Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica:Volume 7 Chapter 4
Chapter 4 - The falling point of the truth
Part 1
Many people have gathered filling the space full of vigor.
There are food, clothes, travel, and household goods beyond the basic elements.
It also has the everyday "food" that an ordinary family needs, that are in most markets or supermarkets.
There is light music playing in the background while people are listening to the limited time specials announcement. He is shuttling back and forth through the brouhaha in the store planing tonight's dinner.
In the crowded supermarket Onizuka was slowly carrying a shopping cart.
The menu has been decided. Tonight is going to be curry, and tomorrow morning is going to be curry.
In order to satisfy Tiana's insatiable appetite, he has decided to prepare breakfast at the same time to make it easier.
It should be good to just put the left overs in the fridge.
Tiana had every intention of letting Onizuka pick out dinner for the household. Even thought he was loathing the idea, he still went to the store to buy it.
Before he put the curry into the shopping cart, Onizuka checked out the instructions on back of the package.
"...... It seems very troublesome."
After reading the cooking steps, Onizuka slightly knits his eyebrows.
Onizuka is used to eating fast food packages of curry, but instant curry and curry are different. Its not just putting the pouch into boiling water for a few minutes.
"Do not underestimate curry. You have to have patience and take it one step at a time to cook delicious curry, uh-huh."
Tiana is walking next to Onizuka while waving her index finger from side to side, she knows all too well the details of good curry.
"Ah, okay okay."
Onizuka already ran out of patience.
"The question is, which is the best curry ... ..."
The popular preference of curry is nothing more than beef, pork or chicken.
Seafood curry is certainly a choice, however, it is too cumbersome of a food, and obviously not suitable for beginners.
It would be a better to choose simple meat Curry -- Onizuka thought. He also thought that because chicken or pork is cheap.
"Pork curry! I want it with streaky pork! Cut the pork into bite sizes, let it absorb into the stew, then it becomes so delicious and its hard to mess up......"
And so on and so on, Tiana then started to describe the taste of plump and tender streaky pork.
Just the very mention of food, and Tiana doesn't know how to moderate herself.
Onizuka casually chimed in several times, interrupting Tiana at the appropriate time.
"All right. Well, since you understand it so much and said its your favorite so many times, you can go to the meat counter and pick it."
Onizuka then directed Tiana to the meat counter.
He watch an ecstatic Tiana leave to the fresh meat section, while Onizuka went to the produce section. He still needed to buy the carrots, onions and potatoes to go with it.
Onizuka got his vinyl bag ready for the vegetables, he then grabbed whatever was on top of the pile -- without even looking once, then he through the bag into the shopping cart.
He basically did not care whether the ingredients were fresh or not.
After all, he's not a chef and as long as they don't get sick its fine.
After picking out the necessary vegetables, Onizuka made a u-turn and headed to buy some more coffee since last night he ran out.
"......Oh, that's right."
Then Onizuka suddenly stopped, he seemed to remember something.
Next to the produce just happens to be the rice section.
The hand-rolled sushi they had yesterday significantly reduce his stock of rice.
After all, he had cooked six cups of rice equivalent to twelve bowls of rice, of which about seventy or eighty percent went to fill Tiana's stomach. And tonight its curry, a dish that mainly relies on rice again.
"Just in case, had better buy some more."
Onizuka then picks up a cheap five kg bag of rice.
"......"
After thinking for a moment, he switched it with a ten kg bag of rice.
The shopping cart instantly weight more than ten kilograms, he was suddenly struggling a lot.
"Its seriously heavy, ah. Damn....."
Onizuka swore loudly.
He is voluntarily doing something troublesome for others now. But deep down, he was feeling pretty good. Maybe he is not just thinking about himself, and caring about someone else's burden?
Part 2
After some time ......
"Ken-chan, I found some chunks of streaky pork. Look, there are quite a lot, Wow! "
Tiana came back with a big smile.
Onitsuka looked in her basket filled with chunks streaky pork, and then notice that Tiana was munching on something.
"...... Are you eating something?"
"I got a sample of roast beef from that Obachan."
Tiana said as pleased as punch.
"Oh, I got a piece for you."
After saying that, Tiana gave him a toothpick with some roast beef stuck to it.
"Its free.....you can eat it."
Mildly embarrassed Onizuka shook his head to refused, but Tiana look like she would not let him off easily.
"I've already got one, this one is for Ken-chan."
"...... Tch!"
He has experienced her stubbornness before.
Reluctantly, he took the roast beef from Tiana, after chewing it for a moment.
".....This is not roast beef, its bonito."
The fish station is past the meat station, and they give out samples in front of the vendor's booth.
"......"
After hearing that, Tiana blinked her eyes in surprise.
"Uh ... ... the taste of roast beef and bonito are extremely close."
"You're like a pork curry aficionado, I can't even imagine that you didn't know the difference between the two after eating them."
Just when Onizuka was shaking his head in amazement, suddenly a melody could be heard playing.
"--A text message."
Tiana took out her cell phone and after reading the message... ...
"----"
She fell silent, and exuded grim look completely unlike her usual self.
Onizuka held his breath, it was like the busy supermarket froze for an instant.
Although he tried to asked her "what's going on", but he couldn't get the words out.
Onitsuka was completely suppressed by her imposing demeanor.
After some time ......
Tiana slowly put her phone away.
"Oh.....I'm sorry, you were saying.
At once, she restored her expression even the giant smile on her face, as if nothing happened.
The ice-cold atmosphere just like that was gone.
But ......
"Ken-chan, I find it hard to talk about food... ..."
"......What on earth?"
Its still her usual smile and tone.
But her words were like they came from a totally different person, Onizuka response was short.
Then her natural voice returned to an eerie one:
"I have to immediately hurry off somewhere, let me say goodbye here."
The words themselves gave Onizuka a bad premonition.
"......"
Onizuka silently thought -– where you go is your choice, and has nothing to do with me.
Its not like I'm you master and you need to ask permission first. She is just someone who forcibly started to live with me, so its not something I need to worry about.
".....What about the curry?"
The shopping basket was already full with the ingredients that Tiana and Onizuka picked out.
They decided to have dinner together, that's why there are so many things.
If it was just Onizuka, he would of simply had instant curry and not picked out so much.
"It is regrettable that I can't eat Ken-chan's curry, but..... "
Tiana's expression looks somewhat lonely, and feels very apologetic.
"The truth is this matter is more important than food."
--And the way she said it sounded like she was saying goodbye for good.
Part 3
"Well....."
Kaidou Motoharu just sent a text to Tiana and folded his cell phone closed.
Currently, he is at the closest station to JPN Babel.
He is sitting on the platform bench watching the commuters exiting and entering the tram.
Kaidou sent a text to Tiana with the necessary details on how to take the <Phoenix cells>.
Include with the message was a pdf with blue prints of JPN Babel that he covertly made while attending school. Also included was the best infiltration route, and the most likely place the <Phoenix cells> were being kept. It can be said that Babel's security guards and security system make the campus watertight.
However, it is not foolproof. The back up security system has a hole, moreover it was intentional.
Because,
"In the best situation......they can eliminate the enemy in one fell swoop."
Babel -- namely COCOON, are most wary of anti-Babel terrorists with special abilities. These terrorists are alternate world returnees with special abilities that don't want to let Babel manage their lives and thus would prefer to resit the world.
However, only a handful of them are extremists that take hostile action. Most have chosen to live incognito to escape the reach of Babel, while the extremists are willing to fight on the front lines. After all, Babel or COCOON manages -- rules the world, compared to that power the terrorists power is too far apart. Thus terrorist actions are limited to guerrilla warfare, such as sabotage or suicide bombers. If you want to lure out these terrorists you must give them an opportunity to launch an attack. For a terrorist this is known as hole.
Then COCOON can eliminated one by one these terrorist that are exposed.
Such as Tanaka, who made the training program go berserk.
Or how Phil Burnett took advantage of the undermanned security during the ranking tournament.
"But now, my situation will be very dangerous."
Although Kaidou hasn't let been caught by the short and curlies, but now he is up against Hikami Kyoya.
Kyoya is trying to use a long line to catch a big fish -- This is not the first time Kaidou sensed this.
However, Kaidou in the middle of his free and carefree Babel student lifestye, but he had better bravely jump into the trap...... because the situation has changed.
The calm and collected Hikami Kyoya unexpectedly is acting arbitrary.
If Kyoya is assuming the risk of betraying COCOON, at first glance –-
His goal must be worthy of throwing away being apart of the top of the world -- COCOON.
"Though I hate troublesome things...... I guess I have to take the initiative over there."
It doesn't seem like Hikami Kyoya would betray COCOON, and become an ally of "Crimson Twilight".
A troublesome enemy will be born besides COCOON, if "Crimson Twilight" sits back and waits.
This might have been foreseen by our leader Cecil, and that's why she ordered Tiana and me to seize the <Phoenix cells> from Kyoya's hands.
However normally there is no way of knowing where Kyoya is concealing the <Phoenix cells>, or if he has them. The vast campus has numerous school buildings, furthermore the tower of Babel tower's gargantuan size. Even Kaidou who is familiar with the campus, can't guess where the <Phoenix cells> are stored.
However the leader Cecil · End-heart inspected Kaidou's floor plans and after looking at it categorically.
--Pointed to where the <Phoenix cells> are now in the JPN Babel.
This is purely woman's intuition, and there isn't any corroboration. At first, it seems like speculation with no basis.
However, it is the intuition of the leader of the world's most powerful terrorist group "Crimson Twilight".
"......Hmm, they should be right here."
Kaidou knows that Cecil's intuition has never been wrong before.
That night when the <Phoenix cells> were being delivered, Cecil made it a priority to meet Akatsuki "by chance". She already seemed to know that that route was just a decoy.
To be first to inherit the leadership after the found of the world's most powerfull terrorist group "Crimson Twilight" her strength naturally can not be underestimated.
"Tonight's the ... ..."
Kaido muttered. The battle plan's next step is for Tiana to seize the <Phoenix cells>. Babel is already keeping their eyes on Kaidou, so he will play a diversionary role to scatter the enemy. Kyoya's end game is still unknown. It seems that the <Phoenix cells> play a very important role in Kyoya's plan, as long as the <Phoenix cells> are taken from his hands naturally it will impede his operation.
Conversely, if Kyoya has some other end game--
<<<<<<<<<pic>>>>>>>>>>
At that time......
"Well....... it is a good story that ends in murder."
Even if it is Hikami Kyoya the result is the same.
He is only one person. As long as he teams with Tiana there is no way they will lose to Kyoya.
While thinking over the odds of success, Kaido slowly lowered his head.
Since it is the evening, the platform is jam-packed with the after work crowd.
While sitting on a bench on the platform Kaidou Motoharu momentary smiled wryly, but it looked too ghastly to be called bitter smile.
The Monorail Tram also happens to arrive at the same time on the opposite platform.
Kaidou slowly looked up. The shrill look of a terrorist disappeared, replaced by a neutral look.
".....EH? That's not... ... "
The tram slowly departed. On the other platform among the crowd Kaidou suddenly found two familiar faces. Even mixed in with the crowd, two striking beautiful young girls attracted his eyes.
They are Ousawa Miu and Nanase Haruka.
A rather unusual combination. They both had a serious expression, not one found on a holiday outing. They also had several men following a little behind them.
There poise was impeccable, no doubt they are part of Babel.
Miu and Haruka also seemed to have noticed that they were being shadowed.
But they are simply ignoring them.
"Ah, God forbid if I don't already have enough trouble on my plate."
He watched them walk through the ticket gate and start to descend down the escalator. He mumbles as he also took action.
Part 4
Inc. Done but still needs editing. Rough version on pastebin.
Translator's Notes and References
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