Musujime Awaki looked down at Misaka Mikoto, who was still looking for her.
She was standing at the window, with a white luggage bag beside her.
Right now, she was located in a building, on the fourth level, a pizza shop. However, it wasn't an express pizza shop that did deliveries, but well-made ones. The cheapest one was worth more than 3,000 yen, so most middle schoolers and high schoolers wouldn't be able to afford it, and the main customers were, of course, university students and teaching staff members. Maybe because of this, even though it was past 9 PM, the restaurant continued to be operational.
Clean tablecloths were placed on the tables of the high class restaurant. Inside the shop, there was an audio playing light French music that so nicely broke the silence, but didn't prevent the customers from having their own conversations. Half of the tables inside the restaurant were empty, but the signboard indicating that they were full was hung on the door. Keeping a suitable number of empty seats was also an important part in creating a restaurant atmosphere.
The customers inside the shop had seen the Move Point teleporter Musujime appear out of nowhere, but they weren't really panicking. Maybe in this city, everyone was used to this sort of thing.
There was no commotion caused inside the shop, and to Musujime, that was what she wanted. She continued to stare outside the window at Mikoto, who looked around and then dashed into an alley.
(Phew…)
At that moment, Musujime finally heaved a sigh of relief.
When facing off against the Ace of Tokiwadai, it was meaningless to pull back in a straight line. Though the Railgun would dissipate after a certain distance due to air resistance, a lightning strike could hit any corner instantly.
―It was alright no matter how far it was, the main thing was to enter Mikoto's blind spot.
―And in that blind spot, she had to confirm that Mikoto had lost her.
Based on this most important rule, Musujime chose a 'higher' location. After she hid there and waited for Mikoto to leave, she could slowly make her escape.
(Ugh…!)
Once her heart relaxed, the strong sense of wanting to puke suddenly arose.
The large amount of acid made Musujime's throat feel like it was burning. She barely managed to keep the contents of her stomach back, making it look like everything was normal. The palm holding the military flashlight, was covered with disgusting sweat.
Musujime Awaki had been involved in an accident because she lost control of her Move Point ability. Ever since then, she would feel a strong sense of nervousness and fear, creating a huge burden on her body.
Thus, Musujime was trying her best not to move her own body.
(Damn it, why must I always get in this sort of situation, this is truly unfortunate.)
Actually, following the orders of 'that man' to send people inside the windowless building was also a rather irritating thing to do. In order to prevent failure, she had to teleport herself with the guest through Move Point instead of teleporting the guest alone. This was the most troublesome part about this job. Not only that, the list of VIPs included low-class people like a blond high school student that wore sunglasses and a red-haired priest. Musujime would rather endure this discomfort because of the benefits that this job brought.
Musujime placed the luggage bag horizontally and sat on it. Then, she pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off her forehead. She would always feel nervous when she teleported into an unknown area inside a building. She would be roasted if she teleports into an oven, and she would fall heavily if she teleports over to mid air. Though the possibility was low, even if it was one in ten thousand, it was terrifying to her.
Musujime thought, it was lucky that Mikoto had completely lost her now. Any ordinary person would run down the alley to search, so she just had to remain inside the buildings and move around to avoid being seen by Misaka Mikoto. Her maximum teleportation distance was 800 meters, but she didn't have enough confidence to continue teleporting. Once she teleported more than 4 times, the contents of her stomach would very likely be vomited out, and she would go crazy, to such an extent that she wouldn't be able to use her powers.
As for maintaining her mental state, it was best if she could use the Move Point once or twice to avoid the enemy's attack, and then use her two feet to move away on the ground. Just as Musujime was thinking of her escape plan…
Dong!
A high class corkscrew opener pierced Musujime Awaki's right shoulder.
"Ah…?"
A familiar opener. Wasn't it the thing that she had teleported into that Judgment member?
Before Musujime even understood what it meant, a familiar voice came from behind her.
"I'll return this thing back to you, using such a classless thing, you'll only be looked down upon. Oh yeah, and these things."
After she said that, the sounds of collisions could be heard. It sounded like needles had pierced bags full of mud.
The needles pierced her flank, thigh, and shin, these familiar areas.
The burning sensation of pain emitted from the entire body to the brain, exploding there.
"Ah…ack…"
Musujime Awaki turned away from outside the window to inside the shop. The customers in the shop were all stunned, revealing a look showing that they didn't know what to do.
All except for one.
A girl sitting elegantly on a table, her face looking extremely proud.
The high class atmosphere inside the shop had become her biggest reason for defeat.
Because just as when Musujime had appeared, there was no commotion when Shirai had appeared.
"No need to panic, I avoided your vitals…this isn't hard, I just aimed at where I was hurt. Ah, yes."
Shirai pretended to search her skirt pockets. Musujime started to feel nervous, but Shirai didn't pull out a weapon. Instead she drew out a blood clotting paste from Judgment's own first-aid box.
With a flick off Shirai's finger, the tube of paste landed beside Musujime.
After that, the girl with twin pigtails revealed an evil smile.
"Go ahead, take it and rub it on your wounds. Take off your clothes, your underwear, and prone on the floor pitifully as you rub it on your wounds. It wouldn't be fair if you haven't done that!"
Maybe they suddenly sensed the hostility, or maybe they didn't want to listen to such ugly words, the customers and the staff members finally took action and ran towards the door frantically. The high-class atmosphere was gone in an instant, tables and chairs knocked around all over the place. After the sounds of hurried footsteps and chaos became silent, the shop was empty.
There were just two people, both glaring at each other.
The distance between them was about 10 meters. No matter whether it was Teleport or Move Point, the range was more than enough. In other words, the distance was no longer significant.
The soft air-conditioning and the graceful light French music was now abnormally clear to the human ear.
Shirai had been sitting on the table all this time.
But it wasn't because she knew that she had won, but rather because her body was unable to stand her injuries. However, Musujime was now the same. Both of them had been hit with the same weapons in the same regions. So she could imagine how severe the enemy's injuries were by looking at her own injuries.
"…You're good…however…I don't hate the way you're taking revenge."
Musujime sat on the luggage bag that was beside the window. Even if she was covered with wounds, she wanted to show that nothing was wrong. Maybe she was trying to bluff, or maybe it was her pride.
For both sides, it was hard for them to even move.
However, they had another way to move.
"This is really bad."
Shirai said mockingly.
"With this commotion, Onee-sama, who's so smart, cool and active, will immediately run over here."
"!!"
"Based on your personality, if there's a winnable opponent, you won't run away shamefully with your tail behind your back, huh? To cause so many meaningless wounds on your enemy, and leave with a sense of superiority, isn't that your favorite trick? Like the time when you faced off against me."
Thinking back, during the battle at the construction yard, Musujime hadn't fired a single attack at Mikoto, only defending herself without even trying to counterattack. This was the biggest proof that Musujime felt that she couldn't beat Mikoto.
In other words, once Mikoto arrived, Musujime would definitely be defeated.
To Shirai, who was severely injured, there was no need for her to try and beat Musujime. She just needed to delay and wait for Mikoto to arrive for this second 'victory'.
"Humph, I guess that you overestimated the Ace of Tokiwadai. Even the Railgun isn't invincible. If she's to face say, the strongest Level 5 esper in Academy City, she'll be dead."
"However, with our powers, can we even reach Level 5?"
Shirai Kuroko mocked.
It was a sentence that lowered her pride, yet she was saying it so proudly.
She was not hiding her reverence for Misaka Mikoto.
Musujime turned pale, her jaw dropped.
(Don't tell me she created this commotion for this purpose…? Not only did she launch a sneak attack on me, she wants to bring the Railgun over to increase her chances of winning…?)
Musujime's brain was moving quickly. If so, the condition for her to win wasn't to beat the Judgment member in front of her, but whether the Railgun arrived. In other words, she didn't need to care about wasting time with Shirai Kuroko, and should hurry up and leave using Move Point.
"Forget about it."
Shirai's words interrupted Musujime's thoughts.
"You can't escape. Haven't you noticed? Our conditions are similar. In this condition, being injured, in this sort of place, with this kind of power, and to be chased by Onee-sama…as one with a similar power, can't I guess where you're going to run?"
"!?...You're…good…!?"
Musujime Awaki was surprised, unable to say another word. Shirai just stared at her, revealing a thin smile.
"If you think I'm only bluffing, I advise you to get rid of that naïve thinking. The knowledge I got from the library, and the experience I got when I fought you, and as an esper with similar powers, our thinking would be similar…all this evidence can back my instincts."
At that moment, Musujime finally realized it.
The meaning behind all the actions that Shirai had done.
(She made those similar wounds with the corkscrew and the needles to allow herself to be on equal footing with me, and decrease the difference between us in order to predict my movements even more accurately!)
Similar abilities, similar wounds, similar thinking…Shirai had done this to try and guess what Musujime Awaki would do next.
She couldn't look down on this girl, Musujime gritted her teeth as she thought.
Even if she was to run away using Move Point, she would catch up. If so, even if she ran to the other end of the Earth, she wouldn't feel safe.
Every time Musujime teleported, it felt like her stomach was flipped around, it felt unbearable.
If the Move Point that she desperately used every time was to be solved by this girl, it would be a painful thing. Besides, she could only teleport herself consecutively for three to four times, so she couldn't waste it.
If so…
"That's right, you have only one winning condition, and that is to beat me before Onee-sama arrives."
Shirai Kuroko casually remarked,
"However, there are two conditions for me to win. The first is for me to beat you, the second is when Onee-sama arrives…whoever has the advantage, I guess there's no need for me to spell it out, is there?"
Shirai clearly announced that she was in an advantageous situation, shocking Musujime. The number of options she had was becoming even more limited now.
Musujime trembled in fear…however, she slowly shook her head.
No.
Musujime realized it.
The Judgment member in front of her didn't want to get the Railgun involved at all.
If she had wanted to get the Railgun involved, why hadn't she brought her along in the first place?
Musujime smiled slightly.
After figuring out one thing, the ideas started to flow in.
Maybe this was a flaw of Shirai's intention for both of them to be in similar conditions, as Musujime saw through Shirai's thoughts.
Her consciousness was becoming clearer.
Musujime regained her cool.
"…Such a wonderful coincidence. For you to give up on winning twice. The first time is when you didn't bring the Railgun here, and secondly, the sneak attack. You didn't care about winning or losing, since you could have killed me if you pierced my brain or heart. If you did this only to compliment that Railgun's naïve fantasy, then it's really pitiful."
Before she could even rebut, Shirai's body was already trembling slightly.
Musujime understood what was going on. It was because she had the same wounds.
Both of them were too injured, especially Shirai, who had searched for Musujime for several hours. Though the wounds had stopped bleeding, her lost strength was hard to recover, so Shirai's condition was worse off than Musujime. Comparing Musujime, who was just injured, to Shirai, who had been injured and yet ran around all over the place, the amount of strength each had was completely different.
So Musujime laughed. She was laughing at the advantage that she had, and the stupidity of the enemy.
"So pitiful. You could have used the second-best way to settle this problem, yet you still insist on using the best way. Is your life worth risking to protect that world?"
Musujime Awaki sat on the luggage bag and said,
"That naïve fantasy world that the Railgun is thinking about?"
On hearing that, Shirai Kuroko glared at Musujime Awaki.
Shirai's eyes were filled with strong determination. She could only sit on the table, her body was unable to move, and the trembling in her weak wrists that were failing, these would convinced Musujime even more that Shirai was in a disadvantageous situation, but Shirai didn't care. She didn't even bother bluffing, instead glaring straight at the enemy in front.
In this ridiculous and laughable confrontation, Shirai replied without hesitation,
"…It's worth it."
Shirai felt that it was worth using her limited amount of strength to answer this question.
"Of course it's worth it, isn't that nonsense? Even though Onee-sama is naïve and stubborn, and she doesn't consider our difficulties, Onee-sama really wishes to create a world where you and I don't have to do this sort of thing. She's really naïve, isn't she? Onee-sama really intends to catch us and lecture us in the name of justice and let this case close. Even in this situation, she really intends to help us. Not just me, but also you."
Shirai Kuroko laughed.
A laugh that was pure, without a hint of irony.
"Even when facing this situation, Onee-sama really wishes that everyone won't argue and will give up on killing each other. She doesn't approve of what I did; she could have killed you in 5 seconds…but she chose not to. She's still looking for that perfect ending. She could have settled everything with the flip of a coin…but she chose not to kill, which is why she got herself tired."
"…"
"DO YOU THINK THAT I, SHIRAI KUROKO, HAVE THE HEART TO DESTROY THIS NAÏVE AND CHILDISH WISH? TO SNEAK UP AND STICK A METAL NEEDLE IN YOUR BRAIN, AND SETTLE THIS WITH DEATH AND BLOOD? TO TRAMPLE ON OTHER PEOPLE'S EFFORTS IN ORDER TO PROTECT MY OWN LIFE!?"
Shirai roared and slowly got off the table. Her legs were trembling, yet they were filled with strength. It was like they were forecasting that the main event was up next.
"In order to fulfill her wish and show that I agree with her, I WILL BRING YOU BACK TO THIS NORMAL WORLD!"
"If so, I suppose I win if I reject your goodwill, right?"
Musujime Awaki said as she sat on the luggage bag.
An attitude that showed that she was not going to fool around.