Vol 2 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1 Part 1

Everything had happened in such quick succession that my mind was nearly overloaded, but I couldn’t just stand around forever

The first battle began at 10

That hen a public execution would be broadcast live nationwide

“Right now it’s…just past 8”

I had less than 2 hours until it began

Where was this crucialheld?

Itou Helen had been walking out in the open not long before Even if the Bright Cross had taken her away, they couldn’t have taken her too far And that blue bunny girl had said their hoht Cross still had its roots in this city

Where had Itou Helen been captured and where had she been taken?

“Maxwell, call the police”

“No And send them where? We do not knohere the victim or perpetrators are, so no police officers can be sent in”

“You sahat they were showing on TV! There had to be more than 100 million witnesses How can they not stop this!?”

“No They cannot be accused of anything if this is a recording passing itself off as a live broadcast or if it is entirely fictional It could also be a live broadcast fro to be inside japan The police would first have to do soation to determine whether or not japanese law even applies to those ‘on the television screen’”

“We only have 2 hours”

“Sure And that is likely why they felt co this so boldly They decided that no one can stop it now”

“…Dammit”

The Bright Cross was not just so videos to the internet, so they would think about how to cover their asses

So if they’re going this far, did it mean they had a systeed with a crime?

…Wait, uploading videos?

“Maxwell, can we leak the data of the true Colosseum onto the internet? Do that and everyone should be able to tell how horrific this really is!”

“No What you have is merely simulation data and not actual witness information In other words, it does not qualify as evidence …And the underground facility was cleared out”

The Bright Cross covered everything up in reality while we had divulged the truth in virtual reality

If the two caht Cross would win

And yet they were the ones that abandoned their underground facility because they kneas inconvenient for them!

I couldn’t rely on the police

Leaking the truth onto the internet would acco

No one was on my side

“What do I do?”

The Bright Cross had surpassed our simulation

They had upgraded their cruel Colosseum to the level of national authorization

And one of the combatants there would be Itou Helen, an underclassman from my school

“What can I even do now…?”

What could I do?

I didn’t need unrealistic heroic fantasies here I could wait until later to complain about hoeak and powerless I was

What was truly within rasp? How far would my hand reach?

I didn’t knohere the Bright Cross’s new headquarters were or where Itou Helen was being imprisoned now that she had apparently been captured

What I wanted was information

If I could locate either the Bright Cross or Itou Helen, I could find the other That underclassht Cross, so she would have been brought to one of their bases or hideouts

I didn’t have much time

I didn’t want to waste any of it

So even if it was a roundabout route, I had to take the definite course ahead of me That way I wouldn’t run into dead ends later and have to make pathetic U-turn after pathetic U-turn

Which meant…

“…Erika and Ayumi”

Those two had once overcoiven the freedom to live in huht be able to give me a hint if I asked

However

Once I returned home and opened the front door, Erika and Ayumi both immediately attacked me

“Orahhh! What happened to uuu!!”

“Oh, dear This is a proble sister prefers to avoid these more inappropriate methods, but you leave me no choice”

Yes

I had never resolved the melon bread issue back home!

“Gyaaahh! If both of you perform a cross armlock on an arm, I can never escape! I can’t even tap out!!”

And you both know that perforyou do additional da all ‘kyah, pervert!’ after the fact! Especially you, negligee big sister Based on the feeling onany underwear, are you!?

“Huh? Onii-chan, what’s this plastic bag?”

“This aroma… Why is there Asamiya melon bread here!?”

L-looks like I have to explain

“It’s true that Asamiya’s melon bread is a super rare limited product that they only sell 20 of each day, but they also send soional retail stores And for soetable convenience store called Natural Seven is registered with theets some of Asamiya’s melon bread! You can thank Maxwell for all that information!!”

Those ic words dispelled the curse of the double armlock

“Ohhh! So this is the limited edition bread I dreamed of…”

“Oh? You even bought 2 of them How adorable of you”

Fro to perfor moves over had doubled into 2 I could only pray it didn’t taste weird to them

But then Erika and Ayumi both split their melon bread in half

“Wait, what are you two doing? Can you not fit that much in your mouth?”

“Eh? Well…”

“With only 2 of them, there’s none for you, Onii-chan”

I was caught off guard by that one

“Wait, wait This was a purification ritual to wash away my own sin I already ate the first one”

“That doesn’tsister has a heart as big as her boobs, so she could never eat this while leaving you with nothing”

It didn’t really add up right When both sisters handed me a half, I ended up with a whole one Nevertheless, they both began eating the inable

They may have been more upset that they couldn’t share the bread with everyone than at having it taken from them

But now that the tense at up the real topic at hand

“Erika, Ayu with you”

“Wut ih it?”

“Ayumi-chan, don’t talk with food in your mouth So, Satori-kun, ould you like to discuss?”

“Well” I nodded “Uht Cro-…”

Two pairs of glowing eyes seemed pierce my soul

“Kah…hah…?”

My breath caught in my throat

They were still only eating melon bread in their pajaed

“Hmm If possible, I never wanted to hear that name from your mouth, Onii-chan”

“There’s no helping that The pande on our living room TV”

Yes That broadcast had played on TV

That meant my sisters would know about it They would know the Level 4 Colosseu else

Trapped by the brightly shi+ning light in their eyes, I sat down like a frog cowering in front of a great snake

“U-umm An underclassman at school was apparently captured for this Colosseuins…”

“Ohh? Now that’s interesting So ht with the great Bright Cross? When did you turn into a warrior of justice chosen by heaven?”

“That’s right If anything, I think letting Ayue has better odds Eh heh heh Not even the Bright Cross’s plans could continue if Kukyou City was filled with vampires and zombies”

Wait, wait, you idiots

Aren’t you getting everything backwards!?

“This isn’t a virtual reality built in a disaster environment simulator! There are no continues here!! You can’t fill the real world with vampires and zom-…!!”

As I shouted, ers on my lips

I stopped speaking and they took over

“Do you understand that, Onii-chan? We’re talking about real lives here”

“…”

“Oh, dear And unlike a vampire or a zombie, a human like you has even less of a chance I bet you haven’t even iht Cross”

Yes

Of course they understood

Those two had survived the true Colosseum in that hellish subterranean world, so they knew firsthand how cruel the Bright Cross was

Would the Bright Cross go easy on me because I was a human like them? Would they overlook me?

Of course not

If “so” happened, would I be the only one harmed? What about my sisters and parents back hohborhood? Even the Class Rep o that far

Itou Helen was an underclassman from school

That was all

If I weighed her against my sister sand the Class Rap, it was obvious ould win out

Was it really worth going this far to rescue her?

What did I want to do?

I thought

I contemplated

And then I raised ain to face those tho knew true hell

“That’s all the more reason I have to stand up to theer on the people I care about, of course I have to destroy them”

Yes

That’s right

The Bright Cross had already done that They had built a strange execution facility below the city I had been born and raised in, they had mercilessly disposed of countless Archene block, and now they had reached for an underclassman at school

Who could say for sure that it would end there?

To threatened on TV If the Class Rep or I becaht claim ere some random Archenemy or another to have us killed in a battle with the undead

“Anyone who’s willing to abandon someone else will be abandoned by others”

Heat boiled in the pit of my stomach

And I let that heat out in the form of words

“I think an honest person will sometimes run into trouble, but someone who refuses to save anyone will eventually not be saved by others I don’t want to end up like Itou Helen there on the TV screen And because I don’t, I’ll save someone who’s in that position now I have to save her! It doesn’t matter hoell I know her!!”

After all, I would never want to see Erika or Ayumi maliciously displayed on the TV screen

I would never want to see odds placed on their chances as people bet on or against them

I had no idea if Itou Helen would come to save us if our situations were reversed

But that was no reason to abandon her

I wanted to live with pride

I wasn’t going to live a life where I hung ht of the name Itou Helen!

“This time it’s real There are no redos or continues here”

Dammit

It was obvious once I said it It was so simple

And that’s why I can’t afford to fail! I refuse to give up on her here! I will not let the us away from the path of normalcy! Will I save Itou Helen? If I couldn’t say ‘of course’, how could I call myself human!!!???”

Erika and Ayumi looked dazed

They ue my “plan” was

“…If only everyone in the world was like you, Satori-kun”

“?”

Erikaunder her breath

“It’s nothing Anyway, I refuse to take iving you any hints I won’t tell you anything that would lead you to the Bright Cross”

“Kh”

“But, Onii-chan, you’ll still head out alone to save Itou Helen, won’t you?”

“Y-yes Of course I will If you ton’t help out, then I’ll go do it on irl any different from us!?”

“Then go look into it on your own,” said Erika with a sigh But she had e Incredibly so But giant organizations have their own holes”

“They do infors with inforht Cross exists all around the world, so they specialize in gathering and spreading infor part”

“Ah”

Now that they ht Cross

The CIA was the world’s largest intelligence agency, but being a household na for them They had not worked to be well known They had sie

Why had the Bright Cross left their underground facility?

Because I had discovered it

They had feared receiving a perfect attack based on massive simulation data

They had feared it?

Such a large organization had feared me?

“…”

I couldn’t let them distract me

I had to look back over the situation

Who, where, and what had been involved in this incident surrounding Itou Helen? What was the deepest darkness here? My sisters had said the Bright Cross was so large that they could not fully hide their own existence That hy they had forcibly set up a situation where no one could touch them even if they were seen

“Thanks, Erika and Ayumi I’ve finally seen what I have to do”

My sisters shrugged in an exasperated sort of way

Sorry I’m such a terrible brother

But I have to go I have to stand up to this wicked and unreasonable absurdity

And so I turnedback home and spoke two simple words

“I’”

Part 2

I left the house

I was exposed to the night air

It was a true night where even the ht looked sinister

“Maxwell”

“Sure Exiting standby ive me my orders”

“Check for any calls from around Itou Helen’s home Start with any calls to the police”

“There was an eency call from her home’s landline at 8:03 PM The call lasted 2 minutes and 45 seconds”

Well, it hter was suddenly placed in the ring on TV

No

“Unlike ht to the death The bunny girl ht have mentioned the loser’s body, but that could have just been talk Calling the police right away seems sudden”

“Perhaps they thought she was forcibly recruited or abducted After the police, they called the general reception desk at Kukyou 1st Broadcasting”

“The TV station is clai either? But how?”

“They clairam and thus have not played any role in the production They say to direct any questions to Socialist Carnalgrad National Broadcasting”

So that hy

And did that country even exist?

“Then that’s where we’ll start”

I could understand the police being caught off guard The higher ups ht Cross’s pocket, but the workers at the bottoh to kill people in the middle of a live TV broadcast

But the way the TV station was brushi+ng people off was clearly more malicious I could tell they already had a script to follow

I doubted everyone working there was also working for the Bright Cross, but they obviously had taken root there

Kukyou 1st Broadcasting

I was sure I could find so there

With any luck, Itou Helen would be there, but if not, I could probably mess with their broadcast equipment to cause a malfunction and perhaps even put a stop to their farce

“Maxwell, let’s get to the broadcast station I’ll need your help to get in Can you do that?”

“Sure You are the only user I accept”

I was glad to hear that second part

Especially when attacking a TV station could easily get me labeled a terrorist in the newspaper headlines

It was just before 9

The trains were still running

I was on hable that I needed et there

It wasn’t even the weekend, but the area around the station was crowded

The large screen on an electronics store wall displayed a sht blue of a rainforest butterfly

“The Colosseuht not know exactly what an Archenehtening”

“The definition of a witch is too broad to say anything for sure, but a mermaid is much simpler Unlike in the fairy tales, historicalcreatures They sit on stones, lure sailors into the ocean with their alluring song, drag their struggling prey to the bottom of the ocean, and devour them Truly a stereotypical Archenemy”

“Oh, my, my So as most people seee here?”

“It’s hard to say I’ve heard that Itou Helen is a Greek-style witch More specifically, one based on the Circe tradition In that case, theof the tould be…”

It pissed me off

But no one at all was throwing stones at the screen In fact…

“Don’t push!+ Please don’t push!+ The tickets are on sale until 9:50! There’s still plenty of time, so calm down, everyone!!”

A young wo from a stand much like for a local lottery

“It’s all or nothing! You bet everything on one of the two It’s theand is far si or keirin If you don’t knohat to do, this tipster will tell you how it’s done Don’t you want some information to help you make easy money!?”

There were a lot of voices like that near the ticket stand crowd

I could even see some uniformed police officers here and there:

“Ksshhh! Yes, yes All of you good kids follow the rules and enjoy this gaentleman The dancer police would really prefer not to ruin your lovely evening”

…They were all like this

Not all of theht Cross I doubted even that strange tipster man had been informed in advance and then simply kept quiet until today And this had to have been a complete surprise for those dancer police or whatever they were

“Beautiful japanese High Vision provides a new age of HD for a new age Colosseum”