Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume4 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 11===

Crystal Girl Aine stood all alone in the student counseling room that acted as her jail cell.

The door was not even locked, but she was not permitted to leave.

Second Grimnoah had been shaking with a dull rumbling for a while now. Some kind of emergency was clearly underway outside. That boy had to be suffering.

Aine thought once more about what her purpose was.

Was staying here as commanded really the right thing to do? That protected her, but that didn’t necessarily mean it would save Utagai Karuta, did it? If she left the room, it would confirm people’s suspicions about her. It would convince people of the false conclusion that she was being controlled by someone else.

So what? What did that have to do with Utagai Karuta currently suffering due to some unexpected turn of events? If she was truly worried for him, she should open that door and rush to his rescue.

Even if that would truly isolate her in the end.

Even if it meant Utagai Karuta himself would criticize her and give up on her.

(Sacri-sama.)

With that brief comment in her mind, she raised her head.

She walked to the door and grabbed the knob without hesitation.

But then…

“Ksh.”

She heard some static. This was a magical transmission using a crystal blossom. She did not have a blossom pinned to her chest, but her connection to Karuta let her communicate in the same way.

Was there a problem with the transmission medium of the air, or was the problem with her own control? Regardless, the static eventually became something else.

A human voice.

“Ksh…the…sbart…?”

She was unsure if she was supposed to be hearing this. Had they forgotten to exclude her from the list, or were they too focused on fighting to care? She did not know what was happening outside, but she did know the 600m ship kept shaking violently. This had to be something major.

And amid it all, she heard some savage and violent voices that were also full of cheerful excitement.

“I don’t care if that’s an electric battleship, you assholes!! We wouldn’t have to mess with this if not for you! And you’re the ones who made Aine-chan commit harakiri! Admittedly, it was that dumbass Karuta who supplied the finishing blow there, but you’d better get your asses out here! We can’t even apologize to Aine-chan until we deal with all of you!!”

“Kee hee hee. The crime of snaring a pure little girl in a dirty trap is a costly one indeed. You made one fatal mistake here: having the audacity to be high schoolers no younger than 15. I have no reason to show any mercy now! You must die for bringing tears to the eyes of an eternal little girl like Aine!!!!!!”

That was Yamane Deiri and Nekoumi Hirosuke, the boys who were always hanging around with Utagai Karuta. And they were the same people who had not even tried to listen to what Aine said when she had been trapped.

Or maybe it had only looked that way to Aine. They must have been gritting their teeth at the fact they were forced to suspect one of their own. Would Aine have felt so strongly if the situations were reversed?

And it wasn’t just them. She also heard Amaashi Marika’s voice.

“Yamane, and Nekoumi too. Get all fired up in your own idiotic way if you want, but don’t just rush in and get yourselves killed. Make Aine-chan feel any worse and I’ll make sure you’re deader than dead.”

“Yeah, yeah. We’re not gonna go down easy. We’ve gotta be all together when we go apologize to her!”

“Less than 39kg is where you find the true goddesses. A-and getting stepped on by a tearful Aine-chan’s beautiful feet sounds more like a reward to me. No way I’m dying before that happens.”

Their entire class was going nuts. Was this really a deadly battle they were fighting? It was so much different from when they had fought the Problem Solvers or the Threat. The festive elation seemed to blow away the pressure usually associated with combat.

Based on what Aine could hear, Marika had joined Matsuda Imi and Hashizaki Tayori.

“Oh, Imi!! I knew you’d make it, my BFF!!”

“I hear you made Aine-chan cry, Marika. God, never a moment’s peace when you have such an inconsiderate friend. You know I hate this kind of gloomy atmosphere. But I’ll make short work of that.”

“Hey, she came to visit you in the infirmary enough times, so I’m sure she can do the same for Aine-chan. Anyway, lets get this over with so we can apologize. I feel responsible for this too.”

They were not trapped in a bog of doubt. They were pursuing the true culprit in order to prove the crystal girl’s innocence. That entirely changed the meaning of this battle. They could join together and charge right into the hail of enemy fire without a moment’s hesitation. And they were doing it for her.

“Karuta, that goes for you too!!” roared Yamane Deiri. “Don’t you dare die there! Who’s gonna wipe away Aine-chan’s tears and comfort her if you’re gone!?”

“Yeah.”

The girl felt something leap in the center of her chest. She doubted the boy knew his words were reaching her, but they still hit her right in the heart.

“This is just the opening round. The real challenge comes afterwards, so let’s win this, come back with a nice story to tell, and show Aine how sorry we are. As a class!!!!!!”