"Shall I call you back?"
"No, I can handle it...... hn? What's this, I got a message. I'll kill whoever touches my Onii-sama......? What the hell, it's creepy."
It's Yayoi.
Sanae Yayoi.
My cousin who has been made in charge of a Taikou Pharmaceuticals research lab at the age of just fifteen.
She's the only person who would call me 'Onii-sama'. My real little sister Saki called me 'Onii-chan' but for some reason, my cousin calls me 'Onii-sama'. I don't get the meaning of this at all.
I say.
"That would be from 『Taikou Pharmaceuticals』."
"She's pretty good. Can I hang up for a sec? I'm going 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 money and from having an aligned interest.
And that interest is that, both Liezel and I have no interest in the world's governments, corporations, nor people, and are just seeking technology that can't be turned into profits.
I say.
"I can hang up, but tell me. Why did you call me? Are you short on development funds again?"
Liezel then says.
"No, that's not it. I've completed the Holy Sword switch."
For an instant, my breathing must have stopped. Following that, I make a small, dumb-sounding, surprised utterance,
"Wha."
Holy Sword switch --- that's the name of the magic that was being developed for the purpose of saving labyrinth diseased girls.
A magic for the purpose of severing the labyrinth away from the diseased girl.
If that has been completed, then even saving girls 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 dream. My words are no longer the ramblings of a fool.
Just as I'm about to say something further to Liezel, he says,
"I'm hanging up. I'm going to kill your little sister."
The call ended.
"My......"
I look intently at my cellphone with half-opened eyes, then start manipulating it. 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'm not doing that now! Someone's trying to harm you and interfering with the tap! But I'll get 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 me!? Like I thought, 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'm telling you to stop. If you stop, I'll join your organization."
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 comrade of the people who force the onset of the disease in a girl through human experimentation. However, there's no need to tell her that.
"O-O-Onii-sama! Eh-hehe...... we'll be together from now on......"
I ignore her and cut the line.
Upon doing that, a voice sounds behind me.
"H-Hey Shinnosuke! 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 somewhat troubled-looking 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 with me having fun, I'll kill even you."
"Ha, try it."
"Aah, I shall do that."
He said. Snap snap snap, I snap my fingers. Setting my 《Headphone Fuzz》 in motion. In order to deal with anything that might happen ---
At that moment, from the street behind me, I can hear the screeching sound of tires. The grind of an engine. The sound of an automobile closing in one me.
But, I did not turn around. I merely fill my brain with the cursed song overflowing from 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 jump. A single automobile that's trying to run me down thrusts into the place where I was originally 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 windshield.
While smiling delightedly, Liezel points to the car and moves his mouth. Even though 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.
"Shinnosuke!"
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 smiles mockingly 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, Shinnosuke. 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."
"Shinnosuke!"
"What."
"I, I'm going 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 swallowed by the labyrinth and die."
She really is a fool.
A good girl.
I should stay away from her.
"Do as you like."
"............"
For some reason, Gunjou looks hard at me with a sad-looking 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, warm, and peaceful, he's not someone Gunjou might 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 me. Showing a tinge of surprise, his green eyes stare at me with deep interest,
"Uhn? Don't tell me she's really your comrade?"
"None of your business."
"Well, whatever. You owe me one. And also, if you do something that displeases me, I'll immediately take her as a hostage 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 at me with a sad-looking face.
Why is she making such a face?
"Shinnosuke!"
Gunjou says again. She goes on to say something 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 Shinnosuke! A diseased girl has appeared. Come back quickly!"
"Sorry. I'm having 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 0.5, with Gunjou, Shiro, and Kiri, our class will take the top spot again anyway."
At present, humanity can clear a rank 12 eternal labyrinth that has no time limit without incurring any casualties.
And, the rank this time is 0.5.
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. Which means that it'll be hard for people to die. Knowing that, I feel a little relieved. Following that, I scowl, not knowing why I'm feeling relieved. Perhaps it's because Shiro, 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 came back. All right! With Gunjou and Shiro it'd be an easy win. All right, let's all get started. The time limit is six hours! Let's quickly kill the girl and save the world......"
I hang up.
Liezel, who's sitting beside me, grins 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 matter. More importantly, let's get to the main topic."
Liezel then snaps his fingers. A small, translucent dagger-like object appears in his hand.
It's the holy sword.
It has the same appearance of the dagger conjured when I use the Holy Sword switch. But it's not the real thing. It's probably a 3D image of the magic that's currently being 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 from the heart of the diseased girl."
It was already able to do that previously. Severing the disease and killing the girl as a result. But it would be meaningless if the girl dies. Even so, I thought maybe I could save Asahi Momoko and ended up using the 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 normal state but --- she might still die. However, whichever the case, you came to this school for the purpose of doing trials right? To this Kichijouji High that kills tons of girls."
That's right.
I came here for the sake of doing that.
Even if I don't conduct trials on them, those girls will still be killed, so by using them, I'll perform trials in the hope of saving them. If I can save them with this power, if I can save them ---
"............"
But, that's just an excuse. I too, am performing human experimentation. I have no right to mock Yayoi.
Liezel asks me.
"Have you already tested the Holy Sword switch?"
"Yeah."
"How was it?"
Then, I remember Asahi Momoka. I remember the Asahi Momoka who had thanked me for saving her and her family while she was dying.
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?"
Doing my best to prevent a grimace from showing on my face, I say.
"She died."
"But you severed the disease?"
"Yeah."
"Then the girl was saved. It seems the girl would have gone 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 Shinnosuke will have less guilt."
What an unnecessary shitty consideration. To top that off, Liezel is looking at me, seemingly having fun from seeing my reaction.
I reply.
"There is no guilt. Any living being will eventually die."
"If you're desperate, just experiment on an eternal labyrinth girl somewhere. Don't choose a girl where you might get killed if you don't manage 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 them. I'll install it into your 《Headphone Fuzz》 right 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 me, he doesn't belong to any organization. And that's the reason behind the immense personal power possessed by people who belong to no organization.
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 my body into the rear passenger seat. Once I shut my eyes, I can feel myself suddenly getting sucked to the depths of a darkness.
The blindfold is probably smeared with a sleep-inducing drug.
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.
r /> I ran.
I ran.
I ran to a place where a door stood, from which rays of hope appeared to be seeping through, 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.
Shiro was there.
Yousuke was there.
Himi was there.
Kiri was there.
Gunjou was there.
This was probably the weakness inside of me.
"This, dream again......"
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 grimace as I get 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 remaining hour is used for raiding 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 swallowed 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 coming 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 she made when she killed the girl. During both 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.