Ch.25Chapter 5. Position (4)

What… What happened?

I heard there was an explosive.

I don’t know why it was inside the pillar. I only heard that there was a researcher inside that pillar.

Those with alien technology, I suppose. Creating a hidden room inside a pillar would be nothing to them. Actually, that’s something that could be done even without alien technology.

A pillar supporting one section of the massive complex. A pillar thick enough that it’s believable it could contain a small research facility inside.

How much explosive could fit inside something like that?

And what would happen if they detonated an explosive in one of the pillars of this huge complex?

Just one pillar collapsing wouldn’t bring down the entire complex. Though it would certainly have negative effects.

But what if the pillar “explodes”?

There’s a difference between something simply collapsing and exploding. Fragments fly everywhere, and shock waves spread in all directions. That explosion would significantly impact adjacent pillars, walls, and the ceiling.

And what if there wasn’t just one pillar containing explosives?

Beeeeeeeep—

My ears feel like they’re being torn apart. The sound of circuits running dangerously fast. Is it about to overflow again?

I tried to get up but collapsed once. I blinked several times. My vision was red. Blood was flowing over one of my eyes.

10

That’s what the number showing the despair level on my display said. 10 percent? Did I pass out? That’s possible. Everything was covered in dust. My vision was hazy, obscured by all the dust.

I could hear someone shouting.

I managed to stagger to my feet and grabbed my hammer. It didn’t seem like a situation where I could fight, but still.

I stumbled outside.

People were running everywhere. The building that had been dark now had lights on. The light shining through the smoke looked somewhat dreamlike.

And the flickering orange flames beyond it too.

My ears felt like they were being torn apart, but thinking about it again, the sounds I heard weren’t just coming from my helmet.

The entire complex was ringing. The lights above were flashing and spinning. Not decorative lights. Fire alarm lights.

Soon water poured down from above. With the sound of a downpour, the smoke quickly began to settle.

What I saw was a devastating scene. Those thick pillars had broken from their bases and fallen everywhere. There were fires burning in various places, though not too many.

What really mattered was that the pillar next to that one had collapsed too, and the one next to that as well.

Part of the ceiling had caved in. In some places, holes had formed where you could see the sky.

Creeeeak—an ominous sound was heard.

“Everyone get away!”

I heard someone shouting.

Looking around, I saw Blossom evacuating people. I also spotted Iris pulling out fallen combatants. Iris was going to each combatant and using her warp technology. Not for combat, but Iris’s personal ability.

Dalia and Delphinium were lifting debris to free people trapped underneath. Rose was doing something similar. She would lift debris, set it aside, and gather the injured in one place.

Everyone looked busy.

They all seemed to have forgotten about fighting and were moving to help. Both combatants and magical girls were running to save people.

“Ugh…”

I heard a groan nearby.

Looking around, I saw a combatant with a slightly cracked helmet whose leg was trapped under debris.

I ran over.

I lifted the debris and propped it up with the head of my hammer.

When I pulled out the trapped person, it was the Earthaboo.

“Indebted to you again.”

“…Stay still.”

I took the Earthaboo’s hand and put it over my shoulder. Then I stood up and headed toward the magical girls.

“Ah, wait!”

The Earthaboo shouted in extreme panic.

“My leg isn’t that bad.”

I said that thinking the Earthaboo was in pain. In truth, it didn’t look good at all. The trapped part was bent at an odd angle.

But this kind of injury could be quickly healed at the treatment center. They can even fix completely crushed parts somehow, so a fracture should be easily treatable. Though it might take longer than other injuries.

The Earthaboo had experienced this before too.

“No, that’s not it!”

But as I tried to drag them along, the Earthaboo tried to pull away while shouting. They would surely fall over again if they did that.

“The injured—”

“That’s not the problem! Your face…!”

Face?

10

The number was still displayed on my helmet screen.

Not 10 percent—

It just said 10.

The rest was missing.

“…Huh?”

I unconsciously raised a hand to touch that part.

Normally, before my hand could touch my face, it would have hit the solid surface of the helmet. But my hand went straight through.

And touched my face. My face covered in blood.

“Ah, ah…”

The helmet was broken.

The upper right part of my face was completely exposed.

I tried to quickly turn away, but the Earthaboo was on my arm. I couldn’t just throw an injured person. No matter what, if something really went wrong, it would be terrible.

Surely they hadn’t seen, right?

I had gotten a bit closer while dragging the Earthaboo to the magical girls, but still—

“…”

But my hopes were immediately dashed.

Iris was looking at me.

Iris has good eyes. Of course she does. Her specialty is hitting distant targets with precise shots.

Iris, who had been warping away the combatants that Rose had brought over, stopped moving and stared at me with wide eyes.

Beeeeeeeep—

A warning sound rang in my ears.

I see.

If it had been in the 10 percent range, this sound wouldn’t have gone off. It wouldn’t have been dangerous enough to warrant a warning.

My left wrist was vibrating. The circuit seemed to be spinning too fast for itself to handle.

Seeing Iris stop, Blossom turned to look in my direction.

Our eyes met. No, did they? I quickly raised my hand to cover the broken part of my helmet, but I wasn’t sure if Hayun had seen me or not.

The Earthaboo pushed me away and fell to the side.

I took a few steps back.

My mind was in chaos. I felt so nauseous I thought I might throw up at any moment.

Crack, crack, sparks flew from the circuit.

I covered my face with both hands and desperately wanted to run away, but somehow my legs wouldn’t move.

10

It wasn’t 10.

It was 100.

The part displaying the final 0 and everything above it was completely shattered. Blood flowing over my right eye had limited my vision, and in my confusion, I hadn’t noticed.

It was hard to breathe.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

Someone who didn’t understand the situation shouted. Whose voice was it? Considering it was a woman’s voice, it must have been one of the magical girls.

Did they think I was trying to start a fight?

Black substance dripped from my body.

“Ugh.”

I vomited black substance. The helmet was suffocating.

But I couldn’t take it off. There was no way I could.

Black liquid flowed freely from the parts I was trying to cover with my hands.

It was transforming the area around my body. With cracking sounds, the carapace covering my arms slowly became spiky.

No.

I’m not trying to fight.

I—

I—

…

What was I trying to do again?

I had come all this way, trying not to be discovered. I had planned to finish the battle with the magical girls as best I could and then return to hiding.

I looked around.

People who had come out to other floors were watching. Some even appeared to be holding smartphones.

But that calm atmosphere didn’t last long.

BOOM!

The building began to collapse.

The ceiling that had already caved in started to fall. People screamed and scattered.

Who could have done this?

Even Noir Corporation wouldn’t do something like this.

Destroying the entire complex and endangering minors inside. The company might have immoral aspects, but they would at least maintain a minimum image.

Were they trying to frame the magical girls?

I’m not sure.

One thing I know for certain is that whatever I was trying to do, it’s all over now.

I heard someone running toward me.

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I raised my gaze from the uncovered side.

Through the helmet, I saw Blossom’s face.

She was pale.

Blossom spoke with a trembling voice.

“Jieun…?”

“Ah…”

“Why?”

The expression on her face was one of bewilderment.

Why was I here? Why was I dressed like this? Why had I been fighting her?

Her face was filled with all those questions.

The “10” that had been barely visible on my helmet disappeared.

My circuit exploded with a thunderous noise.

And then—

“Blossom! Subdue that one!”

“Huh? Why?”

“What do you mean why— Look at what’s in front of you!”

“Wait, wait, no, no, Rose!”

Blossom tried to stop something.

Crack! There was a sound like that next to my head, and something that sounded like breaking.

My vision flew upward, then fell straight down.

Thud.

I got hit from the side and went flying.

“…!”

I heard Blossom’s scream. A scream that couldn’t form words.

The percentage still wasn’t visible.

Despair.

If I had given up completely, it shouldn’t be rising again. Why was my vision being covered by that liquid?

This—

Ah, is this perhaps despair about myself?

Because of my petty pride, I wanted to beat a child much better than me. Is this the result of a choice made with a twisted heart?

Is this the result of carelessly thinking that position doesn’t matter, that I just needed to use it for good?

My vision grows darker and darker.

The nature beyond reason flowed endlessly, enveloping my body.

I felt my body rising.

It’s hard to think.

I just wished it would all end, as my final thought.

*

“Blossom!”

Hayun only came to her senses after hearing that shout.

When she regained her senses, she found herself rushing at Rose. She was trying to grab Rose’s arms and even swung her staff.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Rose asked, just before she was about to slap Hayun’s cheek.

Hayun couldn’t answer. She didn’t understand why Jieun had reacted that way.

No, she couldn’t understand why they had fought so fiercely until just now. Hadn’t Jieun been charging at her with all her might?

Holding a hammer, as if trying to destroy everything.

Why?

“Whatever your relationship is, it’s not for me to judge, but look over there right now.”

Hayun looked where Rose was pointing.

There was a black mass.

“I don’t know what that is,”

Rose said.

“And I don’t know how dangerous the person inside is. But at least I know we can’t just leave it alone.”

That’s right.

It was an instinctive revulsion.

They didn’t know what kind of energy Noir Corporation used. But magical girls could almost instinctively tell that the results of using that energy wouldn’t be good.

“B-but, I…”

“Fine,”

Rose said.

“If you can’t handle it, stay out of the way. Just don’t interfere. Let’s deal with this first, get everyone out, and when it’s safe, we’ll talk again.”

Rose ran toward it without waiting for Hayun’s answer.

Iris followed behind Rose, then looked at Hayun.

Their eyes met. Both had bewildered expressions.

But Iris said nothing, turned her head, and ran forward with her gun aimed ahead.

Dalia and Delphinium’s magic flew in.

Several massive explosions occurred.

The black sphere greedily devoured all the magic.

The sphere grew larger, and inside, something like a crouched human form emerged.

“…Everyone run! Take the people with you!”

Delphinium shouted.

“I’ll try to handle this somehow…!”

Delphinium said this while raising her staff. Then she opened her magic book.

And began to chant something.

“I’ll stay,”

Iris said.

“Someone needs to send people away until the end.”

Then she flew up into the air.

“Blossom.”

Rose said.

Blossom looked at Rose with a dazed expression, then nodded.

She had to do her job.

But, Jieun—

Blossom gritted her teeth and ran.

She needed to save people first. Delphinium and Iris would handle it somehow. Blossom’s power wouldn’t mean much right now anyway.

No, maybe it would, but.

For the first time, Blossom ran away, making such excuses.

She didn’t want to think about anything right now.

*

A massive explosion occurred once more.

Delphinium’s magic caused a white explosion. The black substance that had been slowly growing lost its form for a moment, with parts of it flying away.

Iris didn’t miss that opening and fired at the person visible inside. With as much power as she could muster.

It probably would have hurt a lot if they were conscious. They would have been injured too.

But at that moment, it was the only hope.

That hope worked.

Perhaps because the being inside had lost consciousness, Iris’s shots made it possible to warp them away.

Was it because the main body disappeared? The black sphere slowly, weakly collapsed.

There was no time to examine what it was.

Perhaps due to another shock, the building began to collapse rapidly. Had it affected the entire complex?

Delphinium knelt on one knee with a pale blue face.

Iris put her hand on Delphinium’s shoulder.

The two disappeared.

The traces that remained were buried under the collapsing complex.

*

“…”

After the battle ended.

The surroundings were in chaos.

The massive complex had collapsed. It hadn’t completely fallen, but the middle section where the pillars had been had caved in.

But since the center had collapsed, the rest couldn’t be completely intact either.

Miraculously, there were very few fatalities.

Noir Corporation had established excellent contingency plans. They had even conducted safety evacuation drills for about an hour with students who were staying there for the first time today, allowing staff to respond quickly and evacuate everyone. Fortunately, the students were all in the outer areas rather than the central part and were the first to evacuate.

There were many injured. Still being counted. They were still tallying minor and serious injuries.

No matter how good the evacuation manual was, there were many employees in the complex. Countless people fell or collided while running, and since there had been a battle inside, many were injured in the fight with the magical girls.

The treatment center wasn’t large enough to handle all these people at once. They were first admitted to nearby general hospitals, and after initial treatment, they would be transferred back to the treatment center for healing.

However, among them, there was someone whose treatment wasn’t progressing quickly.

Hayun sat blankly beside the bed where Jieun lay.

At first, other children came to try to comfort her. But when Hayun continued to sit silently without responding, they eventually gave up and left.

Only Iris remained and tried to say something. In the end, she left without saying anything.

“…”

Why had they fought, why had she been hostile to the magical girls?

Such thoughts crossed her mind.

But soon, she realized something far more shocking than those thoughts.

Hayun had bullied Jieun many times.

Hayun had only been a magical girl for two years. That meant Jieun must have been among the combatants she had regularly encountered during those two years.

When subduing combatants, naturally, the combatants get hurt.

Sometimes you can clearly see broken bones. Sometimes blood flows from under the helmet, around the neck area, or skin gets cut when the combat suit tears.

Iris had explained that her warp bullets could break ribs.

Dalia’s staff is sturdy. The magic that comes from that staff is naturally that powerful.

Getting hit by Rose’s gauntlet doesn’t just end with pain.

Delphinium’s magic makes you feel like your body is burning, she’d heard.

How many years had Jieun lived like that? How many times had Jieun encountered Hayun?

…How many times had Hayun broken Jieun’s bones?

Breaking, tearing, crushing.

Blasting away, slamming, colliding.

She had even cut her with a knife.

They were forces of evil, weren’t they? They never die. Because it’s controlled that way.

If they received treatment at the treatment center, they could heal completely without any scars.

—So Jieun, after being beaten by Hayun at night, would go to the treatment center, get healed, and then smile at Hayun at school as if nothing had happened.

Her hands trembled.

Something sour rose from below her throat.

Covering her mouth with her hand, Hayun could only look down at the floor.

Even while sitting in front of Jieun, she couldn’t look directly at her face.

Yes.

Hayun had thought of her opponents as forces of evil.

Even while thinking that maybe they could talk, she ultimately chose to quickly neutralize them.

And among them was Jieun.

There could have been acquaintances among those people behind helmets that didn’t even show their expressions.

No matter how much she tried to understand that it was unavoidable, no matter how much she tried to think of Noir Corporation as an evil entity.

Right now, Jieun was lying in the bed.

“Why?”

Hayun murmured.

“Jieun, why…?”

But no answer came back.