Vol 2 Chapter 2 (2/2)
”No, I can handle it hn? What's this, I got a e I'll kill whoever touches my Onii-sama? What the hell, it's creepy”
It's Yayoi
Sanae Yayoi
My cousin who has been e of a Taikou Phare of just fifteen
She's the only person ould call me 'Onii-sama' My real little sister Saki called me 'Onii-chan' but for soet theof this at all
I say
”That would be from 『Taikou Pharmaceuticals』”
”She's pretty good Can I hang up for a sec? I' to send her a virus to kill her”
”By the way, she's probably my cousin”
”I see So what? She's not taking orders from you”
That's the kind of guy Liezel is We are just connected by ned interest
And that interest is that, both Liezel and I have no interest in the world's govern technology that can't be turned into profits
I say
”I can hang up, but tell ain?”
Liezel then says
”No, that's not it I've completed the Holy Sword switch”
For an instant,that, I , surprised utterance,
”Wha”
Holy Sword switch --- that's the na developed for the purpose of saving labyrinth diseased girls
Athe labyrinth away froirl
If that has been coirls who have turned into eternal labyrinths, which was previously thought to be impossible, could be done
In other words, I've just gotten to first base to saving Saki It's no longer a dreas of a fool
Just as I' further to Liezel, he says,
”I' to kill your little sister”
The call ended
”My”
I look intently atit Searching the Internet, I found the general contact number of Taikou Pharmaceuticals and dial it
The number connects immediately
But it doesn't connect to the general reception The redirect tone sounds, and it immediately connects to my cousin, Sanae Yayoi
”O-Onii-sama! You've finally decided to come to our side”
I cut her off and say
”It's really creepy so stop eavesdropping on me”
”I' to haret rid of the hindrance immediately”
”Stop that right now Otherwise you'll be killed”
But for some reason, Yayoi says happily,
”Ah! Ah! Are you worried about ht, Onii-sama, you're really kind”
”Shut up Just stop”
”I'll be fine! While you weren't around all this while, as a researcher”
”I'anization”
Instantly, it's easy to tell Yayoi's voice jump
”I-Is that true!? I'll stop right away! I'll stop now!”
It's a lie of course
I'll never become the coirl through human experimentation However, there's no need to tell her that
”O-O-Onii-saether from now on”
I ignore her and cut the line
Upon doing that, a voice sounds behind me
”H-Hey shi+nnosuke! What're you doing! A diseased girl has appeared! Aren't you going back? The lesson is starting!”
It's the voice of Gunjou
I turn around And look at her with half-opened eyes
With a angry-looking, yet so face, she looks hard at me
My cellphone rings again I pick up the call
” the hacking suddenly stopped with your call to Taikou Pharmaceuticals Did you ask them to stop?”
It's Liezel Sounding a little annoyed
”Well”
”If you interfere withfun, I'll kill even you”
”Ha, try it”
”Aah, I shall do that”
He said Snap snap snap, I snapthat ht happen ---
At thatsound of tires The grind of an engine The sound of an auto in one me
But, I did not turn around Ifrom my 《Headphone Fuzz》
【In an instant ♪In a flash ♪In the time of a flash ♪
The flash of time, the flash of an instant ♪In an instant ♪In a flash ———】
I murmur
” Acceleration switch ---”
A switch flips in my body
Magic spreads throughout my whole body and accelerates my flesh I can only accelerate for just one second But, that would be enough
I kick the ground and ju to run inally at
An Audi SUV
It drives up onto the pavement, and stops There is no driver Neither is there anyone the front passenger seat In the rear passenger seats, a beautiful teenage boy with blond hair is sitting there with a grin on his face
It's Liezel Baimeister
I land on the bonnet of the car I glare at Liezel through the windshi+eld
While shtedly, Liezel points to the car and h I can't hear him, I can tell that he said,
”Hurry up and hop on, trash”
In German
I get off the bonnet And open the door to the rear passenger seats
”shi+nnosuke!”
Said Gunjou
I turn around
”What?”
”Where're you going?”
”I have no obligation to tell you, do I?”
”A diseased girl has appeared”
”So?”
”Guh”
Gunjou glares at me She then looks hard at the Liezel who's behind me, inside the car, and says
” I thought you said you have no comrades?”
”This is no comrade”
Liezel then sly from inside the car
”Hahaha, who's she? Your acquaintance? What is a 'comrade'?”
Gunjou scowls
Ignoring her, I get into the car
Liezel taps the 《Headphone Fuzz》 attached to his left ear with his finger and then says
”Hurry up and close the door, shi+nnosuke If you don't close the door, I can't enable the car's auto function Jeez, what an idiotic safety feature I'll reprogram it later”
”shi+nnosuke!”
”What”
”I, I' back to school!”
””
”I'll attend the class, and enter the labyrinth And then save the world Because if I don't do it if we don't do it, then, lots of people will get sed by the labyrinth and die”
She really is a fool
”shi+nnosuke!” Said Gunjou I turn around
A good girl
I should stay away from her
”Do as you like”
””
For so face Her face looks as if she's looking at me for help
At that moment, Liezel looks at Gunjou and says
”What's wrong with her? Annoying Shall I kill her?”
He starts rotating his finger in the air This kid is strong Terribly strong A person who doesn't live in a world that's soft, warht be able to beat I grab that hand of his
”Stop, Liezel She's my classmate”
”So?”
”If you lay a finger on her, I'll kill you”
Liezel looks at reen eyes stare at me with deep interest,
”Uhn? Don't tell me she's really your comrade?”
”None of your business”
”Well, whatever You owethat displeases e to threaten you”
He's serious
I look hard at Liezel, and turn my eyes towards Gunjou with a scowl on my face
Snow is falling
Gunjou is still looking intently atface
Why is shesuch a face?
”shi+nnosuke!”
Gunjou says again She goes on to say so more, but I have closed the door and can't hear her
Liezel taps his 《Headphone Fuzz》 and says
”Drive on”
The engine howls The steering wheel turns by itself The car collides into the guardrail, turn sharply, then forcibly drives itself back to the road
My cellphone rings
It's my homeroom teacher Honjou Tsukasa
”hello”
”What're you doing shi+nnosuke! A diseased girl has appeared Come back quickly!”
”Sorry I' a stomach-ache”
” do you intend to betray our expectations?”
Even though I have no obligation to reply
”No, besides, I won't be heading too far out I should be able to get back in the middle of class”
” I see Then, it's fine The labyrinth this time has a modest raid difficulty of 05, with Gunjou, shi+ro, and Kiri, our class will take the top spot again anyway”
At present, humanity can clear a rank 12 eternal labyrinth that has no ti any casualties
And, the rank this time is 05
Even though it has a time limit, with those members in our class, it should be an easy win
As long as it doesn't suddenly turn into an irregular situation like that Asahi Momoka incident
In other words, the difficulty level this time is low Whichthat, I feel a little relieved Following that, I scowl, not knohy I' relieved Perhaps it's because shi+ro, Yousuke, Himi, Gunjou and Kiri probably won't die this time
”But if you don't make it in time for the raid, you'll incur a penalty”
”Understood”
What kind of penalty? Like not getting a sauna installed?
”Jeez Gunjou is also not here, I have to call her next wait, ah, she caht! With Gunjou and shi+ro it'd be an easy win All right, let's all get started The tiirl and save the world”
I hang up
Liezel, who's sitting beside rins and says to me
”You sure are popular I didn't expect you to be working as an idol in japan, huh?”
”Unfortunately I'm better at Enka”
”Huh?”
”Doesn't et to the main topic”
Liezel then snaps his fingers A ser-like object appears in his hand
It's the holy sword
It has the saer conjured when I use the Holy Sword switch But it's not the real thing It's probably a 3D i developed
”This?”
Liezel nods at my query
”Yeah”
”Looks the same to me”
”If you want its appearance changed, I can change it for you but it'll take some time”
”No, it's fine the way it is So, how completed is it?”
Liezel answers right away
”In theory, it should be able to completely sever the disease away froirl”
It was already able to do that previously Severing the disease and killing the girl as a result But it would be htthe Holy Sword switch but --- in the end, it's useless
Asahi Momoka died
Holy Sword switch was incomplete
I ask
”After severing it, what happens to the girl?”
”Anyone's guess In theory, the girl should return to her norht still die However, whichever the case, you caht? To this Kichijouji High that kills tons of girls”
That's right
I ca that
Even if I don't conduct trials on the the them If I can save them with this power, if I can save them ---
””
But, that's just an excuse I too, aht to mock Yayoi
Liezel asks me
”Have you already tested the Holy Sword switch?”
”Yeah”
”Hoas it?”
Then, I remember Asahi Momoka I re her and her fa
I say
”I almost died”
Liezel laughs
”Ah-haha The Holy Sword switch still has a short-range But who cares about that What happened to the girl?”
Doingon my face, I say
”She died”
”But you severed the disease?”
”Yeah”
”Then the girl was saved It seeone to hell if she had died, still afflicted with the labyrinth disease”
I have never heard of such a thing
Go to hell?
”What're you talking about?”
I say, to which Liezel smiles
”I thought that if I said that, the good kid shi+nnosuke will have less guilt”
What an unnecessary shi+tty consideration To top that off, Liezel is looking atmy reaction
I reply
”There is no guilt Any living being will eventually die”
”If you're desperate, just experiirl where you e to save her”
”Shut up It's none of your business”
”Well, fine”
”Then, hurry up and get on with the explanation How completed is it?”
Liezel then says
”Like I said, in theory, it's completed to the level where you can save theht away”
”Where?”
”I constructed a research lab Let's do it there Ah, but before that, blindfold your eyes I won't tell you where my lab is”
He throws a blindfold-like thing to me Clearly, he doesn't trust me But that's the correct attitude Like anization And that's the reason behind the ianization
Trusting no one
Never opening up to anyone
Comrades? Friends? Lovers? Once such words are uttered, one can't save anyone
””
I put on the blindfold and bury er seat Once I shutsucked to the depths of a darkness
The blindfold is probably s
In any case, I have no choice but to surrender my body here
I need that Holy Sword switch
I need the power to save my little sister
””
Once again, I saw a nightmare inside the darkness
A dream in which I couldn't save my little sister
Even as I tried desperately to save my little sister, I couldn't save her ---
I ran inside the darkness
I ran
I ran
I ran to a place where a door stood, froh, and I opened that door as if I was anticipating salvation
Upon doing that, for some reason, I found a karaoke box behind that door
shi+ro was there
Yousuke was there
Himi was there
Kiri was there
Gunjou was there
This was probably the weakness inside of me
”This, dreaain”
I groaned
♦
♦
♦
My eyes open
I am in park
Lying on a bench
It is night
While I can see the moon, I can't see any stars Before I knew it, the snow had stopped, but it's freezing cold
” guh damn that Liezel, what if I froze to death”
He probably would just laugh it off
I griet up My body is stiff from the cold There is a clock and a street lamp beside the public toilet
The time is 2142
I look up at that clock
” the labyrinth raid's already over huh”
Provided that they weren't wiped out
After a diseased girl appears, after the investigations, by the time the alarm sounds, there is only six hours left to clear the labyrinth
The class in studying the labyrinth and labyrinth diseased girl takes 5 hours, and the final re the labyrinth
When the alarm sounded, it was probably past 1500
More than 6 hours have already passed
If the raid wasn't successful, then part of Toda city in Saitama Prefecture would probably have been sed by the labyrinth
I look at my cellphone I have several missed calls from my homeroom teacher, Honjou Tsukasa
I return the call Honjou Tsukasa immediately picks up Bah-Bah-Bah-Bah-Bah-Bah, I can hear a loud noise They are probably co from the propellers of a chopper They are on the move
Honjou Tsukasa says
”You are really late”
”I was shut in the toilet for a long time”
”The labyrinth raid is already over Gunjou has done plenty of good work again and killed the girl”
Gunjou, was the one who killed the girl, again ---
And the world is saved
I wonder what kind of face sheboth the maneuvers practice and labyrinth raids, whenever Gunjou kills the girl, she'll always have the face that says that she has to become the savior
Honjou Tsukasa continues
”shi+ro, Kiri, Yousuke and Himi also did well Maybe you aren't really needed for the hero team perhaps?”
”Maybe ~”
”What have you been doing?”
”I dozed off”
”Don't let this happen again Othere'll expel you from school”
”That'll be problematic so I'll do my best”
”My, that's a pretty commendable attitude”
”I've been a couy since I was born”
”Ah yeah yeah, I have no ti up I'm tired as well”
The line got cut I shrug my shoulders alone And return the cellphone to my pocket
I can't afford to get expelled froot hold of to see whether or not I can save the girls
I can't afford to test this on ht away
””
I snapthat, the cursed song starts flowing from the 《Headphone Fuzz》
【Deceiving the night ♪
Beguiling the world ♪
The darkness that saves the girl of the endless night ♪】
I pull the trigger that will activate the ht, a shi+ning sword A sword of hypocrisy that resembles a sword that a hero carries
However, the part of the blade is fake This was a joke fron a mismatch for me
The actual range is shorter than even a knife
And the true foric resides in that short portion Once it's stabbed deep into the heart of the girl, it has the power to sever the disease away
” this is the completed product?”
As I s inside the 《Headphone Fuzz》
Theis as follows
”While you were sleeping soundly, I have installed the h I don't knohether you'll be able to use it effectively In the instant you stab the girl, if your capacity isn't enough, your head will be blown to smithereens
”Hey hey, don't joke with me”
”But with this, in theory, you can sever the disease fro her So pay me what you promised me I'll carry on with my research Since, with such a short sword, you probably won't even be able to touch the eternal labyrinth diseased girl with the highest level of difficulty in the world --- 《Apocalypse Alice》”
Right now, I'll be killed the instant I step into that labyrinth, not to talk about touching her Since my little sister Saki is of rank 666
That's why I need to becoer
I need to becoer
I also need a limitless amount of money
The ic that I have now Theeternal labyrinths And ician troops for the purpose of raiding 《Apocalypse Alice》 as well
Anyway, I need a lot lot more power and money
I dispel the 《Holy Sword switch》
I breathe out a puff of white mist from the cold
It's terribly quiet
Alone in the park, I murmur,
” ha, I don't have time to make any friends”
And stand up ---
At that moment
My cellphone rings again
I don't knoho it is
I pick up the phone
”Who is it?”
”Onii-saht now!?”
It's Yayoi
I scowl and say
”I have nothing to say to”
”Don't hang up! Please! And, if you're in the area of Kichijouji, please get away quickly! In the skies above Kichijouji --- inside a chopper returning from Saitama the labyrinth disease has broken out in Mizuiro Gunjou!”
”Wha”
My eyes widen involuntarily For a moment, I can't comprehend what Yayoi just said
The labyrinth disease has broken out in Mizuiro Gunjou
The face of Gunjou that I saw today surfaces in my mind
Her riled up face
Her sad face
Her tearful face
The face that was seeking help
And, she should have just saved the world Killed the girl and saved the world
But yet, that Gunjou has come doith the labyrinth disease?
Yayoi says
”Anyway, just get away from there! Onii danal”
I have no idea whether Yayoi is telling the truth or lying If she were lying just to call me to her side, it would be a little too elaborate
Will there be a need to get away immediately?
In which direction should I run?
I have no idea
Right now, I don't even knohether I'm in Kichijouji or not
I look at nal interference Labyrinths can cut out all kinds of scientific waves and signals
In other words, I ht be in Kichijouji
”damn, crap”
I start running Out of the park I try to ascertain the address that is adhered to the telephone pole
However, there is no need for that
I can hear a voice co from behind me
”What, the hell's that!”
”A tower, a blue tower is swelling up!”
It's the labyrinth
It's a consequence of the labyrinth disease sing up the land
I didn't turn around I don't have ti in the opposite direction of that voice I ht not row up to a few hundred km in radius If the labyrinth this tiless to run in the first place
”Please, Gunjou”
I activateic
【In an instant ♪In a flash ♪In the time of a flash ♪
The flash of time, the flash of an instant ♪In an instant ♪In a flash ———】
I murmur
”Acceleration switch ---”
And accelerate my flesh
I can accelerate for one second
But that's totally not enough I ju onto the rooftop of a civilian house I found theto the road I catch up to abike and hop onto it
Then, I disic
”Uwah!?”
The rider is surprised The bike almost turns over, but I forcibly push it down from the back
”If you don't want to die, step on it”
The biker says from his helmet
”W-Who, the hell are you”
”The labyrinth disease!”
”Eh”
”This place is going to get sed!”
”Eh, what”
”Step on it!”
”R-Right!”
The biker switches gear And the biker accelerates sharply Luckily, the road is clear
The light is also green
Will we able to outrun it?
I turn my head around for the first time
What stands behind me is indeed a tower
The tall tower opens up a hole in the night sky, and its stoutness is gradually increasing, sing up the streets, the people, and the land
At a dreadful speed
At this rate, it'll catch up with us
” we, ht not make it”
I murmur
What can't be done, can't be done
I can't do anything to escape fro sed up by the labyrinth disease
The bike accelerates
But the tower is expanding faster than that
Becoe
With its scale spreading
And, just as I thought that we are going to get sed in another moment ---
””
The expansion of the labyrinth stops
What is the scale of that labyrinth? What is its rank? Those are things that I still don't know
The bike advances
The tower is gradually getting further
I face the front and tell the biker
”Hey, stop We've outrun it”
”Pe”
The biker's breathing is ragged I won't want to die froain And speak into his ear
”We've outrun it! Relax!”
”R-Really!?”
”Really So stop Calm down”
With that, the biker applies the brakes The speed slowly decreases, and before long, it stops
I get down froain
The town is in a terrible shape
Blazing flaht up the tower in red
However, even as it is lit in red, that tower is of a fading blue in color
Blue, azure, ultramarine
A tower that fits Gunjou's name
Yayoi probably wasn't lying That's probably a labyrinth made by Gunjou
She really came doith the disease
I look up at that soaring spire that's piercing the sky
” jeez, this is exasperating”
I murmur softly