I had briefly forgotten.
"...Ah... right... Eden Treaty Chapter 4..."
The current timeline was the story of Eden Treaty Chapter 4, and the protagonist of that story was Arius Squad, and
also the fact that Misono Mika was his friend, and his master.
"...Damn it."
No matter how hard Haruta shouted, if he met Mika now, the story would veer straight into a complete disaster.
It could become a hopeless tale where Sensei died, or...
"...something I want to protect... or whatever..."
He could never stand to watch something fly apart, or something precious to him die or disappear, so for now he couldn’t intervene.
"...Damn... this is a little variable... no, I’m just stupid."
He kept turning over his mistake in his head, thinking and thinking again about what he had meant to do and how he could break out of this situation, searching for a way out.
"...But I can’t remember."
This cursed knowledge never helped even once.
"...Haa... for now, is watching this the best I can do...?"
He was a little disappointed that he couldn’t jump in right away, but he also felt irritated that this was all he could settle for now.
Still, even from a distance, he could see fairly well, so it wasn’t too much of a problem.
"...But I can’t hear their voices..."
That was one major flaw, but he decided to let that small issue slide. It looked like Sensei and Mika had finished talking.
"Still, Mika isn’t suddenly going to pull out a gun and say she’s going to kill Arius Squad here, right?"
Click.
"..."
He had briefly forgotten that words could become reality.
"...Oops! Watch your mouth!"
It was too late to regret it now. Mika already had murder in her eyes, and her halo was spinning so fast it practically had an aura.
Rat-a-tat!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"...If they’re fighting over there, and I snipe them, Mika will probably look this way immediately."
He imagined a perfect plan: as soon as the fight over there ended, he’d move in beside Sensei and cleanly take Beatrice’s head off, then get out.
"Yeah, that’s great... then Mika should still follow the original story, right?"
That was what he thought. But then Haruta’s father from his previous life said:
"Kid, life... doesn’t always go the way you want. Well... it’d be nice if it did, but your old man’s telling you to look around once in a while."
KWAOOO!
"...What the hell was that?"
He watched Mika grab Saori with one hand and slam her into the ground.
Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"...Oh... sh*t..."
It felt strange seeing a move you’d expect in an UFC match back in the original world coming from Mika.
Honestly, it was so absurd that it looked believable that she was a former athlete, the way she grabbed someone, spun them around, and drove them into the ground with raw force.
"...Haa..."
Whoosh—boom!
"Holy..."
Watching Mika half-spin Saori around before finally getting bored and throwing her into a wall, Haruta even felt a little awe.
"But do I need to heal that...?"
Still, from where he was standing, the injuries didn’t look that severe, and Saori got back up almost immediately to keep fighting Mika.
Rat-a-tat, bang!
Then the momentum gradually shifted toward Sensei’s side. There was a reason people kept saying Sensei’s command ability was exceptional.
Among the five strongest in Kivotos, Sensei was slowly but precisely directing the fairly powerful Mika against Arius Squad, tightening the noose around her. He looked like one of the great commanders in history.
"...Wow. As expected of Sensei."
Haruta was already thinking about how he should tease Sensei once this was over.
Click!
"...Well, a couple of Arius soldiers should still be worth shooting."
Bang!
Click.
Bang!
With two shots, he accurately hit the head of an Arius student carrying a grenade launcher and knocked her out. It wasn’t perfect, but he’d hit the head, so that was good enough.
After briefly stopping Mika and receiving the signal to retreat from Sensei, it was time for him to get moving too.
"Now... my legs hurt, so I should probably get up too."
As he followed Sensei, a cathedral-like building came into view in the distance.
"...Now all that’s left is to cut Beatrice’s head off."
The weapon he had now was the overwhelmingly powerful one that could only be used three times even in the Crucible game.
"At this point, it won’t be painful... but yeah, it’ll kill her in one hit."
He took out the Crucible, which had been sealed shut and could not bask in the light, and swung the closed Crucible once.
Swish! Click!
"Ooooh... if this hits, it’s going to hurt like hell."
He stared blankly at the Crucible’s terrifying crimson glow for a moment, but it was understandable.
Click.
"For now, I won’t waste it by taking it out. I’ll save it for when I can kill her for sure."
He put the Crucible away and looked toward Sensei, only to see that Sensei was already waiting in front of the cathedral to check whether Haruta had arrived.
"...Ah."
Tap-tap-tap
"Sensei! So this is the place?"
"Yeah, the girls said this was it."
"Right. There’s a corridor underground in this building."
"Okay! Great. Then I can’t go with you, but I’ll cover you."
"...Thanks."
"Don’t mention it."
And so he went underground with Sensei and Arius Squad.
Below ground, they passed through a large plaza-like space and even a room that looked like a ballroom.
"...? What was this place originally built for?"
"...As far as I know, it was originally a place for performances and prayer."
That made sense.
"I found it! It’s here!"
"Is that so? We’ll move there now."
Then Misaki silently looked down the corridor and asked Saori:
"Leader, if this place really is connected in a straight line like you said... it’s dangerous."
"I already considered ambushes. If anything, a straight line is better."
"No, I mean Misono Mika."
"...Huh? Mika, suddenly?"
"Yeah. I thought about what I’d do if I were Mika."
"And?"
"Right now, Misono Mika doesn’t want to hurt Sensei, so this kind of straight corridor..."
Rumble...
"...Oh."
KABOOM!
"Sensei! Run!!"
"?!"
Patter!
Boom!
"Sensei! Are you okay!?"
"Y-yeah... that was easier to dodge than I expected... almost like it was intentional...?"
"Le... leader?"
"I’m here. Behind the collapsed pillar."
"Ah... thank goodness..."
"No... that doesn’t seem right either."
On the other side of the collapsed pillar, everything was already heading toward the worst possible outcome everyone had imagined.
"...No way."
A gentle voice, yet unbearably heavy and cold, rang in everyone’s ears.
"...Well... at least it’s good that you were the one who got picked, Saori."
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