Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume1 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 2===

What they needed to gather was simple.

They might be hard to come by in Japan, but they were not exactly rare in this country.

Karuta and Marika were walking in the gap between the slums and the wealthy. It was a unique scene where a driver was waiting in a black limo right next to where a man in a worn-out coat was gathering empty cans.

“That should be enough shotgun shells,” said Karuta. “I’d love to buy as much as we can carry, but they might get suspicious if we buy too many in one place. Maybe we should visit a few different stores.”

“What about the traps?” asked Marika.

“Igniting them won’t be very difficult. A single spark will do the trick, so we can create fuses out of a battery and aluminum foil. Of course, we’ll need a different device to switch them on.”

“We’re going to detonate them by radio? But there are bound to be signals on all sorts of frequencies flying around all the way up to the heliport!”

“Not to mention from the bugs set up by obsessive fans. Yeah, it might be best to pretend to be tourists while we walk around the building and check what frequencies are in use. There must be a bandwidth no one is using. More importantly, Marika, you’re our only hope here since you’re the only one who can use a standard Crystal Blossom. Do you really think you can do this?”

“Yesss, III caaaan. I’d really prefer to use lasers or masers, but I guess a non-nuclear photon rocket would be best here.”

“Whatever the case, you should test fire it first. We don’t want to find out too late that the force of impact knocks a connection out of place.”

“Obviously. In that case, I’ll want some rubber adhesive that works on building walls and some cushioning material if we have the budget.”

The two of them were out shopping.

Aine had stayed back in the RV to support the Student Council President just in case. That would not make much difference if one of the Problem Solvers tracked them down, but Aine would be able to fight off any thugs who tried to rob the place.

“I can’t believe former Crystal Magicians like us are buying parts for weapons at a hardware store,” said Marika.

“I’m down with anything if it gives us a chance.”

“Also, Aine-chan really was a lot of help, so how about you buy her a reward?”

“You mean a snack covered in gold leaf or powder? Do you think that would really construct semiconductor circuits in her body?”

“The whole thing is too unprecedented to say. I’ve never even heard of another Crystal Blossom that eats.”

“And she’s stored inside my body, so what happens to me if she builds pure gold circuitry inside her?”

“Wait, I thought gold leaf desserts weren’t digestible.”

They discussed that while pushing a shopping cart through a large store.

The cart’s handle was labelled “Stainless Steel – Fifth Generation Material”.

(You even see it here.)

This was a sign of Elicia Luxverg’s influence. She used her dinosaur to tear apart the passenger planes and tankers gathered from around the world because that efficiently dismantled them into usable resources that could be recycled. That was why first generation resources, the iron or aluminum directly dug up in a mine, were almost never seen anymore.

The news was playing on the phone of a customer who passed by.

“Steel dropped in value by 2 dollars and 50 cents today while aluminum remains stable at 40 dollars and 27 cents. Speculators are saying the influence on first generation resource deals will be…”

Marika whispered while reaching for a product.

“There’s something wrong with human society when ''the unrefined rocks are more valuable''.”

They had a list of what they needed, but like they said before, buying it all at once place would raise suspicions. They did not have much time, but they still walked around town visiting different stores to purchase bits and pieces of their list while also visiting unnecessary shops along the way.

“Ohh, I just remembered alllll my new swimsuits are at the bottom of the ocean with the ship.”

“Really, Marika?”

“Let me buy one. Just one! It’ll help camouflage what we’re doing!!”

“You already bought that racing swimsuit for diving, remember? And you got away with buying a leisure model because the ocean is so warm around here!”

“Listen, Karuta-san. Just like a school bag and a brand-name bag are entirely different things, that swimsuit and this swimsuit are ''entirely'' different!!”

And so he was dragged into a sporting goods store.

The look in his childhood friend’s eyes was already scaring him.

“Ohh, I love this dizzying feeling of being surrounded by so many price tags. Heh heh, I can just buy them all, can’t I? I can buy as many as I want, right?”

“Are you insane, you greedy girl!? You’re just using the price on the tags to feel like you’re rich! Plus, we don’t have any real income!!”

“We gathered a bunch of valuable stuff from the sunken ship.”

“But it isn’t unlimited. Besides, we decided to leave 95% of it in the cave for when Gekiha and the others eventually wake up. We only have the bare minimum to work with.”

“Bikinis are nice, but the design is so perfected there isn’t much room to have fun with it.”

“You’re not even listening, are you!?”

“This is a necessary part of the bare minimum. Now, let’s check out the one pieces…ohhh! They’ve got a real tricky one here, boss! This doesn’t cover the navel or back at all! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

He had no idea why that was so funny to her. At the very least, he knew it had nothing to do with good fashion sense. She was the stereotypical shopaholic in that she was bound to cool down half a day after buying it and badly regret her decision.

That meant there was nothing he could do now.

She charged straight into the fitting room with a risqué swimsuit.

[[Image:ApocalypseWitch_v01_07.png|thumb]]

“Hm, hmmm. Hm, hm, hm, hmm.”

“Come to think of it, there’s no real reason for me to wait for you here, is there?”

“Are you trying to kill me with loneliness by having me try on clothes all on my lonesome? And check out this stupid swimsuit! It’s hilarious!”

Curly twintailed Marika threw open the partition curtain, but that was when it happened.

She was indeed wearing a swimsuit, but that forceful action caused the shoulder straps to come undone, leaving her very much topless.

“Ah.”

Karuta had to cover his face with his hands.

He was fairly certain he had seen a pair of indescribably bright mounds(?), but it would be best not to pursue the matter.

However…

“See, what did I tell you!? These are really cheap!! They’re poorly made, so you can’t trust them!!”

“~ ~ ~ ~!! W-wait just a second!!”

Marika blushed bright red and quickly ducked back into the fitting room. In the RV, she would sleep naked with only a single sheet covering her, but she was apparently still reluctant to directly show everything off by complete accident. And she seemed well aware that this was in no way Karuta’s fault. Being a clever girl could be difficult sometimes.

Meanwhile, the young woman at the register grinned over at him. He had a bad feeling she was the type of salesperson who left the sample on the verge of breaking and then claimed whoever broke it had to pay for it.

“This was all a setup!?”

“But, sir, you enjoyed the show, didn’t you?”

“…”

It saddened him he could not deny it, so he paid for it to silence the woman. He could only laugh.

“Bwa ha ha ha!”

“Ah ha ha ha!”

This was a world of only love and peace. Utagai Karuta’s laughter was even uglier than when he had felt so cornered by the Problem Solvers.

Once the fitting room curtain opened again, the two of them were complete strangers once more.

“Ugh…what do we do with this broken swimsuit?”

“Even if we do defeat Saurus with it, do ''not'' let this part get in the history books.”

He drove the point home with a more decisive look than was strictly necessary.

At any rate, the preparations were complete.

It was time to face one of the world’s strongest.

It was time to attack one of the Problem Solvers.

It was time to exact revenge on Elicia “Saurus” Luxverg.