Editing Internet Shrine Maiden Tsugumi-chan:Volume1 Chapter6 (section)

===Part 12===

The detective had collapsed.

He wasn’t moving.

A normal human wouldn’t have been damaged like that. He had taken a much deeper wound as the cost of welcoming in the Malign Spirit and accepting the rules of the dead.

The long, long black hair had already vanished from his right arm.

The night breeze tossed the girl’s black hair around.

The online shrine maiden, Yahirodono Tsumugi, stood alone up there.

It was all over.

There was movement in the all the apartment’s windows.

Something was flowing out.



“Gya ha ha ha ha ha!! So it was worth beating her with a mop every day!”



::“We’re the victims here! Next time I’m using a razor!!”



:“She needs to stop screaming from nothing but a hot iron to he back.”



:::“No one’s coming to save her.”



“That brat deserves a beating for being a snitch. This crowbar should do nicely.”



It was a flood.

A deluge of voices.

Why had she risked her life to battle that Malign Spirit? What had they been trying to protect here? This collection of malice tore all that down from the foundation. The online shrine maiden stood up there so high from the ground. The gyaru sister and straitlaced sister had to be experiencing the same thing while watching from the ground.

What?

What exactly did they think they had solved here?

And…



“By the way…”



Someone spoke.

From the construction site that looked like a giant twisted jungle gym made from steel beams.

Even though he lay on one of the beams, supposedly too weak to even get back up.



“When the Malign Spirit’s Groan was still in effect, all their electronics were malfunctioning, so their phones, the security cameras, and the police patrol drones weren’t working.”



Nevertheless.

Detective Hisame Kouga still spoke.



“But that was all caused by Hasshaku-sama, so what happens to those drones now that she’s been defeated?”



Without a word, the online shrine maiden looked down at her trifold phone.

The map app opened like normal. The antenna indicator at the top was full.

(The drones couldn’t patrol around here before, but with the Groan gone…)

The sharp buzzing of a motor cut by overhead.

That had to be a police drone. With the effects of the Groan gone, it had resumed its ordinary patrol.

She suddenly recalled what the gyaru sister had said.

''“I hate those patrol drones. I can’t relax with the way they fly by buildings and peek in through the windows. And unlike security cameras, I’ve heard they also _____ the _____ of people on the ground.”

(The police drones aren’t like the security cameras around town.)

“Come to think of it…don’t they record people’s voices along with the video?”

A slight change came over the drone’s movements. Had a manned operator taken over? Unlike a normal patrol, it hovered in the sky without leaving.

A young female voice played from its speaker.

It was addressing the giant apartment, not Tsumugi’s group.



“This is the New Sea City Police.”

“This drone’s recorded footage contains several vocal statements flagged for discussing the beating of a child and the burning of a child with an iron.”

“The video also shows the residents of several rooms tossing each other gloves and masks over the fire walls separating their rooms’ balconies. This qualifies as evidence of malicious intent and criminal conspiracy.”

“Officers have been dispatched to your location, so please remain where you are.”

“Any attempt to escape or resist arrest could mean further charges against you.”

“Your identities can be established with facial recognition and voiceprints, which can be used as legal evidence.”



The world’s spectrum of colors had entirely changed.

Tsumugi had indeed witnessed this moment.

The entire building fell silent. As if it had been pierced by a sharp blade. The abusers who had felt free to act with impunity in the safety of the apartment had ended up digging their own graves.

This wasn’t destruction or murder.

The person responsible for this had handed every last one of them over to the police.

Without any of the innocent people in the same apartment having their lives ruined in the process.

This had all been solved using the rules of living humans.

The oil lighter used by the online shrine maiden actually belonged to the detective.

He could have disposed of the exorcism lighter before going on his rampage, but he hadn’t. He had even left the cabinet open when he normally locked it.

(So…he never actually intended to win…)

He had accepted help from Hasshaku-sama’s great power, but he hadn’t let it consume him.

Using Hasshaku-sama’s ability to mimic voices, he might have been able to have her mimic the abusers to confess to the police through a patrol drone.

But he hadn’t done that.

Because he had known only an attack based on the actual truth would be rock solid.

This was a detective’s job.

It was Hisame Kouga’s pride.

(He made sure the abusers’ own confession and actions were recorded by the police to ensure it would count as evidence.)

“Was all if it to make this happen!?”

He was collapsed.

Bloody.

Unable to even get up.

Battered both inside and out, Hisame Kouga still managed a small smile.

“…Did I settle it before it was too late?”