Musujime Awaki had already arrived at the boundary of Academy City by moving through the safe escape route.
She was covered in wounds, and she was wearing a one-sleeved winter jacket over her naked upper body. Her jacket was buttoned wrongly, but she didn't know it. Overuse of her ability caused the blood vessels to appear all over her skin, hot and heavy breathing coming out of her mouth. She continued to look around, seemingly not knowing what to do next. She continued to murmur to herself as sweat flowed down her face due to nervousness. Ever since she had lost her military flashlight, her powers had become hard to control. The fingers that were used to holding the military flashlight were now stained in blood as they stroked the luggage bag with a missing handle.
A terrifying memory appeared in her mind.
This was the after-effect of teleporting herself using her own power. She remembered that incident during class two years ago. At that time, the test had been simple— to teleport herself to a room in town. But Musujime had miscalculated the coordinates, and got a leg stuck inside a wall.
At first, there was no pain.
Thus, Musujime didn't really mind it. She tugged her leg out, trying to get away from the wall. However, this was the greatest error.
At that moment, she heard a cracking sound.
The rough texture on the broken part of the wall was rubbing against the skin on her leg.
After that, there was a sharp pain.
The leg pulled out of the wall had no skin at all.
Like…
Like a peeled orange. The tender flesh and the net-like blood vessels covering it were completely exposed.
(Kya…Ah…AAAAAAAAAHHH…!!)
Musujime Awaki bent her body in a '<' shape. A sense of puking was rising up her abdomen as she tried to suppress it. Her back trembled irregularly, and after she felt the sense of vomiting, her stumbling feet completely stopped.
The urge to puke gradually disappeared.
But once her feet stopped, she couldn't step out any further.
(What…now…)
Musujime Awaki was already unclear about how many times she had asked that question.
Her broken heart had completely lost its goal, and was now sunk in messy thoughts. In order to stick the pieces of her heart together again, she could only find a goal randomly. The first thing that entered her eyes was still the luggage bag. Though she couldn't remember why she needed the thing in the first place, she just had to hand it over to the external organization. The goal wasn't there, but she was still idling about in her means.
(Got to contact…)
Musujime pulled out a radio receiver.
(Got to contact them…contact…contact…this is necessary…hahaha…I haven't ruined this plan that everyone thought is important…)
On the other end of the receiver, the partner's familiar voice could be heard. Musujime revealed a childish-like smile and proceeded with the call.
"This is A001 calling M000. I'll report the current situation after confirming the code…"
Musujime followed the call protocol that she had memorized and gave the message. However, a sharp sound came from the other side of the receiver. Musujime couldn't help but pull the radio to her ear and listen carefully. Gunfire, roars and screams came from the other end of the receiver. Such a reply was completely against what the protocol dictated and irritated Musujime.
"This is A001 calling M000. This is A001 calling M000. This is…YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO HEAR IT, RIGHT? WHY AREN'T YOU ANSWERING!?"
With Musujime's roar, a cracking sound came from the receiver. Musujime was overexcited and nearly crushed the radio receiver. A man's terrible wail came from the other end of the receiver; it sounded like the leader of the external organization.
After that, the gunfire immediately ceased.
Besides the man's painful cries, a woman's low voice could be heard,
"To trick those children into selling their own lives for your own benefit, and yet you're hiding in a safe place to watch the show, such a wonderful job, huh? Though my policy is not to use my weapon on any children, I won't hesitate if it's for them."
The screams and gunfire rang at the same time.
After that, the other end of the radio receiver became silent.
"YOU THINK I'LL KILL YOU SO EASILY!!?? IDIOT! HOW DID YOU TRICK THOSE CHILDREN, AND HOW MANY OF THEM!? SPILL IT OUT!! HOW AM I GOING TO SAVE THOSE CHILDREN!?"
After that, only a shrill sound could be heard from the radio receiver. No matter how Musujime pressed the buttons, no matter how she adjusted the signal, she couldn't hear a decent reply. Right now, nobody needed to contact Musujime anymore.
(Ah…ah…contact…got to contact…I got to get contact! How could this happen? If…if I lose my goal…what should I do…!?)
No matter how she shook and slammed on the radio receiver, she couldn't get any reply. Musujime was unable to endure the silence and roared, smashing the radio on the ground. The tiny parts scattered all over the place and the noise completely vanished. With this, the actual noise was no more. Musujime Awaki looked like she was about to cry.
Right now, Musujime Awaki couldn't return to Academy City. To the General Director of Academy City, the Tree Diagram wasn't very important. On the contrary, if the 'experiment' was restarted, it would obstruct the 'plan' to use the Sisters. If so, not only Academy City, not only the science side, the balance of the entire 'world' would be affected. Of course, Musujime wasn't clear on what the 'world' was.
(What to do…what to do…shouldn't I contact that external organization…? Or should I try and contact other organizations? There should be a lot of those organizations that want this thing…yeah, that's right. I still have…I still have many things to do! A goal…as long as I have a goal, I'm not finished yet!)
Musujime carried a distorted smile as she wore a shirt that looked like a torn rag, pushing the luggage bag as she moved on.
However, someone was blocking her.
Musujime heard footsteps in front of her.
There was a wide road in front of Musujime, with buildings on both sides. As it was near the edge of Academy City, there were usually very few vehicles on the road, and right now, there was not even a single car around. The entire road was like a plane's runway. At this moment, a person walked over from the side of the road.
Musujime didn't care who the person was.
She just felt irritated, not even caring enough to guard herself as she moved forward. She made up her mind, no matter who the person was, she would let any person who dared to obstruct her die extremely painfully and ugly.
That person walked up to the middle of the two-way six-lane wide road and stopped, blocking Musujime.
That person…
"WHAT THE HELL!!"
Had a crazy, psychotic and dirty pale look.
"I heard that brat say that she got lots of information through the clone network, and found that there was something troubling that heavily involves them. On hearing that, I can only reluctantly help her settle this. I struggled so hard to use the crutch as support, and got the electricity into my brain, and finally made it here with so much difficulty. How did it end up like this? Also, what the hell is this one-of-its-kind collar-type electrode connector? That damn doctor, to think that he made me use this prototype that was made at the last second!"
Weird electrodes were stuck on his forehead, temples and neck, while his right hand was holding a crutch. The crutch had a rather modernistic design, a long stick with a handle attached to it. Didn't it look like an 'iron-crutch' in those old martial arts shows?
"Anyway, I worked so hard to get here, only to see the idiot who made me work so hard. I was so expectant…only to see that it's third-rate stuff like you!? You looked down on me, didn't ya? If I had known that my opponent would be a third-rate thing like you, I would have be too lazy to get out! You're really making it troublesome for me!!"
The person standing in the darkness was the strongest Level 5 esper in Academy City.
Skin that was so pale it was terrifying, that it could be seen clearly even in the darkness. Real name unknown, code-named 'Accelerator'.
"Ugh…ah…!!"
With a glance at him,
Musujime's breathing and heartbeat stopped for an instant.
(This…this guy—)
Musujime Awaki's lungs wriggled about in a weird manner. Her mind was in chaos, not even sure whether she should inhale or exhale.
(—This guy is…! This…this is bad! Not…not even the Railgun can beat him…how can I take him on…!?)
Musujime, who had worked hard to pursue her goal, had now found a goal that was more important than handing the luggage bag over, a clear goal that was enough to change her own fate.
(…Got…got to find a way…find a way to escape…!)
The person standing in the middle of the road that was as wide as a plane runway forced Musujime to make a decision. She had to run away.
However, there was another huge problem? How?
Accelerator was just complaining about how in this situation, he met Musujime Awaki. But now, Musujime Awaki was thinking that she should be the one saying that.
The difference in level was too great. Such a trivial matter, this esper with insignificant power, why must such a terrifying person be called in to settle this? The extent of this fussiness was like mobilizing an air strike and destroying a country to stop children from fighting each other.
Musujime's thoughts were rather messy.
It was not enough to even use 'an ordinary person versus a judo wrestler' to describe the difference in power. If there was a need to drive the point home, it was like 'a tug-of-war match between a human and a jet'. It was not a question of who would win or lose. The jet could just not do anything and the human couldn't even move it by half a millimeter.
It was over.
Everything was over.
Musujime's expression was distorted due to despair.
At that moment…
"…I got it."
Like a crumpled piece of paper being unraveled, Musujime's face regained its original look.
"I GOT IT! THAT'S RIGHT, YOU LOST YOUR CALCULATION ABILITY! YOU LOST YOUR POWER! COMPLETELY! RIGHT NOW, YOU'RE NOT THE STRONGEST ESPER ANYMORE!!"
Musujime cheered like a victor.
Accelerator, who was standing in the darkness, was slightly shocked, and calmly said,
"What a pity."
He paused, waiting for a breeze to pass through.
"If you really think so, that's too bad, I really want to hug you."
"HAHA! STOP FAKING IT! I'M ALWAYS WITH 'THAT PERSON'! I'M WELL INFORMED ABOUT INSIDE NEWS IN ACADEMY CITY. ACCELERATOR, YOU LOST YOUR ABILITY ON THE 31st OF AUGUST, SO YOU'RE NOT 'ACCELERATOR' ANYMORE, RIGHT!? IF SO, WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE? WHY AREN'T YOU ATTACKING ME? IT'S NOT THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO ATTACK, YOU CAN'T ATTACK, RIGHT? YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO SCARE ME WITH THAT PAST REPUTATION OF YOURS, RIGHT?"
Musujime loudly proclaimed in a mocking tone, but the white figure just narrowed his eyes.
Musujime felt that she was being looked down on, some muscles below her eye inadvertently shudder.
"…! WHY AREN'T YOU SAYING ANYTHING! THIS REALLY MAKES ME UNCOMFORTABLE!!"
Musujime roared, but at the same time, she felt that something was not right.
It didn't seem right. This person seemed different from the characteristics given in the data of that Level 5 esper.
"You're really pitiful. Listen, I'll tell you one thing."
The figure in the darkness slowly opened his arms wide.
"That day, my brain was damaged alright. Looking at me now, you should know, right? That I can only use the electrode and let the calculation work be done by others, right? If I enter a place where I can't receive the clones' electrowaves, I can't let the clones do the calculation work for me. And even after therapy, I don't know if my recovered power is half of what I originally had. The battery of this thing can only allow me to fight for 15 minutes—"
Talking up to this point, Accelerator paused for a while.
"—But then again, just because I've gotten weaker, it doesn't mean that you got stronger, RIGHT?"
Accelerator revealed a distorted smile.
DON! Using the feet that were supporting him on the ground, he stamped hard on it.
A shockwave from below to above happened on the hard surface. Accelerator bent his body, and with his feet at the center, a radial crack appeared in the asphalt ground, and noise was created from all the buildings around. The skeletal frames of the buildings were bent, a large number of glass windows were shattered, and pieces of broken glass came down like a torrential rain.
(This is—impossible…!)
Musujime looked up at the sky. The 'rain' formed by the broken pieces of glass came from all the buildings, scattering on every corner of the road. As the area was too big, she couldn't escape using Move Point. Escaping into the buildings wasn't a wise option as it was the distortion of the building structures that had caused all the glass to be shattered, so the interior wouldn't be the same. If the target of Move Point overlapped with the collapsed wall, she would be buried.
(If so…the only way out…is up!)
Musujime grabbed the luggage bag and quickly used Move Point, passing through the rain of glass pieces, arriving in the night sky several meters above the ground. Move Point caused a sense of vomiting in Musujime as she tried to suppress this feeling. She tried to force herself to activate Move Point again before she landed; the target was onto the roof of a certain building. Moving her own body consecutively was an extremely tough challenge for her.
But at that moment, Musujime's mind turned blank. All the values that she had worked so hard to calculate vanish without a trace.
"Ha ha! Thank you for letting me enjoy the scenery underneath your skirt!!"
Accelerator crushed the cracked asphalt road even further, shooting up into the night sky like a rocket. Besides changing the vector forces on his feet, 4 high-powered tornadoes were attached to his back.
In Musujime's eyes, Accelerator was an angel rushing towards the sky.
One that had fallen into this mundane world, a thoroughly tainted angel, launching a counterattack at the wonderland in the sky.
Accelerator rushed into the layers of glass rain, deflecting them all and passing through them easily. He was completely unscathed, rushing over at Musujime Awaki at the speed of a cannon.
He clenched his fist.
Actually, the '卜' shaped crutch was broken into several pieces, flying in the sky. The fist that was like a devil carried the entire speed and force of his body, slamming towards Musujime's face.
"...!?"
In this situation, calmness was a luxury.
Musujime, who had given up on the calculations, immediately used the luggage bag as a shield. However, this negligible defense was broken to pieces instantly once Accelerator's iron fist slammed it. The exterior of the luggage bag was smashed to pieces, the middle layer that was meant to endure impact was flying all over the place, and the 'content' that was tightly sealed became numerous parts and pieces, flying all around from Musujime's hands like sakura petals.
"I'M SORRY, FROM HERE ON NOW, THE PATH IS ONLY A "ONE-WAY ROAD"(Note: In Kanji, Accelerator is written as Ippō Tsūkō, 'One-Way Road')!!"
The esper curled his lips and smiled,
"YOU CAN'T ADVANCE, JUST HIDE BEHIND YOUR TAIL AND CRY YOUR WAY HOME!"
Musujime's throat released a weird sound.
The hard fist pierced through the luggage bag at a terrifying speed and smashed her face.
BAM!!
Musujime Awaki's body was sent flying away diagonally to an even higher place, landing on a safety metal net on the edge of the roof of a building. The numerous pillars supporting the metal net were uprooted, as Musujime's body was like a soccer ball that hit the back of the net, unable to move forward anymore.
Accelerator, who had released all the force from his body, didn't do anything. Due to the effect of gravity, he started to fall down to the ground covered in darkness.
But his eyes weren't looking at the ground.
As he descended, he slowly looked up at Musujime, who had slammed into the roof, muttering,
"With this pitiful state of mine, maybe I might not have the right to be called the strongest in Academy City."
He silently narrowed his eyes.
"However, I've already made up my mind. I'll always be the strongest in front of that brat, damn it!!"
These words echoed throughout the night wind as nobody listened to it. Accelerator continued to descend toward the ground.