User:Silverhunter

Part 4

District 7 had all the basics, making it a convenient district to live in, but that also meant it was difficult to find any major landmarks. Kamijou and Kamisato wanted to fake a fight on an online video so Salome would contact them, so they wanted to surreptitiously slip in something anyone would recognize.

“What should we do? All I know about this place is from the sightseeing pamphlets.”

“That’s right. I guess we should go with the Windowless Building. Some VIP called the Board Chairman lives there, so it can supposedly survive a nuclear attack just fine. That should be listed on the guide maps at any train station.”

With that, the two of them changed direction.

But as soon as they did, over one thousand copper coins filled the area above Kamijou Touma’s head like a meteor storm.

“Eh…?”

At first, he did not know what this meant.

As he stood there dumbly, the downpour of projectiles descended like a suspended ceiling and quickly reached him. He frantically raised his right hand overhead, but that was no help. Orange sparks filled the air, a cloud of dust formed as the asphalt was torn away, and the spiky-haired boy was struck all over and bounced a few times as he rolled along the road.

“Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

Finding himself on his side, he arched his back and screamed, but he could not get up.

Meanwhile, someone waved down from the roof of a short multi-tenant building.

“Yahoo. Everything going all right, boss?”

The delinquent girl’s long brown hair was cut so that two tufts looked like fox ears. She held an empty plastic bottle upside down in her hands. When she shook it a little, the countless ten yen coins wriggled on the road. They slowly gathered together in a whirlwind shape.

The unharmed boy waved back from the ground.

“Right on schedule, Elza.”

“Heh heh heh. He praised me.”

Intense heat spiraled through Kamijou’s head.

Was this how it would be? Did Kamisato not care about any damage to his side after all? Would he let Mass Murderer Salome go on her rampage, harm all sorts of people in Academy City, and leave the people and world Kamijou cared about floating in a pool of blood? And would he consider that a happy ending as he clapped his hands and smiled at his new high score?

“Ka…mi…satooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!”

“Pipe down. Sure I betrayed you, but I’m giving you what you want. This is the best way to stop my sister.”

Kamijou did not understand.

Unless…

“Hey, Kamijou Touma. Do you remember what I told you? Salome is slaughtering your friends and acquaintances so that my group will win. Then isn’t the solution obvious? You decided that having Kamijou Touma and Kamisato Kakeru clash in front of the camera and faking my defeat would send her running to us. But there’s still a risk of Salome realizing it’s an act, not being fooled, and continuing her killing. Basically, it leaves the initiative in the hands of that sister that’s known as a mass murderer. That’s a risk we can’t afford to take. So I like the sound of a simpler and surefire method that takes the initiative away from her.”

“What…are you…?”

“You just have to die.”

World Rejecter gave the simplest death sentence possible.

“Remember what I said? Salome’s goal is to guide my faction to victory. So we just have to make sure you, the enemy king, die on camera. Do that, and her reason to fight will naturally vanish. Then you don’t have to worry about any of your friends dying. And since it isn’t an act, there’s no risk of Salome not being fooled and remaining out of our control. Isn’t that just a wonderfully perfect solution?”

“…”

Kamijou could not get up thanks to the previous impact and he could tell his pulse was racing.

An unpleasant sweat covered his palms.

The disconcerting pulsation from his neck grew louder.

“Elza.”

Kamisato sounded like he was reciting something.

“Fran, Maya, Luca.”

One was a pajama UFO girl with tons of antennae coming from her backpack as she used a giant balloon to float around. One was a ghost girl dressed in white who floated above the artificial fog machine at her feet. One was a pirate girl with an eyepatch, pirate hat, miniskirt, cutlass, and large musket.

“Aileen, Lime, Lisa, Mary, Anna, Iris, Nina, Maive, Elly, Clara, Deborah, May, Sophia, Siren, Sandy, Marine, Rosary, Scala, Yuny, Lemon, Nikita, Lemy, Machina, Catherine, Dorothea, Athena, Muse, Berry, Susan, Melon, Milcah, Amy, Linda, Fia, Snow, Laika, Honey, Eve.”

One was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was, one was…

Kamijou could not even speak as girl after girl appeared from every direction.

He could not move, he was hopelessly outnumbered, and each of them had undergone an extreme mutation like Claire and Elza. Each and every one of them would have been a formidable foe on her own, so he felt nothing but despair as they approached in numbers rivaling the stars in the sky.

“I hate doing this. I was supposed to be handling this, but I really do want their help here. They’ll just be holding you down while I provide the finishing blow, but just getting some help is a pretty big problem.”

Kamisato Kakeru pulled out a cheap cellphone.

He pointed the lens at his prey like the master of an insane classroom undergoing a moral hazard.

And he spoke coldly.

“I’m dirtying my hands by making this unpleasant snuff film for the sake of your friends. So at least let me finish this quickly, Kamijou Touma-kun.”

“…!!!???”