episode_0189
by fnovelpia-You don’t have to be so wary. Don’t worry.
-I am on your side.
From beyond the smartphone.
The voice seemed to have been modified by a machine, and even the tone was androgynous, making it impossible to tell whether the other person was male or female.
An unknown identity, an unknown gender.
Having thoroughly concealed their appearance, the other party continued to speak.
-I will tell you. The hero who killed your rampaging younger sibling in the past. Who that hero is.
The unidentified person uttered the name of a hero.
* * *
“Hero Association Squad 7.”
“The A-class hero there, Spade.”
“That bitch killed my sibling.”
“That bitch──killed my sibling.”
Boss Violet, while talking about what happened to her, mumbled as if possessed by something.
She stopped throwing things around haphazardly, but her current appearance, as if her soul had left her body, was worrying.
Putting that aside.
What did the boss just say…?
“Yes…? No, what… what are you talking about?”
“Number 13.”
Dorothy, who had approached, called out to Number 13, who was about to say something, not fully understanding what Violet had said.
Dorothy handed the returning Number 13 their favorite tablet PC.
A video was playing on the screen.
‘…What is this?’
‘CCTV footage…?’
When the video, with its poor quality, was played, it seemed to show the scenery inside a building.
However, it was not an ordinary building, but a building that seemed to be half in ruins.
The CCTV screen also had cracks in the recorded screen, as if the glass in front of it had been broken.
Number 13 could tell at a glance that it was not a simple scene, but the site of a terrorist attack.
In the center of the video, a woman was standing and shouting something.
Amidst the chaotic scene, she made a fuss with gestures, and at some point, she turned her body and tried to return somewhere.
And at that very moment.
Thwack!
『———————……!』
Someone approached the woman who turned around like the wind, and before she could react, they swung their fist at her body.
Even though it was an unarmed fist, the hand easily pierced through the opponent’s body as if it were a gun or a knife.
The arm piercing through the body.
The blood spurting out.
The woman whose body was pierced convulsed for a moment and then slumped down, dying.
Through this video, one could see everything without exception.
Who the dead woman was.
Who the person who killed the woman was. Although they looked much younger compared to the present, it was not to the point where one could not recognize them.
“This… the boss’s sibling and… Spade…?”
“Yes. The boss’s sibling was an Awakened, and driven by the Awakened’s impulses, tried to cause an explosion using their abilities at a department store. …And that was suppressed by a woman named Spade, who was 1■ years old at the time.”
No, that’s impossible.
I know that the boss’s sibling was an Awakened, and that they were in an unstable state.
Most Awakened develop some kind of mental defect.
Number 13 had already heard from Violet that the boss’s sibling also couldn’t resist the impulse and went on a villainous terrorist attack because of that.
But Spade, who was only a minor and a student at the time, suppressed such a sibling.
She wouldn’t have had a hero license at that time.
She wouldn’t have received training to suppress, let alone kill, people yet.
But for an ordinary person and a minor to kill an opponent so decisively and with a single blow.
At least, Spade, as he knows her, doesn’t have such a daring personality. I don’t think she does.
“No. Is it because of this video? You can synthesize as many videos like this as you want! Dorothy, right? That’s right!?”
“…The boss ordered me to check it myself. There are no traces of editing or manipulation. …It’s definitely a real video.”
Number 13 couldn’t help but be dumbfounded at Dorothy’s words.
Violet, who first saw the video, also thought about the possibility that Number 13 is mentioning now, and tried to calm down.
However, she entrusted her emotions to Dorothy, and as a result, when she found out that this video was real, she eventually started rampaging and led to the present situation.
“……I know too.”
When Number 13 couldn’t say anything anymore and froze at Dorothy’s guarantee.
Violet, who was blankly burying herself in the chair as if her soul had left her body, muttered as if resigned.
“My sibling… I know there was no answer… If I left them alone… surely many people would have died… From the beginning, a normal life… wouldn’t have been possible.”
Violet’s sibling.
Their ability is to create bombs by turning whatever they touch or see into explosives. Perhaps because the ability is so powerful, the mental pollution caused by the constellation was also strong.
That’s why they were always fighting against the impulse to explode more and bigger things.
Each day became more and more devastated.
Violet, as their sibling, also knew that they were declining day by day.
So, she knew that this kind of ending was unavoidable.
So, she knew that she shouldn’t complain about this kind of ending.
However.
However.
However.
“But… but, it can’t be helped….”
“My sibling… my sibling… how pitiful…?”
“Thinking that my sibling was beaten to death by that hero bitch… I can’t stand it….”
“My head gets so hot, and it feels like a knife is sticking out of my heart.”
“It feels like thorns are growing in the blood vessels all over my body, and my whole body is pierced and bleeding….”
“Number 13.”
“I, am I allowed to be angry?”
“I want to be angry.”
“I want to destroy everything, break it, and ruin it.”
“Huh…? Please, Number 13… tell me it’s okay… please… I….”
Boss Violet spoke to Number 13 with a weak and unstable appearance that she had never shown before.
Pleading and begging.
She doesn’t even know if her own actions are right, but she wants to use someone’s permission as absolution.
In her head, she knows that her sibling is a villain and that such an ending is unavoidable.
Rather, the one to blame is herself, for not being there when her sibling was cornered.
Nevertheless, she can’t stop the anger.
She can’t bear the hatred towards the hero who made her sibling like that.
“Number 13, Number 13…!!”
“I, I…! I can’t stand it… I can’t, stand it…!”
“Please, please… me… what should I do…? What should I do…? Number 13, Number 13…!”
Weak, weak, weak, weak.
Violet, in an appearance that was so fragile and seemed like it would crumble at any moment, got up from the chair she had been leaning on.
She staggered towards Number 13 as she was, and clung to his body as if half-hanging on him.
Eyes filled with confusion, anger, sadness, and sorrow, looked up at Number 13 as if asking for help.
“Number 13.”
“Bring that woman to me….”
“I will tear that woman to pieces with my own hands.”
“I will avenge my sibling.”
“I will drive a stake into that woman’s heart, and watch her dying while spitting out blood.”
“Please, Number 13. You’ll grant my wish, right? Right?”
“Number 13. Number 13.”
“You’ll grant it, right?”
This is the first time I’ve seen this side of the boss.
A fragile appearance, reminiscent of a sandcastle that seems to collapse at any moment.
He was flustered by Violet’s appearance, and bewildered by her subsequent request.
Originally, the policy of this organization 【Abyss】 is non-killing.
Even if you think about the purpose of the organization, even if the opponent is a hero who tries to kill them, murder is not allowed.
In the first place, it was Violet who insisted on that.
Number 13 had no choice but to be troubled by such unreasonable claims and selfish requests from Violet.
However, such concerns were only temporary.
“You, Number 13, you——”
“You are on my side…!”
At Violet’s words, Number 13’s worries were cleared away.
The agitated and turbulent heart calmed down at once with those words.
His life is a life he owes to the boss.
From the day he was saved by her, he had sworn in his heart that he would always be on the boss’s side and sacrifice and give up everything.
So.
So….
“Of course, Boss.”
“Please don’t worry.”
“Please rest assured.”
Number 13 said in a gentle voice as he tightly hugged Violet, who was clinging to him as if relying on him.
Violet, who was embraced by Number 13, trembled for a moment, but soon buried herself in Number 13’s arms.
“I will solve all your worries and anger.”
“As you said, I will bring that woman here.”
“I will affirm all your revenge and anger.”
“So, don’t worry.”
“So, rest assured, Boss.”
“——I will be on your side, only your side, until the end of the world.”
At Number 13’s persuasion, Violet’s shoulders, which were embraced in his arms, lost strength as if relieved.
Number 13 hugged Violet even tighter.
And Dorothy, from a step away, is watching the two people with a blank expression….
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