The entire restaurant was a mess. The glass windows were shattered, and all the neatly arranged tables were flipped about. The menus had been stepped on by the escaping customers, and broken plates were all over the place. Blood was scattered all over the floor, and there was even an injured girl lying there. All the customers and staff members had disappeared, and only bright lights and unsuitable light French music echoed throughout the room. Because the windows were broken, the air-conditioning had already lost its effect.
"…Ugh…"
Shirai Kuroko, who was covered in blood and lying on the floor, tried to move her fingers. Her fingers twitched slightly, but this was her limit. She couldn't move her wrists nor her legs. She couldn't stand up and leave this place through the use of her two legs; even crawling out was impossible for her. Her mind was in a whirl; she couldn't use her Teleport ability.
Shirai thought that all she could do was wait here and die.
Musujime Awaki had already left. However, she was probably not too far away. While escaping by teleporting using Move Point, the displacement and time wasn't important, because Move Point could ignore any obstacles like roads and walls, thus the main point was how to hide her whereabouts.
Also, Musujime had a huge fear about teleporting herself.
In order to decrease the number of times she needed to teleport herself, she would carefully calculate every single spot that she was going to teleport to. Thus, right now, she might have been hiding somewhere and thinking, planning the safest escape route.
Before she left, Musujime had announced,
She would definitely kill Shirai Kuroko. She would definitely use all her strength and move a 4,520kg mass to squash a dying Shirai to death.
Shirai didn't know when she would take action.
It may be 5 seconds later, or may be 5 minutes later. It couldn't be 5 hours later or 5 days later though.
Anyway, if she didn't run away, she would definitely be dead.
(This…is terrible…)
Blood-stained hair was stuck to her face, and some of it even got into her mouth.
(This is too ugly…I got let off the hook by an enemy who didn't kill me…and ended up provoking her, forcing her to lose control of her powers…looks like Shirai Kuroko will have to bow down and apologize to a lot of people now…)
The first person that she wanted to bow down and apologize to was a certain girl.
Misaka Mikoto.
Shirai wasn't a childhood friend of Misaka Mikoto, and their parents didn't really have some sort of intimate relationship. Shirai had only met Mikoto after she entered Tokiwadai Middle School…which was after April of this year. Also, both of them hadn't meet deliberately, they had just so happened to meet each other in the same school, in the same building.
However, Shirai had learned a lot of things from Mikoto.
Though they would only meet each other occasionally in school, it had been enough to change Shirai.
What Shirai had learned from Mikoto was just some basic stuff.
Mannerism wasn't about decorating yourself, but to make the other person comfortable.
Courtesy shouldn't be forced on others, but to be used as a guide.
Helping others wasn't a form of pride, but was to listen to the other person's problems.
Dignity couldn't be used to protect alone, it could only be obtained after protecting others.
Mikoto didn't nag at Shirai regarding all these.
But she acted as a role model.
This made Shirai feel very tiny. Though Mikoto's actions looked rather crude, they were still based on some basic concepts, though they weren't very formal. Even in street fighting, Mikoto would not break any fighting rules, a so-called 'battle etiquette'. Up till now, Shirai still felt that her Onee-sama was of a completely different level from her, who only knew how to act it out without understanding the meaning behind it.
If it was her…
If it was Misaka Mikoto, she would definitely not make this mistake.
Shirai was rather confident of this. Though this was the thought of an arrogant, wishful and self-righteous outsider, Shirai still believed it. If it was the Railgun, she wouldn't mind the danger level. She would smile and rush into the battlefield, not give the enemy any time to take a breather, suppress the enemy immediately and leave without a scratch.
To her, Shirai's condition now wasn't much.
No matter how bad the situation was, she would not back away.
She would run to Shirai, carry the extremely tired Shirai, say some encouraging words and rush out of the building at the last minute.
She would probably save that stupid kouhai of hers who was lying here.
Shirai Kuroko was thinking of Misaka Mikoto's name and face.
After that, she smiled.
(Though Onee-sama is perfect, this expectation may be a bit too much.)
Just as Shirai was mocking herself, the area started to make a cracking sound, like glass being pressed together. It's coming…Shirai weakly thought. Though there was no such phenomenon with Teleport and Move Point, Shirai knew.
It seemed that in 10 seconds time, a mass of 4,520kg would pass through space and hit her.
From outside the broken windows, the noises of car engines echoed throughout like never before, but the room was engulfed in terrifying silence. The difference in the two sides was huge, and made Shirai want to laugh. Though she couldn't hear the unsuitable light French music echoing in the background, that created a chilly feeling even more.
I don't want to die, Shirai thought.
At the same time, she knew that Misaka Mikoto couldn't hear her, yet Shirai couldn't help but continue to plead inside her heart.
Being extremely expectant that the Railgun might hear this commotion and run over.
(I beg of you…)
Shirai was unable to move her body on her own.
But if someone was supporting her, she might be able to walk.
If at this moment, there was a savior.
If someone could appear at the last minute like an old-school hero…
(I beg of you…)
The twin-pigtailed girl continued to pray.
At this final moment that would end.
(Please run away…don't get involved in this…Onee-sama…)
Shirai Kuroko earnestly prayed.
Musujime Awaki's attack would immediately come, and she wouldn't be able to escape. At this moment, even if someone did come up, it was unlikely that she would be saved. If Mikoto arrived at the scene and saw her lying on the floor, she would rush over without any hesitation. Mikoto didn't even know that the attack that would pass through space would arrive soon, and even if she sensed the attack through extremely sharp alertness, she probably wouldn't be able to make it if she wanted to carry Shirai out of the building. The worst case scenario was that both of them would be crushed to death by the collapsing building, and the possibility of it was rather high.
Just…
Just…
(Ahh…)
Shirai heard something…
Dong dong dong…footsteps could be heard from the entrance of the level where there was no one. Maybe they felt that the elevator was too slow, so they dashed up the stairs.
No, not just footsteps.
There was also sparks of electricity.
(AHH…NOOO!!!)
Shirai's face instantly turned pale.
Though she wanted to stop the owner of these footsteps, she couldn't move.
Thus, Shirai could only shout,
"NO, DON'T COME HERE!!"
Right now, the savior who was coming over to save her at this perfect moment touched Shirai so much that she was about to cry. She desperately worked her throat, inducing every last ounce of strength to squeeze out her voice.
"THERE'S GOING TO BE A SPATIAL ATTACK HERE! DON'T COME HERE! HURRY UP AND LEAVE! THE WHOLE BUILDING WILL COLLAPSE!!"
Shirai Kuroko continued to scream while she was on the floor, covered in blood.
The area around her started to give out a cackling sound. Maybe the full attack was about to arrive, or maybe it was just a deliberate way of hinting.
"…!"
Shirai felt extremely anxious. Since she had teleported into the shop in the first place, she didn't know the layout and passageways of the building. However, from the sound, it seemed that the owner of the footsteps would require more than ten more seconds to get there. Though the displacement was short, it would take a long time to get around the lifts and passages, so the person most likely wouldn't make it in time.
Shirai didn't know what Musujime would teleport over.
But a 4,520kg object—once it pressed onto the ground, it would cause the floor and the entire building to collapse. The people inside the building would definitely meet their end.
She couldn't let this happen.
She definitely couldn't let this happen.
"RU…NNNNNNNN…!!!!"
Shirai was about to break down in tears. Even until the last moment, she wanted to cry out, but it was too late. At that moment, the space inside the room started to distort, like she was seeing it through convex lenses. Maybe the space was forced apart, changing the air pressure on the level, causing a refraction of light and creating this phenomenon.
The attack was starting.
"…!"
Shirai gritted her teeth and exerted all her strength.
However, she still couldn't move her limbs. Not even a finger could move. Shirai Kuroko was really upset. If she had even more power, she would have used her Teleport ability easily and teleported the person who was coming in to save her at the same time. Besides, if she could have beaten Musujime Awaki, she wouldn't have be stuck in this crisis.
But no matter how upset she may have been, her power wasn't going to increase.
The reality was cruel.
(Onee…sama…!)
Though Shirai Kuroko was just barely hanging on, she still tried to squeeze out a last ounce of strength. She knew that it would aggravate her injuries, and that it wouldn't help to change the situation one bit, she still wouldn't allow herself to relax and give up. At the same time, she was making a final prayer.
She wished that there was a miracle where that powerful yet ordinary girl would be saved.
BOOM!!
The prayer seemed to have worked. An orange light passed through the floor and the ceiling.
A shot of metal at three times the speed of sound.
The slanted heated beam passed through the level like a needle, with a speed so fast that a human couldn't sense it. Like a laser, neither the start nor the end could be seen, only a straight line could be seen. The terrifying speed even left a residual image behind.
Shirai was stunned as she saw this.
After that, there was a rumbling sound as the entire building shook. The orange line was like a fuse, creating an extraordinary destructive storm. A large blowhole two meters in diameter opened up as everything in the line was blown apart, away or completely destroyed. The floor seemed to be tilted downwards as the sound of rubble falling could be heard.
The Railgun.
Shirai, who was on the ground, remembered this power and the name of the person who had this power.
"We'll make it now that we have a hole to access through."
Shirai heard the familiar voice of the girl.
Without anxiety, without fear, without hesitation, the words were filled with confidence, as if the person didn't care about the danger.
"Though I'm unhappy about this, I can only work up till here. After this, we can only rely on your fist to bring her back!"
On hearing this, Shirai was shocked.
She inadvertently turned around.
The blowhole created by the Railgun was like a tunnel through the concrete floor. The debris of the ceiling and the tables, chairs and umbrellas were attracted by magnetism, sticking together through the slanted blowhole to form a ladder. A boy was running up this flight of stairs.
They wouldn't have been able to make it if they had ran up the original staircase.
If so, they should just ignore those stairs.
The boy who was running up this most ridiculous shortcut ever conceived wasn't holding any weapons. He didn't look like he had any amazing ability. However, he continued to dash up without any fear. He clenched his right fist as hard as rock as he headed towards the obviously abnormal space.
The distortion of the space reached its maximum less than a second later, cracking from inside.
At that moment, the boy swung his fist without any hesitation.
The abnormality seemed to be some sort of illusion. Though Musujime's attack was powerful, it didn't bring the sense of reality.
A mass of 4,520kg.
The boy's fist formed a terrifying hammer as it slammed at the huge mass.
BAM!! The boy's fist hit the middle.
The boy gritted his teeth. His fist ignored the change in space as it moved forward.
An amazing thing happened.
Suddenly, a sound of steel being hit could be heard. The originally distorted space seemed to be flattened by the boy's fist. The invisible thing that refracted the light seemed like it had been punched far away.
For a three-dimensional object to do a forced intervention on the eleventh-dimension spatial axis; Shirai, who had mastered these calculations, understood very well that this was like driving up the wrong way on a one-way road.
The ridiculous scene stunned Shirai. The boy said,
"Ah…we're a bit late. Sorry. I'm really clueless this time, running around like a headless chicken. Luckily, I met Mikoto on the way…WAH, OI OI, aren't you in a terrible shape!?"
The boy only now seemed to realize that Shirai was severely injured and immediately ran over.
"Why would you…risk your life for me…?"
Shirai murmured. The one who repaired the distortion with an amazing ability, it shouldn't be the person in front of her.
Thus, Shirai asked,
"Don't we have no relation? No matter how powerful you are, you shouldn't have sold your life for me. Why would you run over without any hesitation?"
On hearing this, the boy just remained stunned for a while.
After that, he said,
"You're asking me why? I don't know how to reply to that. Basically, it's easier to settle the problem head on than to run away. To be honest, if you could have been saved even if I ran away, I would have run away."
"It isn't…so simple, right…? Don't tell me you…aren't afraid at all?"
Shirai's words didn't change the boy's thoughts by a bit.
The boy replied without hesitation.
"About this, I would be afraid. But this is a promise."
"A promise?"
Shirai asked. The boy looked around, seemingly trying to confirm that no one was around. After that, he lowered his voice and whispered,
"…That's right, it's a promise. This promise is to protect Misaka Mikoto and the world around her. This is my agreement with a certain nameless person who fell in love with her so quickly."
The boy bitterly laughed,
"Maybe it's a bit too late, but I want to ask you something. Have I fulfilled the promise with that guy?"
Shirai didn't understand what the boy meant. After thinking for a while, she looked around.
Shirai's eyes focused on one point.
Misaka Mikoto. The Railgun, that Ace of Tokiwadai who was running over here through the huge blowhole that she had made to the thoroughly injured kouhai of hers with a teary look on her face.
Right now, the person that Shirai Kuroko wanted to protect the most was right in front of her.
"…That's right, you protected it. Halfway."
Shirai replied.
The other half was now carrying a luggage bag and escaping through Move Point.
"Really?"
The boy seemed to realize something from Shirai's words, and didn't question it. He just nodded his head firmly.
After that, he said,
"Then, I'll go and finish off the other half."