Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume5 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 4===

After leaving the boutique, Karuta and Aine walked back the way they had come to reach Second Grimnoah, the three-hull ship measuring more than 600m long was currently moored at the port.

Since most of the students were out in the city for the Port Day, the giant ship was completely silent. It was the same somewhat guilt-inspiring stillness found when sneaking into school on the weekend.

This was a sort of sanctuary.

But that was why you felt a faint thrill from tiptoeing in when you weren’t supposed to.

“They might have some spare uniforms in the infirmary.”

“They would have them there, Sacri-sama?”

“Only for emergencies, so they won’t be perfectly fitted or anything. It’s probably going to be baggy, but bear with it.”

“On what basis are you predicting that an improperly fitted uniform would be baggy on me rather than too tight?”

The girl, who stood a full head shorter than him even when counting the horns, was expressionlessly puffing out her cheeks. He was mildly surprised by the inner change that led her to worry about things like that.

“Don’t worry. Marika and Omotesandou-san’s size is far from normal. Those are the outliers who have trouble finding bras in a style they like, so you don’t need to compare yourself to them.”

“Why do you not understand that the problem is how you are starting with the assumption that I will lose, you jerk?”

They made their way to the infirmary.

Fortunately, there were no patients (with heatstroke or seasickness) in any of the beds lined up by the wall. This wasn’t a place people came for fun, so they weren’t going to bother anyone. He could humor Aine for a bit.

“Here we go. I found a girl’s uniform, Aine.”

“Come to think of it, why are you so knowledgeable about girl’s uniforms?”

Aine had even learned how to verbally stab people in the flank.

The reason for his knowledge came from having to help the president change or assisting Natalena after her clothes got wet.

But anyway.

He had found a spare uniform, but they were no longer in the boutique and thus there was no fitting room. They had no choice but to have Aine use one of the bed spaces with a curtain drawn around it.

While the crystal girl changed inside one, Karuta tilted his head a bit.

He felt kind of uneasy.

(H-huh? What’s this? With the curtain drawn, this shouldn’t be any different from the boutique’s fitting room, so why is my heart pounding in my ears?)

He blinked a few times and peered into the darkness within him before finally identifying the cause.

He could see through the curtain.

The fitting room curtain had been thick and made to block light, but the curtain used as a divider between infirmary beds was not and he could faintly make out Aine’s silhouette while she changed within!?

Apparently the unguarded girl had switched on the excessively bright LED lamp on the bedside table just because it was somewhat dark while surrounded by curtains.

“Sacri-sama?”

“It’s nothing! Nothing at all!!”

“???”

[[Image:ApocalypseWitch_v05_bw1.jpg|thumb]]

He hated that he could tell she was tilting her head in confusion.

He honestly couldn’t help but hold his breath until she pulled the curtain open herself.

“This is how it looks. What do you think, Sacri-sama?”

She was wearing a uniform.

A Second Grimnoah summer uniform.

She stood tall and fidgeted her fingers together while dressed in the exact same thing so many girls did every day when attending classes at Second Grimnoah, but it looked entirely different on Aine.

This could have been a possible future.

The powerfully innocent image of her in that uniform brought that sentimental thought to mind. Since the crystal girl was already somewhat transparent, she could take on a subtly different appearance depending on the color of the light around her. The orange of the sunset may have helped make her look like an empty dream at the moment.

Karuta didn’t feel any desire to start discussing where things had gone wrong.

He accepted everything before giving his honest opinion.

“It looks good on you, Aine.”

“I know I requested this, but I am not sure how to process any positive or negative feedback related to it.”

“That’s made for Second Grimnoah, so the stitching is designed to hold up in combat. Couldn’t you wear this all the time?”

“Updating personality profile. I now see that you have a schoolgirl fetish, Sacri-sama.”

She may have meant that as an attack, but it was a meaningless accusation against a schoolboy. Aine might not quite fit the profile since she was always walking around in her casual(?) clothes, but when most every girl around you was a schoolgirl, it was the default, not a fetish.

“Want to go for a walk dressed like that, Aine?”

“So you prefer to show off your ‘prize’ rather than make sure no one else gets to see it?”

She must have sensed her first attack failed, so she went for a follow up attack. But since almost every student would be on land for the Port Day, Second Grimnoah was nearly deserted. He doubted they would run across anyone to be surprised by Aine’s unusual (for her) outfit.

“I see. So you enjoy the thrill of being out in the open but avoiding detection. Does the thought of being in an empty school after hours excite you?”

“Can you stop slinging attacks until one of them lands, Aine?”

He smiled bitterly while stepping out of the infirmary.

Just then, he heard a quiet, soft vibration.

He realized he had bumped into something in the hallway.

And this wasn’t a stranger.

The color of the light was mixing.

Distorting.

Cracks were forming in those colors.

“Marika?”

“I know.”

His childhood friend did not look up when he called her name.

She fell silent again.

She demonstrated a painful amount of vulnerability.

She clutched at the short sleeve of his shirt, pressed her forehead against his chest, and clenched her teeth.

“''I know it’s Aine-chan’s turn right now.''”

Those words carried an important meaning.

They were a curse powerful enough to tear down the unnaturally cheerful mood that had covered this entire today.

“But this really is our last day.”

When she did look up, her face was a mess.

A lost child may have been the closest comparison.

The usual confident and cheerful girl was nowhere to be found.

“I know we decided to enjoy our school life to the fullest since the human string pullers want their answer soon. I know we’re supposed to cut all ties with out lives so we can face the final battle with no regrets!! I know that!! But I can’t do it. I just can’t do everything the way I’m supposed to when I know this is the end! …Because I love you, Karuta. I didn’t go to Grimnoah or switch to Second Grimnoah after the first one was destroyed because I wanted to master the use of cutting-edge magic!! I only did it because I couldn’t let you go alone! That really was my only reason!!”

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Karuta had chosen to go to a school that specialized in Crystal Magic, but he had not had any clear vision of his future either. They had been overwhelmed with things they ''had to do'' once they were propped up as the strongest, but he wasn’t willing to say that was the future he had envisioned when he was suffering through the entrance exam. He felt like his starting point had been even more empty than Marika’s desire to be with the person she loved.

And this conversation had included several very meaningful words.

Including one statement that may have been more important than the fate of the planet for this girl.

But…

“I know,” interrupted the sobbing girl before he could say anything. The premium jelly mascara she had been so proud of was running due to her tears. “I know you’ll choose Aine-chan ''in the end''. Because she’ll be all alone if you don’t. The president and I have our own lives outside of you, but she really does only have you. Sever that tie and she has nothing left, so I know you’ll choose her!!”

“…”

“Why is this the only kind of love I get to have?”

She had already experienced more of the world’s cruelties than any one person should, but she still raised her voice.

“I don’t care about the world’s strongest, the Threat, or the human string pullers!! If I didn’t have all this special stuff, I could have been normal and happy. Maybe even this here could have turned out differently without these complications!”

Maybe it was the way her words flowed, but Karuta sensed something off in what Amaashi Marika was saying in his arms. He had found something that told him he could never roll down this slope no matter what might happen.

''Without these complications.

Did that include Aine who was linked to him through Crystal Magic?

He grabbed his childhood friend’s trembling shoulders and pushed her away from his chest.

He kept his distance.

“No, Marika.”

“I know.”

“I doubt I can ever understand how you’re feeling, but I’m still going to insist you take that back. If you don’t, I never want to see you again, Marika!!”

“I said I know!!!”

A high-pitched noise echoed through Second Grimnoah.

Marika looked ready to shed tears of blood and her right hand held…a rapier Device.

“Today – our final 24 hours – are all about ensuring we have no regrets left, right? Well, no one ever said it all had to end happily.”

Karuta also made a decision when he saw that.

Amaashi Marika was probably the fastest person on the planet to make up her mind at times like this. He had to respond immediately or he really would be in trouble.

He shouted the last thing Marika wanted to hear out of his mouth.

“Aine!!”

He pulled his modified military flashlight from his hip.

He shined the powerful IR laser in Marika’s face to dazzle her eyes.

But not so he could fight.

He just needed time to make his move.

He and Aine turned tail and he heard a series of cracking sounds coming from behind them. How many seconds did it take Living God Amaashi Marika to decorate her body with crystal armor? Once that process was complete, she wouldn’t hesitate to wield a level of violence that let her pick a fight with a fighter craft or slice a tank in two.

“What is your plan, Sacri-sama?”

“For now, we go this way!!”

Marika’s Crystal Blossom contained the name of Tezcatlipoca, Aztec god of death, and her Crystal Magic let her use light as a weapon, converting it into any kind of deadly power. Her rapier Device could simply cut down an enemy, but it could also be used for high-precision laser sniping.

(If we want to prevent her from using her top speed that rivals a fighter craft, we have to stay away from spaces with long straightaways. A mazelike space is best, since it also keeps her from using that laser sniping of hers. Aine’s sword might be able to stop a metal shell or a missile, but it can’t deflect laser light or a beam!!)

In that sense, the school was a bad location. Both the standard school building and the special facilities like the gym or cafeteria were given simple, orderly designs so no one would get lost. Which meant…

“Focus on the ship side of things, not the school, Aine. Marika’s speed and long-range attacks don’t help her in the bottom-level engine room full of thick pipes and diesel engines larger than an apartment room!!”

“I have my doubts Miss Marika of all people will have her options restricted so easily.”

“No overestimating her abilities, Aine. If you think of her like a magic bullet that can do anything, then you can’t even begin to put together a plan.”

“She is already furious, so if she starts shooting lasers all over the bottom level of the ship and the ship starts to flood, I might survive, but you would be in a predicament since you need a constant supply of oxygen. Your odds of survival fall even further if she ignites the diesel fuel.”

“I said not to do that, Aine!! It is scary how plausible that sounds with this childhood friend from hell, though!!”

Just then, a door opened and someone emerged into the orange-dyed hallway. Karuta immediately recognized them. Only one person on Second Grimnoah used a wheelchair since the preset of regeneration could heal all non-lethal wounds in 30 seconds.

His face lit up.

He kept running away from overheated Marika and waved his hands to gather Kyouka’s attention.

“Thank goodness you’re here, Omotesandou- !?”

“I can’t…”

He heard a creaking sound, but this wasn’t the wheelchair’s axle or tires.

His body demanded oxygen after running full speed, but the ghastly sense coming from this girl still made him stop breathing. What was that she held in both hands behind her wheelchair? A bow and arrow? One with a sight and stabilizer!?

“I can’t always be the big sister you rely on. That’s no different from deciding I can never be anything other than ‘the hero’ who’s separated from everyone else. Why am I the only one you treat this way? Did you think I did all of this to save my own skin and for the money that comes with being the world’s strongest!?”

This was bad.

But what about it was bad? He could tell she was angry enough to kill, but ''there was too little context surrounding her statements for him to figure out what exactly she was upset about''!!

(If something was bothering her, she could have told me earlier!)

“Come to think of it, this is the first time I have seen Miss Kyouka giving into her anger and shouting at someone. She seems to no longer care about keeping up appearances.”

He realized Aine was right.

But what had led to this?

“Perhaps she feels left out. She is separated from everyone else by being the only Regulation 3 at present. The ordinary students and even the other Living Gods are at most Regulation 1s.”

“…”

“Also, it sounded like you didn’t even know how she normally eats lunch. That means you did not spend your lunch breaks with her. And when she mentioned she wanted to have a younger boy take care of everything for her, didn’t you brush it off with a dismissive ‘yeah, right’?”

“Meaning?”

“You only have yourself to blame, you jerk.”

Karuta grabbed Aine’s hand and changed directions as they ran. He turned a corner. He had to use the terrain if he was going to avoid being killed by Kyouka’s bow and arrow.

“You sure have grown!!”

“Have I? You, on the other hand, have not grown at all.”

Kyouka was a new threat to worry about, but that didn’t decrease the threat presented by Marika one iota. They couldn’t come to a stop no matter what might happen.

Aine ran expressionlessly alongside him with her school uniform skirt fluttering dangerously high, but he thought he saw a hint of a smile on her lips.

She dropped her empty gaze to her hand which was firmly held by Karuta’s hand.

“My, my. Miss Marika and Miss Kyouka are going all out today. They really are trying to kill us. Hee hee.’

“Wh-why – ugh, cough – do you sound like you’re enjoying yourself!?”

“Because I appear to hold the princess position here.”

They didn’t want to leave anything undone.

He understood that, but how much pressure had been building up inside those two? What kind of concerns had they been bottling up all this time?

He wanted to avoid being caught between Marika and Kyouka. There was no chance of survival then. Which meant…

“Let’s pull away from Omotesandou-san, Aine. No matter how dangerous she is, she’s in a wheelchair, so we can keep her from following us by taking the stairs. There are only so many elevators, so she’ll need to take a wide detour to catch up. That won’t do anything to lose Marika since she can use the flight preset, but it lets us keep the odds at 2-against-1.”

“Do you think it would be easier to fight Miss Marika who is always a little bit angry than to fight Miss Kyouka who is showing a rare level of anger?”

“Let’s not think of this as choosing the lesser of two evils, Aine! Imagining either option terrifies me!!!”

A cruise ship might seem longer and shorter than a high-rise tourist hotel, but it was still divided into quite a few floors, starting from the engine room and hold at the bottom and going all the way up to the heliport at the very top. That meant it had some long stairways they could use.

(Now where can I go that will keep Marika from using her high-speed flight and laser sni-)

Karuta’s thought was cut off by a thick guillotine falling to block the path ahead.

It was a fireproof shutter that doubled as flood prevention. He doubted this was a freak malfunction. Not wanting him to escape, the president must have abused her authority to take over Second Grimnoah’s networked devices.

This was now a T-junction. Heading right would take them to the stairs, but he felt like they were being guided that way. There was more to this. Why would Kyouka want to lead him to the stairs she couldn’t use with her wheelchair?

But whatever the reason…

(If I want to betray Omotesandou-san’s expectations, I have to keep heading straight even if it means destroying that shutter!!)

He was somewhat used to fist fighting after the strange martial arts tournament the Catastrophe had been turned into, but he could not break through a composite shutter with his fists.

“Damn. Aine!!”

When the girl swung her right arm down, a cold crystal katana appeared in her hand with a swishing sound.

But she did not obey Karuta’s instructions.

She suddenly swung the blade horizontally and orange sparks flew. Karuta clicked his tongue. She had knocked an aluminum alloy arrow from the air, which now slid to the end of the hallway.

He heard the creaking of wheels.

At the other end of the orange-lit hallway, a black-haired beauty wielded a distinctively-shaped bow in her wheelchair.

And she was not alone.

The sound of rubber soles scraping against the floor came from the other end of the hallway. He didn’t even have to turn around to know, but when he did, he found Amaashi Marika coming from the stairs with crystal armor covering her body and a rapier Device in her dominant hand.

His tension had grown well past the limit, so it felt electric at this point.

He doubted either of them was willing to talk, but he still moved his lips.

“Wai-”

The first to move wasn’t Marika but Kyouka. She must have decided that one half-word meant he had abandoned her. She had the bow and arrow, but she still moved her wheelchair to rush toward him.

Amaashi Marika followed after her. As her ally? No, to kill him herself before Kyouka could take him from her. That was clear from the glint of a hunter’s spirit in her eyes.

Amaashi Marika approached him from the front with her rapier device squeezed tight in her hand and Omotesandou Kyouka approached him from the rear with her bow and arrow aimed and ready. Their eyes were shining bright and he could tell at a glance they wouldn’t respond to conversation.

He didn’t stand a chance.

“Sacri-sama!!”

He heard a shout. Aine had apparently moved to defend him with her sword in both hands, but two different world’s strongests were approaching from two different directions. Aine was reliant on that sharp sword, so she could only defend against one of them. Utagai Karuta could not avoid fighting the other girl.

He readied his modified military flashlight, but how much good would that toy do him?

Aine was his main defense.

His weapon was like the sidearm worn by a fighter pilot. It was better to have it than not, but if you had to rely on it, it meant you had already crashed deep behind enemy lines.

There was no scream.

A loud impact erupted within Second Grimnoah.

Karuta couldn’t even tell who had crashed into who.

He couldn’t stop the momentum transferred to him, so he crashed into Aine while she tried to protect him and all four of them rolled along the floor in a big heap. Heavy metallic sounds rang loud because Omotesandou Kyouka’s wheelchair had toppled over too.

Then silence.

And…

“Ah ha ha!!”

They were still lying there, tangled together.

One of the people in that pile of bodies started laughing loudly. It may have been Karuta himself. That laughter was contagious. Marika and Kyouka were both laughing. The bloody atmosphere from before had vanished without a trace.

Not even Aine was immune.

She was mostly expressionless, but there was the smallest hint of a smile on her lips.

“Heh heh. What was that, Marika-san? Were you really swinging a blade around over a broken heart? You might have the looks of a cutting-edge Gyaru 2.0 or even 3.0, but deep down, you still have the soul of a reserved Edo period girl. Ah ha ha!”

“Oh, shut up. You’re the one that pulled out a bow and arrow. A projectile weapon is cheating. I bet you’re the kind of person who takes a game of tag way too seriously and starts chasing people down on a bike.”

Someone sighed.

Karuta wasn’t sure who with everyone tangled up together, but someone was holding his head between her arms. Like she was holding a beachball to her chest.

Eventually, the president asked a question.

“So is everyone satisfied?”

“Yes,” replied Karuta and neither Aine nor Marika disagreed. It was past the point for that.

“No one has anything left undone?”

“I’m good.”

“If you say you want to run off with Aine-chan, I don’t think either of us would stop you.”

Kyouka may have been hoping for a digression like that, but neither Karuta nor Aine went for it.

Why do all this today?

Why forget their troubles and enjoy their school life?

That was obvious.

''To convince them they were making the right choice.

“I have no regrets.”

“I see.”

“This world is shit. We never stood a chance against the Threat, the human string pullers already controlled everything, and even our families will betray us like it’s no big deal. That’s just the world we live in.”

So would they abandon the world?

That may have been a valid option for them.

“But we still love this world and think it’s worth protecting. If we feel we’ve proven that to ourselves, then we need to do this. We didn’t choose to be the world’s strongest, but it was our actions that gave us that title. It wouldn’t be right to run away now.”

Kyouka nodded in agreement and took the conversation further.

“In that case, Karuta-kun. And the rest of you too. I am going to contact the human string pullers. Once I do that, there is no stopping the gears from turning.”

“That’s fine.”

Utagai Karuta breathed in and out.

And he summed it all up for them.

“Then let’s get to the space elevator for our journey into death. If we sacrifice ourselves by ejecting ourselves into space, we can drive away 300 million Threats. We knew this was coming.”