Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume3 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 2===

The real Threat’s strength was unknown, but they did know one thing for sure at this stage.

They were about 30km away, but flying in and attacking the Port of Kobe from the air was not an option.

Thanks to the Sparkle’s lasers, they would all be shot down before arriving.

That was why they were using large tour buses to travel from Osaka to Hyogo, traveling north along a curving highway. A convoy of camouflaged military trucks would be too conspicuous, so it could gather the attention of the Threat and even the bored media.

Natlena Blast fidgeted nervously in the next seat over.

“A-are you sure this is a good idea, Senpai? It’s true the Threat might not notice us like this, but aren’t we using the city buildings as a shield!?”

“An evacuation order was put out quite a while ago and I doubt anyone will choose to ignore that with the Threat here. Word will be spreading that the city will be destroyed overnight.”

“Evacuate to where? Um, don’t the prefectures bordering Osaka Bay contain more than 10 million people?”

The blonde girl knew an awful lot about Japan for a US citizen. And things like this went more smoothly when following an existing process than when attempting something new and unprecedented. For example, Fukui had the highest concentration of nuclear power plants in Japan and Nara was a mountainous region famous for its hot springs, meaning it was also an active volcano. With several possible causes for concern, a largescale disaster response manual had been developed to cover the entire Kansai region.

In another seat, his classmates Yamane Deiri and Nekoumi Hirosuke were looking out the window.

“Noo! How did we visit Osaka without getting any of the local specialties!? I at least wanted to try some akashiyaki!”

“Farewell, Osaka, and hello, Kobe. What other part of Kansai is known for its beauty at night? Sapporo?”

“Senpai,” said Puppy Girl Natlena while dying to correct those two, but Karuta placed a hand on her shoulder from the next seat over to restrain her. She had to learn to not chase after every single ball that flew past her.

Karuta was getting a mild headache from his high school classmates who were exposing their idiocy a little too freely in front of the middle schooler, but he had to focus.

They did not drive down from the interchange to the ordinary roads. The Port of Kobe was right in front of them – he could already see its tall gantry cranes. The tour buses parked in a row at a nearby service station and Karuta stepped out into the sun shower. He detected the salty sea breeze mixed in with the rain. He flicked the Crystal Blossom on his chest and sent out a transmission to let everyone know what was happening.

He of course switched over to his public mode for this.

“We will continue as planned, but I cannot guarantee you that following your training will be enough to overcome this. We have all already experienced the cruelty of real combat. So let us protect Second Grimnoah, protect the Port of Kobe, and protect the world to show the bored media the pride of true veterans. Begin!!”

Several high-pitched sounds followed.

Around 100 middle and high school students had been gathered here. The boys and girls all shattered the Crystal Blossoms on their chests to cover themselves in translucent armor. They could not fly high in the sky thanks to those anti-air lasers, but they could still ignore the paths of the roads as they jumped straight down from the service area to the ordinary road below.

Natlena had already donned her armor, so she checked on the ski-like parts on her feet before looking back toward Karuta.

He alone could not wear amor like the other students. Nor could he fly.

“Um, uh, what about you?”

“Power up. Come on out, Aine.”

His Crystal Blossom shattered, his shirt pulled up, and a pale-skinned crystal girl crawled out from his stomach.

This was the irregularity he alone possessed.

Aine tilted her head while awaiting orders.

“What shall I do?”

“Well, first you can- wah!?”

“?”

Aine was puzzled by his shout.

The crystal girl had no center or core. Everything from the tip of her sword to her heart was an equal part of her and she had been wearing that white garment the first time she emerged.

But at the moment, it was raining.

In that downpour, well, the dress grew see-through. It clung to her fine skin, revealing the shape of her relatively uncurvy body. It was the white fabric’s fault!!

Aine herself did not bat an eye.

“Is something wrong, Sacri-sama?”

“Okay, I guess I have to make this an order. Listen, Aine, please hide your body. Immediately! It’s just that, um, are you unfamiliar with the concept of a bra!?”

The crystal girl silently lowered her gaze to check on her own disastrous state.

“But keeping my clothing constantly dry in this continuing rain is unrealistic and it would be highly inefficient to cover my body with my hands while I- byah!”

“You’re squeezing your eyes shut, blushing, trembling, and you even bit your tongue just now! I can tell you’re embarrassed too, so please stop pretending otherwise! There must be some solution to this!!”

Their field trip to the Icelandic Crystal Beach had not been a fun experience, but it had not been a total failure. For example, he had gotten Aine to feel embarrassment about her own nudity.

Another of his few victories there had been Natlena Blast, but she was now giving him a cold look.

“Senpai, um, why did you react so differently to her than to me?”

She was imagining things.

In fact, he also felt awkward looking at Natlena when she was so thoroughly soaked in the rain.

“Countermeasure: unknown. This particular problem must be put on hold.”

“Okay, fine. Then let’s get to work, Aine!”

After giving that command half in desperation, a pleasant slapping sound reached his ears.

Aine had swept him off his feet, flipped him around in midair, and grabbed him in a princess carry.

Then the crystal girl notices something.

“Oh, my hair covers it pretty well.”

“Don’t get careless, Aine. A hair bra is not generally accepted as covering up. That still counts as defenseless.”

Her movements remained precise as they discussed it. She did not hesitate to jump gently down to the hard asphalt 15m below the elevated service area with him in her arms.

It could be hard to tell with how easily she did it, but that was as tall as a school’s roof. It was a deadly height that was dangerous to jump from with or without a parachute. Natlena ended up watching it in a daze, but then she frantically activated her flight.

“W-wait, Senpai!”

“Never fly for more than 5 seconds, Natlena. We’re already within lethal range of the Sparkle’s lasers, so it’s over the instant it notices you.” After that quick rebuke, Karuta left Aine’s arms and planted his feet on the rain-wet road. “And we’re less than 500m from the Port of Kobe. If you count the adjacent airport, the Port of Kobe covers 10km of the coast, but we have to start here. Let’s go, Natlena. Real or decoys, we need to take the Second Grimnoah back from the Threat.”

“R-right. Um, to take back humanity’s mobile base!”

“…”

(Gekiha.)

He tried to keep it off his face.

But he was not at all confident he had succeeded.

He made all these valiant statements, but his real motives were much more personal. He was only interested in the dead dream of those lethally-wounded crystal statues, but working to rescue them had to be nothing but a nuisance to the rest of humanity. He doubted anyone would understand if he was honest about his motives. Not just the outsiders who knew nothing of Crystal Magic, but the other Grimnoah students and teachers too. If they knew, they would all tell him to get lost and they would abandon the fight. They would say the first ship’s problems were meaningless to their second ship. And they were right about that.

Was that his reason ''for not telling them''? Was that really a valid justification?

But…

Even so…

(I don’t care if it’s wrong. I will save my friends even if it makes me a lying sack of shit!!)

Aine used her sword to slice through the tall fence and Karuta silently stepped into the Port of Kobe’s grounds.

It was finally beginning.

The world’s strongest magicians were about to contact the true and legitimate Threat.