Chapter 93 part 2: Grudge (3)

“Woah! Misono Mika! Fully recovered☆!”

“Welcome back, sister. Sorry to trouble you on the weekend.”

“Ahaha☆ Sora-chan, do you think I’d get angry over something like that…? I’m happy to spend this precious time with Sora-chan~”

“Still, it’s been a while since we met, wouldn’t it be nice if it felt more like a date?”

The day after the short meeting with the vigilante people, Mika-senpai, fully recovered,

and I began searching the various alleys of the D.U. district adjacent to Trinity and the areas around buildings that looked like warehouses, based on the information we heard from Sayaka, just as planned.

Even limited to the factory district of D.U. adjacent to Trinity, the area was impossible for just the two of us, Mika-senpai and I, to search completely, but…

Compared to the Justice Realization Committee, the scale was meager, but we were able to significantly reduce the search range and shorten the time by enlisting the cooperation of the reasonably sized vigilante personnel within Trinity.

In fact, even while chatting and moving like this, the sound of gunfire from clashes between those like Sukeban or Helmet Gang members and the vigilantes could be heard intermittently,

proving that they were definitely doing their job and strongly suggesting the presence of Sukeban or Helmet Gang bases in this vicinity.

It was clear we had grasped the situation properly.

“Hmm~ It certainly doesn’t look like a good place to spend quality time~”

“Exactly…”

To simply dismiss it as having many Sukeban or Helmet Gang members is difficult because simple Sukeban and Helmet Gang members generally don’t get along well.

Although there are many cases where they ignore each other, the Helmet Gang side tends to unilaterally disregard simple Sukeban.

“Oh… Trinity goody-two-shoes? Lucky day today? We’ve been avoiding the vigilante guys, but this is good. If you come quietly, you won’t get hurt…?!”

“Ahaha☆ You’re in the way!”

Sukeban and Helmet Gang members are also just students, and they know how to think properly, so they don’t always rob people or pick fights with everyone they meet, but…

Well, yeah, I can’t deny it… As Trinity is called a ladies’ school, students from Trinity were their main targets, so there were quite a few who picked fights along the way.

The Vigilante Corps isn’t a group that just starts fights because someone is Sukeban, so the continuous sound of vigilante clashes nearby is probably due to this…

Someone unfamiliar with Trinity picks a fight just because of the Trinity uniform, leading to a clash, that’s probably the picture.

“Ah right, Sora-chan, you know a lot about good restaurants, right? I’ve wanted to try going on a food tour! Let’s go after this is over, okay?”

“Sure… I don’t know when we’ll find her, but… let’s find her, fold her in half, and then go to that shop I found last time.”

“Please make it something not too heavy this time!”

Anyway… Mika-senpai, who had folded the Sukeban who picked a fight in half, approached while dusting off her hands.

Honestly… even though we had periodically encountered Sukeban or Helmet Gang members and had short clashes… though not really clashes, and were wandering around the fairly large D.U. factory district…

It’s relaxed.

The D.U. factory district is certainly large, but it’s close to Trinity… and we had received a rough estimated location from Sayaka, so the search range was further reduced…

and the low level of the Sukeban or Helmet Gang members who picked fights along the way also played a part.

-Ding!-

“Huh…?”

While leisurely continuing the simple chat with senpai and wandering the factory grounds, my smartphone rang, and a message was added to Momotalk.

It was the vigilante group chat I was temporarily invited to for this matter.

Since the normal notifications for this chat were turned off, my smartphone ringing meant that either someone mentioned me specifically or mentioned everyone in the chat.

“…Asking the vigilante people for cooperation seems to have been the right answer?”

“Ahaha☆ Looks like we can go play sooner than expected! Yeah!”

“Yes, let’s coordinate the time after it’s over.”

The content of the notification was something that needed to be announced by mentioning everyone in the chat: Sukeban and Helmet Gang members had all started moving in unison, changing their routes and heading towards one place.

Well, yeah… Kosaka Wakamo, she is belligerent and bold, but not stupid.

With clashes happening frequently nearby and a suspiciously large number of Trinity students, she would likely know by now that either my side or Trinity’s side has made a move…

Besides, Morizuki-senpai also has a record of encountering her during a confrontation, so she might already know our identity.

She’s probably planning to solidify her defensive posture to prevent power depletion or draw attention and retreat… Well, I have no intention of letting her go like that.

“…Your actions were swift…”

“Hey… like you said, I gathered all the kids in this factory area. What’s the next instruction…?”

I do not forget.

What was done to me once must be returned someday, humiliation cannot be simply passed over, and to those who left me with great humiliation, I too must plunge a blade.

That is why I have spent such a long time sharpening my blade… but perhaps I was a little hasty.

When I was being watched by the Justice Realization Committee, I had to retreat considering their chief, but… it seems my tail was stepped on back then.

But… yes, it seems luck was quite on my side this time.

It was a blade nearing completion.

I was just preparing the infiltration and escape routes last.

Sending someone who harbored ill feelings towards it as an assassin, in a form close to a declaration of war, was also because almost all preparations were nearing completion.

It was surprising that it came directly invading like this, but it wasn’t an unforeseen possibility, so the situation was actually flowing favorably for me.

“Anyway, in terms of scale, we are more than double… half defend the front, and the other half circle around widely to catch the rear, fufu…”

“Ah… yes… okay.”

I issue appropriate instructions.

Anyway, besides it, they are just a rabble, so if it’s rabble against rabble, the side with more numbers will win.

And if it’s it, she will come to deal with me first, just like that day.

Unlike back then, I won’t foolishly walk into the opponent’s specialty field myself; I will thoroughly stall for time and then bring it to its knees with the violence of numbers.

How long has it passed since the woman who seemed to be in a slightly higher position among the numerous gathered Sukeban retreated from my presence?

Just as I thought, the face I saw before rips open the warehouse’s iron door with bare hands and confronts me.

Just as I felt when its fist hit my face squarely back then, its monstrous strength seems not ordinary.

“…What, you didn’t run away?”

“Ufufu… Would a fox be scared of a mere pigeon?”

Provocation, provoking the enemy just before a fight to make them lose their composure is a basic tactic, but… the provocation I make is just filled with my personal feelings.

…Previously, it easily fell for such provocations… but it seems she has achieved mental growth during this time and maintains her composure… well, it doesn’t matter.

As I remember, her skill and mine were evenly matched; in close combat, it was overwhelming, but in mid-to-long range, I had a much greater advantage, and the terrain, indoors with many structures, was the optimal battlefield for me, so I was confident.

…Yes… well… damn it…

“…?! Wait… you… what happened in just a few months?!”

“I… don’t have time…!”

-Creak, Screeech!-

With the unpleasant sound of metal objects rubbing and scraping… it… ripped out the entire door she first opened.

…Incomprehensible.

When I fought it on the day Sensei first arrived, she wasn’t that strong.

This warehouse belonged to an arms manufacturer that went bankrupt long ago, pushed out by Kaiser Industries, so it was designed to withstand even multiple bombs exploding at once without being completely destroyed, to prepare for emergencies.

As such… the act it just performed is clearly outrageous.

…Around the time I started thinking I might have planned wrongly… it… no… she… threw the huge iron door into the air as if tossing it… and then kicked it towards me.

The few pictures I had drawn to win against it were torn one by one, leaving not a single one.

But I am not one to panic.

“Haa…!”

-BANG!!!-

With all my might, I pull the trigger of my beloved gun, Crimson Calamity.

Saying I shoot a gun with all my might is a strange expression, but from some point, I too could deliver a powerful shot in exchange for feeling a slight sense of exhaustion afterward.

A crimson flash leaves a trail, offsetting the impact of the iron door flying towards me, stopping the iron door in mid-air.

…No, the iron door that stopped in mid-air…

“Hmph…!”

-CLANG!!!-

She, who was hiding behind the flying iron door and rushing towards me along with it… strikes the iron door stopped in mid-air once more, resuming the advance of the stopped iron door.

Panic, who wouldn’t panic seeing such a bizarre act?

“Kuhk!”

I’m directly hit by the flying iron door and sent flying.

I see… the act of trying to engage it in mid-range combat itself… trying to engage in a one-on-one duel even for a moment was a mistake.

“Ugh…”

Pinned under the iron door, I can’t move at all.

Giving up, I don’t want to admit it, but it was clear that this was my defeat again… While half-resigning myself, the iron door pinning me down is moved aside, and I regain physical freedom.

-Click-

With my strength, I can’t even properly move such an iron door.

Yes, well…

“…I hope you’re prepared to be quietly re-imprisoned in the Correction Bureau.”

“…”

As soon as the iron door is moved, what comes into view is the revolver with the heinous caliber that I had to be wary of even when fighting her the first time… checkmate…

In just a few months… her growth is simply astonishing.

Having come this far, it seems there’s no choice…

-Poof!-

“Ugh?!”

“Ufufu… I see… Yes, I give up on repaying this humiliation to you with force. I shall return someday…”

Yes… smoke bombs and an escape route prepared for times like this.

Getting revenge on her… doesn’t have to be now.

Someday, I will create a play that will make you utterly miserable… until I make you the protagonist of a tragedy and revenge play, I will not stop.

-Creak… Boom!-

“Yeah… here it is…”

“…Y… Yes…”

“Ahaha☆ I hope you’re not that scared? Once I confirm that child is safe, you can go! Yeah, anyway, the main culprit is someone else, right? Sora-chan said she’d take care of that one, so I have no grudge against you…

Of course… you should probably be prepared when entering Trinity~?”

“Hic…”

Sora-chan said that the reason she asked us for this favor was due to a past bad connection.

A child from a reasonably sized Helmet Gang is now trying to live her school life diligently, but things from her Helmet Gang days caught up to her, getting her involved in this…

Anyway, well, if it’s like Sora-chan, it’s like Sora-chan.

Certainly, helping those who are finally trying to get up and run again is a very good thing, so I too could cooperate with a good heart.

“Uh… wai… wait a minute… the key… not this one… hiccup… not this one either…”

“Ahem… excuse me for a moment?”

-Creak!-

The child, whose cooperation was obtained through near-blackmail, was trembling and couldn’t find the key properly…

I understand, but it was a bit frustrating, and it was around the time Sora-chan would be finishing off the main culprit, so because time was a bit short, my heart was a little rushed, so I just tore the door open with force.

“Alright, I came to save you! Yeah! Detailed explanation later, once we get out… huh…?”

“Mmph…?”

Just as Sora-chan said, the child with long black hair was bound with ropes and gags, lying on the floor.

…Wearing a Gehenna uniform.

Gehenna… yeah… no… um… my heart is a bit complicated, but what can I do?

I promised to gradually fix it, so I shouldn’t feel disgusted just by looking at them like this.

Manage my expression… my expression as much as possible.

The Gehenna in front of me… yes, to hide this feeling of disgust, it’s better to not focus on Gehenna…

“Yeah… bear with me a little? I’m in a bit of a hurry… and my hand

skills aren’t great… yeah, bear with me?”

I grab the ropes and gag binding the black-haired child in front of me and tear them off with my hands.

I forcefully push down the feeling of disgust that still rises and the expression ‘horn-head’ that tries to come up just below my throat.

This feeling of disgust towards Gehenna… I don’t know when or for what reason I came to possess it.

Yes… it’s clearly a disgust close to instinct.

That must be it, because looking back through my memories one by one, there’s no reason to hold such disgust towards Gehenna.

Yes… since it’s a disgust close to instinct, it will be difficult to overcome, but…

“Here, get up… yeah… she’s probably waiting.”

“Ah… yes…”

Just like that child did, even I, who almost committed an unforgivable act, was forgiven… so this feeling of disgust, triggered merely by my instinct and not by any wrongdoing, let’s try to somehow put it away…

Let me extend my hand, as practice for the day I can forgive even those I loathe and no longer feel disgust, for the day I can extend my hand casually.

That… must be the trial given to me.