"Kyehehehehek! Cult Leader! Watch over me!"
"Is she really insane...?"
Kenji muttered as he watched the student running amok in the middle of the street. The fox-masked woman standing beside him let out a hollow laugh and looked back at Kenji.
"Can't you even manage your subordinates properly?"
"They're not subordinates."
"......? But the 'Cult Leader' and 'Tenma' they're talking about all refer to you, don't they?"
"Did I tell them to say that? They're just banging their own drums and gongs on their own."
Kenji held his throbbing forehead and let out a deep sigh.
About half a year ago, while working on commissions in the Black Market, there was a time he saved a child being bullied surrounded by several students. He didn't use violence, just scared them off appropriately. Apparently, that was so moving that the saved child started refusing to go to school and followed him around persistently.
That's her. The one asking to be watched. All that Tenma and Demon Cult stuff was also created by her. He lived hiding his identity, not doing anything conspicuous and just solving commissions, when one day she suddenly appeared leading dozens of people, saying she would dedicate herself to the Tenma Shin Cult. Even now, thinking about it, it was absurd.
-Wh, what is this.
-These are devotees who have come to follow you, Cult Leader! How is it? Isn't it amazing? All of this is because of you!
-......Gulp. Gurgle......
It was so absurd that Kenji clutched the back of his neck and coughed up bloody phlegm. Then he told them all to get lost and chased them out, but they took it as their discipline being lacking and came back after some time. After that repeated several times, Kenji gave up. He also thought that none of them probably followed him sincerely anyway, and they were all just doing it for fun, so there was no need to coldly reject them.
It was a complacent thought. Kenji didn't properly understand the curiosity and frenzy of high school girls at the time. No, how could he have expected them to suddenly jump into a commission and collectively spray bullets everywhere, supposedly to help the Cult Leader? Kenji almost fainted on the spot. He barely managed to regain his composure, fortunately; otherwise, he would have become one of the PMCs writhing on the ground.
Kenji recalled the past and slumped his body over the rooftop railing. One of the devotees who recognized him from afar waved her hand with a happy expression.
"Ah, Cult Leader! The Cult Leader has arrived!"
"What?! Cult Leader?! Cult Leader!!!! Watch over me!!!!"
Kenji let their shouts go in one ear and out the other as he muttered.
"I wish they'd all just disappear..."
"......Frankly, isn't it your own fault?"
The fox-masked girl muttered. She slightly distanced herself from Kenji and observed his appearance.
He was a man with an overall dark impression. His attire was a cloth robe that seemed like something out of the Shan Hai Jing or Hyakki Yagyō, covering his entire body without revealing a single patch of skin. The loosely tied hair and clothes fluttering in the wind simultaneously made the viewer feel mystique and unease. The black mask covering his entire face added to that impression.
Frankly, it wasn't an ordinary appearance. Kenji seemed to know that too, so he didn't retort. Instead, he changed the subject.
"Did you do the incitement properly?"
"Yes, well... I did as you told me, for now."
"Good."
Kenji nodded. The fox-masked girl, Kosaka Wakamo, glanced at him and cautiously asked.
"So what's the purpose?"
"Of what."
"You suddenly broke into the detention center alone, helped us escape, and the request you wanted in return was to attack the General Student Council's club. But you're not intervening separately and are just watching this riot from here."
"......"
"I can't grasp the purpose at all. What are you aiming for?"
"It's nothing much."
Kenji chuckled and cracked his neck.
In the distance, he could see a woman moving along with a familiar face.
The time to descend had come.
"A rather high-ranking person entrusted me with a commission."
He recalled the conversation he had with the Student Council President in a dream about a year ago.
She was a mysterious girl. Her appearance alone was like that, and the more they talked, her conversational skills were remarkably admirable. She was playful but humble, careful not to touch a nerve even when bringing up important topics. To the extent that one would feel regretful that she would later go missing, she was an excellent person.
But she didn't reveal much through the conversation. The reason was to prevent the butterfly effect that would come from 'me,' who didn't know the future, learning about the future. He could understand, so he nodded, but honestly, doubts remained.
-Then there's not much I can do, is there? I have no idea how to help that person called the Teacher.
-You don't have to force yourself to help. When the Teacher asks for help, it won't be too late to help then. You just need to do what you can by their side, and not do what you can't. Simple, right?
-Just don't step forward and act normally?
-Yes. Ah, but for the first time, when the Teacher first sets foot in Kivotos, I'd like you to cause a riot if possible.
-......A riot?
Kenji slightly adjusted the position of his disheveled mask and continued the recollection.
-Yes, a riot. This is important. It's the first experience to build strong bonds with the students.
-......But I can't just run wild. If I become disliked because of that, it might get troublesome.
-If you break into the Correctional Bureau and help the penal students escape, things will work out well. After that... I'm not sure. I trust you'll handle it well on your own. Ah, and the most important thing!
Ahem, ahem, the Student Council President paused slightly and spoke.
-Please postpone meeting 'those children' until later if possible.
-......Why. All the restrictions are lifted. You're telling me to postpone it again?
-D-don't get angry so suddenly. There's a reason. Those children will be involved in a certain incident that happens in Kivotos in the future, and that's quite... an important event. We need to get through it without any variables so everyone can be happy.
-.......
-Please believe me.
She had said that with a sincere, almost pleading expression.
Kenji clicked his tongue and hooked his foot on the railing.
The blowing air was cold. All parts of his body except his hands and ears were covered with cloth and a mask, but for some reason, he felt a chill running through his body. Perhaps because somewhere in his chest, discontent was being voiced. He breathed in and out into the empty air and lowered his head.
The Student Council President is a good person. Even though they only had a conversation, he could figure out everything he needed to know from that. She was a sufficiently trustworthy person, a woman filled with truth instead of lies. To the extent that one might think a saint from a fantasy novel would be like that, she was upright and cared for everyone.
But.
'......Are all the methods she told me straightforward?'
He's following along for now. Though following only meant causing this riot, he was doing as she wished for now. But somehow, one thing kept bothering him.
'If she came from the same place as the "me" she met in the mental world.'
Doesn't that mean she experienced a different future? The happy ending she talks about could possibly be the worst in this worldline. Even if not, the possibility of it being the lesser evil also sufficiently existed.
Moreover, her words, that we must get through it without any variables. Thinking with the same premise, this statement was already wrong.
The 'me' from the mental world had left these words. Asking if he was with Gematria. When he said yes, the guy uttered words that seemed to imply everything had changed from there. That reaction was the appearance of someone who chose the wrong option from the same choices and regretted it.
If so, then variables started long ago, no different. That means the Student Council President's premise was wrong from the very foundation.
'......I need to keep being wary of this.'
He couldn't assert that the Student Council President was wrong. Likewise, he couldn't dismiss his own thoughts as mere delusion. He had to keep everything in mind and bring out an appropriate answer.
"What are you thinking about for so long?"
The voice that reached him broke his contemplation. Kenji briefly turned his head to stare at Wakamo, then chuckled and lowered his head toward the building below again.
"Nothing. More importantly, what are you going to do now?"
"I should do what I need to do. I don't intend to tell you much. Since I've already finished all your requests."
"Wasn't that also for your own benefit? No one else agreed except you."
"If our goals are the same, what reason is there to refuse?"
"That's true."
Kenji smiled bitterly and wrapped Fear around his legs. If he fell like that, his whole body would be crushed, so it was to minimize the impact. Fortunately, it wasn't a very tall building, so he didn't need to prepare desperately.
"Aren't you going to show your face?"
Just before falling like that, Wakamo suddenly asked. Kenji stared at her white fox mask as if finding it absurd and answered.
"You say that while showing yours?"
"I don't want to show my face recklessly to others."
"Are you ugly?"
"......You're saying you want to die in a roundabout way."
From behind Wakamo's mask, a crimson glow poured out. Kenji raised both arms as if signaling surrender and laughed, haha.
"I'm ugly. So I can't show my face because I'm afraid you might shoot me out of surprise when you see it."
"......That's a lie. Seems like there's another reason."
"Does that matter?"
"Well, it's not particularly important. Honestly, I'm not very interested in your bare face. I was just curious."
Wakamo smiled bewitchingly, fufu, and stood side by side with Kenji.
"Well then, I'll be going. I'll go ahead. I don't know what you're trying to do, but I have my own things to do separately."
"Alright. Let's not interfere with each other."
"Good. Let's do that just for this time, specially. But if our goals are the same, I have no intention of backing down."
"They can't be the same, so just go."
"How frivolous."
Wakamo clicked her tongue and jumped down from the building. After landing safely on the road, she quickly hid her body in an alleyway. Kenji stared blankly at her retreating figure, then saw the General Student Council group that had unknowingly drawn closer and formed a sly smile.
"Shall I go too?"
Soon.
He threw his body down from the building.
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