Vol 2 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1 - The Heart to Trust Comrades and Despair

A nightmare

A nightmare that I often have

A nightmare in which I couldn't save my little sister, as afflicted by the Labyrinth Disease

Maybe it's impossible for me

It's a dream in which I have that fear

A dream in which, ht that I would soon be able to save her

She disappeared

I wailed

La my weakness

But,

””

The nightmare I had that day was different In the first place, it was a night to do with the Labyrinth Disease

It was a dream about karaoke

A drea at the karaoke booth despite my protests

The worst dream I could have

And then,

”Ugh”

My face gri pulled back frohtmare suddenly

My face grimaces My eyes open wide

I awake frohtmare

I aeon of an alternate diirl with the Labyrinth Disease

The girl is right before me

The diseased girl

In the world covered with flower beds

Red, blue, yellow, various colors

A girl stands in the center

The girl is being antic hand that has black skin like that of a devil

Held in the right hand of the girl, is a chainsaw, and with a throaty whine, it is raised up with a powerful swing

I then realize

Just now, after getting kicked on the head by her, for a few seconds,

”Kuh, I see I was out cold!?”

The chainsaw grinds

I try to dodge, butchainsaw cut the flowers apart

The petals dance

And, just as ether with them,

”Hey, what're you doing!? Don't space out shi+nnosuke!”

A girl kicks me from behind

It's Mizuiro Gunjou With golden hair and strong-willed eyes Her petite body quickly stands before me

I can only feelfrom her kick

”Argh”

I cry out like a blockhead Thanks to that, et decapitated I roll around on the flower bed Choking smell of the flowers As the scenery swirl around ic

The 《Headphone Fuzz》 plugged into her cute left ear is playing a cursed song that's not really cute at all A curse fills her brain to the brim

And then,

” Sea Moon Wheel switch!”

Gunjou uses her ic

Instantly, multiple transparent, jellyfish-like balls filled ater appear around her, and they start rotating with a buzz

The grinding chainsaw and the buzzing jellyfish collide Collide Then, the chainsaw gets severed

Overwhelirl

Gunjou grabs the neck of the diseased girl

”Checkth to save the world!”

The diseased girlface

I look hard at that, and narrow my eyes

But, Gunjou has no mercy for her If she doesn't kill her, she'd be killed This is such a world More iirl isn't killed, the hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of huht forth by the girl would disappear

That's why there is no need to get lessly emotional about it If one relaxes for even an instant, not just one's own life, but the lives of many people would be robbed away from them

So

””

So ---

”It it me who is the savior!”

Gunjou hollers as if she were saying that to encourage herself And then, she breaks the neck of the girl The girl dies Easily

Instantly, the scenery changes

The flower beds disappear

The place is the maneuvers venue

Inside the gyh for the purpose of exterirls

Instantly, multiple transparent, jellyfish-like balls filled ater appear around her, and they start rotating with a buzz

The girl we just fought was a fake

An illusion

A simulation

It was a virtual dungeon generated by the school's practicethe 《Headphone Fuzz》 attached to our ears as an intermediary

My class, year 1 class 5, were having an exercise in labyrinth raiding inside that dungeon

Our homeroom teacher, Honjou Tsukasa, says

”Okay, Arisu shi+nnosuke was a little unsightly at the end but for today's exercise, our class is again the fastest one to clear the labyrinth You guys are pretty good”

Looking around me, there are twenty students of class 5 in the maneuvers venue

In the virtual dungeon, only Gunjou and I had broken through into the rooirl was, and there was apparently nobody else around me, but that was just an illusion, and everyone had beenhelter–skelter nearby, it seems

Lying on the ground, I look around absent-mindedly

Gunjou, who is beside me, immediately looks down at me with cold eyes and says

” you're being laid back again, what on earth are you planning?”

”About?”

”Your true power is not at that level right? In the first place, the power that you showed me in the labyrinth born out of that 《Asahi Momoka》”

”Is at this level right? That's why I almost died”

”You exterirl”

”Huh, that's strange That should have been you right?”

Gunjou glares at me And says

” if you weren't there I would have died, and the world would have ended as well You were the only who did everything, but yet, but yet why're you letting me take the credit”

At that moment, our homeroom teacher, Honjou Tsukasa says to us

”What're you guys arguing about?”

I answer

”She'saround towards the end”

”No way”

Uttered Gunjou in a surprised voice

Honjou Tsukasa-sensei nods in agreement

”That's true, shi+nnosuke The simulation this time is just a rank 3 labyrinth you know? So what's up with that predicament you were in?”

”I'm a little sleep-deprived”

”For crying out loud compared to him, Mizuiro Gunjou, you onderful today as well As expected of an elite from the Mizuiro house”

If it were the usual Gunjou, she would be puffing out her chest, full of confidence, but noith a face that seeree with that, she looks down at me one more time and leaves the place

”And also, Hishi+ro shi+ro, Yuuyaood ether with Gunjou and shi+nnosuke, the 『Hero Team』, who had stayed until the end and cleared the labyrinth in that 《Asahi Momoka incident》

『Hero Team』

Right now, it's name of the team made up of the six of us

We probably have become famous, as the team of heroes who stayed all the way till the end and cleared the unexpectedly high level labyrinth born out of the diseased girl called Asahi Moht have caused the deaths of 3 one bad

I look hard at the s Gunjou,

” even though we're killing heroes, we're being railed as heroes huh”

I murmur dully

The rest of the students startas well

The next period is a classrooet ht aon't be on time

But still, I did not move

Hishi+ro shi+ro, who has been watching me, approaches me

Bearing gray hair, and a pair of strange, piercing, red eyes

Behind him, shi+ro's friends --- Yuuya him like his shadow as usual

shi+ro says

”She got ain?”

He extends his hand to me

Ignoring his hand, I reply while getting up

”In the first place, do we need to take these lessons seriously?”

”You get rades”

”Money-er”

”Are you really saying that?”

shi+ro smiles

I start walking with a foolish grin on my face

TheSince one needs lots of ic

The ic

The better perfor 《Headphone Fuzz》 it requires, and money is never sufficient no er In order to save my little sister, I need a limitless amount of money

I need power

I need money and power

But

””

shi+ro looks hard at me and says

”You rather let go of the money than let the school know your true power The truth is, you were the one who killed Asahi Moht?”

”It was Gunjou”

”It's impossible for Gunjou”

”Ohh, I wonder? You see as if you hated each other in public, but are actually lovers?”

Without getting provoked, shi+ro says

”You are er than Gunjou In those finalGunjou could have done Thus, the one who disposed of Asahi Momoka had to be you”

I return

”For a person who Escaped and got out quickly, don't say it as if you had witnessed it yourself I wasn't of any help Gunjou did her best That's the truth”

At the very least, the part about being not of any help is the truth As a person who is trying to save irls With such dirtied hands, I wonder what kind of face should I make when I meet my little sister?

shi+ro looks at me intently and says

”If you really want to insist on that, it's fine”

”Then don't talk to me anymore”

”That wouldn't do At any rate, we're”

”We're not friends”

”We went to karaoke together right?”

”That was you bullying me”

”But you looked like you have fun, didn't you?”

”Really? That was just aon your part, wasn't it?”

I turn around and start walking shi+ro says to my back

”Hey shi+nnosuke”

””

”Your eneht be the same one, you know?”

My feet stop I turn around I look at shi+ro with half-opened eyes

Hishi+ro shi+ro

A capable person whose ability is on par with the super elite Mizuiro Gunjou

With strange, red, clouded eyes which I surmise must have been the result of some kind of experimentation he underwent He has a 《Headphone Fuzz》 that is configured to use 6 specialized offensive uration

His movements in the labyrinth onderful Rational and accurate Even though it's of a different nature from Gunjou, he too possessed charis other class aside from Himi and Yousuke, they would probably follow

But, he remains isolated

shi+ro, Yousuke, and Hih they said that they wanted to defeat Gunjou and become the heroes to clear the labyrinth, they would never increase their comrades

But yet, to a ill-natured person who's isolated by the rest of the class, he's even willing to go to the extent of paying me to invite me to his team

What on earth is theof this?

I look hard at shi+ro --- no, I look hard at shi+ro, Himi and Yousuke and say

” what do you mean by enemy?”

shi+ro looks intently at me

”You tell me”

”I have no such thing as enemies”

”Ohh then who did I save you from? The ones who attacked you the other day were the special ht?”

Taikou Pharantic research corporation that our school has several contracts with in order for us to be able to raid labyrinths

When a diseased girl appears, Taikou Pharation of the labyrinth brought forth by the girl

And my cousin, Sanae Yayoi, is a researcher orks there

I cock my head to the side, and smile

”Then, shi+ro's enemy is really Taikou Pharmaceuticals?”

It was an enemy I deduced previously With the skill level of shi+ro, he could easily earn ician anywhere There are plenty of safe employers to ith

So why did he choose to come to this school?

In this school, he could die instantly frole mistake, so ould he coirls?

In the first place, there are only three types of people ould come to this school

Those who need power no matter what

Those who need money no matter what

Those ant to save the world no matter what

But shi+ro is probably different With abilities like his,for hioal he needs to accomplish He must have a secret

Of course, anyone would have one or two secrets

I say

” well then, those red eyes are really a product of experi to take revenge?”

It was a very common story

More like, such hatred should be dispersed on a daily basis around Taikou Pharmaceuticals

Considering that, if what h level labyrinth which appeared a while back --- the 《Asahi Momoka incident》 was true, then, it was all caused by the human experimentation done by Taikou Pharmaceuticals, it seemed

The labyrinth disease onset in Asahi Momoka was forcibly caused by Taikou Pharmaceuticals

And do the staff of this school know that?

Does the government of this country know that?

Or was it an independent action of Taikou Pharmaceuticals?

How much power does Taikou Pharht now?

I don't know all that

At the very least, the official news about Taikou Phar involved in the Asahi Momoka incident --- never did come out

”Is your enemy Taikou Pharmaceuticals?”

I said, and shi+ro smiles

”I never said that”