Abydos High School carries an enormous debt. The creditor is Kaiser Corporation, and due to maliciously inflated debt, the former student council tried desperately to repay it, even selling off parts of the academy district. But it was meaningless. The amount they inflated was not something that could be repaid by selling off a few parcels of land, only resulting in the loss of innocent land.
And as time passed to the present. The former student council executives all fled, and the current Abydos students, only five remaining, poured all their efforts into clearing the remaining debt. But the debt showed no signs of decreasing. To make matters worse, delinquents flooded in to occupy the school. Requesting support from Schale somewhat eased the breathing, but the debt problem remained. It was an issue Schale couldn't really help with.
A hopeless situation. No solution was in sight. They had discovered the debt was maliciously inflated, and they had discovered who was behind the incident, but they hadn't found a way to solve it. The best they could do was fend off the tightening grip little by little and endure.
Thus.
Abydos third-year, Takanae Hoshino, sacrificed herself. She decided to sell herself to the incident's mastermind, Kaiser PMC, to erase the remaining debt of Abydos. But with her, the last student council executive, leaving the school, the Abydos Countermeasures Committee was demoted from an official club to a private gathering. No longer did Abydos have an official club or student council.
This meant a justification was given to directly attack Abydos. The Kaiser PMC director didn't miss this opportunity and immediately dispatched forces to invade Abydos Main School. With the help of Hayool, the Countermeasures Committee, and the Problem Solver 68, they drove them out, but that was only temporary; if he continued pouring in troops, Abydos would eventually be occupied.
During such gloomy days continuing, Hayool met the Black Suit. The Black Suit showed her the meaning of 'We don't want to fight you' and proposed negotiations, but Hayool refused. The reason was that they couldn't hand over Hoshino.
'A very Teacher-like reason.'
Kenji chuckled and rested his arm on the armrest. The scenery visible outside the window was utterly desolate.
He listened to the song flowing from his earphones and sank deeply into the seat back. Although it was inside the train heading to Abydos, there were no other passengers, so he didn't need to mind others' eyes.
'Negotiations broke down. But they told us the location of Takanae Hoshino... right.'
Kenji let out a hollow laugh and crossed his legs. Anyway, whether in the past or now, he was a guy whose true intentions couldn't be known through actions.
The location of Hoshino the Black Suit revealed is said to be a laboratory in the middle of the Kaiser PMC garrison. He realized it immediately upon hearing. It was the same place where his own experiment took place in the past. Back then, it was the basement of a derelict building; it seems Kaiser PMC built a new building over it in the past few years. Well, it's not particularly relevant.
The help Hayool requested was to rescue Hoshino trapped in the laboratory. For this, she said she even licked the feet of a student named Iori to receive support troops from Gehenna, and for some reason, Hayool's voice explaining this was slightly excited.
He didn't know the reason.
He didn't want to know.
"......"
Kenji organized the contents Hayool told him neatly in his head while tapping the armrest with his finger. With his other hand, he was calling someone. Several rings sounded from the earphones, and the other party answered.
-Hello? Church Leader?
"Yeah, Setsuka. Where are you?"
-Me? I was training near the Black Market lawless zone. The others are all gathered here too.
"......Didn't I tell you the Demonic Cult is disbanded?"
-We won't stop until we're recognized!
Setsuka shouted with a lively voice. Kenji let out a deep sigh, but thinking about the purpose of the call, it was fortunate the cult wasn't disbanded for now. He cleared his throat once, then spoke in a serious voice.
"Setsuka. Call all the kids to the front of Abydos School."
-Huh? Abydos?
"Catching a PMC today. 20,000 yen per mercenary roaming there, commission time until one student is rescued. Will you do it?"
-Of course we will! Kids! The Church Leader is calling us! Everyone to Abydos!!
"Ah, before coming, buy a Zippo lighter and some cigarettes there. You know the kind I smoke, right?"
-The peach-scented one, right? Got it! Lighter and cigarettes! I'll buy them!
"Yeah, I'll be waiting."
Click.
Kenji ended the call. With a relaxed expression, he reclined the seat back and put on the sleep mask he brought to catch a little sleep.
As soon as Kenji got off the train, he frowned at the sight of automata patrolling the streets precisely like disciplined soldiers.
He had heard that most of the district had been taken over. But it seems the situation is more serious than imagined. Even for an occupied area, seeing this many automata roaming and messing up the streets...
Fortunately, the residents seemed to have evacuated beforehand and weren't visible. It meant he didn't need to consider collateral damage. The opponents weren't people but hunks of scrap metal, so there was no need for mercy in his hands. Kenji created a mask from fear and put it on, then approached one looking around. It recognized Kenji and immediately raised its gun muzzle.
Thwip.
Simultaneously, a sound like a bowstring being released was heard. Although it was sudden, the emotionless robot didn't consider it significant and placed its finger on the trigger.
And so it realized.
It wasn't there.
The trigger it should pull wasn't there. The gun wasn't there. The finger wasn't there.
The arm wasn't there.
"Looking for this?"
Kenji spat out with a laughter-filled voice. In his hand, the robot's ripped-off arm hung limply. The finger hooked on the trigger writhed pitifully. The moment it realized, without any error, the robot drew the pistol at its waist. But Kenji was faster.
He immediately swung the torn-off arm like a club and smashed the robot's face. Machine parts scattered roughly, and oil and wires splattered outward. Kenji recited while driving his arm deep into the chest of the collapsing thing.
"One."
The voice was very small, but precise enough for all automata on the street to hear. Their heads simultaneously turned toward Kenji. Kenji faced their yellow optical sensors and erased the expression from his face.
He suddenly remembered the past.
About 2 years ago, he had used a simulation room at a shooting range built on Trinity's outskirts. At that time, Kenji had never defeated all the robots that appeared there. No matter how lucky he was or how great his movements were, he always missed a few and eventually got a hole in his forehead and died.
So, how about this time.
These weren't fake robots from a simulation room. This wasn't a fake world where you revive even with a hole in your forehead.
There's no next time. Get hit and you die. You're utterly finished.
Thump thump!
His heart beat violently. A familiar sensation.
The sensation felt every time he completed a request during that one year. The sensation felt to the point of boredom in the mental world. That sensation only felt when a sharp blade thrusts right before your neck. The sensation he had no choice but to master to survive.
Survival instinct.
Kenji pushed off the ground with his foot. Shooting forward without a sound, he shattered the heads of two nearby automata. An ink-colored wave rippled from the swung leg.
"Three."
-Qua-rur-rur! The wave shot forward. Caught by the unexpected attack, the automata searched their programmed responses, but such a thing didn't exist. Everything happening in this situation had to be handled improvisationally. They immediately embedded the revised program in their heads and ducked to avoid the wave.
During that process, their vision was blocked. Kenji stepped on the body of a fallen one and rose into the air. Fear condensed on his foot.
White Lotus Demonic Art, Falling Star.
Boom! The road at the point of impact was crushed. Kenji exhaled black smoke and lifted the body of the one whose lower half had disappeared. Ting ting ting! The flying bullets bounced off the thing's body. Kenji covered its upper body with fear, then threw it with all his might toward the clustered robots. The air compressed and exploded with a huge sound.
"Twenty."
The back of his head felt hot. Kenji immediately crouched to dodge the muzzle. The belated bullet pierced other automata. But they weren't flustered. Whether comrades died or not, the programmed steel brains of these things searched for a way to defeat Kenji as quickly as possible.
Under the mask, Kenji's face held no expression. A severe blankness. Sunken eyes searched for openings. Just a few seconds, barely even a second. Kenji shot his body toward the revealed opening. Then he flipped his body upside down. His head faced the ground, his legs rose toward the sky. In that state, he stretched his legs. The heads of two things touched the tips of both his feet.
White Lotus Demonic Art, Thorn Shatter, Leg.
Crunch! The robots' heads were crushed from the inside. The bodies of the two collapsed.
"Twenty-two."
Click. The automata's muzzles turned toward Kenji. Kenji exhaled a short breath and used the heads he was stepping on as a stepping stone to leap into the air. -Ratatatat! Bullets poured onto the spot where he had been standing. Kenji looked down at the scene and spun his body once in the air. Then he stretched his right foot and, using the rotational force, struck down at the ground.
White Lotus Demonic Art, Ink Cloud.
-Sssssss......*
Black smoke flowed out centered on the impact point. Kenji exhaled a long breath and corrected his posture.
No automata remained in the surroundings anymore.
"Forty."
He brushed off his clothes and straightened his crooked mask. Then he took out his smartphone and called Hayool.
"Ah, hello? Teacher? I took the train and arrived, but how do I get to the Abydos main building......"
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