After leaving Trinity like that, Haruta immediately headed for Abydos.
“...For now, I should at least pay my debt and get out.”
It had all been planned simply to save Yume and make Hoshino owe him a debt of light.
“Let’s go.”
----------------------------------
Abydos Desert
“Haa... do I still have time?”
Haruta clearly remembered there being about a month of grace period.
He just had to find Abydos High School or Hoshino within that time and save Yume.
“Ah, wait a second.”
Haruta had forgotten something.
That Abydos had an area comparable to Gehenna and Trinity.
“People are still living out here in small numbers. If I ask around, I’ll probably figure something out.”
Haruta thought for a moment, then remembered he was a criminal and promptly gave up.
“Haa. It’s cold.”
“? Haruta? Why don’t you just ask the person who knows?”
“...Oh, right.”
----------------------------------
“Wow....”
“How is it?”
“Your navigation is insane?”
“It is not!”
“Haha. No, really, thanks, Akashi.”
“Hmph!”
Haruta had come straight to Abydos. He didn’t even know the location, but after walking in the direction Akashi had pointed out, he found it in less than thirty minutes.
“So this is... Abydos?”
For a moment, the scenario from the Abydos task force chapter came to mind.
“Right... I still don’t know whether Yume has gone missing or not.”
There was a light on in one room on the first floor of Abydos High School.
“...Better check just in case.”
----------------------------
“Excuse me....?”
“Mmyaa....”
“???”
Inside was Yume, sleeping more comfortably than anyone Haruta had ever seen.
“...Haa, thank goodness.”
“Mmm... what is it?”
“Ah... you’re awake?”
“Eh....?!”
“Hoshino-chan!!”
From upstairs, he heard someone rushing down at full speed. It had to be Hoshino.
BANG!
“What is it, senpai!”
“We have an applicant!”
“? Me?”
“Huh...? What is it? You’re not here to enroll in Abydos...?”
“Ah... sorry... I had other business....”
“Aww....”
After a brief conversation with Yume, Hoshino glanced at Haruta’s face.
“...”
“What is it?”
“Yume-senpai? Get the gun.”
“Huh? Why?”
“This guy’s a criminal.”
“Whaaat???”
“And not just any criminal. He was once called the most dangerous criminal in the past, and if you search him now, he still comes up immediately.”
“...I won’t exactly deny that.”
Hoshino immediately drew her firearm and aimed it at Haruta’s head.
“...Wait, listen to me.”
“Hoshino-chan, at least hear him out!!”
“Yume-senpai! You want to listen to a criminal right now!?”
“No.... I mean... b-but...”
“Then get your gun right now!!”
“Haa... Takanashi Hoshino... right?”
“...”
“Just listen. Even criminals have things to say.”
Without a word, she racked the shotgun and glared at Haruta with her shining odd eyes.
She hadn’t said anything, but the killing intent was unmistakable.
“...Haa... fine. Would you believe me if I said it like this?”
“I’ll tell you the cause of Abydos’s desertification.”
“Whaaaat?”
“...”
“Haa, I’ll just get straight to the point.”
“Mm!”
“...”
Hoshino, still aiming her shotgun in silence, wavered for a moment before finally ordering him to raise his hands.
“Yes, yes. Hands up, and I’ll sit on the floor.”
“You’re Yume, right?”
“Yep! I’m the student council president of Abydos, Yume Kuchinashi!”
“Hmm... no, I guess you weren’t just one.”
Looking out at the desert beyond Abydos, Haruta considered the possibility that the thing he had defeated in the past was a replica of Binah, or maybe a prototype.
“The reason the sandstorms in Abydos’s desert have become this severe is, surprisingly enough, that giant mechanical serpent—Binah, as it’s commonly called. That bastard is the cause of Abydos’s desertification.”
“...”
“Seriously??? Then why are you here?”
“Ah... I’m just really here to help you guys.”
“Re... really??”
Yume looked at him with an expression that was almost on the verge of tears.
“Yes, yes. And Hoshino.”
“...”
“You don’t need to answer. I’m not some bad adult. Just a criminal passing by.”
Then he turned on his phone and showed them his bank account.
“...???”
Hoshino’s eyes widened.
On the account was an absurd amount of money no student could possibly believe.
“...???”
Hoshino rubbed her eyes and looked at the phone again.
“...Who... are you?”
“Huh? Hoshino-chan? What is it, what is it?”
Yume fainted the moment she saw the phone.
The amount displayed was 876.52 million yen.
“What on earth did you do?”
“What, did you think I robbed a bank or something?”
“Right... a criminal like you could make money in all sorts of ways... kidnapping, fraud, and so on... plenty of ways.”
“No. If I’d made money that way, I’d be buried under the Correction Bureau by now.”
“...”
Hoshino fell silent for a moment.
“Then... what... did you... do?”
Her voice was almost pleading, as if asking for the answer.
It wasn’t exactly a desperate cry for help, but it was definitely a trembling voice that sounded like she might cry.
“Stocks.”
The way Haruta made his money was very simple.
He had turned one of the most ridiculous thoughts he’d ever had while playing Blue Archive into reality.
“Akashi? Can you do stocks too?”
“Yes! There’s nothing this AI can’t do!”
And so the fifty million yen he started with became eighty million, then kept growing until, about three years later, it had reached nearly nine hundred million yen.
After a moment of thought, Hoshino asked again.
“...Then what’s your real reason for coming here!”
“Haa... because you all looked like you were having such a hard time.”
“...What?”
“I told you. Only two students in the whole school, a giant light, and the desertification getting worse and worse.”
“After seeing that, I just came to Abydos on impulse.”
“...Yume-senpai, wake up.”
“..Huh! The rich guy.”
The way she addressed him was a little strange, but at least she had given him his real name.
“...Ah, what do people call me out there?”
“Chaos... they call you Chaos itself, the uncontrollable chaos.”
“...That’s cool.”
Hoshino stared at him in disbelief at those words.
“Hmm... anyway, I’m Takashi Haruta.”
“...”
“Waaah! Nice to meet you, Haruta-chan!!”
“And I came here because I’m going to smash Kaiser, who’s been forcing you into unfair debt, so there’s no problem with that.”
“You... you even know about our situation?”
“Of course. I’ve raided Kaiser a few times myself.”
“How is it? Still don’t believe me?”
“...Do you know what your bounty is right now?”
“No idea. But maybe around one hundred million yen?”
“...Four hundred million yen.”
“...You’re at Four Emperors level?”
“Four Emperors...?”
“No, no, don’t worry about it.”
“Anyway, all I want is just one empty classroom here. I’d like to sleep a little.”
“...I could hand you over to the police while you’re asleep, you know?”
“What was my nickname again?”
“Ch... Chaos.”
“Right. Then I’m probably more than capable of beating you, aren’t I?”
“....As expected.”
“No. If I’d meant to do that, I would’ve already grabbed you and that sleeping student council president over there and done whatever I wanted.”
“...”
“So? No matter what you do to me, I don’t care. Let’s not do this to the person who came here to help.”
“...”
“Haa... do you have a shared account here?”
“We do...”
“Then how much is in it right now?”
“769.07 million yen....”
“Hmm... good. Let’s go smash Kaiser!”
“??? Is that something you say out loud right now!”
“Yeah, but I came here to destroy Kaiser all by myself and just restore the interest to what it was originally.”
“...Fine... but after this is over, you’re leaving immediately.”
“Yes, yes~ Of course~”
Haruta answered flippantly, turned around, and headed for the third floor.
“I’m going to sleep! See you later!”
Creak—bang
“What the hell is that guy...?”
Of course. Until three years ago, a police force comprising ninety percent of the available manpower had been mobilized to capture the Chaos suppression target. Around 3,000 officers were deployed then, and even after that, they kept throwing more people at it.
And yet “Chaos” showed no sign of being caught. Then he disappeared for three years, and everyone thought he was dead—only to be standing right in front of them now, alive and well.
“...Yume-senpai.”
“Hm? What is it, Hoshino-chan?”
“Haa... do you really trust that criminal?”
“Mm... I can’t trust him completely, but... turning away someone who came to help us probably isn’t a good thing either...”
“Haa.... Yume-senpai, if that criminal tries anything, call me...”
“Mm... I will.”
Hoshino pressed a phone into Yume’s hand and looked her straight in the eyes.
“Yume-senpai, if anything seems dangerous, please call me...”
“Mm... thank you.”
----------------------------------
“Haaam.”
“Oh? Haruta-chan!!”
Yume ran over and hugged him.
“Kuh... Yume, I can’t breathe!”
He had only met her yesterday, but was Yume just naturally very friendly...?
“Mm... but Haruta came to help us, didn’t he?”
“Haa... still, first we have to get the work done if anything’s going to move forward.”
“Yep! I’ll go get Hoshino-chan!”
Yume ran down to the first floor and headed toward the student council room.
“Hoshino-chan!”
“?? What... what is it?”
“Our helper! Haruta-chan!”
“...Haa.”
Haruta sighed and looked at Yume.
Then he gave a small snort and looked at Hoshino.
“Haa... right. Nice to meet you, Takanashi Hoshino.”
A formal greeting, and a hand offered for a handshake.
Swat
“?”
Hoshino knocked his hand away and glared at Haruta.
“I don’t trust you. More importantly, you’re a criminal. Criminals don’t change.”
“Hoshino-chan! He did come here to help us...”
“No, Yume.”
“...”
“So the usual work is making a revival plan, and the next job is carrying it out?”
“Yep! That’s what we usually do! It also includes maintaining public order!!”
“...Oh, really? Public order? That might actually be nice.”
“Yep! Haruta-chan is strong, so I’m sure he’d be great at maintaining public order too!”
“...Well, I am a little strong.”
“Yep! Then please take care of us!”
“Then I’ll make a suggestion too. First, we’re going to hit Kaiser PMC.”
“Huh? They’re the company holding our debt, though?”
“Yes. I know.”
“Then?”
“That Kaiser PMC is the kind of place that annoyingly and unreasonably keeps raising interest, so I think we should deal with them slowly while cutting that interest down.”
“Mm...”
Hoshino answered with silence and listened.
“Phew. Then I think we need to launch an initial attack.”
“...Let’s do it tomorrow.”
“Oh, an active attitude.”
“Well, it’s not something we can keep putting off.”
“Fair enough.”
Haruta polished his close-quarters weapons and firearms.
Hoshino also cleaned her shotgun and pistol.
---------------------------------------------------------------
“All right... the objective is simple. We destroy that Kaiser PMC branch, and I’ll handle anyone inside. Yume and Hoshino, go downstairs and bring back a few documents.”
“Yep!”
“...”
“Good. Then let’s go!!”
And so Haruta slowly entered the Kaiser PMC facility.
“Stop right there! If you come any closer, we’ll open fire!”
Haruta reacted first to those words, drawing a sword from his hand and splitting the two soldiers in front of him in half.
Swiish!
“Maybe because it’s been a while since I pulled it out... it’s not getting in right properly.”
Haruta decided he’d have to make a katana out of fear later.
“...It’s Chaos! All units, request backup!”
“...Did they really think this would be enough to stop me?”
Haruta’s crimson eyes burned brighter as he glared at the Kaiser PMC mercenaries.
“...I can’t take this anymore.”
Then he took a hammer and a blade in his hands and put the gun away.
“...Yeah, the feel of it is going to be incredible...”
The moment he said that, Haruta’s figure vanished.
BOOM!
Reappearing, Haruta’s body was glowing red as he used that power once more.
“...It’s been a while since I used this too...”
The red light flowed into both arms, and slowly, his arms began to grow larger.
“This counts as bodily enhancement too...”
Then he raised his arms and gripped the blade tightly.
“No one in this place is leaving here in one piece today!”
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