Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume15 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 19===

Irregular tremors suddenly ran through the entire school building.

They could not approach the windows with the possibility of a sniper, but as far as they could tell by peeking out from behind the pillars, several clouds of smoke were swelling out like cotton candy.

“Explosions?”

“It’s no use. You settle down too, Frank. In this age of cameras and sensors, I doubt they would try to hide behind a cloud of smoke with no chemical effects whatsoever. I bet that’s a diversion while they sneak in through a different entrance.”

Wraith looked annoyed, but her explanation seemed separated from her emotions.

“In the worst case, they might have even threatened some civilians into running through there, so don’t fire just because you see a shadow in the dust.”

“Tch. Hey, crazy girl, quit acting like you represent humanity’s good side.”

“What, you’re going to fight me even with all this going on? If you don’t want to be caught in a crossfire, I’d keep those thoughts to yourself, gentleman.”

Casually cruel Myonri nonchalantly aimed her weapon at Heivia to deter any rash actions and then she spoke in her usual small animal way.

“Wh-what are they trying to do…?”

“Who knows. 380.”

Myonri’s fearful question was bluntly answered by the brown girl who was still shrinking down on top of her ring. That answer carried a lot more weight coming from New York’s defense commander who had full use of the security systems. …Of course, that was assuming her active self-denial had not gotten the better of her and her word could be trusted. It was of course possible it was all a lie.

The black uniform girl shrugged while staying far enough away from the windows to avoid being shot.

“How are we supposed to know their goals when we don’t know who they are? But based on an offline search of the explosion’s acoustic signature, that was Hand Axe, a plastic explosive used by the Legitimacy Kingdom. So do you have any ideas?”

Heivia Winchell’s temples writhed irregular when he heard that.

A plastic explosive.

Hand Axe.

“…What?”

“The accuracy of such a simple search isn’t the best, but a chemical analysis looking for carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen in the dirt at the blast site would give us the answer. Although I don’t think we have enough time for that.”

“555. By the way.”

The brown girl in a two-piece surgical gown made of crimson paper cut in while cheerfully sitting with her butt inside the giant ring. Since her arms and legs were sticking out of the ring more than before, she had either grown accustomed to the stimulation or she was letting her guard down around them.

“From a strategic viewpoint, there is no reason at all to attack Columbia University if your goal is to take control of the Manhattan 000 as the world’s largest Object. 200. So I doubt they’re plotting to forcibly stop or hijack the Object. They might be after me since I’ve lent it to Capulet, but very few people know I’m also the Elite.”

“Then what else is there?”

“Sorry about answering your question with a question, but why are you here?”

Heivia intentionally maintained an expressionless face, but Myonri thoughtlessly glanced over at the 4m ringlet curl powered suit. The giant girl spoke up while scraping her tilted head along the ceiling panels and fluorescent lights.

“…Father?”

“Hm. I can’t see who that is due to the silly powered suit, but I’m guessing it’s the model herself inside.” Wraith exhaled from her shapely nose. “Well, if you’d given up on negotiating with Melly, I guess it makes sense you’d go for Capulet since it’s the only other thing with power over the Manhattan 000. Given the development history and compatibility between Capulet and Juliet, it would also make sense you could hijack control of Manhattan using the Gatling 033’s Pilot Elite. She would be able to approach the AI Network from a different direction than the Martini Series. Given that, the attacker’s objective would be the Manhattan 000’s destruction. But instead of sinking it themselves, they’re trying to make it self-destruct by triggering a fight between the people on the inside…in other words, us.”

“No offense to you educated people who can achieve climax with nothing but your imagination, but isn’t that a bit of a leap? How could a little commotion between us cause this colossal weapon to blow up?”

“If that concept machine contains who I think it does, then I’m not overestimating this. The Juliet’s experimental results continue to strengthen Capulet in real time. That puts her much closer to it than mere monitors like us. She might be able to take on the thousands of Martinis singlehandedly. If the Gatling 033’s Juliet and its highly-compatible Pilot Elite attempt to bring down the Capulet AI Network using its vulnerabilities, they could be a threat to the Information Alliance as a whole. The network’s hardware and scope are a mystery because its advantage is limited to the online world. That prevents anyone from pulling the power cable to shut it down if they start to lose.” Wraith sounded somewhat exasperated. “Honestly, this is the problem with the age of Objects. The importance of specific individuals can vary so wildly. Aren’t you here to collect her father because your plan hinges on her individual performance?”

“…”

It was the same as with Piranirie and Taratua. Whether or not the Martini Series had a conscience or good sense, they could still do the calculations. Their character could not be trusted, but there would be no mistake in the actual analysis.

So it was best to base your thoughts on those assumptions.

What would cause the most chaos in this situation?

You only had to kill Oh Ho Ho’s father in the shelter which was supposedly safe thanks to the Martini Series’ management. It no longer mattered who the direct culprit was. Had the Martini Series made any mistakes? Had the Information Alliance as a whole wanted it? Once Oh Ho Ho was overwhelmed with anger, hatred, and suspicions, all of her skills could pass through the Information Alliance’s Capulet and send the Manhattan out of control.

The most frightening thing was not the amount of firepower on hand or the number of people killed.

It was the same as the samurai who had once tried to open up the Island Nation or a certain world-famous musician. When a single blade or bullet bared its fangs against an innocent person, it would create an incalculable shock. This faceless person who had leaned out over the game board was trying to do that intentionally instead of by chance.

Individuals were supported by a large system, but they also determined the outcome of wars.

This reversal was built on the rules of an already twisted era.

“You’re kidding, right? Then their target really is Oh Ho Ho’s father!?”

“B-but they don’t know where their target is in this giant university, right? Then we have time. We came to this cafeteria kitchen because we needed to work out the shelter locations from the food delivery routes.”

Wraith rejected Myonri’s words.

Had the crazy person gained a sharper mind by sacrificing someone like the crazy person she was? She had to have noticed that the timid girl’s statement contained far too much wishful thinking.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. If this lawless hunter’s specialty is bombs, then they can achieve their objective by indiscriminately blowing up each facility in turn. …No, those diversion explosions may have been part of the plan. Not only did it get them safely inside the university, but they may have been observing how people reacted.”

“What do you mean?”

“The shelters will be the most densely packed areas. They would react most noticeably to a commotion. It’s like sending out sonar to locate the enemy. They just have to cause an explosion, note where the most voices came from, and then attack there. And that means we can’t relax.”

“Right. So the key is the screams of children. 497.”

Melly casually supplied that extra information with her butt inside the large ring and while wearing only a crimson surgical gown. She was much more relaxed than when she had first met the potatoes. She built interpersonal relationships quickly. It probably would not be long until she reached the ennui stage.

She breathed a warm breath on the flat game system’s screen and wiped it off with the paper over her chest.

“Universities are attended by a higher age group than middle or high schools, so if you ignore the few students that skipped several grades, there are almost no small children there. 119. So if 100 or 1000 children begin to cry and shout in response to the explosion, you know that has to be a shelter full of outsiders.”

Another deep explosion rang out and the floor of the university hallway shook.

Everyone there exchanged a glance.

“Ignoring this much evidence would be harder than finding proof of infidelity on your lover’s smartphone and pretending you never saw anything.”

“And even if we’re completely wrong, if that third party has plastic explosives and is headed to a shelter full of civilians, we have to stop them no matter what their reasons are.”

“Yes, that’s right. That’s exactly right.”

Heivia adjusted his grip on his handgun.

And he did not hesitate to aim it at Wraith.

“But this is a separate issue.”

Multiple dry gunshots rang out at close range.

There was so little hesitation in the pull of the trigger that Myonri was unable to react despite being right next to him.

And the aide young man stood in front of the black-uniformed girl with long blonde hair.

He had used his large anti-materiel rifle as a shield to forcibly restrain the cheap 9mm bullets.

“Did that satisfy you a little?”

Wraith did not bat an eye despite having her life targeted so suddenly.

Had the Martini Series always been like that? Or had she been modified by some external factor?

“We just lost one of our valuable weapons thanks to you. You’ll have to work to make up for it.”