Mokushiroku Arisu - Volume 02

  But that's none of my business. To top that, Yousuke easily sidestepped my fury because of what he did.

  Yousuke looks at me, grinning.

  Himi smiles apologetically.

  Shiro smirks.

  I don't find anything funny.

  "...... haah."

  I sigh and Kiri says from beside me.

  "Shinnosuke-kun, you're like an open book, really cute."

  "Can you keep quiet?"

  "But, your kindness will get you killed this time."

  As if to stop me from going, she touches my hand. And looks up at me worriedly.

  I look down at her with half-opened eyes.

  "Why're you so worried about me?"

  She then smiles.

  "...... I wonder why. Maybe I fell in love with you when you saved me?"

  "How should I know?"

  "Or, maybe it's because I can see your brilliance, Shinnosuke-kun. Even though you live in the same world as me...... and even though you're so strong...... you still haven't lost your kindness."

  Live in the same world.

  That means she's also living in the same world as Liezel.

  A world where the words 'morals' and 'ethics' don't exist, where military corporations continuously conduct human experimentation daily.

  A world where countries force teenage soldiers to put on 《Headphone Fuzz》s and compel them to enter labyrinths.

  Furthermore, no Escape magic is loaded into those 《Headphone Fuzz》s.

  If you lose, you die.

  If you lose, you die.

  If you lose, you die.

  Thus, there is no other choice but to win. There is no other choice but to step on your comrades and win.

  I have always been in such a place, and I could feel faintly that Kiri is also from that kind of world.

  Different from Gunjou.

  Different from Shiro.

  Right from the beginning, she gave off the same smell of living in a dark, dirty world as me.

  Her hand grip strengthens.

  I look down at her and ask.

  "I don't know where you got the impression from, but I'm not kind at all."

  "Ah-haha."

  "Rather than that, what did you mean by the same world? Where on earth did you live?"

  Kiri answers.

  "...... in a world where I dream about going on a date with a guy I like on Christmas."

  In the end, she's still not being honest about it.

  She won't speak the truth.

  She must have undergone some really grievous training.

  Thus,

  "I've said this just now, but it's meaningless to talk to you......"

  Kiri says sadly.

  "Those are my true feelings though."

  "I don't believe you. Neither is there a need to believe you."

  "I know...... I know, but well ~"

  Her grip on my hand becomes even stronger. With a troubled look, she presses it against her chest. Whether it is an act or not, I do not know. I also do not know why she would do such a thing. Does she want something from me?

  Don't tell me she's really in love with me?

  Kiri pouts her lips and says.

  "...... you're so worried about Gunjou-san, but yet don't believe a thing I said, it's really unfair."

  What is this woman saying?

  "...... I'm...... not as cute as Gunjou-san I guess."

  Kiri is cute. At the very least, her looks are way above average, I suppose. She also has a good figure, and large breasts. If the petite, flat-chested Gunjou were to hear that, she would explode in fury.

  But Kiri will never say all that.

  Because she is not adorable.

  Because she is too strong. Because she has received the world's darkness. Because she smiles without saying a single word of truth.

  Because she is able to abandon her comrades.

  I sit on the chair. With her hand still grabbing mine, I say,

  "Can you let go?"

  But she looks at me mischievously,

  "Don't wanna."

  But, on hearing that, I brush her hand away.

  "Oh my ~"

  She smiles sadly again. That face of hers is certainly cute. But I don't get that cuteness of hers. Does she really like me? Or is she forcing a front and manipulating me?

  I say.

  "As I thought, there's nothing to talk to you about. I don't want to be manipulated."

  "I'm not manipula......"

  But, her words stop. As if she's troubled, her face contorts for an instant, but she breaks into a smile abruptly, and her lips pout again.

  "...... mm ~, no, I mean. Sorry. Maybe, I'm manipulating you...... I have an ulterior motive of making you like me...... aah, what am I saying.... haah....... aaah......"

  She sighs to herself and looks up at the ceiling. Drained.

  Seems like she has own troubles to deal with, but it's none of my business.

  She isn't telling me her true intention.

  That goes the same for me.

  In that case, there's no need for us to talk.

  And at that moment, the door to the classroom finally opens.

  "All right, I'm late. Let's begin our class ~!"

  Our homeroom teacher Honjou Tsukasa walks in.

  Carrying a stack of documents.

  Behind her, there's another male teacher who's around thirty, and another female teacher around forty.

  They are probably the homeroom teachers for class 3 and 4.

  The male teacher says.

  "All right, this time......"

  But Honjou Tsukasa interrupts him.

  "Who said you can take over somebody else's class? I'm the one in charge here so keep quiet."

  "...... guh."

  The male teacher goes silent.

  The forty-year old female teacher starts while still remaining outside the classroom,

  "...... erhm, can I go? Honjou-sensei, you are the one responsible for this class right?"

  On hearing that, the female student who has a boyfriend in class 2 stands up and says.

  "Sensei! Please don't say something irresponsible."

  However, the female teacher stares coldly at the girl and says,

  "Well, please do your best. Honjou-sensei is a capable teacher, so you should be fine."

  And she leaves.

  "Sensei!"

  The girl hollers but Honjou Tsukasa seems unbothered. She places the documents on her desk and hits the blackboard with a hand.

  "Now now, class is starting! The time limit is six hours. Let's quickly kill the girl and save the world!"

  And thus, the lesson on the labyrinth......

  No, the lesson on Mizuiro Gunjou begins.

  * * *

  Chapter 4 - Mizuiro Gunjou

  1:22 AM

  The lesson starts.

  The lesson starts.

  The lesson about the girl who manifested the labyrinth disease starts.

  She has no privacy nor human rights.

  Since she has already been designated as a calamity.

  As much as time allows, everything about her will be investigated.

  『First Hour Period ---

  Please learn about the profile of the girl』

  Name --- Mizuiro Gunjou.

  Sixteen.

  Girl.

  Height 147 cm.

  Weight 35 kg. As light as a feather.

  Born in Minato, Tokyo city.

  She is a descendant of the founder of Mitsutomo Group, one of the three big military conglomerates that have expanded rapidly since the discovery of the labyrinth disease. In other words, she's a super rich man's daughter.

  Which reminds me, the 《Headphone Fuzz》 she was using was a 'Mitsutomo Heavy Industries Made' one. So that was the reason why she was using that headphone.

  As a lady of the Mitsutomo Group, she had received gifted education since when she was still a child.

  As for her family members ---

&n
bsp; Mother - Mitsutomo Yurie.

  Father - Mizuiro Seitarou.

  Elder sister - Mizuiro Ruri.

  Three people.

  Her parents' teaching was that it would be meaningless if she didn't become a strong magician. As a member of the bloodline of Mitsutomo Group, which has grown thanks to the 《Diversionary Magic Spoils of Labyrinths》, she had to grow up as a talent who could save the world and be useful to the world.

  Consequently, since she was a child, she had received strict instructions to not shame the Mitsutomo name.

  But when Gunjou was eight, her big sister Ruri who was fifteen then died. Her big sister, who had already become a magician and started to make a name for herself, died in a failed labyrinth raid.

  Even as Gunjou cried, shaken up, her parents did not cry. There was not even a funeral. If she could die in a labyrinth of that level, she's not our child, they scorned her.

  Make sure you don't die in such an unsightly manner like her, they drilled into Gunjou.

  Since then, Gunjou strove a notch harder in her training.

  For the sake of saving the world.

  For the sake of not becoming unsightly.

  For the sake of getting praised by her parents.

  And then, we had that Gunjou. That Mizuiro Gunjou who had become a world-famous magician with twenty corporate sponsors.

  But yesterday.

  On the 2nd of December.

  She had a labyrinth disease onset.

  That is the official data given to us.

  Or I could say, something that Gunjou herself was already aware of.

  However, there is some other data here. As she no longer has any privacy.

  About her recent behavior.

  About how she went to karaoke with friends recently and how she had fun there.

  About how she became more tearful recently.

  About how she got hyped up by her rivalry with her classmate Arisu Shinnosuke, and had been training longer hours than before.

  "............"

  But that doesn't matter.

  More importantly,

  Both she and her big sister were abandoned kids ---

  They were orphans bought from a children's home by the Mitsutomo Group ---

  Their parents were not even married, but just training instructors ---

  Mitsutomo Group hid this truth from them to make use of them, and without knowing it, they tried desperately to please their 'parents'.

  Reading about that environment which Gunjou was placed in unknowingly, in the end, it's the same everywhere, I thought and smiled.

  Kiri looks at me sadly, and smiles.

  Shiro's face has become a little angry, it seems. But maybe I am mistaken.

  As if none of that matters, the lesson moves on.

  About her recent behavior.

  About her wonderful results.

  About the large number of people she had saved.

  About the fact that she actually likes flowers, and had made a flowerbed on the balcony of her room. And about how she disliked winter because flowers wilt then.

  In the middle of the lesson, Shiro raises his hand.

  "Sensei."

  "Hn? What is it, Shiro."

  "It's enough. I've read all the data."

  "You are not allowed to read ahead on your own without......"

  "That's for when we have a lot of people right? If there's a gap between the comprehension capabilities of the people, that might be a better way but......"

  Shiro looks at us. At me, Kiri, Yousuke, and Himi. He didn't look at the other students.

  "In the end, the guys who are gonna do it today are mostly those who know Gunjou well. There's no need for us to learn anything more about her profile. Let's leave more time for the raid and move on to the next lesson."

  Honjou Tsukasa looks at us.

  "Is everyone in agreement?"

  There is no objection. Honjou Tsukasa nods.

  "Then, let's take a toilet br......"

  Before she finishes, our homeroom teacher stops. She then says.

  "You don't need a break?"

  No objection as before.

  Honjou Tsukasa grins.

  "Aren't you guys unusually serious? You guys are finer people than I thought. Do you want to save your classmate that badly?"

  Even though she said 'save', but it's really to 'kill' --- no one replies to her question.

  I look out the window.

  The snow has started piling up in the schoolyard. Is it also cold inside the tower that Gunjou has given birth to?

  Just like Gunjou, I too hate winter. It's because it's cold.

  "............"

  And thus, the first hour period ends.

  『Second Hour Period ---

  Lesson on memorizing the structure of the labyrinth made by the girl』

  The lesson in the second hour period, is to read and memorize the data of the labyrinth created by Gunjou, from the scans by the researchers.

  No one knows why it is a tower.

  There are 100 floors above ground; this is a tower that only extends upwards.

  Additionally, the labyrinth is not a complicated one and there is only one straight path.

  On each wide floor, there is only one place where the next floor is connected via a staircase.

  The floor that Gunjou is on is the 75th floor.

  If we insert into the labyrinth in the remaining hour, and if we start climbing all the way up from the ground floor, we won't make it if we take more than a minute to clear each floor.

  And say, if we want to fight Gunjou with 20 minutes remaining, we have to reach Gunjou in 40 minutes, meaning we have to clear each floor in about 30 seconds or so and that's just impossible.

  In that case,

  "Are we inserting right into an upper level?"

  I turn the page. The infiltration route starts indeed from above the ground floor. The possible points of insertion are, the 100th floor, and the 30th floor, it seems.

  Even though both routes are provided in the documents, it's probably better to enter from the 100th floor. In that way, we have less floors to clear in our raid.

  At that moment, Santou raises his hand.

  "Erhm, Sensei, can I ask something?"

  "What is it? Ah ~, you are...... who again?"

  "Santou. Santou Taisuke."

  "So, Taisuke-kun, what is it?"

  "Which route should I memorize? Which route will we be taking......"

  But, Yousuke says.

  "We don't know what will happen, so it's better to memorize both."

  I agree.

  Gunjou is a high level labyrinth. Then, the instant we enter, we won't know what will happen and what kind of problems we will face; in the first place, we don't even know whether the labyrinth structure would be the same as the scans.

  In that case, we should make as many preparations as possible.

  "Memorize both...... both...... I see."

  Santou looks a little surprised, and he nods.

  Our homeroom teacher Honjou Tsukasa then says.

  "Ah, by the way, class 5 will be inserting into the 100th floor."

  Kiri looks up.

  "Class 5? Which means there will be other raid teams?"

  I then say with half-opened eyes.

  "Probably the guys from Kansai."

  Honjou Tsukasa did mention something like that over the phone. Since there was the fear of the possibility of the Tokyo students getting wiped out by Gunjou, they called in the students from Kansai ---

  The team from Kansai will probably raid Gunjou at the same time.

  Honjou Tsukasa nods.

  "That's right. I heard they'll come. Though I doubt any of them will be stronger than our team...... But still, it seems like there's a capable team in Kansai; rivaling our 『Hero Team』. they are dubbed the 『Valor Team』."

  Never heard of them.

  But Himi says.

  "...... they are a team that has several corporate
sponsors behind them, one that has become famously recently all of a sudden right? I heard they are really strong as a team."

  I smile.

  "Haha, they must have great teamwork, different from us who can't even get along huh?"

  On hearing that, the female student with a boyfriend in class 2 says angrily.

  "Then you guys should just get along!"

  I look at her. How are we supposed to get along better than this?

  Then, at that moment, I can hear the sound of choppers outside the window.

  5 transport choppers. Seems like the whole Kansai group is coming.

  They are probably deceived about the difficulty level.

  I ask.

  "Sensei."

  "What is it, Shinnosuke-kun?"

  "This is not in the documents yet, but what is the rank of the labyrinth this time?"

  Honjou Tsukasa replies readily.

  "It's 15."

  As expected, she lied. If that's true, then there won't just be only 10 Kichijouji High students left here.

  Even though 15 is not a low rank per se, it's possible to clear it with barely a few fatalities. And the reward for clearing it is huge. You can get correspondingly high rewards for clearing high level labyrinths. There will probably be a lot of people who wants to participate.

  But all the students in this school did not think that the labyrinth born out of Gunjou would be of a low rank. That's why everyone's gone.

  Shiro says.

  "So, its actual rank?"

  I answer.

  "42."

  A buzz sounds instantly in this classroom with no more than 10 people. Even Kiri, who's beside me, gave off a shiver.

  Shiro looks at me.

  "How did you know?"

  "Sensei told me over the phone."

  "So, you came despite knowing the rank?"

  "You should also have a faint idea that it'd be something this right? The cowards have already gone home."

  But Kiri says from beside me.

  "...... 42, you say...... it's a number where it's not a question of cowards or not anymore."

  At that moment, the girl with a boyfriend in class 2 stands up. She trembles uncontrollably. Her face is on the verge of tears. She then looks at us,

  "...... uwu............ uuwwuuuu...... uuwuuuu."

  She lets out some strange crying sounds, but without saying anything, she leaves the classroom.