Part 5
Atop another building in P Block, another confrontation was underway among the greenery growing on the square rooftop.
It looked like a scene from a costume party.
Isabelle had been waiting on that building in case a sniper targeted Kyousuke during his meeting with Biondetta. When taking into account line of fire, wind direction, the layout of the buildings, the flow of the crowds, the location of the sun, etc., there were relatively few good sniper spots even in a wide open area. That was why there were experts who took all that into account and used it to their advantage.
"…"
As Isabelle waited there, she heard someone stepping on the gravel.
And as soon she looked that way…
"…I found you."
"?"
"I finally found you!! Sayuri!!"
A girl with semi-long brown hair and an exposed midriff had suddenly appeared. It was Murasame Kuina. Isabelle's eyes widened in confusion as the girl tightly wrapped her arms around her.
Still held in the girl's arms, Isabelle pulled her head back a little.
"Nuuun(deadpan). You do not seem to be hiding the components to a super-sized sniper rifle, so I will attempt to engage you in conversation."
"Hm? What is it, Sayuri?"
"However…"
The red military uniform girl's eyes clearly focused on the girl in front of her.
"My name is super-sized not Sayuri. It is Isabelle."
"What are you talking about? Your name is not Isabelle!"
Isabelle stepped back several meters for no real reason.
She had not particularly changed her location and she was not hiding, but Murasame Kuina seemed satisfied and spoke to her more quietly this time.
"Listen. Your name is Kawamo Sayuri. You were a normal middle school girl living in Harukawa City…no, in Toy Dream 40. You haven't had any military training and you aren't part of some weird group called Government. You really are just a middle school girl. You would go home without participating in any clubs, you were awful at anything athletic, and you always stuck by my side!"
"?"
"Oh, honestly!! Just look at this picture! This is you!"
The girl grabbed the thin chain around her neck and pulled an accessory out from the chest of her clothing. It was about the size of a large coin and it seemed to be a locket. She snapped it open to reveal the face of a slender Asian girl with long black hair.
Isabelle viewed the photo from a distance instead of moving closer for a better look. She seemed to be keeping distance between them and keeping an eye out for a surprise attack while her focus was on the photo.
"My face is not this expressionless. Zuuun (deadpan). This is super-sized wrong."
"The way you're acting now is what's wrong! That Anthill Project messed with your very soul!!"
Murasame Kuina grabbed the shoulders of the red military uniform and roughly shook Isabelle while shouting at her.
But it did not get through.
It was like an infinite panel of soundproof glass separated them.
"How much do you know about the spiritual damage research that Government has been doing?"
"Not even a small-sized amount."
"Oh, honestly. At least that part of you hasn't changed," groaned the girl. "Listen. That's a catchall term for all the impurities, bugs, errors, or whatever you want to call them that stick to people's souls. They cause illness, insanity, and other bad things, so the usual desire is to find a way to get rid of them."
"Now that you mention it, that is exactly what I thought it was. Point (deadpan).
"You weren't thinking anything of the sort, were you? Anyway, they've shifted beyond that. Simply put, they want to improve people's specs by attaching artificially-created spiritual damage to their souls."
Kuina looked disgusted just saying it.
But she continued despite the bitter look on her face.
"It's the digital version of what has long been known as an evil spirit or namanari. They start eating raw meat for nutrition, they grow horns from their head, they grow hair all over their body, and they grow claws and fangs… You can just think of it as redesigning a human. If they wanted to, they could probably give you wings to fly through the sky or gills to breathe underwater. And if Government can do that, surely you can tell that you mustn't rely on your current appearance."
"…"
In her red hat, Isabelle – or the girl going by that name – looked down at her hands.
The Anthills.
That project added the traits of a vessel to artificially create vessels.
"Hey, you're a vessel, so you know the penalty when you lose, right?"
"O-of course. I have a super-sized understanding of that. Ah ha ah ha ha (deadpan)."
"You do actually know that, don't you!? A-ahem. The loser's heart is hit by the same shock as seeing the god they worship killed before their eyes. They're stuck in a mindless daze for twenty four hours and they'll slowly obey what anyone says like a zombie. But it normally doesn't leave any lasting effects. Yes, normally."
"Am I not normal?"
"No. Government must have given you certain orders afterwards: 'Stand and fight. Summon something in sound range *** with a cost of *** and then lose.' The loser can't fight a complex battle, but there may have been something assisting you. And what do you think would happen to a human soul after doing that every few minutes…no, every half minute or so?"
"Nuuun (deadpan)…???"
"Then I'll tell you. There are different patterns to a damaged heart. By having you summon the Materials on a list put together for a certain purpose and then losing each time, they can reshape your soul how they want. It's a lot like chiseling away at a stone pillar. …And that's what Isabelle is. The pillar named Kawamo Sayuri was chiseled away again and again and again!! They chiseled away at you until you were an unrecognizable vessel!!"
Government was an ally of justice and they likely believed they were doing the right thing.
Even if they were creating a new table by taking apart, sawing at, and hammering at a beautiful paulownia dresser without knowing its value.
Thus, this was different from multiple personalities. It was more like a diamond created from a corpse.
The original person was no more. There was not a neat and tidy distinction between one and the other. Just as the picture in the locket and the blonde-haired blue-eyed military uniform girl looked nothing alike.
There was only Isabelle now.
"Hmm. Your claim does not even make a small-sized amount of sense."
"Why not?"
"Summoners and vessels work together as a set, so a summoner's soul would have had to be destroyed along with mine."
"Oh, that."
"The Anthills are supposed to mass-produce vessels, so destroying a summoner for each vessel is super-sized inefficient…"
"It's simple. Government sacrificed someone. That's all."
"?"
"One-on-one, they would destroy a summoner along with the vessel. But they just had to pair the mindless and broken summoner with another vessel candidate. And then they just had to give their orders. That summoner just had to bind contract after contract after contract after contract after contract after contract… The summoner doesn't actually die. They don't die, but they have to continue the process forever. Their life becomes nothing more than losing mock battles alongside each new vessel candidate. That's a tragedy in its own right. That is the truth of the Anthills."
Everyone had called them Anthills.
They may have assumed that was in reference to the building or facility.
But it was not.
The ants were eating through a person, not a thing.
Just like letting maggots crawl through stinky cheese, they intentionally opened holes in a human soul that was on the verge of crumbling into nothingness. While smiling at the improved flavor and value, they viewed the collapse as a good thing. It was a noble's game.
"Unfortunately…"
Murasame Kuina bit her lip and kept her voice low.
"It doesn't look likely that it's possible to make you Kawamo Sayuri again. The research on the soul itself hasn't gotten far and the greatest experts are in Government. But Government is full of scum and a single mistake could kill you instantly or transform you into some bizarre form. There's nothing we can do."
"…"
"But."
At this point, the girl's tone dropped even lower. Rather than coming from a vibration in her throat, it sounded like pure resentment seeping out from some other invisible organ.
"The people who did this and made you like this? I will send every last one of them to hell. Showing them hell isn't enough. I need to send them all there. That's all I can do, but because it's all I can do, I will do it as best I can. You'll see."
Perhaps it was coming directly from her soul.
It was like a dark red mist that would be fatal to merely touch or inhale.
"So withdraw from all of this, Sayuri. You don't need to protect them. You have no reason to. More importantly, the summoner I've bound a contract with is perfect. Biondetta will smash it all to pieces and I don't want you caught in that."
"I…" said the military uniform girl as her shoulders trembled. "I'm not very smart, so I don't understand all these details even a small-sized amount."
"Sayuri!!"
"Call me Isabelle. Sayuri doesn't sound right to me." She looked up. "But if I was created as something super-sized new after chiseling away a large pillar…"
She looked to the eyes of the girl she had once walked beside.
"And if, regardless of how it was made, it is a human soul that keeps me moving…"
And she said it.
Was this Kawamo Sayuri or Isabelle? Had this been there from the beginning or had it been added on later?
She did not know, but she spoke the honest thoughts in her mind.
"Then I don't know if I should let my hatred destroy 'this'."
"…!!"
Isabelle heard the sound of teeth grinding together.
It came from Murasame Kuina. Her left hand trembled ominously in its leather glove. That was Girl's Backdoor. When shaped like a gun, the strange device could control the young girl it pointed at. But Murasame Kuina did not aim it at Isabelle. She knew that was the simplest answer, but she could not let herself do it.
After all, Murasame Kuina knew that perfect answer had not come from the creation known as Isabelle. Her deep understanding of the girl named Kawamo Sayuri told her that.
But.
That was the real problem.
"Why did they have to take so much from you…?"
It lit the fire.
Massive firepower danced inside the internal combustion engine known as revenge.
"Why did the girl who thought like that have to be chewed up and spat back out as something entirely different all for someone else's benefit!? Why did someone who thinks like that have to have her heart destroyed!?"
"…"
"You weren't chosen because you had one-in-a-billion talent. It wasn't because you drew a legendary sword, because you were delivered by an angel from heaven, or because of any other grand trigger! Biondetta told me even I probably had better talent as a vessel. But Government chose you because they wanted to know if they could make something usable out of a completely normal person!! That was all!! Government gathered people like they were searching for files and throwing them in the trash! They gathered them and used them up!! And yet…!!"
"But that is not even a small-sized reason to overlook what you are doing now."
"Kh."
"No one wanted you to do this."
"Khhh."
"I don't want you to do this. I super-sized don't want it."
"Then!! What am I supposed to doooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!?"
Murasame Kuina let out a roar as if filling the world itself with her resentment.
She already knew that.
She had understood it from the very, very beginning.
Even if she had been worried, a kindhearted girl like Kawamo Sayuri would not want anyone to take vengeance on her murderer. If the alternative was someone dirtying their hands like that or letting it influence them forevermore, she would have preferred to be forgotten.
But Murasame Kuina could not accept that.
It was her, not anyone else in the world, who could not allow it.
Revenge was nothing more than a way of soothing one's own heart. By losing oneself in the act of revenge, they could avoid looking at the unbearable loss that felt like an insurmountable wall towering before them.
She knew that.
She knew that, she knew that, she knew that!!
So was she supposed to coldly process the information and continue forward? Was the proper human response to trample on her anger and loss with the precision of a clock's second hand and dispassionately continue on into the future?
She did not think so.
She did not care if that conclusion meant her gears were broken.
When it came down to it, the girl named Murasame Kuina did not want to forget.
The everyday life she had assumed would continue like normal had been cruelly destroyed beyond repair. Her childhood friend of ten years had been altered and destroyed until she did not even recognize her own name.
She did not want to accept that.
She did not want to move beyond that.
So…
Her vengeance was directed at more than just a simple criminal. Society, the world, and the current age acted as tyrants who could only make justifications for using overwhelming quantity and speed to wash away, fade, and erode what she cared about most. She did not want that and could not accept that, so to protect "what had once been", she acted alone to face it all.
A fierce wind blew back at her.
A great pressure pushed back at her like a flash flood or a landslide.
But the girl had challenged it all head-on and made it this far.
And so much of her had been worn away in the process.
"I refuse to accept it."
Her voice sounded like the heavy creaking of a giant rusty gear being forced into motion.
"This might all be for naught and I might be meaninglessly running away from reality, but I don't care. Those people tore Kawamo Sayuri to shreds and feasted on the profit, so I absolutely refuse to just let them go! Even if the entire world and you yourself don't want it!! I still won't accept it!!!!"
That was likely a form of justice.
And that made it much harder to stop than a simple evil deed.
Revenge was a justice that did not forgive, did not save, and did not bring happiness.
"…elp…"
Isabelle finally spoke as if she had been overwhelmed.
The unclear sound grew to a quiet voice.
"Help."
But she was not asking to be saved from this revenge.
Nor was she speaking on behalf of the researchers who had created her.
The face in the picture did not look right.
The name she heard did not sound right.
But this was still someone who was willing to express anger on her behalf.
So…
"Please help my friend."
Part 6
Shiroyama Kyousuke had first met Isabelle before binding a contract with her to take down the old-fashioned Illegal fighters over the Pacific.
It had been aboard the large Repliglass transport ship known as a Whooper Swan.
He had first asked if her name really was Isabelle.
She had not understood the point of the question, so she had answered that any name was fine: Sayuri, Isabelle, Before, or After. Even Doll or Weapon was acceptable. What she was called had no real meaning.
The boy had looked up into the sky.
When she had asked why, he had simply held a file out toward her.
It had given the name of their expected enemy.
A vessel was after revenge and working with an unknown summoner.
The vessel's name was Murasame Kuina.
The file had nothing to do with the midair battle over the Pacific. Shiroyama Kyousuke had already found bits and pieces of information on the enemy they were expected to run into that after that skirmish was over.
And he had known the reason behind the girl's revenge.
He had not known what Government was doing, but he had known that Isabelle was the result and that some kind of sacrifice had been made.
None of it had held much meaning for Isabelle.
She could not remember her original face or name.
Nothing in the file had seemed real to her.
But.
Even so.
The created girl named Isabelle had felt a slight ache in her heart when she saw the attached photo. She had not wanted that person to dirty their hands or destroy their body for her. She had not known where that feeling came from, but she had obeyed who she was at the moment. She had accepted it as correct.
So…
"Help her."
The words had naturally left her lips.
She had pointed to her own chest with her thumb and relied on the slight feeling that remained inside her.
"Help this girl's friend."
But…
"No, I don't think so."
The summoner had shaken his head.
And he had said something else instead.
"But I'll lend you a hand as soon as you're willing to call her your friend."
Part 7
A metallic sound burst out.
It came from Shiroyama Kyousuke and Biondetta.
They had both pulled out an Incense Grenade and slammed the bottom of it against the café billiards table.
It was like slamming down an empty glass after downing a strong drink.
The savior and the avenger glared at each other across the rectangular table.
"I will save Isabelle and her friend."
"Oh? You aren't giving in even after I brought up the Queen? How rare."
"I don't care if I'm contradicting myself. I can think that through later. None of that has anything to do with Isabelle who is asking for help right this instant."
"Hee hee. You are obsessed with battle, aren't you? The two of us are so very similar."
She could say whatever she wanted.
She could mock and deride him however she wished.
With his eyes displaying renewed faith in himself, Kyousuke reached for the pin of the Incense Grenade he pressed against the table.
Horned Biondetta responded in kind.
"Even so…"
The savior rabbit made a definite declaration.
"Yes…"
The vengeance cat spoke in the exact same tone of voice.
"I will never stop helping people."
"I will never stop helping people."
They pulled the pins.
They kicked their chairs back as they stood up and simultaneously pulled out their Blood-Signs. After precisely five seconds, both Incense Grenades detonated. A twenty meter Artificial Sacred Ground was constructed and the two vessel girls were forcibly called over from the distant building rooftop.
"Let's do this, Biondetta!!"
"I have decided on a super-sized reward for myself! So I will fight that girl!!"
The battle had begun before the girls even landed.
It was an extreme close-range fight. The opening ritual was the breaking of the three-dimensional Rose made of Petals, but they interfered with even that.
"Bang☆"
Biondetta acted first. With an explosive sound, she fired a sniper rifle round at close range.
She had yet to unfold her Blood-Sign, so she pulled the trigger in that state.
Kyousuke forcibly kept it away with his Repliglass Blood-Sign and rotated the Blood-Sign to let the force escape. He swung the long rod around for a powerful blow, but Biondetta used her folded gun barrel to hold it back and forcibly grabbed the heated joint of hers. She ignored the disconcerting sizzling sound as she unfolded the Blood-Sign. A second and third exchange followed.
They slipped through the slightest opening to launch White Thorns.
One from each of them struck the Rose simultaneously and the 216 Petals scattered across the Artificial Sacred Ground.
As the Petals were hit into the Spots, the two vessels changed form.
Murasame Kuina became the Original Green (k). Sound Range: Middle. Cost: 1.
Isabelle became the Original Yellow (s). Sound Range: High. Cost: 1.
They were both three meter slime Materials, but then something strange happened.
Kyousuke and Biondetta climbed directly onto the billiards table and directly clashed before the Materials could.
The attempt was obstructed by their protective circles, but those monsters of the 900s did not care.
"Cheshire Cat!!"
"Shut up, you damn rabbit!!"
They glared at each other.
It was almost like infighting in boxing, except they fought with their 180cm Blood-Signs.
Not even the Blood-Signs could break through the enemy's protective circle, but anything else was fair game. When one Blood-Sign left its protective circle, the other would strike it. They deflected, diverted, and pushed. They worked to throw off their opponent's aim, obstruct the growth of their Material, and gain the advantage themselves.
They seemed to be using spear or staff techniques, but it went beyond that.
The essence of a battle between summoners was building up their Materials and having them clash violently.
They would find slight gaps in the direct battle or work the interference into their plans and thus use the diverted path of their Blood-Sign to launch their White Thorns accurately around the Artificial Sacred Ground. A cushion of three or four ricochets was standard. Sometimes, they needed a complex set of six or seven ricochets to accurately hit the necessary Petal into a Spot.
This was a battle between those at the 900 level.
This was the realm of the monster children born from the results of the Fifteen Siblings Project.
It was a clash between savior and avenger.
Learning the rules of the occult and treating the Summoning Ceremony like a game…was just plain silly. This was the ultimate form of the ceremony in which they used everything the world had to offer in order to bring down the enemy before their eyes.
Kyousuke had the Feasting Flower (l v z – j). Sound Range: High. Cost: 4.
Biondetta had the Dancing Hammer (k k – h d i). Sound Range: High. Cost: 5.
Kyousuke had the Blood-Seeking Spear (b i h – e i – d p – t q). Sound Range: Low. Cost: 9.
Biondetta had the Scorpion's Tail in the Sandstorm (h u – c e – k k – d i – a – x). Sound Range: Low. Cost: 10.
Kyousuke had the Glittering Steel Mantis Reaper 05 (v i – o u – q u c – s n – a – r o l – e i – y w – f v – l i). Sound Range: Middle. Cost: 21.
Biondetta had the Bubbling Gears that Bring Aging and Reap Lifespans (n j – o u – h a – j v – a – l m – e i –t z – k r – n o – x i – g). Sound Range: Middle. Cost: 22.
One was a five meter mantis seemingly made of silver armor. That ultimate predator sliced through everything with its scythes that glittered like laser blades, bit into it all, brought it to its mouth, and chewed it apart.
The other was a collection of countless gears of varying size, making it one of the most inorganic Materials. That bizarre sadist sent the grinding sound of its interlocking gears slipping into the target's ears, which caused them to rapidly age like some kind of curse.
Kyousuke had made the first move, but Biondetta had followed after and always matched his sound range. Plus, her cost was always one above his. As he was acting first, Kyousuke's Material was naturally more worn down and cost was everything in the same sound range, so it was like being forced into a race where your rival's car was always blocking the way ahead.
But that just meant he had to put a stop to that.
During their high-speed exchange of White Thorns, Kyousuke used every method he had to interfere with her: grabbing at her Blood-Sign with his, throwing a smoke or stun grenade disguised as an Incense Grenade, using his Blood-Sign to grab at the coffee or tea cups on the tables and throw them at her, etc.
But none of it got through.
She kicked away the smoke grenade, she placed a metal tray over the stun grenade and stomped on it, she dodged the drink containers so they would not even hit her protective circle.
And in response, Biondetta spread her legs to shoulder width.
Kyousuke naturally grew cautious of what was hidden up that short skirt.
(Is it an interference style of grenade!?)
"Your gaze."
Hearing that, he realized the action had been a feint.
"Tch!!"
He quickly looked up just in time to hear Biondetta clack her back teeth unnaturally. The sharp light of a magnesium reaction escaped the demon's mouth and stabbed into his eyes.
"Isn't being two steps ahead the standard for us?"
In that slight pause and safe period she had created, Biondetta's Blood-Sign rapidly launched a White Thorn. It was not a strength-focused power shot. She just barely grazed the far right edge of the glowing white sphere for an intense spin shot. The White Thorn drew a sharp curve like a boomerang and accurately struck a certain Petal.
"My formation is already complete."
It was a small pile of three or four Petals.
And when they scattered, they reached other piles.
And on and on and on.
"My mirror-image copying strategy is only a smokescreen to hide my true intent."
More and more Petals were hit like falling dominoes, the chain reaction grew, and they were all flooded into the Spots. With each one, Biondetta's Material grew with frightening speed. Instead of a great number at once, it was a great number in a row. She built up the cost in no time as if running up a flight of stairs.
"And that true intent is to lay landmines which trigger a chain reaction!! Once the avalanche has begun, you have no way to stop it!!"
It was like a clean sweep.
The next thing he knew, she had exceeded a level that could be described with cost difference and sound range.
As Biondetta shook her tail decoration, a tall dark figure spoken of in Egyptian mythology stood next to her. That evil god was the symbol of injustice who ruled over dryness and darkness. He had killed Osiris, ruler of the underworld, and temporarily taken his throne.
In other words, this was from the Divine-class.
Kyousuke was still stuck in the Regulation-class, so there was simply no way for him to defeat this.
"Farewell, savior. Farewell, my despicable mirror-image."
Biondetta lightly spun her Blood-Sign around like a baton as she smiled thinly. She rested the long rod on her shoulder and spoke.
"When you next wake, this will all be over. So rest easy and enjoy the taste of defeat."
The waitress demon snapped her other hand's fingers.
A moment later, the darkness rushed in.
The dark figure's silhouette crumbled into a deadly mist that dried up everything it touched. And that flew toward Kyousuke's Material…toward Isabelle.
No Regulation-class Material of any sound range could defeat a Divine-class.
Thus, she should have been destroyed in a single blow.
And she would have been if not for the high-pitched sound as Kyousuke himself cut in between them inside his protective circle.
That circle would remain as long as his Material was not destroyed and he would not experience the mindlessness of defeat.
The protective circle defended against all external and internal factors that would obstruct the summoner….or rather, the ceremony itself.
Biondetta spun around the Blood-Sign that had been resting on her shoulder.
"Stalling for time earns you nothing."
"True, this doesn't solve the fundamental problem. And this cheap trick won't work again. My kinetic vision can't keep up with a Divine-class's movements. And more importantly, all Materials are filled with combative instincts, so it'll probably charge at me itself."
Yes.
If this strategy was effective, the theory of these battles would be very different. The summoners would stand out front to receive all the attacks while the Material bombarded their enemy from safety.
But that was not how things worked.
The Material moved out front and the summoner stayed back. There was a good reason for that.
And yet…
"But it took you an awful long time to set everything up, didn't it? The Artificial Sacred Ground lasts for an average of ten minutes. So how much time has passed? Eight minutes? Nine? The White Thorns are recharged every ten seconds, so it shouldn't be that hard to keep track of the time."
"You don't mean…?"
"I just have to escape."
He thrust his Blood-Sign forward this time.
"Besides, this isn't our real fight. So thanks for showing off that special strategy that I'm sure you've put a lot of effort into developing. I think I'll put that data to good use when it comes to our evacuation operation."
"You…you damn rabbiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!"
Kyousuke did not respond to Biondetta's rage.
He spoke to his partner instead.
"Isabelle, destroy our footing!!"
<——————>
"Isabelle, don't get too hung up on this one chance!!"
The ground split and swallowed up everything.
Kyousuke, Biondetta, and the two Materials all fell straight down. They fell several dozen meters within the forest of dozens…no, of more than a hundred pillars that supported the large park. They fell straight toward the ocean below.
"Ma'am!! You can do it now! Focus your aim on-…"
As soon as Biondetta shouted to her vessel, the protective circle wavered around her. Then it vanished and the powerful wind struck her unprotected body from below.
(The ten minutes are up!?)
The monsters created from the girls returned to their original forms.
(But that's fine. Wherever we land, I just have to use an Incense Grenade…no, my sniper rifle…!!)
Biondetta's mind was boiling, but then she noticed Kyousuke smiling thinly her way as they both fell at the same speed.
His lips moved.
His voice did not have time to reach her, but she could tell what he was saying.
"Your protective circle is gone."
"…?"
"So you need to be careful. There's nothing left to protect you."
"Wha-…!? Oh, no!?"
She did not have time to shout.
One of the countless pillars had something like a metal tower or framework sticking out horizontally. As soon as she spotted that maintenance crane shaft with its attached pulley, a dreadfully dull sound burst out.
Kyousuke did not bother checking what happened to Biondetta after she vanished from view. He extended his arms and legs to control his midair position and approached Isabelle who was also falling.
He held her in his arms and aimed for the ocean surface.
They produced a mighty splash.
Part 8
An object quietly swayed back and forth in midair.
"Honestly…"
It was the waitress demon named Biondetta.
Just before colliding with the crane shaft, she had used the wind pressure and her position to twist around like an acrobat jumper and wrapped her entire body in the long leather belt that normally held her Blood-Sign. And instead of randomly, it was calculated out to distribute the impact to her body like a parachute harness.
Then she had intentionally wrapped it around the metal framework of the crane shaft to fully escape the impact that should have torn off a limb if not breaking her torso in two.
Her cellphone rang.
She answered it while still dangling down and heard the voice of her client and vessel Murasame Kuina.
"Where are you!?"
"If you look up, you should see my finest pair of adult underwear."
"Well, as long as you can still move. I landed in the water safely, so let's decide where to meet up."
"Yes, of course. But please be on the lookout for that damn rabbit. He loves tricks as much as me, so I could see him finding you on your own and defeating you to avoid the battle between summoners."
"Then you come get me."
"Yes, ma'am."
She manipulated the leather belt so it seemed to move on its own like a strange tentacle and she managed to climb on top of the complicated framework of the crane shaft.
The closest emergency staircase was three meters away, but she did not hesitate to take the jump without a running start. She did not reach the landing on her level, but her feet accurately found the landing a level lower.
"It hurts that he managed to get away with knowledge of our technique. Biondetta, do you have a way to make up for that lost advantage?"
"I will prepare anything you desire, ma'am."
Biondetta jumped more than ran down the emergency stairs located alongside the pillar.
"I already explained that there is a good possibility that their evacuation operation and bodyguard plan have been changed, didn't I?"
"What about it?"
"Given the balance of power within Government, that damn rabbit won't be able to change their bodyguard plans so easily. To put it another way, they'll ignore him at some point. And that will create friction. I just need to read his algorithm. I just need to ask what I would do."
"Get to the point."
"I can settle this with a single phone call."
She arrived at the lowest level which was just off the ocean's surface.
She removed the cellphone from her ear and spoke directly to the soaking wet girl in front of her.
"What demon doesn't whisper into the ear of an impure soul to bend them to her will?"
Part 9
Kyousuke and Isabelle had arrived on the opposite bank.
The leather glove on his left hand felt uncomfortable after soaking up the seawater, but he could not complain.
They climbed onto the concrete base and used the emergency stairs to arrive at a giant bridge covered in pedestrians. He casually glanced around, but the costume event worked against him here. That striking waitress uniform would be buried among all the outfits of the Delayed Walpurgis.
The Government coordinator spoke to him over his smartphone.
"Alice (with) Rabbit, Government has made some adjustments based on your request. For the withdrawal operation, we can spare a Stingray Repliglass transport ship and a Blue Whale Repliglass submarine. They will be carrying the classified server that acts as the core unit of the entire Anthill Project and Miss Maria Heartocean who leads the project. Is that acceptable?"
"Perfectly."
"I have emailed you the details of the plan, but simply put, the Stingray will pick up Miss Heartocean within Toy Dream 35, carry her to the Blue Whale outside the city, and that will dive to bring her out of the country. You can only help in the Stingray zone which is the only part that Liar Cat can attack."
"That's fine. The Cheshire Cat is bound to show up no matter how obvious a trap it is. She isn't going to wait for her revenge to grow cold."
"…Are you saying you've already made contact with her?"
Kyousuke hung up without answering.
Isabelle shook her head like a wet dog and looked up at him with water dripping from her.
"I said it in the beginning."
"Yeah."
"As long as you fulfill my objective in the very, very end, I'll go along with a super-sized number of detours."
"I remember. So let's go save your friend who's been deceived by that liar of a cat. …It's true she may have been the initial spark, but it never would have grown this much without that Cheshire Cat continually dumping fuel onto it."
What was salvation to the girl named Isabelle and what could he do to help her?
Not even he knew that anymore.
She was a cheaply and simply made vessel. For that purpose alone, her soul had been eaten away, her physical appearance had crumbled due to that, and not even her own parents or best friend could have recognized the pitiful ruins she had become. She was what had budded from that.
But the girl had hoped for something.
Her sense of self, mind, personality, memories, and everything else were only vaguely defined, but she had still wanted to save the friend whose name and face she could not remember but who she had apparently once walked alongside.
That was her most pressing desire and she felt granting it would save her as well.
So Alice (with) Rabbit would respect the definition Isabelle had found for herself.
He would respect the heart that, before even thinking of saving herself, had wished to return that misguided friend to the proper path.
"I'll ask you as many times as it takes. Bow (deadpan)."
"Right."
"Please help my friend."
It was only slightly different from the cold and distant request she had made before.
But the words had definitely come from the small girl's heart.
It was not someone's empty shell.
It was not the mere vestiges of someone.
It truly came from the heart of the girl named Isabelle.
Kyousuke still had no definite definition of what would save this girl.
But he smiled just a little.
In the end, he was taking the same path as Biondetta. It was a twisted path that could never be seen as straight. At first glance, it looked like he was granting a request, but he was really drawing out the words he most wanted to hear. He knew that, but he was still satisfied.
Even if that path was about to crumble away, he still believed it could bear the weight of at least one life.
"As you wish."
The summoner and the vessel disappeared into the crowd.
The sun would set soon.
Then the all-important Anthill evacuation operation would slice through the darkness.
Or a Story Set Further in the Past
They had been together since they were little.
They had always, always been together.
Even among childhood friends and groups of friends, a leader or a hierarchy tended to form. But that sort of distortion never seemed to form between Murasame Kuina and Kawamo Sayuri.
They could decide who made the day's decisions with a coin toss.
Sometimes Murasame Kuina would tug on her friend's hand and head out to play, but other times Kawamo Sayuri would selfishly insist they were going out to eat ice cream and crepes. If someone had asked them who the leader was, they both would have immediately pointed at their own face and said "me". But that was fine. That was why they were truly equal friends, unlike the other groups whose equality was only skin deep.
"Kuina-chan, over here."
"Eh heh heh. We're in the same class again."
"What should we do over the next break? Is there anywhere you want to go?"
Of course, it was a human relationship, so there had been complications.
But in the end, they had shared everything.
They had always found themselves smiling together once it was all over. They had been the best of friends.
No matter what happened, they had assumed there was no way they could ever be separated.
"Let's make a promise."
"If either of us runs into some kind of trouble, we'll go help each other out."
"It's a promise. Okay, Sayuri?"
"…"
Murasame Kuina remembered something that filled her with despair.
She stood by a grave as the sun set. She had made it herself. There had been no remains and no one knew whether Kawamo Sayuri was alive or dead, so the grave was empty.
"I told myself I wouldn't cry in front of her," she muttered as the waitress demon stood next to her. "But she must have told herself the same thing. She was a crybaby and a worrier. It was the worst possible combination, but she was always smiling in front of me."
She remembered. Only Murasame Kuina remembered.
The girl had seemed plain and quiet, but she had actually been a jack-of-all-trades who could do anything. But she had never noticed her own value and instead focused on collecting mascots like Juddark and Sheriff Kitty even after entering middle school. Instead of climbing to the next stage, she had believed happiness lay in what she already had. She had been Cinderella before finding the fairy godmother.
It was a meaningless conversation.
The endlessly dry air blew between the two of them.
And finally, Biondetta quietly spoke.
"Ma'am."
"What?"
"There is no need to restrain yourself any longer."
That had been her limit.
Murasame Kuina's face crumpled and something clogged inside her flowed out. Her tear ducts opened and large clear drops filled her eyes.
Before they could fall down her cheeks, the waitress demon embraced the girl.
All she could do was cry.
"Why!? Why!?"
All the words she had been holding back spilled out and she shouted at the world's unfairness.
"Why did it have to be Sayuri? Why did she have to be chosen, why did she have to have everything taken from her, and why did she have to be made into a toy for whoever those Government people are!? Why did she have to have her soul messed with and her body and personality destroyed! That…that isn't Sayuri anymore! She looks like a French doll made from her body!! Why did something so terrible have to happen to her!?"
Biondetta said nothing.
She simply waited as her client let out everything she had kept bottled up in her chest.
"And worst of all, why don't we have the power to turn her back into Sayuri!? I don't care about any of this summoner or vessel stuff. I couldn't care less about the gods or the Unexplored-class beyond them!! If you have so much power stored up, then why can't you save just one girl!?"
It was a lament of despair.
It was a cry of resentment toward herself and others and a call for the destruction of the world.
But Biondetta did not laugh. Nor did she show any disgust or mockery.
Who had decided that the will of the world mattered more than individual circumstances? Who had decided that a small heart had to be crushed when it saw that giant metal ball at the top of a slope?
It had nothing to do with logic, efficiency, calculations, or profit.
What was wrong with fighting simply to fulfill one's own heart?
"Ma'am."
Biondetta quietly spoke to Murasame Kuina who continued to bawl in her arms like a child.
"It is true I lack the power to save Miss Kawamo Sayuri. My power may not be what you truly desire."
She spoke earnestly and sincerely.
She gathered strength in the arms around the girl.
"But if you wish, I will assist you with any form of revenge. There is no need to worry about the realistic difficulty of it. I am Freedom Award 920, Liar Cat. I am nothing more than a tool to accomplish your revenge."
"…"
The girl simply sobbed for a while.
But as time slowly passed, Murasame Kuina wrapped her arms around the waitress demon's back. She grabbed at the fabric and clenched it so very, very tightly that it nearly tore.
"Lend me your strength, Biondetta…"
That resentful voice seemed to echo up from the depths of hell.
At the same time, it was the voice of a girl who felt hopelessly trapped.
"I can never forgive Government!! They turned Sayuri into that!! They tore our memories to pieces! And yet they have the nerve to call themselves the world police!! So I don't care if it's wrong or if it means straying from the proper path! Lend me your strength, Biondetta!! I need that for my…no, for our revenge! So help me!! Help us!!!!!"
Still embracing the girl who was as dangerous as shattered glass, Biondetta silently smiled.
And the demon spoke the decisive words.
"As you wish."