Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume2 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 3===

“Well, that doesn’t sound like fun. But are you sure you should be here, Karuta-kun? Marika-san spent a very long time choosing her swimsuit, so she might not be happy if you ignore her.”

That comment and a laugh came from sexy Student Council President Omotesandou Kyouka.

Karuta was all sweaty. Splitting up with Aine had not been a smart move. The man had immediately locked onto him and attacked, so losing that mass of muscles had taken a lot of work. He realized now that sending Aine after the man to slow him down would have been the smart play.

[[Image:ApocalypseWitch_v02_07.png|thumb]]

“Ah, pant, gasp. So what are you doing there?”

“Artificial though this beach is, I would have trouble swimming with these legs. Still, I wanted to get into the beach spirit, you know?”

The upperclassman girl wore a black bikini and kicked her long legs like a child. The beach and palm trees below the powerful mechanically-created sunlight were pretty and all, but they two of them were not even close to the crashing waves. She was lying in a plastic kiddie pool with her legs sticking out since they did not fit. With her curvy figure, the kiddie pool and childish feet kicking created a guilty sort of imbalance.

But Karuta had not been asking about that.

“You didn’t answer my question. What are you ''doing'' there?”

“Not. Telling.”

She gave a different sort of smile with her index finger pressed against her lips.

The previous childish smile was now a bewitching smile with a maturity beyond her years.

“I’m intentionally doing this in secret, so why would I give the answer out loud? If you assume ''they'' will always appear in sunglasses and a black suit, you are sorely mistaken.”

So this was about that.

He could see why she had sent the other Student Council members away.

He knew she could not get them involved, but he secretly had trouble with the waves of jealousy the rest of the Student Council was sending his way.

Regardless, this topic meant he could change his mode as well.

Instead of the squeaky-clean public mode or the usual high school mode, he put on his mask of the true avenger who played dirty.

“''You mean they’re here''?”

“They’re like cockroaches. If you found a place in the world they ''aren’t'', I would want to move there right away.”

That was enough to convince him. She had always been good with computers. He had wondered why she had a phone, a mobile router, and some other devices at the bottom of the water in her kiddie pool, but she was apparently busy gathering information. If ''they'' were everywhere, then she could steal their information no matter where she was. By placing that device there, she could use a quicksand app she had written to gather up the invisible signals flying through the air, decode them, and convert them into actual text and images.

Karuta’s group was facing a few different issues.

The most pressing was the chain of revenge being continued by Natalena Blast (almost certainly with the help of some sort of accomplice).

They also had to worry about the Threat and the global string-pullers who worked to profit even from the clash between the world’s strongest and the Threat.

Karuta was dealing with Anastasia’s sister, Natalena Blast.

But Kyouka apparently planned to do battle with a different part of the world.

He grabbed a carbonated drink in a can (which had become rare in Japan with the exception of energy drinks) from the pool water and took a sip while pretending to glance over at the seabirds flying through this enclosed sky.

“That’s in your hands, then.”

“Of course it is. So you go complete your job.” Omotesandou Kyouka placed a hand over her mouth and laughed. She turned in a different direction than him. “Young-looking Aine probably makes it easier for you, but it means a lot that you can infiltrate the middle school since even a single school year can feel like an impassable barrier. For now, try to keep their attention. Earning that girl’s trust would help everyone out.”

He glanced in the direction she was looking and then sighed.

That trio of girls was waving over at him in their swimsuits. The tanned and silver-haired girl hopping up and down in the center and waving with both hands was Riho.

He waved back and whispered too quietly for those three to hear.

“This isn’t easy, you know?”

“I imagine not.”

“I’m only a new student who arrived back in April. I can’t admit it to anyone else, but I only survived by pure luck. Who can say what happens if the Threat shows up here and now? But those girls innocently believe that I can protect them no matter what happens. Because I’m one of the world’s strongest Crystal Magicians.”

“Stop thinking of it as deceiving them. It’s a lot easier if you think of it as giving them hope.”