summoner and vessel will also be pulled toward the new gravitational direction.
As he fell, Assassin Boy Hayato forced his feet onto the building wall as if stomping onto it.
A moment later, the direction of Kyousuke and the Original Yellow's fall greatly changed.
They fell toward the building wall.
Unable to land properly, they collided with the wall.
"Librarian-chan, abandon your human senses! Right now, not even a sword or bullet could hurt you!!"
Her problem was a much more fundamental one.
Even if she liked fairy tales, it was not so easy to accept the real thing so suddenly.
Meanwhile, the situation was already underway. The many Petals floating around the old Artificial Sacred Ground poured down into the new one as if they had been struck by a giant hand. They bounced around wildly even without any interference from a Blood-Sign and White Thorn.
Hayato targeted them and accurately launched his White Thorn.
Before Kyousuke could get up and pursue this new turn of events, Benikomichi Fuuki's Original Green smashed the building wall as well.
He did not even have time to regain his balance.
Each time they fell, collided, and created a new surface, the Material would destroy the new "contact surface" after only a few seconds. Each time, Kyousuke, Librarian-chan, and the many Petals were pulled around with the moving Artificial Sacred Ground. It felt like being attached to an invisible chain and flailed around as a human morning star.
"…!!"
The Material's body was incredibly tough and the summoner was surrounded by a protective circle, so this was not enough to kill them.
But being swung around so constantly cost Kyousuke any chance to aim and launch a White Thorn.
The simplest shot in the summoning ceremony was to place a straight line between the White Thorn, the Petal, and the Spot and then to hit the center of the White Thorn with the Blood-Sign for a shot with no spin.
That way, the Petal would only travel in a straight line.
Even a rookie could easily build up their Material like that, but it was completely unusable in this situation.
Each time the Artificial Sacred Ground changed, all of the Petals were pulled with it and began bouncing around wildly. Unlike a stopped Petal, a moving Petal would deviate from the direction in which the White Thorn hit it. That required taking two vectors into consideration when launching the White Thorn.
And that was while the artificial gravity constantly moved to the walls or ceiling to swing the summoner around.
Whether or not they knew in advance where the stage would move created an unavoidable gap in reaction speed. And that lag led to a definite difference in Material development.
They spread destruction for that reason alone.
They destroyed the city, the scenery, people's homes, and the places of rest for complete strangers.
Again and again, they could be heard landing on new surfaces.
At the moment, Kyousuke and the others were inside a giant office. Thick columns were lined up horizontally like log bridges and they each landed on different ones.
Petals no one had touched fell into Spots on their own and fruitlessly vanished.
Countless steel desks and wheeled chairs were lined up vertically.
The bottom of the valley below them was a group of shattered windows.
Their Materials had changed again and again as time passed.
Kyousuke's was the Greedy Demon-Devouring Spider (nu – wm – ei – lvz – fc – o – zi).
Cost: 14. Sound Range: High.
It was a brutal, three meter spider colored red and black. Rather than spinning a web for an indirect attack, it directly attacked its prey and injected digestive fluids with its fangs to melt the enemy Material from within.
Hayato's was the Ugly and Pitiful Insect Swollen with Tragedy that Eats into the Void (lu – ei – map – ab – ou – od – nu – mel – o – yi).
Cost: 21. Sound Range: Middle.
It looked like a caterpillar larger than a car. Each time that incarnation of hunger wriggled and greedily moved its mouth, it ate into the scenery like it was biting into a leaf.
Librarian-chan's voice reached the back of Kyousuke's mind.
Her tone was distorted and she still seemed confused, but she must have seen something she simply could not accept.
The core of that cry may have overlapped with her family issue.
The dead monster that had become the Rainy Girl had once been her sister.
After having her family so unfairly taken from her, she could not overlook that same sort of unfairness here. And that emotion brought enough anger to overpower the confusion and fear of becoming one with an incomprehensible monster.
"Just maintain that spirit. Hold the reins of the Material's mind and imagine you're pointing its targeting cursor directly at your opponent! Then the monster will attack that opponent on its own!!"
Part 6
In the artificial gravity control strategy, one repeatedly destroyed the Artificial Sacred Ground's "footing" and frequently moved between the walls and the ceiling.
Assassin Summoner Hayato was using that strategy as a means of obstructing his opponent's growth rather than building up his own Material.
Figuring out the trick did not give his opponent a solution.
First, using the Blood-Sign and White Thorns to build up a Material was as mentally taxing as sniping. When the artificial gravity's direction was constantly changing and the summoner was being swung around every which way, there was no way they could focus.
Second, all of the Petals moved to new locations each time the Artificial Sacred Ground changed. Hitting moving Petals into the Spots was far more difficult than with stopped Petals.
Plus, the Artificial Sacred Ground's footing was always established relative to the summoner who had started the battle.
Even if Kyousuke destroyed their footing, the next Artificial Sacred Ground would still be established relative to the surface Hayato stood on, so he could not copy his enemy's technique.
That meant Hayato always knew whether the next footing would be on the floor, the wall, or the ceiling.
The summoner and Petals moved in relation to him, so he could begin his calculations before making his move.
Hayato could prepare and focus while Kyousuke had to react after being swung around and that recovery time created a slight lag. As that accumulated, it affected his skill with the Blood-Sign. The gap in Material development speed grew to dangerous levels.
But even in this situation, Kyousuke kept fighting back against the assassin.
He continually switched to the sound range that allowed him to make up for the growing gap in cost.
But even that would not last forever.
Once the cost gap grew to 10, the difference in sound range could be overpowered with brute strength.
(The current cost gap is averaging to about 5. I'm always out ahead and he can't turn this around now.)
Sometimes on the office's round columns, sometimes on the windows, sometimes on the underside of a giant bridge between buildings, and sometimes on the side of high rise buildings, Hayato moved from footing to footing while swinging around the Alice (with) Rabbit pair. The lines of red Petals chased after them like a group of tail lights.
Each move left the area wrapped in serious damage, but he did not care about that.
The assassins did not sneak through the shadows to do their work.
When a crime occurred, people grew angry. Wars created even longer and more powerful chains of hatred. But could people feel anger when faced with a natural disaster that utterly surpassed human understanding?
The answer was no.
When the destruction was on too great a scale, people were robbed of the normal emotions. By using beings of another world to kill, they had already entered that realm. So once Hayato and Benikomichi Fuuki used the summoning ceremony, there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no way of dodging the issue. As if showing off that otherworldly majesty, they would wield its fury until their objective was complete.
So any who stood before them would be crushed by those jaws.
Even if it was Freedom Award 903, Alice (with) Rabbit.
Except…
"…What?"
Hayato expressed some slight confusion as he used Benikomichi Fuuki's power to break horizontally through three high rise building's worth of windows and land on the side of the rail to a roller coaster that was going unused due to the rainy weather.
He had yet to defeat Shiroyama Kyousuke's Material.
He had yet to pass a cost gap of 10.
In fact…
(How is he catching up…!?)
Kyousuke had the Wind-Consuming and Obstacle-Crushing Horse (va – ei – lvz – km – ei – ox – cec – uy).
Cost: 18. Sound Range: High.
As its name suggested, it was a rampaging horse as large as a train car. Its method of attack was simple: it simply charged straight ahead and leveled anything in its path.
Hayato had the Pitiable Doll Covered in Spikes of Hatred (jok – bf – ei – md – a – xov – wuz – r – mel – oq).
Cost: 22. Sound Range: Middle.
It was a life-sized doll fully bound by chains and with countless metal spikes stabbing into it. The monster used the power of blood to fire out the spikes so it could take as many people as possible along with it to the grave.
(Why is the cost gap shrinking?)
Kyousuke had the Man-Eating Stuffed Animal Swollen with Innocent Darkness (mul – o – iu – ou – dhc – weq – ei – lvz – a – icg).
Cost: 23. Sound Range: Low.
A giant shredded stuffed animal had reddish darkness rather than cotton bursting from the ripped cloth. Instead of biting or tearing, it swallowed its target into its belly and contaminated them.
Hayato had the Scorching Killer Smile in a Vortex of Purple Electricity (kub – miq – a – sx – wzb – mu – ou – vew – l – a – zfc).
Cost: 24. Sound Range: High.
A neon bluish-purple light appeared directly in space itself and formed a giant smile over ten meters across. Anyone who touched it or even carelessly approached would be fried.
It was gradual, but the gap between their Materials' costs was closing. Plus, Kyousuke was always maintaining the sound range that gave him an advantage over Hayato.
At this rate, Hayato would be the one having trouble.
In fact…
(Will he catch up? No, could he even pass me? But I'm the one creating our footing, so he should be playing catch up.)
Even now, the world seemed to be spinning around and around as their footing moved to new walls, floors, and ceilings. Each time they moved to a building, bridge, attraction rail, or pillar, all of the preconditions crumbled away.
Before even thinking about landing, it should have been difficult to make any sense of one's shaken vision. And yet…
"It's simple."
Kyousuke raised his Blood-Sign and spoke as if he had read Hayato's mind.
And he landed on the new footing almost more nimbly than Hayato, the supposed master of this place.
"It's just like the long jump or the high jump. The athletes don't start preparing for their landing only after making their jump. They determine how to position their body before the jump and even before the approach run. They only start moving after deciding on their target."
"You don't mean…"
"Your breathing, the movement of your eyes, the tension in your muscles, the adjustments to your balance… All the information I needed was right there in your body. All I had to do was read that and I knew when and where the next footing would be."
In a world turned 90 degrees on its side, Kyousuke and Hayato landed on streetlight and a traffic light poles.
"And the calculations for the moving Petals are simple too. …I just have to think of it from a starting point of 45 degrees. If I hit a moving Petal at a right angle with a White Thorn moving at the exact same speed, the Petal will continue at a diagonal angle of 45 degrees. That's an easier calculation than determining the position of the sun with the hands of your watch."
That was nonsense.
It was nothing more than a theoretical value. If he did not perfectly hit the center of the Petal or if either one had even a slight spin to it, the Petal would veer off course.
But Kyousuke had actually done it.
He had the power needed to do so.
But Hayato could not accept it.
(That just means he's intercepting my behavior patterns to predict our footing and the movement of the Petals. Even if he could catch up like that, he couldn't pass me.)
"No, wait."
The assassin boy looked down at his own feet.
He finally grasped something as he stared at the traffic light pole that had become something like a log bridge.
(Is this like shogi or chess? I get to choose our next footing, but my choices aren't unlimited. I have to create the Artificial Sacred Ground relative to where I next place my feet, so I can't use any location I can't reach on the first step.)
Which meant…
(The summoner's location, the cost and sound range of the Materials, and the terrain conditions… If you could accurately analyze all that, you could create a tree diagram of the possible courses we could take. Then this wouldn't be the same as a highly random game of rock paper scissors. So…did he…see through all of that?)
"Is something the matter?"
Hayato heard a voice.
He heard the voice of a summoner who had likely predicted their next footing before the assassin boy himself had.
"Did you figure something out this late in the game?"
"Ha…ha ha."
Hayato laughed.
At that point, he had already lost most of his advantage.
Kyousuke had the Shark King that Swims through the Ocean of the Void in a Vortex of Purple Electricity (kub – miq – sx – lu – a – hf – ei – tok – enl – a – vjz).
Cost: 25. Sound Range: Middle.
A man-eating shark the size of a semi truck swam freely through the air. Each time its razor-sharp teeth bit down, bluish-white sparks flew and the target was thoroughly shredded with extreme temperatures exceeding those of an arc welder.
Hayato had the Sharp Shockwave Wings that Blow Away All that Oppose Them (du – vo – a – cuw – bf – ei – zix – nal – me – a – qi – a – fd).
Cost: 26. Sound Range: Low.
A giant bizarre bird had eight wings arranged in a circle like propellers. When it flapped those wings, shockwaves scattered through the entire surrounding area and the shockwaves focused in on a single point to crush the enemy like light gathered by a concave mirror.
The cost gap was almost entirely gone.
Hayato had the disadvantage as far as the sound range was concerned.
Given the situation, he would soon be caught up and surpassed on the cost front as well. It was just like a cup filled so full the surface tension was at its limit. Once the collapse began, there was no going back. It would all be over.
More than nine minutes had already passed.
An Artificial Sacred Ground created by an Incense Grenade lasted around ten minutes on average. There were only a few dozen seconds left, but even that felt like an eternity. Each and every second seemed to stretch out infinitely with a sense of death and defeat.
But…
"Did you think this was all I had?"
"If you've got another trick up your sleeve, I'd hurry it up. You don't have much time left."
"That's exactly what I'll do."
With those words, the Material that Benikomichi Fuuki had fused with dropped down and violently broke the traffic light pole Hayato stood on.
The footing was lost, so the Artificial Sacred Ground sought its next surface.
That was the same as before, but something was different.
"…?"
Kyousuke's eyebrows moved a little.
At first, he may not have been able to predict what Hayato was doing.
That was hardly surprising.
A moment later, the Material took a U-turn and struck Hayato's airborne body from below.
The summoner was contained inside the protective circle, so he was not crushed.
Hayato shot upwards like a ball hit by a metal bat. As he did, he placed his feet on one of the streetlights that were evenly spaced along a vertical line.
He was about five hundred meters away.
However…
(Since the Material hit me, I was moving far faster than a human's falling speed. So what happens now that I created a new Artificial Sacred Ground?)
The answer was readily apparent.
(You'll be forcibly accelerated when the wall of the new Artificial Sacred Ground slams into you. This goes far beyond a trampoline. You'll be thrown like you stepped onto a catapult.)
This was his secret technique.
It was his vertical launching tactic.
After a short delay, Kyousuke caught up to Hayato
And the many Petals came with him.
Kyousuke had not just fallen upwards. He had been thrown nearly to the top of the new Artificial Sacred Ground like he had been stuffed into a cannon and fired.
Unlike Hayato, Kyousuke had no footing.
That was a simple but crucial difference.
Even if he was a summoner who controlled Materials from another world and wielded their paranormal power, it was still based in the physical actions of using the Blood-Sign. The ability to plant one's feet on the ground and use their body's full strength made all the difference. Using all the muscles in the body and rotating the hips to throw a ball was far more powerful and accurate than only using the strength of the hands. This was the same.
Hayato raised his Blood-Sign as if targeting Kyousuke up in the air. He thrust the tip forward.
There was still a risk of Kyousuke catching up or surpassing him, but that was only a possibility. As things were, Hayato still had the upper hand. So he would end the current trend. He would nip that possibility in the bud before Kyousuke actually caught up.
His opponent would be unable to build up his Material properly while tossed up to the top of the Artificial Sacred Ground and while the footing changed yet again.
The damage would build up during that time.
Hayato's Material could completely crush Kyousuke's in its jaws.
"Let's end this, Freedom. This is an assassin's job."
But then a change came over Shiroyama Kyousuke after being blasted up into the sky. He quickly twisted around and rotated like a gymnast. It was not at all the same as pathetically flailing his limbs around. He must have been helping his own body's spin because there was a clear "axis" to it.
Even now, he maintained his stability.
For an instant, his gaze pierced Hayato.
"It…can't be…"
Tension ran through the assassin boy's body as he stood on the streetlight pole.
Sweat covered the palm holding his Blood-Sign.
(He's still fighting even now? He plans to accurately launch his White Thorns!?)
Deafening sounds crossed paths like nearby lightning strikes.
They were Kyousuke and Hayato. They both used their Blood-Signs to powerfully launch a White Thorn.
Would Kyousuke catch up or would Hayato pull out ahead?
That question went unanswered.
The Artificial Sacred Ground suddenly vanished.
Ten minutes had passed. The time was up.
Their bizarrely shaped Materials returned to being lovely girls. At the same time, gravity returned to the proper direction.
Hayato and Benikomichi Fuuki slid down and landed on a giant bridge.
But Kyousuke and his vessel had moved out past the bridge, so they fell down between the high-rise buildings. They would likely slip past the countless crisscrossing bridges and reach the ocean at the very bottom.
Benikomichi Fuuki spoke as she placed her hands on the railing and peered down into the dark ocean far below.
"So we failed to finish him off."
"Should we pursue them, mistress?"
"No, we've used up the advantage of a surprise attack. If we're going to kill him, we need to plan everything out from scratch. We aren't looking for a fair fight. An assassin searches for a surefire way to kill their target."
Part 7
A girl's high-pitched scream burst out.
"…"
Kyousuke spread out his arms and legs like a skydiver to increase his air resistance and moved horizontally to avoid the many levels of bridges. A single hit would mean instant death. However, Librarian-chan fell right past him in a tailspin.
She had not kept her balance.
At this rate, she would hit one of the bridges.
When he saw that, Kyousuke made a change of plans.
He brought his arms and legs together to make a single line out of his body. This lowered air resistance as much as possible and boosted the speed of his fall. Aware of the risk, he dove head-first toward the earth in an attempt to catch up to Librarian-chan.
He grabbed her arm.
He swung his arms and legs to spin them around.
The two of them passed just twenty centimeters from the railing of a bridge and continued plummeting toward the water below.
The dark ocean surface approached.
The water parted and Kyousuke heard the ear-splitting roar of a splash taller than he was.
He immediately started for the surface, but then he saw Librarian-chan floating like seaweed.
Hitting the water had knocked her unconscious.
He grabbed her again and swam toward the surface.
Once his head finally broke the surface, he filled his lungs with oxygen.
"Librarian-chan? Librarian-chan!!"
"Uh…ah…?"
Her groans changed to intense coughing as she came to.
"Cough, cough, cough!! Wh-what in the world is going on…?"
"We lost them for the time being, but we can't relax just yet. Let's use some building or another to get back up and lose them for real. If they keep attacking, it'll just wear us down."
"Who…was that?"
"An assassin from our industry. That much seems certain."
"What does someone so dangerous have to do with my sister's ghost?"
"I don't know. But that interference has changed the situation somewhat."
"?"
"At any rate, we need to find a safe route and get to Aika's apartment. We need as much information as we can get."
Part 8
But first, they were soaking wet.
It had been raining on and on in and around Toy Dream 35, so a fair number of people were wet after forgetting their umbrella or having it stolen while they were inside a store. The problem was how they smelled of seawater. On top of that, Shiroyama Kyousuke's hoodie had been torn in the battle. Even if they would be forgotten soon enough, it meant the end of his humanity if he stopped caring if he gathered an embarrassing sort of attention.
As an adolescent high school boy, he could not allow himself to shamelessly walk around the city while defenselessly exposed and soaking wet.
So…
"Phew. It's times like these when these storage lockers really come in handy."
"Um, Shiroyama-kun. Why do you have so many identical hoodies and pants?"
"Oh, this isn't an obsession or anything. These are the most common models from this company. So if another summoner happens to see me on the job, I don't have to worry as much about them identifying me by my clothing. …Although it's a relatively small industry, so it isn't a huge help."
"But what about a change of clothes for me?"
"Do you really think I own girl's clothing?"
When he answered her question with a question of his own, she grabbed his ear and dragged him to a nearby laundromat.
She then made a demand while in her soaking wet clothing.
"Shiroyama-kun, take off your hoodie and hand it over."
"Now you're essentially mugging me!?"
"I have to wash and dry these clothes! That will take about an hour altogether, so are you telling me to stand around naked that entire time!? So just take that off already!! C'mon, strip!!"
"Stop, wait! Mhh, mhh!"
Before Kyousuke could protest too much, Librarian-chan stole his hoodie.
The summoner held his body and trembled while she made yet another demand.
"Okay, Shiroyama-kun. Turn around 180 degrees and don't you turn back around until I say you can."
"I'm cold… I'm going to catch cold like this…"
"A girl is about to strip with nothing to hide behind! You're supposed to be blushing!!"
He waited as instructed and heard a wet sound behind him. The wet clothing must have clung to her skin because he heard occasional breaths of struggle.
After he heard one of the washing machines along the wall running, Librarian-chan made an announcement.
"You can turn around now."
He did so and saw Librarian-chan wearing his hoodie. He could see her white thighs almost all the way up to the base, more than one washing machine was running, and one of them was set to the stockings and underwear mode, so she apparently truly was naked except for the hoodie.
When she sat on the bench next to topless Kyousuke, the scene gained a somehow criminal feel and it was incredibly awkward. But even if summoners could not be punished by the usual rules, he disciplined himself with his own policies!
Librarian-chan sat there like a substitute athlete warming the bench and she watched her clothing spinning beyond the transparent lid.
She had undone her braid, so her hair was wavy and wet. She had also removed her glasses, so she looked quite different from normal. It only made her look more refined.
"Shiroyama-kun, are you always doing things like this?"
"N-no. I have to admit I don't often have my clothes stolen by my vessel."
"Not that."
Librarian-chan faced the washing machines and swung her white feet.
"Are you always, um, how should I put it? Causing trouble like that?"
She may have been reluctant to use the word "fight" in reference to reality.
Kyousuke sighed.
"Did it scare you to become one with the Material?"
"It did, but more importantly…"
She briefly hesitated to continue.
"I think it really freaked me out that everyone would forget about me. I mean, if they can forget about me, that means the world can get on just fine without me. …It's almost like I'm looking at a world where I died and am no longer a part of it."
She may have seen it that way due to her sister.
The Rainy Girl.
"Does it not scare you, Shiroyama-kun?"
"I'm used to it."
"Do you ever want to return to the way things were before?"
"I'm still going to school just fine 'like this'."
He was Freedom Award 903.
Once someone reached 1000, they would become one of the gods rather than a part of mankind and they would become the protagonist of a new legend as a resident of the other side.
But there was no point in bringing that up here.
Librarian-chan only wanted to do something about her sister and Kyousuke was not driven by such an obvious desire.
This was smaller than that.
It was the story of two people who were willing to risk their lives for something like this.
"School, hm?"
"It's only been a day, but that seems so far away now. Shiroyama-kun, do you never get bored looking at the textbooks? I get the feeling you could look at it all and decide it's worthless to you. And you would actually mean it, unlike the people who use it as an excuse."
"No, not really."
On this alone, Kyousuke did not hesitate even a second to answer.
"I'm just some brat who hasn't even lived two full decades, so what do I know about the world? I still trust that I at least have enough sense left to remember that."
Or perhaps it was the world that he wanted to trust in.
Was the miniature garden of the school a symbol of that?
Since he would be forgotten as soon as anyone looked away, he could never pass a real entrance exam and get into the school. Even if he scored a perfect 100, no one would remember it. Since he was still attending high school, he had to have used some kind of special method and that alone showed just how attached to the school he was.
Librarian-chan squeezed the sleeves of the hoodie in her hands and smiled a little as she spoke.
"I'm glad you aren't a robotic kind of person."
"Humans aren't that strong. You learn that all too well when you've been a summoner for long enough."
For example, Aika had been so badly hurt when everyone forgot about her that she had given up on holding any hope in the outside world.
For example, Lu Niang Lan's life had been dragged around by her great skill and she could no longer escape Illegal.
For every one of them, life was a struggle.
The more superior any of them looked from the outside, the more twisted they truly were.
"The president was pretty incredible too…" said Librarian-chan.
That girl had stabbed someone in the back with sewing scissors and accepted in a monster as a vessel.
Not even Kyousuke knew where Benikomichi Fuuki's true nature lay. She might have been like that from the moment she was born or there may have been a major turning point in her life. But Librarian-chan seemed to think it was taking a step into this industry that had done it.
"Was it not a shock to you, Shiroyama-kun? You seemed to get along pretty well at school."
"We…got along?"
"It at least looked that way."
Librarian-chan actually looked surprised by Kyousuke's response.
But that may have had less to do with his relationship with the girl and more to do with his inability to judge how close he was to other people.
Finally, he answered her question.
"It was a surprise, I suppose."
"If it was a shock, then it means you did get along."
"…I see."
"Does it not upset you?"
"I do wonder what I'll do starting tomorrow. When I realize I might not be able to talk with her at school like that anymore, I guess it does make me a little sad."
"Oh, so you like your pretty friend, do you?"
Librarian-chan then laughed a little.
She seemed to have remembered her comment about being glad he was not robotic.
"But in that case, don't you want to save her? I mean, my sister takes top priority, but, um, I could still help with that."
"…"
Kyousuke narrowed his eyes a little.
"No, I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"I still haven't saved you after you asked me to. Sorry, but I can't make a promise that amounts to abandoning someone."
As he spoke, Kyousuke looked Librarian-chan right in the eye.
"I-I see."
When the girl blushed and averted her gaze a bit, Kyousuke interpreted it incorrectly.
"Did that make you think I'm robotic?"
"Eh? No, it wasn't that… But it's hard to explain…"
"Don't worry. As I said before, the uniqueness of the summoning ceremony is dependent on the summoner. Save for exceptional cases like Lu-san, you just have to cancel your contract with me once the job is complete. Then people will stop forgetting you and you won't be susceptible to possession by vengeful and evil spirits. So you can just think of this like an overseas trip."
She could return to normal.
Her expression briefly lit up at that, but then she realized something.
"Hey, in that case…what will you do?"
He shrugged.
"I'm still trying to figure that out."
Part 9
"Onii-chan. How many times do I have to tell you this is a shut-in girl's final stronghold?"
"And?"
"Why and for what possible reason are you thoughtlessly bringing yet another girl here!? It doesn't make any sense!!"
It was just before ten at night.
They had run across that summoner assassin at around 7:30. After the ten minute battle, they had spent about an hour at the laundromat and then come here, so that meant they had taken a very careful and roundabout route.
That showed just how cautious Kyousuke was about their enemies.
Librarian-chan's clothing had made a full recovery in the washer and dryer and Kyousuke had his hoodie back, so he was back to normal aside from the faint scent of soap on his hoodie.
"Oh, this is the new Korokke-chan they were selling at the convenience store. It's a special for the Rainy Screen campaign and it has Western wasabi powder on it."
"Hm. That I'll take. I still refuse to accept my Onii-chan's thoughtless behavior, though!!"
As she complained, Aika opened up the paper bag used to shake up the wasabi powder-covered fried food.
"Um, Kyousuke-chan," cut in Lu Niang Lan. "Something greasy probably isn't best, so did you buy a normal meal too?"
"We bought and ate sautéed pork and grilled vegetable sandwiches on the way. More importantly, I have something to ask you, Lu-san."
"Before that."
"?"
"How about you look after that girl? She looks really jumpy and isn't showing any sign of joining in the conversation."
When the Modified China Dress Beauty pointed that out, Kyousuke looked behind him.
The always cheerful Librarian-chan had become incredibly quiet ever since entering the large living room. She was wearing her idea of adult-looking clothes after drying them at the laundromat. She uncomfortably fidgeted with her braided hair, but it was not that she was feeling shy around the strange people here.
The real reason was obvious.
It had to be the "sofa" that Swimsuit Girl Aika was leaning against.
Anyone would grow nervous when faced with five meter beast.
"U-um, Shiroyama-kun? That's a pet, isn't it? It isn't going to get up and roar, is it?"
"Don't ask me. But knowing Aika, I doubt it's been trained properly. And I'm not too confident a white liger can even be tamed in the first place."
"Then why are you all so calm!?"
"Shh! Shouting or turning your back on it is dangerous!"
Meanwhile, Aika, its owner, was leaning up against the beast in a completely defenseless outfit while chowing down on junk food that had to be stimulating the animal's stomach with its smell. It was unclear what was safe and what was dangerous.
"And if you feel unsafe, you can always hide behind Lu-san. If the beast goes on a rampage, she can deal with it barehanded."
"Umm, that's scary enough on its own. Is she a hermit who lives deep in the mountains or something?"
Librarian-chan's voice was shaking.
But since that young woman had the skill to take out any summoner with nothing but her bare hands and hidden weapons, it may have been right to worry about her more than the white liger.
"So Kyousuke-chan, what did you want to ask me?"
"It's about the Illegal assassin that showed up at the end of everything at the airport before," said Kyousuke. "He attacked us earlier, so do you know anything about him?"
"Oh, him." Lu Niang Lan seemed hesitant. "I decided to look into him since he pissed me off…but I couldn't find any Illegal records on him."
"What does that mean?"
"Since he showed up there, his actions had to have been a plus for Illegal, but he may have been a summoner with no connection to us, a Freedom summoner that Illegal hired through an intermediary, or…"
"A secret weapon who Illegal keeps hidden?"
The information had dried up right off the bat.
That was fine if they never saw him again after that one battle, but the odds of that were low. So it was best if they could gather some information on his habits, special traits, and weaknesses, but…
"By the way, Kyousuke-chan, how skilled was this unknown?"
"He was more of a pain than he was powerful. We used the full ten minutes, but we never even made it out of the Regulation-class and to the Divine-class."
"An interference type, huh? That does sound like a pain." Lu Niang Lan smiled and waved a hand dismissively. "Then, Kyousuke-chan, besides his technique as a summoner, did you sense anything about his principles…or rather, did he seem to follow any inviolable rules?"
"Hm?"
Librarian-chan looked confused, so the Modified China Dress Beauty raised her index finger and explained.
"In Illegal, we don't bother obeying the existing laws and treaties. We don't gain anything by obeying them since we specifically exist as an organization not protected by the government. In that case, what do we obey? That would be the inviolable rules of our team or the bonds of blood of our family."
"Stop trying to make yourself sound good when you're just a group of perverted criminals who kidnap, confine, and assassinate people."
"From your perspective in Government, maybe. But in Illegal, it's all based on our own rules which are meant to maintain order. In other words, it's the same as what you call an investigation, an arrest, an arraignment, a trial, and a punishment. And it's obvious what wins out when the existing laws clash with our inviolable rules."
That was why Government and Illegal simply could not get along.
The people of the heavens above controlled the international laws while looking down on everyone. The people of the earth below corrupted the masses from within to expand their own share.
Freedom joined neither side but helped both, so they basically had extraterritoriality like Nagasaki's Dejima. Of course, they did not just obey them. If either one went too far, they were prepared to retaliate with an intense war. In a way, they were the individual summoners who fought alone against an international coalition force or an international mafia. That was (the original meaning of) Freedom.
"Those inviolable rules and bonds of blood aren't unified within Illegal. If the summoner who attacked you really was from Illegal, knowing his principles could help narrow it down to the specific team or family."
Kyousuke shrugged at Lu Niang Lan's suggestion.
"Unfortunately, I don't know that much. All I know is he has pride in his work as an assassin, he'll speak with his target but not empathize with them, he's willing to use tricks or deceit to take out his target, and he's fixated on the Rainy Girl."
Librarian-chan hesitantly cut in there.
"I asked this before, but how is that assassin connected with us? The Rainy Girl is just a rumor to most people, right? And from what you've said, ghosts aren't very significant to summoners."
"Lu-san."
"Didn't I already tell you that unknown wasn't in any of Illegal's records? Don't ask me for help here."
"Oh, right. It might be a fake name, but what about someone named Benikomichi Fuuki? She's our student council president but also the vessel for that assassin…Hayato I think she called him."
"Benikomichi, hm? Give me a second. I'll shoot some Illegal people an email and ask them to gather some information."
Lu Niang Lan operated her smartphone with her index finger as she spoke.
She seemed entirely carefree.
Aika must have thought the half-eaten korokke tasted too bland because she put it back in the paper bag and shook it around.
"To be blunt, maybe that assassin is the one behind the murder the ghost is based on. Maybe he's afraid of you approaching the truth as you pursue the ghost."
"I…doubt that."
Librarian-chan immediately rejected the idea.
She had a simple reason.
"The murderer was caught almost immediately. He was a crazy man. My parents told me not to watch the news, but I still remember it. Was it called genetic tuning? He was apparently like a mass of muscles that completely ignored the usual skeletal structure. That boy was only about twelve, so I doubt he was behind some murder in the past."
Kyousuke agreed with that assessment.
"I disagree with the idea that a small child can't kill, but, well, I agree he wasn't behind the murder."
"Why?"
"We aren't quite sure who he is and he might not even be with Illegal, but I'm pretty sure he's still an assassin. He wasn't the type to kill for his own sake. And based on what I've heard of your family, Librarian-chan, I doubt it would have been worth hiring a professional assassin to attack a child. Of course, that would change if your parents were politicians or executives of an international corporation."
"But then this makes no sense, does it?" said Lu Niang Lan. "We know this unknown is standing in your way. And we know he is skilled enough to instantly resolve that airport occupation by stably and reliably summoning a Divine-class without relying on beginner's luck. I wonder why he's challenging you to a fight."
"Maybe he was lying at some point or we made a mistake at some point," said Kyousuke. "The Rainy Girl, a murder from the past, an Illegal summoner, and a professional assassin… One of our premises is off and that's why the gears don't seem to fit together. But they must fit together. We're holding something worth sending in that assassin. So what exactly is it we're not seeing here?"
Aika and Lu Niang Lan exchanged a glance.
As outsiders, they readily gave objective opinions.
"Is it possible the Rainy Girl doesn't actually have anything to do with that past murder?"
"That was definitely my sister."
"Could the unknown be an amateur assassin who's only claiming to be a professional?"
"With that skill and pride? I doubt it."
Their suggestions were not serious. They were simply cutting away the blatantly needless fat.
And finally, just the core remained.
"Maybe the crux of the issue isn't the Rainy Girl," muttered Kyousuke.
Librarian-chan frowned.
"Wait a minute. What do you mean? All of this weird stuff started when I started seeing that ghost."
"But that premise might be wrong." Kyousuke chose his words carefully. "I'm not suggesting the Rainy Girl isn't real. I saw her with you, after all. …But is she really a naturally appearing ghost? Ghosts can be explained with the rules of the summoning ceremony. And if they can be explained with them, they can also be reproduced with them. Which means…"
"Oh, I get it," said Lu Niang Lan as she placed a hand on her forehead.
Librarian-chan still didn't seem to understand, so Kyousuke stated his conclusion.
"In other words, there might be a completely different plan at work here. And as a side effect, it just so happened to cause the Rainy Girl to appear. That would mean the ghost isn't at the center of all this. It's just that we might discover the truth behind it and whatever it's connected to."
And if they pursued the cause of the Rainy Girl, they would run into the assassins' plan. Afraid they would discover what was going on, the assassins had acted first.
Since they had already been monitoring Librarian-chan's home or the surrounding cellphone towers, the assassins had to be aware that the Rainy Girl was their Achilles' heel.
They had not annihilated her with an Incense Grenade, so they may have had a reason to keep her around or her appearances were too random to reliably run across her.
"But…" Librarian-chan started to reject the idea on reflex, but then she had second thoughts. "The rumors of the Rainy Girl only started spreading over the internet after I entered high school. At the very least, my sister's ghost wasn't seen when I was in elementary and middle school."
"If she started appearing recently, it might be best to assume something happened recently to cause it."
"Hmm…" muttered Aika while licking off her greasy fingers.
She then grabbed the notebook-sized tablet from the glass table. The entire ceiling functioned as a giant projection screen.
It showed a simple map of Toy Dream 35.
Red, yellow, green, and blue colored bars appeared on the edge of the map. It looked a lot like the rain map shown on the weather forecast.
"What is this, Aika?"
"Packet Atmosphere. It's a type of information system built by Government. Simply put, it visualizes the distribution of rumors."
"Can you make that more detailed but simpler?"
"Don't underestimate the expressiveness of a shut-in. With the cooperation of a major mobile SNS, we can run automatic searches of when and where different keywords were typed in and then it can be displayed on the map according to time. Surely you can understand that."
For example, research had shown that areas with an explosive increase in searches for "the flu" really did have an outbreak of the flu. Necessity was the mother of invention and people wanted to search when they had the search box right in front of their eyes.
What Aika was using had narrowed that down to more of a pinpoint. When she entered a search term, the devices that had made corresponding blog entries or SNS posts would be listed up and the device locations would be displayed on the map.
For example…
"Let's try searching for 'house fire'. And look."
Colors were added to the map of Toy Dream 35. Blue and green dots were scattered around, but the dots were noticeably clustered around a few spots. And they had warning colors of red and yellow.
"Most likely, there are actual houses on fire in those areas."
"This system throws the concepts of personal information and privacy out the window," commented Lu Niang Lan. "But what else would you expect from the governments and corporations of Government?"
"SNSs are used by people who want to show off. Plus, this just scrapes all that text with a program, so we're not actually reading what their blogs say."
"Wait, Aika. I'm pretty sure you've crossed a line when you start displaying their location without permission."
"Onii-chan, are you the kind of Onii-chan that uses logic to trample on the cooperation of a benevolent soul? Anyway, we can use this to find exactly how far the rumors of the Rainy Girl have spread."
After Aika narrowed the results down to Toy Dream 35 and entered the search term they actually cared about, the results appeared almost instantly.
Just like on a weather forecast, they could fast-forward through time to see the clusters of red, yellow, green, and blue dots crawling along like living creatures.
The SNS's first hit for the Rainy Girl was about a month before. As Librarian-chan had suggested it was at the start of April when the school year had begun.
Dots sporadically appeared and disappeared from there, but there were places where they occasionally grew like crazy as if people had suddenly remembered it.
"R Block, April 15, 10 PM. S Block, April 17, 2 AM. D Block, April 23, 1:30 PM…"
"Are these red places where my sister's ghost was seen?"
"That's just when the witnesses posted about it on the SNS, so she might have also appeared where no one saw it."
"Come to think of it, these aren't where I saw her…"
Librarian-chan looked up at the map on the ceiling with a troubled look on her face.
Kyousuke spoke to Aika.
"Do you know what happened at these times? Did a ghost story TV drama air, was a sound truck with a message about demons driving around, or was a costume parade underway? It could be anything. I just want something that matches all of these appearance times."
"Government's got you covered."
Aika minimized the Packet Atmosphere window and opened a different application. A bunch of text scrolled quickly by and finally some human-readable text started appearing.
"I've detected a few patterns that match the noise problem."
"Like what? It could be a lot of things: people, vehicles, buildings, etc."
"It seems to be a building… Look."
Aika gave the answer.
"Here it is. It fits the operation records for the Toshima Industries 3rd Toy Factory on the outskirts of Toy Dream 35."
"Isn't that the factory that makes the character goods that Toy Dream 35 sells?" asked a skeptical Librarian-chan.
The Toy Dream Company's international revived city project bought up rural cities that had fallen into bankruptcy and remade them into giant amusement parks, but that of course did not entirely eliminate the unease and backlash from the local residents. To erase that sort of impression, the amusement park city contained almost no manufacturing facilities. From food to industrial products, it was almost entirely reliant on the nearby cities. That way they shared the wealth with the local residents instead of monopolizing it.
"The Rainy Girl rumors perfectly match the time they spent testing a new production line. Most likely, that's had some kind of effect."
"A factory testing a new line on rainy nights…" muttered Kyousuke, but that was not enough to reach an answer.
"But they aren't going to all this effort just to summon my sister to scare me…right? And if they were trying to get the ghost to kill me, a simple knife seems like a better method."
"We'll just have to look into this and figure out whether she's their objective or just a side effect."
Of course, things were likely to change if they actually snuck into the toy factory on the outskirts of the city.
It had likely been turned into Hayato and Benikomichi Fuuki's hideout.
"Librarian-chan."
"My name, my name. …And what is it?"
"You asked me to protect you from the Rainy Girl. If that's all you want, we might not need to investigate this factory. It might be enough to just wait for the Rainy Girl to appear and annihilate her."
"But…we're up against assassins, right? And they came to kill us because we were becoming a problem. Can we really step down from the stage now?"
"Based on the situation surrounding the attack, they were monitoring your home or the surrounding area. Since they hadn't done anything before, it might mean they won't actually kill you. If you weren't going to approach the truth, they were going to leave you alone."
"…"
"So with that in mind, let me ask again: what do you want to do? I don't mind if you make that decision."
"Is that even a question?"
Librarian-chan did not hesitate to answer.
Even though she had likely reached an instinctual understanding of their opponent's skill.
"I'm still scared of my sister. I really think she's trying to kill me. But this isn't right. That factory might be summoning her, right? Even if we defeat her, she might appear again as long as that factory's still running. I can't allow that kind of pain. What do they think a human being is? Even if she's dead, she's still a human being. Do they really need someone to explain to them that the dead have rights too!?"
"What do you want to do?"
"I want to destroy that factory. But I need power to do that. Shiroyama-kun, lend me a hand. I'm sure that will solve all of this."
Unlike before, she did not just ask for "help".
Instead of hoping someone else would do something, she wanted a helping hand to do something herself.
Kyousuke smiled a little.
And he answered.
"Then let's go with that."
He spoke clearly as if to motivate himself.
"I don't know who we're up against, but this means war."
Investigation Records of a Certain Pair of Twins 02
When people fall asleep on the last train or on a train that begins deadheading, they go missing and never return. But for some reason, the fact that people are vanishing never ends up in the news.
The rumor had branched off into a number of forms, so some had a less frightening conclusion: a reunion with a forgotten first love, the return of a runaway pet, or the discovery of a lost treasure. But those derivations had spread outside Japan to places like Guam, so they had even less credibility.
It was already almost midnight.
Even so, Meinokawa Renge could not find her "sister" Higan.
"…"
Her confused mind went back over everything that had happened.
The monorail had come to a stop at one of Toy Dream 35's switchyards. She had checked through every nook and cranny of every car and managed to pry open the doors even though the power was off, but she had not found her "sister" anywhere in the darkness.
The switchyard was large, but it was all indoors. There were no windows, so she had no idea if it was underground or a giant box dangling in midair.
A few possibilities had come to mind.
It was possible Higan had gotten off at another station while Renge slept.
It was possible Higan had woken up first at the switchyard and gone on alone.
It was possible it was Renge who had disappeared and not Higan.
"My phone…isn't any help."
She checked the cheap cellphone's screen, but it had no bars for some reason. Her notebook-sized tablet also had no signal.
As she checked around the switchyard, she found wet footprints on the concrete ground. They looked like the footprints from the geta she wore, but she did not think she had run across her own footprints after wandering around too much. These footprints continuing further on were likely Higan's.
(Although I don't know if this was Higan herself or someone who stole her shoes.)
Even if it was a trap, it was definitely information leading to the next hint.
Renge gulped and slowly followed the wet footprints.
As she did, she noticed something odd about the scenery.
This was definitely a switchyard, but there was no sign of the maintenance equipment moving. There was not even a scent of machine oil and everything was covered in clear plastic as if being preserved as a crime scene.
Confused, she continued on, but then the hint came to an end.
The footprints led outside. And beyond the stainless steel door was the rain that seemed to be oozing from the night sky. The wet footprints vanished once they reached the wet roadway.
"Dammit!!"
Renge violently cursed and ran outside despite the rain. She searched around the door for some other hint, but she could not find any clue to her "sister's" location. Panic grew inside her, but she did find something strange.
The city was entirely silent.
When she had visited before, the place had been filled with decorative lights twenty four hours a day, but not a single light bulb was on now. She also heard no passing cars and no talking people. There was no trash on the road and the entire place seemed entirely unlived in.
(Wh-what? What is going on here?)
To be blunt, this phenomenon was stranger than a national TV station's power going out. This was a city of sightseeing, so the economy had a 100% chance of collapsing if they could not maintain a certain number of tourists.
Renge looked around in shock and found something else.
The billboard on a building wall was covered in a clear plastic sheet and duct tape just like the switchyard maintenance equipment. She looked to the text on the billboard through the raindrops on the plastic.
"Let's give Toy Dream 35 a lovely name! In this new campaign, it's your ideas that will name the city!!"
"What…is this?" muttered Renge.
Toy Dream 35 was Toy Dream 35. She had never heard of it having another name.
Some clearly odd things were mixed into the familiar city.
While unrealistically thinking it looked like a half-made city, she looked up and found something else that was odd.
A large retro flip clock was attached to a building wall. But the arrangement of numbers on the glow-in-the-dark display was clearly wrong. The date it showed was a few decades into the future.
The amount of deterioration and filth on a single building completely changed from floor to floor.
Each of the roadside trees had grown drastically different amounts.
The scenery was a complete mess, as if someone had torn up several different photos and cobbled them together.
Renge thought for a bit and then looked down at the notebook-sized tablet that was acting as a light source. She looked for any rumors that sounded related to this.
She used her fingertip to slide from one article to another.
Then she found a rumor that fit the current situation.
A writer for a town information magazine had gathered several ghost stories he had heard about in Toy Dream 35.
"I started to drift off on the train and suddenly woke up to find I was the only one onboard. I was too scared to see if anyone was in the driver's compartment up front. As I trembled in fear, I blinked and suddenly found myself back on the train full of other passengers. I thought I had just woken up from a dream, but what if I have been wandering through a dream ever since? Or…?"
Another was an excerpt from "Strange Reports from the Official Records", a popular collection of tidbits that ran in a weekly magazine.
"As the planner viewed the scene, he complained into his cellphone: 'Your huge-ass sign is in the way, so no one can see our advertisement from the station.' When the construction workers checked the plans back in their office, they all tilted their heads. There shouldn't have been a giant sign there, so what was this guy seeing?"
Where had Meinokawa Higan gone?
No.
That was not the appropriate question.
"Where am I right now?"
This was an empty city.
All the lights were out in a place where the lights should never have gone out.
Strange things which should not have been found in the real Toy Dream 35 were mixed into the scenery.
What proof did she have that she was really in Toy Dream 35?
FactsStudent Council President Benikomichi Fuuki was the enemy vessel. She repeatedly canceled and rebound her contract at intervals as short as five minutes to blend into normal human society. However, the risk of side effects is high.The Artificial Sacred Ground is set up relative to the surface the Incense Grenade detonates on. This can be the floor, the ground, a wall, the ceiling, or a vehicle. In that case, artificial gravity is created to allow the summoners and vessels to stand on the wall or ceiling.If the Artificial Sacred Ground's reference surface is destroyed, the next surface stepped on by the summoner who instigated the battle will become the new reference surface. Unlike when the Incense Grenade detonates, the enemy summoner and vessel will also obey the new artificial gravity. New Spots will be set, but the Petals be forcibly slid from the old Artificial Sacred Ground to the new one.A Petal that falls into a Spot without touching anyone's White Thorn will vanish without counting.Summoner Hayato and Vessel Benikomichi Fuuki's affiliation is unknown. At the very least, they were not registered in the Illegal lists that Lu Niang Lan could check. Also, Hayato refers to Benikomichi Fuuki as "mistress".The times a toy factory on the outskirts of Toy Dream 35 tests a new line match the times the Rainy Girl appears. Rainy nights and the factory's activity likely have some kind of influence on the Rainy Girl.