Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume1 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 2===

Silicon Valley, USA.

After hearing this was the world’s largest arms plant and that it had been kept separate from the giant sword woman’s all-purpose factory, Utagai Karuta had pictured an area covered in steel and concrete, toxic-colored smoke obscuring the sky, and the clanging of metal sounding around the clock, but the reality was much different.

The blue sky was refreshingly clear, green grass covered the ground, and a small bridge crossed a clear stream that glittered beautifully in the sunlight.

“A city of semiconductor factories needs clean water and air,” said Student Council President Omotesandou Kyouka while looking out the RV’s window. “Hundreds of thousands of people live in San Jose, but other parts of Silicon Valley only have around ten thousand people. I hear the areas along the highways connecting the cities tend to look like this.”

“I’ve also heard the deserts are shrinking even in America,” said Marika. “They’re all starting to fill in with green thanks to the desert agricultural plants connected to Susannia’s mechanization…or regeneration, I guess. And thanks to the insects and small animals, I imagine they won’t need a certain someone’s flesh anymore once things reach a certain point. This greenery restoration work has its downsides, doesn’t it? If those areas take in too much weed DNA, not even off-road cars would be able to get through.”

People were not going to starve for the time being.

The quality of the food might drop, but once the farmers stopped focusing solely on the profit gained by the perfect selectively bred or genetically altered crop, the food would reach an acceptable level once more.

On the other hand, there was nothing here except for giant boxy factories and truck stops. There were no commercial locations outside of gas stations, diners, and pay showers, so acquiring food did not look easy. It was so bad they had needed to stock up at a supermarket in a town on the way. Even that had been difficult since Susannia’s loss had left the supermarket shelves nearly empty. (Stock would not run out that quickly, so that was probably due to other people stocking up so they could hole up in their personal shelters.) Tourists would visit en route to other places, but no one would stay there for long. Their RV would stand out if it stuck around for too long. Silicon Valley was known for its precision machinery plants, but in the places with nothing, there really was ''nothing''.

Strawberry blonde Marika gave a skeptical look toward the “excuse” that was applying new pressure to the already limited space in the RV.

“Will this camera and telescope really work as insurance?”

“Stargazing is the #1 reason why someone would visit a place with no famous tourist destinations and where finding as much as a gas station is difficult, right?” said Kyouka. “And if we need clean air and as few artificial lights as possible, our presence here sounds all the more plausible. If we call ourselves meteor hunters, then we even have an excuse for being in some remote area or private property.”

“Meteor hunters?”

“Hobbyists who collect fallen meteorites and sell them for cash.”

They had taken a few astronomical photos and stored them on flash memory in case someone questioned them further. Surprisingly, it was the Student Council President herself who got the most into it. She had seemed endlessly calm and composed to Karuta, but she may have had a more girly side to her that loved astrology and horoscopes.

How visible had the stars been back on the Ocean Crystal Magic Academy?

He found he could not really remember.

The sky had to have been full of stars in that tropical ocean so far away from human civilization, but the giant ship itself may have emitted too much light.

Could the Student Council President have spent every night back then peering into a telescope and sighing at the unsatisfactory results?

At any rate.

The odds were good Anastasia Blast was hiding inside that plant.

And if they were going to attack, they were going to do it by the book. The focus on security would be lowest just before dawn. Waiting until then had been agonizing because they could not move, but they had also been so nervous it was hard to sleep. They had also needed to adjust their own biorhythms to match the timing of the attack. They had finished dinner before sunset and gotten what sleep they could in the early evening to late night.

“Hey,” said Marika while lying on the sofa bed like usual. “What do we do once we’ve finished our revenge?”

“I doubt we can return to a normal life. Even if we were justified, we still traveled around the world killing people. That said, guarding the crystal statues in that cave would only draw attention to them. Once we’ve dealt with the Problem Solvers who will actively search it out, it would be best for Gekiha and the others to leave it be.”

Crystal Girl Aine responded without giving it much thought while standing in the corner of the RV like usual.

“I am your Crystal Blossom, so I assumed I would stay with you after this.”

“Yeah, and I’m your childhood friend, so staying with you might be for the best.”

They seemed to be settling on a conclusion without letting him voice his opinion.

And the Student Council President naturally joined in.

“Once this is all done, I suppose I will step down as Student Council President.” She gave a somewhat sad-looking smile. “And are you going to kick me out after all we have been through? Doesn’t that seem a little cold?”

“So we’ll all stay together, huh?” said Utagai Karuta.

One of Marika’s eyebrows shot up.

“What, you got a problem with that?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“?”

These four(?) had been the only ones to escape that giant ship with their lives. Those survivors had decided to use every ounce of strength they had to take revenge against the seemingly unbeatable Problem Solvers. That was all it had been in the beginning So while it might sound cold, they were only together by chance. If it had been someone else who had survived, the group holding this discussion now would have been different. That was all that held them together.

Yet the next thing they knew, they had developed much stronger bonds.

Karuta had not realized it until now, but it felt weird to think of them saying bye and going their separate ways once this was over.

“Where should we go once it’s over?” he asked.

Marika and Kyouka gave separate answers while arguing with each other.

“I’m sick of the garbage-filled cities. I’d like to take it easy on a tropical island.”

“Ehh? Don’t the Alps sound nice? There’s no better retreat! And it makes you sound fancy.”

“I’m gonna say no thanks to anything that requires dressing warmly. Besides, I like the beach better than the mountains.”

“Ugh, I take it you’re not shy about being seen in a swimsuit, huh?”

“I love swimsuits. Bring on the micro bikinis and slingshots, if you ask me. Nothing helps keep your body looking nice like showing it off.”

Marika began some bewitching laughter and the Student Council President glanced over at Karuta for some reason.

Meanwhile, Aine stated what she wanted.

“I do not mind where we go as long as I am with my Sacri-sama.”

“I mean, you don’t really have a choice but to be with me, do you?”

“I will be happy as long as I have enough pure gold to bathe in.”

“What, are we supposed to search out El Dorado? Your request has got to be the most difficult one.”

Their discussion had a laid-back atmosphere, but a part of Karuta’s mind thought it sounded like some far-off future.

It did not feel like something that could happen in less than a day’s time.

Speaking their dreams out loud did not make them feel any more real. It was not that he did not want these things to come true. Part of him really did think they sounded nice. But he could not shake the feeling that there was some thin transparent film separating him from them. Something told him things would not play out quite so conveniently.

In fact.

The options laid before him felt so weightless, flimsy, and unsatisfying that he had to watch himself lest he speak a truly impossible wish such as “I want to go back to our school”.

This was their final battle.

The battle against Anastasia Blast had been saved for last.

She was a Problem Solver, one of the world’s strongest.

They could not plan ahead or construct a detailed strategy and they were forced to go in blind, making this extremely dangerous.

Whether this was their first opponent or their last, it was all over if they died. They would lose everything.

No one knew how this would turn out.

But there was one thing he could say for certain: we don’t live in a kind enough world to give us that ideal ending.

“Once this is over, I just want to take some time to relax.”

“We can do that. We’ve just been way too busy lately.”