Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume3 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 1===

The boomerang-shaped passenger plane, Flight JSL-710, landed at a floating general airport built off the coast of Osaka as an entrance to Kansai.

The usual passenger planes, businessmen waiting to board, and tourist groups were nowhere to be seen. From the moment the Four Living Gods disembarked, this changed from being a civilian international airport to a frontline marine base rented out to the world’s strongest fighting force.

“This is Osaka. This floating airport is about 30km by sea from the Port of Kobe.”

Amaashi Marika, a girl with her twintails hair dyed strawberry blonde, looked down at her waterproof map while descending to the runway with the many other students. That was more dangerous than walking around looking down at your phone.

“We’re lucky to have approached even this far unharmed. Hey, Karuta! You split them up into teams cause I’m no good at that. Ugh, I just want to get moving ASAP!”

“30km? Um, i-isn’t that too close? Can’t those lasers reach us here?”

That nervous comment came from Natlena Blast, a girl with short and wavy blonde hair. She had been the young avenger attempting to get back at them for her sister’s death, but now she was on their side.

She had never been the type to do anything wrong, but now that she had stopped forcing herself to be bad, she could no longer hide her adorable side. She was too pure to look at for Karuta, ''a truly bad person'' who had killed five people and received nothing but praise from the world at large.

He absentmindedly spoke to that underclassman who descended to the runway a step below him.

“You really are the puppy type, Natlena.”

“Mh, what is that supposed to mean? Um, there are other animals you could compare me to.”

“Huh? Why are you mad? I meant it as a compliment.”

“How stupid are you, Senpai? Only weirdos like being called a dog!”

He was pretty sure she was indeed the puppy type since she would bite at any rubber ball waved it in front of her small face, but there was no use arguing the point.

That aside, it might seem odd for a 12-year-old girl who could not drive a car or motorcycle to think of 30km as “close”, but Crystal Magic flight was superior to a fighter craft. ''With nothing in the way,'' 30km would take them less than a minute.

“We don’t have to worry about the Threat’s projectiles while on the surface because the horizon acts as a range limit. We haven’t heard anything about their lasers curving or bending in midair.”

Karuta was holding the handles of a wheelchair as he descended the stairs behind Natlena. He was turned backwards so he descended first to make sure Omotesandou Kyouka did not accidentally fall down the stairs.
Out on the runway, they were already in their public mode.

They were outside. From now on, they had to assume that their every action would influence the 5.5 billion nervous people out there.

“Also, the grownups are really eager to do ''something'', so they’re helping out. And unlike that reckless bombardment, their help will actually be useful this time.”

''3, 2, 1,'' counted down Karuta.

Then an unnatural downpour fell down from the evening sky like a shower had been turned on.

Natlena held down her beret with both hands.

“Wah!! Wh-what is going on!?”

“Artificial rain. I believe it uses silver iodide. The weather was looking iffy already, but it’s safer when we can switch it on and off ourselves. This should weaken those lasers and also divert the course of the light much like a prism or filled fish tank. Of course, that’s all assuming the beams fired by the Threat ''really are physical light.''”

Karuta, Marika, and the others used magic powered by occult high and low pressure fronts, so they knew supernatural powers did exist in the world and could be systemized into a form of technology. They still knew nothing about the real Threat, so it would be naïve to assume their enemy could not do something they themselves could do.

“And Marika, try to keep that map folded up. The airport itself is locked down, but modern devices can still see us from a rooftop or other elevated location past the bridge here. Not to mention how high quality satellite cameras are. The world might be in danger, but there will still be people who ''see that as an opportunity.''”

“Oh, is that so? Since when are you so duty-focused, Karuta? And if that’s true, you should probably try to dress nicer for the cameras. Oh ho ho. Your appearance is a disgrace to the name of the Four Living Gods who are meant to put the people’s minds at ease.”

“?”

He gave her a look that said “but we’re all wearing the same uniforms”.

Natlena, their mascot of a middle school girl, looked up at him while fidgeting her small fingers.

“Um, Senpai, your tie is a bit crooked, so if you don’t mind, I could fix it for-”

“Stand back, flirting brat! You’re interrupting childhood friend quiz time! Why would you just give him the answer like that!? This is the problem with you newcomers that don’t know how the game is played!”

The two girls just about got into a fight in front of Karuta, but then Hashizaki Tayori, one of the girls in his class, reached over with an exasperated sigh. She quickly untied and retied his crooked tie with just the one hand.

“C’mon, try to look sharp, world’s strongest. You yourself said there are cameras watching us, right? Those paparazzi love nothing more than scandals of the romantic variety, so stop giving them fuel for the fire yourself.”

“R-right. Thanks?”

The cutting-edge magicians screamed “She stole my job!” and “Senpai!”, but no one was paying any attention to them anymore.

That gyaru-type was one of Marika’s friends, but Karuta himself had rarely interacted with her. A friend of a friend was just another term for a stranger, but Tayori winked at the confused boy.

“What, curious why I know how to handle guy’s ties? That conversation might be a little too grownup for you.”

Not only did she know how to tie one around someone else’s neck, but Karuta could not tie his own with just one hand. However, it seemed almost second nature to her. The capable girl waved as she walked off into the orange sun shower.

Matsuda Imi, the other girl always hanging out with Marika, held a hand to her mouth as she grinned.

“Did that inspire some indecent fantasies? Like a romance with an older man?”

“Bff!?”

“Ah hah hah! Don’t worry! Tayori’s just used to looking after her brothers. She has the gyaru look down, but she’s the caretaker type on the inside. She’s a veteran of the bargain hunting wars and she can sew and mend clothing with both speed and quality. But maybe that just makes her more of a catch? Oh, and Marika?”

“What?”

“We can see through your blouse. Wow, that is a really plain bra. Did you grow careless?”

Marika screamed while soaked with the artificial rain and hid her large chest with her hands. Karuta blushed and looked away like normal, but the girls apparently did not see this as sexy. It was an unforgivable crime.

Matsuda Imi sighed as she continued.

“That’s about what I would wear while lazing around in the kotatsu shortly after New Year’s, but you’re not in your dorm room right now. At least tell me the top and bottom are matching colors.”

“But, um, Imi-sensei! I have a good reason for this. I didn’t have anything to wear after losing my suitcase in the confusion caused by those decoy Threats, so I was forced to tearfully buy something at the duty-free shop in the airport at Iceland!!”

“Wow, that is just sad. I’d want to crawl in a hole and die if I were you. You do realize that’s just as bad as being so busy you forgot to do laundry, running out of clean clothes, and rushing out to a 24-hour discount store to buy some underwear? Without any underwear on at the time? Peh heh heh☆”

“Well, what did you do, Imi? That duty-free shop had to be the only real opportunity for any of us. If you didn’t buy any underwear there, are you saying you’re a sweaty girl who hasn’t changed her underwear?”

“Huh? You never know what’s going to happen on an overseas trip, so you’re supposed to carry around a separate bag with spare underwear, menstrual products, deodorant, and a small bath and toothbrushing set. Oh, what’s this? Why are you hanging your head and trembling, Marika-chan? What, did this never occur to you? Bwa ha ha! You really need to up your girl power!!”

Trembling, Marika looked over in search of help, but for some reason both Kyouka and Natlena would not look her in the eye. The looks on their faces said they had overcome that feminine crisis with their own forms of ingenuity, so they could not assist her here. On that note, where ''had'' Kyouka gotten that swimsuit?

Also, Karuta could not at all keep up with this crazy girl’s talk. Anyone who said they wanted to spy on girls’ secrets was living in a fantasy world. Karuta was not confident he could maintain his own fantasies after learning the truth. Those fantasies were shattering before his eyes. Really, he just wanted them to stop openly talking about sweat and menstruation in front of him like this. Talk of lazing around in the kotatsu was too real! It was going to make the boys cry!!

Meanwhile, small Natlena was covering her small chest with one arm, hanging her head, and pouting her lips after being caught in the crossfire due to the misfortune of choosing the same color as Marika.

“Wh-what’s wrong with white?”

“Oh, it’s still perfectly fine for you. It suits you. In fact, I’m impressed you have a real wire bra instead of a sports bra. That’s pretty mature for an AA. Wa ha ha ha!!”

“Mine are an A!! Not an AA!!”

That unnecessary correction made Karuta blush all the more and Kyouka (whose size spoke for itself) smiled bitterly with her head resting in her hand.

If you were proud enough of what you were wearing, you apparently felt no need to hide it. Matsuda Imi (who had been looking down on her friend while wearing a kiddy striped bra herself) spread her arms at her sides to enter airplane mode as she chased after her gyaru friend who was on her way to the terminal.

“…”

It was hard to believe they were about to begin a major battle.

It felt more like a scene out of a peaceful school.

They were about to give their all toward reclaiming Second Grimnoah, but even that was only viewed as taking back what was rightfully theirs.

If the Crystal Magicians known as the world’s strongest were to fail here and lose their base, all human hope would crumble. In the worst case, the 5.5 billion could be gradually worn down into extinction without ever finding their next strongest.

And Karuta’s group had no guarantee they would return from this alive.

This was the real deal. Their opponent’s specs were unknown, but the coming battle could easily be even worse than the one against the decoys at the Crystal Beach.

The general assumption that you would survive did not apply in real battles. It was Karuta’s group’s job to put together a realistic plan of action that would make that assumption a reality. They could not rely on the adults either. If they did not do this themselves, their plan would fall apart and they would all be slaughtered. And yet…

(I know it’s better than being traumatized, but ''is our previous success making them overconfident''?)
“It’s better this way,” whispered Omotesandou Kyouka (who was wearing a surprisingly cute pastel color).

She was trying to encourage her fellow outcast.

“If they were feeling the real fear of battle, they would break before the fighting even began.”