Editing Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica:Volume 8 Epilogue (section)

===Part 2===
 
Inside the student council room she was met with darkness and silence.
 
And -- there ware no signs that Hikami Kyouya was there.
 
Once Haruka confirmed that fact, some of her tension eased.
 
"As I thought...... he's somewhere else."
 
Kyouya had said, he was going to create a utopia using Miu.
 
However, the student council room was clearly not the most suitable place.
 
After all, beside himself, there were three other members of the student council using the room.
 
At times when Kyouya was absent from Babel the other members had free access to come and go.
 
Moreover the heliport rooftop, which was to be used as an the evacuation point, was so close to the student council room. Kyouya would never consider such a semi-open space to conceal secrets that were tantamount to betraying COCOON.
 
Exposed to the stillness of the night inside, Nanase Haruka couldn't help think that what happened a few hours ago was only an illusion.
 
But......
 
"Uesaki...... Minami......"
 
The harsh reality remained.
 
Ryohei and Minami's frozen corpses were still lying on the floor. However, now was not the time to hold a funeral for them.
 
So while Haruka's gaze was fixed on the floor,
 
"I will take on your enemy for both of you. President Hikami -- No."
 
After shaking her head, she further strengthen her resolve,
 
"Hikami Kyouya's ambitions will be stopped......!"
 
That meant Haruka recognized Kyouya as a clear enemy.
 
Then, she tightly clenched her fist, and headed towards the work desk in depths of the room.
 
"Time to get started......"
 
After saying so, she pushed the power button on the computer.
 
The light from the monitor emerged through the darkness.
 
And after the OS booted, she was prompted to input the user authentication password.
 
...... I can't make any mistakes here.
 
Facing the first barrier, Haruka prepared herself mentally.
 
Having announced her resignation to the student council, because she decided to side with Akatsuki and Miu, Haruka didn't think Kyouya would be that easy on her, so as to allow her to keep her password.
 
However, Haruka silently tapped away at the keyboard,
 
"......!"
 
After suppressing her inner tension, she pressed the ENTER key.
 
Suddenly the screen blacked out -- and after between kana. (The time it takes after writing one then starting the next.)
 
The desktop screen appeared on the monitor.
 
The system had successfully started.
 
"Hah...... It seems everything went well."
 
Haruka softly sighed.
 
She had entered the system administrator password .
 
-- However, Haruka didn't start up her own computer.
 
The desk she was at now belonged to Minami.
 
It was a situation in which there were dead bodies in student council room. Kyouya's having killed Ryohei and Minami, most likely was because he never anticipated a need would arise to kill them. And naturally the idea of changing their access to the computers would never cross his mind, since they were dead and could no longer pose any threat.
 
"If I accessed my computer the security program would of been immediately triggered even with the administrative code."
 
As expected, Kyouya didn't touch Ryohei and Minami's PC.
 
However, she wasn't satisfied with just that.
 
...... I must hurry.
 
In order to grasp JPN-Babel's current situation, Haruka plunge directly into the security system.
 
"Sure enough...... it has entered a into complete lock down."
 
It was confirmation of what she had anticipated.
 
After he had successfully captured Miu, Kyouya also said that everything was ready. In addition, Haruka had slipped out from under his finger because of the transfer seal Akatsuki had placed on her.
 
In this case, Kyouya determined it was only a matter of time before the rest of COCOON was aware of the situation, therefore adopted tougher measures.
 
Still, the barrier that isolates the campus from the outside had already been destroyed by Akatsuki.
 
All of Kyouya's plans were not progressing as smoothly as he expected.
 
And Haruka started a course of action to create a more advantageous situation for Akatsuki, even if it would be only a little.
 
The utmost support that her present self could do was to lift the security system, and destroy the program itself.
 
In order to prevent it from being re-started.
 
Since JPN-Babel was Kyouya's so called castle, Haruka was going to sabotage it from inside.
 
"First......"
 
Haruka began to disable the [guardian beast system.]
 
And at the same time began searching for Kyouya and Miu's whereabouts.
 
So......
 
"This......"
 
Unexpectedly, Haruka detected areas where the [guardian beast system] had stopped functioning.
 
The first place -- was outside away from any buildings within JPN-Babel's grounds.
 
Most likely Akatsuki or someone else eliminated all of the gargoyles at once forcing the system to shut down. Now the system was in standby mode, waiting for consent to reactivate.
 
-- But, the problem was the second location.
 
It was within Babel's underground -- the lowermost floor.
 
That place housed the power reactor to all of the systems, also was the location of the 『Babel system.』 As the most important area within the entire campus, naturally the security imposed on that floor was the highest.
 
However, the security there now had actually been turned off,
 
"Could it be --"
 
Haruka went to pull up the surveillance camera footage, and as she was typing,
 
"-!?"
 
At that moment, Haruka had suddenly jumped to the side -- Immediately after.
 
A crashing thud was heard, and a pillar of flames arose from where Haruka had previously been.
 
Minami's desk and computer had burnt to ashes.
 
An enemy's attack. There was no hesitation in Haruka's movements as she made that judgment instantly.
 
While rotating on the floor she materialized her weapons with her AD,
 
"There!"
 
By crossing her arms, her two half-moon blades shot out in the dark -- towards the entrance of the room.
 
However, both were repelled along with two high-pitched metallic noises.
 
"What.....?"
 
Nanase Haruka was startled, but it was not because her attack was stopped.
 
Instead it was from the moments the metals clashed, and caused sparks allowing her to catch glimpses of the enemies weapons.
 
A Chinese Dao (Broadsword) and a Liu Xing Chui (Meteor Hammer) -- Both of which Haruka was quite familiar with.
 
Then,
 
"-- I thought that I took you completely by surprise, but as one would expect your reaction was indeed good."
 
"Haruka... ... Don't use my computer without my permission."
 
And from out of the darkness the attackers emerged.
 
 
 
It was two people wearing JPN-Babel's uniform, Uesaki Ryohei and Aihara Minami.
 
 
 
Therefore,
 
"How is this possible......"
 
Haruka was overtaken with surprise, however incidentally she suddenly thought of one possibility.
 
It was what she heard from Alayzard before.
 
On how Disdiya had used a forbidden spell to revive the previous Hero Leon Esuperio.
 
-- Could it be that Ryohei and Minami were revived by a similar spell, and are being compelled to take orders from Kyouya?
 
Within her chaotic mind she derived at that conclusion.
 
...... No, that's not it...... because......!
 
Haruka turned her gaze to the floor.
 
To see Ryohei and Minami's bodies still lying there left in the same condition.
 
So,
 
"No way......"
 
Nanase Haruka then remembered something. On the eve of decisive battle in Alayzard, Kuzuha had used her magic to create something to deceive the enemies troops. It was an elaborate clay puppet of Akatsuki that imitated him to perfection.
 
A feat that was only possible because Kuzuha was a master of earth magic.
 
Conversely, someone on the same level as her would have the same ability.
 
And -- Aihara Minami right in front of her happened to be a master class earth magic user. For her, that would be a trivial matter like it was nothing.
 
In other words,
 
"Both of you...... were never dead from the start.......?"
 
Haruka said in a daze.
 
Then Ryohei and Minami were right now standing in front of her because out of their own free will.
 
The thought of what that meant, caused Haruka's vision to shake violently.
 
The truth right in front of eyes was similar to as if she collapsed from her feet.
 
Then, Ryohei and Minami were enveloped in strong light.
 
The two had changed their uniforms into battle attire.
 
And,
 
"You manged to narrowly escape. You could have quietly waited inside Ousawa's house. Why did you have to come......"
 
"Kyouya's plan can't be stopped -- by anyone."
 
Ryohei and Minami slowly moved towards Haruka.
 
 
 
With their weapons in hand -- and a clear intent to kill.