Difference between revisions of "Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume12 Chapter2"
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“Eeeek, a zombie! It’s going to infect us all with who knows what!!!” |
“Eeeek, a zombie! It’s going to infect us all with who knows what!!!” |
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In addition to the business with Kihara Kagun, he was pretty sure he had heard that name associated with the incident where he first met Alice Anotherbible. That operation had been meant to clean up the dark side lurking in Academy City’s shadows, but outside influence had twisted it into a great tragedy. Many people had died. But…they were still there. |
In addition to the business with Kihara Kagun, he was pretty sure he had heard that name associated with the incident where he first met Alice Anotherbible. That operation had been meant to clean up the dark side lurking in Academy City’s shadows, but outside influence had twisted it into a great tragedy. Many people had died. But…they were still there. |
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| − | + | “Does that mean that dark side thing is still alive and kicking after all that? Dammit!” |
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He heard an ominous roar. |
He heard an ominous roar. |
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She spread her arms and leaped at him. |
She spread her arms and leaped at him. |
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Latest revision as of 01:53, 29 April 2025
Chapter 2: Funeral – Good_Bye_Bad.[edit]
Part 1[edit]
Cold rain that couldn’t quite become snow fell from thick gray clouds.
It was weaker than before.
But that made it seem more stable, suggesting it would last longer.
A funeral was underway.
It had begun in the school auditorium.
The entire student body was gathered there, so they had to line up based on a system to fit. …Except Aogami Pierce and Fukiyose Seiri had frozen up nearby. Apparently Komoe-sensei had panicked, so their class’s guidance was a mess. But that boy may have appreciated a human response like that.
The space was large enough to hold hundreds of people.
That meant the heating was only so effective. Even with the air conditioning and halogen heaters, the chill could not be fully banished.
It was the presence of death.
Something you normally didn’t sense but crept up on everyone the same.
Aogami Pierce felt like the world itself were telling him an attempt to act cheerful would not fundamentally change what they were here for.
This was a funeral.
A member of their class was dead.
“Thank you all for attending despite the poor weather. Perhaps the heavens themselves are weeping for the deceased. It pains me just as much to lose someone so young.”
A young Buddhist monk got started with a microphone in hand. Fukiyose Seiri was only familiar with the term “abbot” as a title for a Buddhist monk, but she wasn’t sure if there was a proper hierarchy there.
“The abbot is the head of a single temple,” explained Aogami Pierce. “They’re the one who leads the rest of the temple’s monks. But there are a fair number of temples where the abbot is the only monk due to the aging population or just being shorthanded, so a lot of people get the terms monk and abbot confused. It’s unusual for someone that young to be one.”
“Why do you know so much about this?”
“What, are you really not reading that social media gag manga that went viral on New Year’s? It’s called ‘I Was Reincarnated and Got a Hypnotizing 5 yen Coin That Makes People Do Anything I Say, but I Ended Up in a Buddhist Temple Full of Macho Monks’. The unexpected mismatch!! What fate awaits our gloomy heroine after the ascetic life and vegetarian food cleanses her in body and soul!?”
“Why can’t someone ban this guy’s very existence?” asked an exasperated Fukiyose.
But had her senses dulled over winter break? She appeared to have forgotten insults of that level were nothing more than a reward. She could be two or even three times as harsh and he would still welcome it.
The screen on the wall behind the auditorium stage came to life.
“I am truly grateful you have all gathered today for our son.”
Remote comments by Kamijou Touma’s parents played on the screen. They apparently used more than just telegrams in this day and age.
A loud slam came from the back of the auditorium.
Someone had been unable to contain themselves and rushed out while covering their mouth. For a brief moment, the outside light shined into the dark auditorium. Surprisingly, this person was not from their class. From where they came from, they must have been a student from another year.
“Kami-yan sure was loved.”
“He had the weirdest connections. I sometimes saw him speaking with an upperclassman girl.”
There was some kind of accident that led to shouting, but the funeral itself continued without a hitch.
Aogami Pierce got some words out while staring out ahead.
“Why…?”
“Hm?”
“Why do people die so easily?”
This was somehow different from before.
Death.
The word carried so much more weight. Instead of the light and empty feeling of losing a life in a video game, this carried the heavy weight of reality.
Maybe that was what a funeral was.
It was about saying goodbye.
But in a different way from a classmate moving away.
Instead of not being able to see him again after this, they already couldn’t see him again. People could not accept that so quickly, so they needed a way to smooth over the rough edges of reality or else the small society that was a school could collapse.
It was like bringing things into focus.
Uh, oh.
It wasn’t so bad when the image before Aogami’s eyes was blurry. He could stand that. But once the outlines came into focus, the corners of his eyes could be in trouble.
Trouble?
Who said it was wrong to cry? It wasn’t a competition and who did he even think he was competing with? Apparently adolescent rebelliousness could needlessly screw with people’s lives even here.
“…”
He realized he hadn’t heard Fukiyose’s voice in a while.
When he focused, he could hear some breaths seemingly covered by an unseen hand.
Or maybe she had a handkerchief out.
He wasn’t about to peek over at the next seat, though.
He envied the people who could let themselves cry here. He was always shouting in the classroom, but he felt some kind of barrier forcing himself to hold back here.
Aogami Pierce was not a diligent student.
Even during ordinary classes, he would stare out the window and daydream about battling terrorists.
He had always thought Kamijou Touma would survive to the very end.
He could do anything in his fantasies, but for some reason that boy always survived longer than Aogami himself. Aogami would sometimes save everyone and end up with a harem and he would sometimes get dramatically shot and die, but no matter what happened, Kamijou Touma would always survive to the end, no matter how beat up he was.
But.
Reality was something else entirely.
He could think of any number of things to say if he were the one to die, but he couldn’t think of a single one when it was Kamijou Touma who had died.
“I’m such an idiot,” he muttered to himself.
He hadn’t expected this.
Something had happened somewhere he wasn’t aware of.
He guessed people all over thought these things as they lived with regret.
“Now, if you will please come forward to burn incense. Yes, it will help if you climb the stairs on the right and descend the stairs on the left. You may begin.”
Part 2[edit]
Meanwhile, two girls experienced this from a different viewpoint.
District 7.
An ordinary high school.
The entire student body was gathered in the auditorium. But even with the warmth of hundreds of bodies, the chilly air could not be entirely banished by the air conditioning too weak for the size of the space and the halogen heaters set up in a hurry.
That acted as the breath of death in contrast to the human warmth.
A large portrait photo sat atop the stage.
The face belonged to Kamijou Touma.
They must not have expected this. He looked almost villainous on the portrait forcibly blown up from his student ID. But maybe anyone would in an expressionless ID photo taken from head on.
A part-time monk, who was apparently an unsuccessful entertainer who did this as a side job, held a microphone.
His weirdly cheerful voice may have come from mixing together his two jobs.
“Thank you all for attending despite the poor weather. Perhaps the heavens themselves are weeping for the deceased. It pains me just as much to lose someone so young.”
In addition to the student body, a guest space had been prepared at one side.
Mikoto and Shokuhou were seated there.
One of them was shaking.
“Brrrrrr. Misa-Misaka-sa-Misaka-san, it’s so c-c-cold, you need to w-w-w-warm me up.”
“Are you even wearing clothes?”
Mikoto sighed while using a hand to the face to shove away the idiot queen – who Mikoto was beginning to suspect she might actually be “wearing” body paint – as she shivered and tried to cling to Mikoto from the side.
This was a high school.
For a middle schooler, it was like another world entirely.
But the usual tension she would feel was nowhere to be found.
She had actually been here before, but…
(I never imagined I would visit that idiot’s high school for this.)
Her heavy sighing wouldn’t stop.
However, she saw no one who could be his parents in the guest section.
Unsurprisingly.
Given all the paperwork and approvals required, there just hadn’t been time to invite someone in to Academy City.
“?”
“What is it, scheming queen?”
“Oh, I was just wondering who the chief mourner is. Ahn, halogen heater☆”
Shokuhou Misaki’s eyes melted at a machine that was like a “warm fan” that an official had placed in the nearby aisle. She looked about ready to spread her arms and hug the heater with hearts displayed in her pupils. Why had she even come to the funeral?
That aside…
(Chief mourner.)
Come to think of it, this was odd.
As fancy as all this looked, the crucial pillars were missing.
It all felt hollow and artificial.
“That said, we must not keep the deceased here forever. As painful as it will be, we must continue with the ceremony to put him at ease as he takes his journey into the great beyond.”
A gentle sound enveloped the auditorium.
Classical music of unknown composer and title began to play.
“…?”
Mikoto knew how to play the piano and the violin, but she frowned. She didn’t recognize this. It may have been healing music recently composed entirely on a computer. That would be fitting for Academy City.
A slideshow of photos played along with the music.
It was obvious what these were from.
“The Daihaseisai, the Ichihanaransai – Kamijou Touma-san really did smile so brightly during these events.”
Uh, uh…
Damp sobs spilled from here and there.
But wait.
Hold on.
What was this? Even in his school, how many people even knew Kamijou Touma? He hadn’t been part of any clubs and he had no connections outside his class. He wasn’t a master shogi player and he didn’t get the top score in the national practice exam. So why were all of those students who looked like second or third years shedding tears?
Mikoto was astonished.
Maybe it was a Pavlovian response, like people who would always cry when hearing a music box playing when in a sad mood.
“They’re like the delinquents who only cry at the graduation ceremony.”
Now that she had recovered using the heat of the halogen heater, Shokuhou’s whisper pierced sharply into Mikoto.
You smile at New Year’s and you cry at funerals.
That was all it was.
Like flipping a switch or turning a dial.
Was that really enough?
Could someone’s life end with this?
Of course, it would also piss her off if someone was chatting or using their phone in the middle of the ceremony, but this felt different somehow. The tears felt cheap. She wanted to stand up and shout that this wasn’t right.
Mikoto was sad.
She didn’t know what to do now that the time had come to say goodbye.
But.
She felt her heart distancing itself at the scene she found here. The distance kept growing. Her heart had lost the ability to sense her feelings.
Why?
It was already over. She knew that. Yet she felt some kind of powerful impatience growing inside her.
Was this really enough?
Would this mark the end of someone’s life?
“To represent you all, his homeroom teacher Tsukuyomi Komoe-sensei will now present some flowers.”
“Uhh.”
It might all look emotional, but it was nothing but checking off everything on the list.
It was a routine.
It was a ceremony to cut someone away from society, forget them, and erase them.
And.
Mikoto saw a red dot out of the corner of her eye.
“?”
Curious, she looked over to see a video being recorded.
Since she wasn’t familiar with funerals, she thought maybe that was a way to leave some memory behind, but…
“(That’s the funeral company. I bet they’ll chop it up and use it in their ads.)”
Shokuhou was more coldhearted.
Perhaps she was more accustomed to death than Mikoto.
But from where?
There was no answer to that question. As Shokuhou faced forward, her profile looked somehow lonely.
The entertainer hosting the event continued on.
“We will now receive a message from Kamijou Touma-san’s parents.”
The slide show of school events switched to something else.
“I am truly grateful you have all gathered today for our son.”
Were they using an online conference app?
The white wall behind the auditorium stage acted as a large screen to project someone who was presumably his father.
He was likely at home. The room behind him looked lived in.
Maybe this had been too sudden for anything else.
His user name was displayed below him in small text.
Kamijou Touya.
His flowing words were anything but coldhearted.
Even through the screen, Mikoto could sense just how hard that grown adult was clenching his teeth to get through it.
That distant place carried a much more appropriate mood than the site of the funeral.
Or so it seemed to Mikoto.
She sensed something authentic there.
“I’m sure Touma’s life in Academy City was full of smiles and memories with all of you. He never was great in school and he didn’t develop any kind of esper power, but we have all of you to thank for allowing him to enjoy himself enough to forget about those things. Our son seemed so happy in all the emails and messages he sent us. He also sent plenty of photos and videos. Those limited glimpses into his life were enough to know his time there was a bright and happy one. And I imagine he enjoyed himself even more than he let us know. I would like to thank you all deeply on behalf of our son. Even if his life there was cut short, he was truly fortunate to be surrounded by so many wonderful frie- kh...no, I can’t do it!!”
His trembling voice grew strained partway through.
The middle-aged man’s face filled the screen. With tears welling in his eyes.
“He was our family!! Our son is dead!!! But they won’t let us in the city!! They won’t even tell us the exact cause of death!! Is it not as safe inside those walls as we were led to believe!? This is crazy! What the hell is going on in that ci- (voice muted)”
His mouth flapped silently for a few more seconds before the video also cut out.
The host put on a fake smile and worked at smoothing that over.
“Oh, dear. The signal appears to be unstable and since it still hasn’t come back, we will move on.”
How could they just move past that!?
Mikoto just about stood up from her folding chair, but Shokuhou grabbed her hand.
Firmly, to hold her in place.
Even his parent’s wholehearted rebellion had accomplished nothing.
That was just one branch on the flowchart.
By following that branch through, they could bring the ceremony back on track.
“Now, if you will please come forward to burn incense. Yes, it will help if you climb the stairs on the right and descend the stairs on the left. You may begin.”
If the entire student body burned incense, it would take all day. Instead, each class sent a representative up to the altar. The staff held stopwatches and kept everything on the schedule determined during the dry run. Someone had died, but they didn’t allow anything to break down.
It was like the sand in an hourglass.
Once the stock had been used up, it was over. The coffin would be shut and placed in the hearse to be taken to the crematorium. Then nothing would remain. Kamijou Touma would be burned to ashes, leaving nothing even on the genetic level.
The entertainer monk continued with a smile.
“Finally, I would like to read the telegrams that have arrived from those close to the deceased. To start with, um, we have a Miss Leivinia Birdway from England.”
It was ending.
The funeral really was going to end.
“You’re looking at it wrong.”
Still facing forward, Shokuhou spoke quietly but clearly in her mourning clothes.
Even though Mental Out wasn’t supposed to work on Mikoto.
Her voice was somewhat stiff, but she still managed to say it.
“We have to bring his life to an end ourselves. So, Misaka-san, you need to prepare yourself to actually say goodbye.”
Part 3[edit]
Outside in the frigid January city, Index and Othinus stood in the rain.
Without an umbrella.
Breakfast time had passed, but for once Index had no appetite.
On her shoulder, Othinus held down the brim of her hat and looked up.
“Good grief. Even the weather forecast felt need to betray us… This unnatural rain is more what I would expect of that human’s misfortune.”
“That would be just like Touma.”
“Along with the fake-looking condition of the sky.”
“?”
A long vehicle passed them. The strange automobile was decorated with black and gold.
It was a hearse.
Two buses followed after it.
Once they had fully passed by, Othinus whispered a question.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go?”
“What about you?”
“I am the god of war, magic, and deception. This isn’t Baldr’s trial and I’m not the type to cry at funerals. But you’re a nun, aren’t you? This really is your last chance. You might be fine now, but the regret over not seeing him off will weigh heavy on you later.”
“I’m still in training.”
Index hung her head.
She had to be feeling something.
Othinus didn’t address it.
The one-eyed god with a lance was rarely depicted as kind.
“Now, what will we do? We are a living sample of a Magic God and a grimoire library. If we head out into the world with Academy City’s protection gone, magic cabals the world over will be after us both. If you aren’t interested in following him into death, then you need to continue working at survival.”
The city was surrounded by a thick wall and invisible EM and IR were used to cut off all wireless communications between the outside and inside. Even so, the air on both sides was the same and bugs and birds could fly across the wall with ease.
So.
Index raised her head and gave her answer.
“We’ll do what the carrier pigeon said to.”
“Good grief. Is that method just so old-fashioned they overlooked it? But as soon as Academy City learns about it, they’ll probably fill that hole with pheromones or light or something.”
If they headed to his school now, they might make it in time.
But they didn’t.
They couldn’t.
Index gave her reasoning.
“If I was there to say goodbye, I know I’d ruin the whole ceremony by crying too loud.”
The cat said nothing in the girl’s arms.
He wasn’t supposed to understand what was going on, but for some reason he seemed to.
Part 4[edit]
“It’s over,” muttered Aogami Pierce.
All the strength left his body.
He made it sound like his team had just lost a big tournament.
“That’s the end of Kami-yan’s funeral.”
“Pull yourself together. Komoe-sensei is calling us over to get to the crematorium.”
Perhaps Fukiyose found it easier if she focused her mind on a task. She seemed to be constantly searching for a new one.
Aogami rubbed his belly.
“I’m starving… I want to devour my lunch while watching an isekai cooking anime to give a psychological boost to the convenience store bento.”
“How about you chew on a handkerchief?”
Only his classmates were going to the crematorium. As much as they had sobbed during the funeral, the students from other years didn’t wait around before leaving the auditorium. Almost like a movie ad with people making insincere-sounding comments at an advance screening. The kind of ad that made it sound like the record for most moving film of the century was broken every other second.
Aogami saw a busty black-haired upperclassman girl look back toward the stage just once at the exit before leaving.
“Would they even show up if it was us who died?”
“This is better than it could be. Do you ordinarily get teary-eyed seeing the news on TV or online?” dryly asked Fukiyose.
That she sounded more irritable than normal may have been the greatest compliment to Kamijou Touma who had disappeared from their school.
Part 5[edit]
A woman in a beige habit stood in a city of white and black.
That was Human Aleister Crowley.
The ridiculous artificial rain continued to fall.
The golden retriever stayed by his side in the frigid chill without a word of complaint, but he did ask a question here.
“You aren’t going to see it through to the end?”
“You know all too well I don’t have the courage. Why would I have struggled so much if I did?”
“The regret always comes later.”
“I know that. Better than anyone in the world,” spat Aleister.
He didn’t want to believe it.
She had promised she would break whatever rules were necessary to save the boy.
Had she broken her promise in the end?
That meant there was something even Anna Kingsford couldn’t do.
He knew this was as absurd as wanting your parents to continue to be infallible beings, but still.
“If I could only save that one,” muttered Aleister.
“?”
“That one act would have meant so much. It would have triggered a chain reaction to fix everything. But it failed at the very first domino. …That boy remains dead.”
Kihara Noukan was an unusual genius even for a Kihara, but even he had trouble grasping what Aleister was getting at.
And he knew the human wasn’t going to explain.
Whatever it was, it was a dream that had ended unrealized.
“What now?” asked the dog.
“I wouldn’t be wandering like this if I could answer that.”
Was there any meaning in life now?
His questions had reached that level.
What in this wide world should he tie his existence to?
Part 6[edit]
The rain was falling.
The funeral in the auditorium had ended, so most of the students were using the walkway to return to the main school building.
They were pinching something and sprinkling it on their heads. It turned out to be salt.
Mikoto sighed softly as she walked out.
“So even the students at his school treat his death as something unclean.”
“I doubt many people in Academy City understand the symbolism. Just like very few people bother looking up the etymology of words like ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’. Most people see it as no more than the done thing, like bowing your head when entering a room. And does it have to be so cold!?”
Shokuhou’s shouted breath was already visible.
And a frigid rain was falling outside.
Shokuhou had started off holding her own shoulders, but once she set her sights on Mikoto, she grabbed onto her.
“Get off, Shokuhou. Kimonos are hard to fix once they start to come undone, so don’t grab onto me.”
“Oh, c’mon. Being a hot-water bottle is about all you’re good for, Misaka-san.”
“Oh, really? Even though I happen to have some hand warmers?”
Shokuhou Misaki petrified.
The corners of her lips twitched.
Her pride appeared to be conflicted over whether or not she should put on a polite smile.
“If you don’t want any, then fine. I’ll seal them away at the bottom of my purse. In the zone where I can’t dig them out again.”
“Wait, Misaka-saaan! You win, I admit it! So please show some love to this Little Match Girl freezing in the winter collllllllld!!”
“You have everyone call you a queen and now you have the nerve to act like the unfortunate Little Match Girl?
Mikoto toyed with the unathletic girl by tossing her hand warmer packs one after another as if to have her juggle them.
…This entire exchange may have been a way of preserving their mental balance. To Mikoto, the forced cheerfulness only made her entire life seem like an act.
“Ahh…☆”
“Hey, where the hell are you shoving that hand warmer, Shokuhou!? What happened to us having a shame culture!?”
The girl was shutting her eyes, trembling, and sighing like she was sinking into a hot spring, but the details were best left unstated.
She was capable of prioritizing what really mattered, meaning she was the type who would decide to nestle together in the nude to stay warm if they were stranded on a snowy mountain in the winter. Mikoto was certain of that now.
The official next to the hearse formed a megaphone with his hands and guided them.
“The buses are over here! Um, if you’re from the school, use bus 1. If you’re a visitor, use bus 2.”
Yes, it wasn’t over yet.
Many umbrellas blossomed like flowers and gathered together.
Carried by the adults.
The coffin was loaded onto the hearse.
The black and gold vehicle was headed to District 10.
Specifically, to the crematorium.
The entire student body wouldn’t fit there, so only what appeared to be Kamjou’s class would be going.
A bus was enough to carry that many.
And a second bus was enough for the visitors.
Another time limit had appeared.
Mikoto saw the distance to the crematorium like the timer ticking down on a time bomb.
But what did that time limit matter at this point?
Death could not be overturned.
It was already over.
“…”
“Ohh, blessed heat ability. Modern conveniences are truly wonderful…”
Next to her, the queen was saying something that suggested a kotatsu was all you needed to win her heart.
The two buses left the rear of the school to follow the hearse. The reporters out front seemed to be making a minor fuss, but the buses had no obligation to wait for them.
No one on the fairly large bus uttered a word.
The GPS navigation system provided a few instructions in a female voice, but the driver appeared to be ignoring them. Maybe there was some kind of etiquette to it, but the hearse seemed to avoid the shortest route and took a longer way to their destination.
In the adjacent seat, Shokuhou whispered briefly while staring out the window being pummeled by raindrops.
“Misaka-saaan.”
“Ugh, what idiot is sending a drone after us?”
With a sparking sound, the multicopter lost control out in the rain.
But who did those persistent reporters want to attack with their articles? Surely it wasn’t Alice Anotherbible or the Transcendents from the hidden side of the world.
“Maybe you could say we sent him to his death too. We didn’t stand in his way and attack him, but we did give him a push from behind.”
“Misaka-san. Malign his resolve and determination again and I will slap you.”
But Shokuhou didn’t actually deny it.
It probably bothered her too.
It was the same when they had fought Christian Rosencreutz. It had required a lot of power to repel him and Kamijou would have been killed if it had been even slightly insufficient.
Even so.
If their power hadn’t been up to the task, would he have considered running away?
“Not likely.”
“Not a chance. I can’t see him giving up on a fight once he started it.”
He hadn’t actually started that fight himself, but no matter how unfairly he was dragged into it, he had always fought to end it. So he could gently untangle the mess of threads.
“…”
It didn’t take very long.
They arrived at the crematorium.
A large roof covered the area in front of the entrance.
Had it been designed with bad weather like this in mind?
It looked like they had to wait for the workers to deal with the coffin.
“Go on, Misaka-san.”
At Shokuhou’s prompting, Mikoto got off the bus.
She wasn’t used to descending a bus’s stairs in Japanese mourning clothes. The clothing was like a single tube, so had it even been designed with climbing and descending stairs in mind?
“Of course it was. Did you forget the stone steps leading up to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples?”
“Oh, no. Now that idiot is correcting me.”
“Oh? Misaka-san, did you forget I am the intellectual type? Care to see who does better with our next exam ability?”
Come to think of it, didn’t they have five-story pagodas in the Edo period? And those buildings wouldn’t have had elevators or escalators.
Shokuhou Misaki continued to rub the hand warmer against her cheek. It would have run out of heat by now, so was she making use of the placebo effect? Or maybe the cold was making her hallucinate.
An official guided them into the building.
There were numbered tatami mat waiting rooms with cremation chambers lined up.
Maybe there was a rule, but the cremation chambers not in use had their doors wide open. A square metal door led into a closed space seemingly made of brick or blocks. The shape was something like a modified baker’s furnace.
Mikoto peered inside and fell silent.
“…”
It wasn’t even the size of a laundromat.
Yet it felt far too ordered and optimized.
She sighed softly.
(I’m just not used to this.)
It was actually a bit of a relief when she spotted a few old vending machines jumbled together in a corner of the long hallway. She had wanted to see something that threw off the excessive organization of the place.
“It’s nice and warm in the building at least. Ugh, but now I kind of have to use the restroom.”
“I was a fool looking for salvation in a messy idiot like her…”
They could hear the conversation of officials in some room or another.
The voices crept up from the floor like the chill.
“A healthy high school boy? He should have thick bones.”
“We’ll have to burn him for a full four hours. That way there’s no chance any trace of his DNA map or the chemicals used for esper development will remain.”
A heavy scraping sound followed.
It came from something like a piece of pottery the size of a volleyball. Something had caused it to scrape against its lid.
“What does the height chart say? Is this size good?”
That was the funerary urn.
Would a whole person really fit in something so small?
Mourning clothes Mikoto frowned.
“Hold on. I get cremating him, but who gets his ashes?”
“The funerary urn can be transferred to someone else after being placed in the grave.”
Shokuhou’s finger hovered indecisively in front of the vending machine, but she only fidgeted without actually buying any warm coffee. Her fear of artificial additives appeared to be rearing its ugly head again.
“For now, he’ll probably be temporarily buried in a public grave.”
Could they really just do that?
Even as ashes, he would officially count as “remains”.
Besides. His parents apparently weren’t in the city, so who had submitted the notification of death to the government office? Mikoto had thought you couldn’t cremate someone until that had been received.
(Then again, this is the city that buried over ten thousand clones in secret, so they may have some tricks to get around that.)
They entered the waiting room.
The space was about 45 square meters.
Perhaps everyone wanted their own space.
His high school classmates were here, but Mikoto didn’t know any of them very well. She naturally kept her distance.
It was a weird feeling.
Why was she staying by Shokuhou’s side?
And while Mikoto mostly associated funerals with flowers and incense, the scent of burning candles was stronger. Maybe because that scent was a lot more oily.
A large LCD TV sat in the tatami mat room. In addition to over-the-air, and cable, it included an online streaming app. There were also a tablet with a public SIM. That may have been so hot food could be ordered in with a bike delivery service. Mikoto recognized a few of the apps lined up on the screen.
Shokuhou pointed at a sliding screen by the wall that seemed to lead to storage space.
“It looks like they have napping blankets in there.”
“I can’t imagine sleeping here could lead to sweet dreams.”
Four hours.
That explained why they had so many entertainment options for killing time.
“Shokuhou.”
“Yes?”
“Can you last four hours?”
“Sorry, excuse me a moment while I go freshen up.”
Western mourning clothes Shokuhou vanished somewhere with a severe look on her face. She had apparently gone out to visit the ladies room. Unable to relax without anything to focus on, Mikoto grabbed the TV remote and faced the giant screen. The time for New Year’s specials was over. A middle schooler like her had no idea what usually aired on weekday mornings.
(But maybe it would look more authentic if I don’t get all worked up over it?)
You were supposed to smile at New Year’s and cry at funerals.
She was fed up seeing people switch modes as if with a switch or dial.
She flipped through the channels for a bit.
The talk shows were more than she could handle today, so she kept changing the channel to escape them, but that mostly left shopping shows and old dramas.
After settling on a satellite broadcast animal show, she saw an enormous polar bear mercilessly attacking a family of seals. She was taken aback. She had been expecting footage of frolicking kittens or puppies. She wasn’t looking for the bloody and gory reality of nature right now!!
“What are you doing, Misaka-saaan? Why wouldn’t you go for a safe worldwide cruise show?”
That girl returned, looking exasperated.
But why was Shokuhou Misaki so familiar with TV on weekday mornings?
“Are you really a middle schooler?”
“If you’re trying to imply I’m an old lady, I will hit you.”
Something was sitting next to the TV.
At first, Mikoto thought it was a piece of Japanese-style artwork meant to help set the mood.
“Wait…” she said without thinking.
They already had a memorial tablet ready.
At first, Mikoto was confused who it was for. Because the name on it was a dharma name.
“I always thought the name was meant to be symbolic in some way.”
“In Academy City, they apparently have a website that automatically assigns one. Y’know, by tweaking a program ability meant to come up with a pet name if you can’t come up with one yourself.”
Did this city not have the rule where it only counted if it came from an important abbot?
Of course, it seemed like Academy City’s monks were part-timers who also worked as entertainers.
Part 7[edit]
Inside the District 10 prison, a monitor displayed Anti-Skill officer and high school teacher Yomikawa Aiho as she gave a report.
“The funeral ended without issue.”
“I see.”
“The hearse has left for the crematorium. Here, we’re holding an abbreviated version of the opening ceremony. You’re closer to the crematorium actually.”
The crematorium was in the same district, but that simple fact was far from the new Board Chairman’s mind.
It didn’t feel real.
(Accept his death? Why am I the one saying that shit?)
He had thought he would feel rage when standing on the verge of the death. But now that that line had been crossed, he was supposed to shake off all that emotion? Accelerator couldn’t say anything. Was he facing this like he should, or had his senses simply numbed over?
He couldn’t afford to forget what human warmth felt like.
No matter how many he saved with lifeless methods, he would only be retreading the path of Academy City’s former mistakes.
So what should he do?
Was it more human to let his emotions explode and destroy everything in sight?
“…”
Academy City’s #1 monster looked up.
He couldn’t see heaven there. Only a ceiling made of a special thick armor.
The prison had taken considerable damage from the attack by one of those Transcendents. This room was actually a secondary cell he had been moved to. Still, the white monster hadn’t died. Even though there were plenty of reasons for him to be killed. Was this just how life was?
“What was that bastard thinking dying before the villain,” he muttered.
Death was impartial.
It could visit anyone at any time, no matter how good a person they were, and they would lose their life.
“Aneri.”
An electronic beep.
Of rejection.
Apparently someone else had administrator privileges there. The new Board Chairman didn’t particularly care.
“Qliphah Puzzle 545.”
“Yes, yes. Kee hee hee.”
In that sense, the artificial demon was a lot less trouble.
And she also knew a lot about the world beyond science.
The #1 had just one question.
“Where is the person who did it?”
Part 8[edit]
A cold rain was falling.
The ugly rain could not become snow, but it rejected all human warmth while it naturally permeated the city of cutting-edge scientific technology.
The rain stealing heat from the entire city was impartial.
Even in the back alleys.
The countless raindrops falling from the heavens mercilessly located everyone, even a silent and unsteady girl, and soaked them.
She was tall. She wore black leather belts wrapped complexly around her naked body, making her stand out even in Academy City, which was isolated from the outside world.
Her long wavy blonde hair was plastered to her white skin.
She didn’t seem to have even the willpower to brush it away.
“…”
Alice Anotherbible.
She looked up at the sliver of rainy sky visible between the buildings.
And she didn’t move.
She had known that boy would die before they even met.
She had announced it herself.
But he had left the track of survival so that he could save the lives of others.
“You will die.”
“That doesn’t change my answer.”
She had seen the boy rushing toward death.
She had thought he might seek help at some point.
But he hadn’t.
“So fight me!! Alice Anotherbible!!!”
Kamijou Touma had rejected her once.
She had lost sight of herself and resurrected Christian Rosencreutz as she was told.
“Hold on. You don’t mean…?”
Yes, he had been shaken when he first learned he was doomed to die.
But he had still ultimately chosen the lives of others.
The doomed boy had stuck to his way of life and finally brought Alice Anotherbible back to her senses.
“…I…”
“I don’t…”
“I don’t want to see anyone suffering from even more misfortune than me!! You got a problem with that!?”
He wasn’t coming back.
Alice Anotherbible could easily twist the world to her liking, but that was exactly why the person she had killed could not return. No matter what.
This was the result.
Aradia, the Bologna Succubus, and the rest of the Transcendents of the Bridge Builders Cabal were no longer here.
That meant Alice Anotherbible was no longer a fearsome leader.
She could trick people into seeing a form of beauty by taking death and violence to their extremes, but that was meaningless without those extremes. Being second best or lower simply made you a troublemaker.
A scratchy voice spoke.
The girl who had lost everything whispered into the emptiness.
“Tea…cher.”
Part 9[edit]
The final moment had arrived.
They would never see Kamijou Touma’s face again.
The coffin was already closed.
Although it was a Japanese-style coffin, so there was a small double door open over the face. That small square space seemed to be gradually cut away from the world at large.
“…”
Mikoto reached out her hand a bit and touched his cheek. Softly.
“?”
“Wait. You’d feel bad if you messed up his mortuary makeup at the very end, wouldn’t you?”
“Oh, right. It’s just…”
“What?”
Mikoto had no answer for Shokuhou’s quizzical gaze.
Meanwhile, the #5 Queen made her move. She raised a hand to the side of her head and lifted her veil before lowering her head toward the little window.
The instant before she kissed his cheek, Mikoto elbowed her in the side.
Sharply.
“No touching.”
“Ubwogh!? I-I really don’t see what’s so wrong with wishing him good fortune in the next life!!”
“You wouldn’t want to mess up his mortuary makeup, would you? Besides, you’re wearing lipstick.”
Misaka Mikoto had grown up in Academy City where science was everything, but she still knew it would be inappropriate to have him cremated with a lipstick mark on his face.
Each of them wasn’t given much time to say their goodbyes.
Mikoto and Shokuhou moved away.
Aogami Pierce placed a small rectangular object on his close-eyed friend’s pillow.
It was a smartphone.
Fukiyose frowned.
“Are you really allowed to put that in there?”
“Kami-yan was so happy when he got his first smartphone…”
An employee might get mad at him if they found out, but after burning any gold teeth and artificial bones along with the body, they apparently retrieved the rare earths. …And they wouldn’t know what materials had been included in some rich person’s expensive pure gold accessory.
The unsuccessful entertainer who worked part-time as a monk began speaking into the microphone he held.
“Now, everyone, let us once more pray for the deceased’s fortune in the next life. It is now time to say our final goodbye.”
Part 10[edit]
And.
And.
And then.
Part 11[edit]
…
…
…
Kamijou Touma silently opened his eyes in a small, dark space.
Yes.
The pointy-haired boy opened his eyes.
“?”
(Where am I? I can’t tell, but this definitely isn’t that artificial hell. Then am I alive again? Did Kingsford actually keep her prom-)
“Bweh, cough! Cough, hack!!”
Now wasn’t the time to be getting emotional.
Something was caught deep in his throat. He desperately coughed until he got a clump of something out. It was too dark to see what it was. He groped around the cramped space until he found something. For whatever reason, a phone was with him in the small box.
That gave him a light.
He tried to open his eyes to see, but something was wrong with his vision.
“Ow!! My eyes hurt!? What the hell!? You’re kidding, right!? Is there something in them!?”
He hesitantly pinched his eyelid and used the other hand’s index finger to feel around. It was big. He pulled something larger than a 100 yen coin from under his eyelids. He checked with with the LED light and found it was absorbent cotton heavy with his tears. He shuddered.
And the thing that had been in hist throat appeared to be some kind of cloth.
Maybe to keep his tongue from falling back into his throat or maybe to keep insects from getting inside his body? He hadn’t known they did all that at funerals.
And something else gradually dawned on him.
This was not a hospital morgue. He had thought it was one of those locker-like storage spaces seen in TV dramas, but it wasn’t. He didn’t feel chilly at all.
That only left one possibility.
“Wait…”
He was lying face up in a space too small to move much. He smelled wood and flowers all around him. The ceiling? He sensed the wood less than 30cm away. Relying on the phone light, he tried pressing on it with his palm and the resistance vanished sooner than expected. Oh? It wasn’t heavy at all?
No.
He had only opened a small double door that had already been there. About 20cm across.
“Wait, wait, wait…”
The space beyond the little window was dark too. And it smelled of metal. After all the cheap meals he had cooked in his dorm, he recognized what he was seeing.
That was a fish grill.
Except this one was large enough to cook an entire human being.
“Ubwahhhhhh!! Does that mean I’m in the crematorium!!?”
Understanding your circumstances was important.
Because now the squeezing at his heart was so much stronger.
Did that mean the wooden box he was inside was a coffin!? He pushed on the actual cover with his palms to try and get out this time, but…oh, no. It wasn’t opening. It didn’t appear to be nailed shut. It would open upwards a few centimeters before something stopped it. Apparently the cremation chamber itself was short, so the coffin door was hitting the top.
Wait, did that mean he couldn’t get out?
If he stayed here like this, he had a strong feeling they really would ignite the chamber!
“Help!! I know it’s way too late for this, but Kamijou Touma is alive, so you all need to waiiiiiiiit!!”
He screamed with all his might…but did it do any good?
There was no reaction.
He wasn’t even certain his voice could be heard outside the chamber. He had never been to a crematorium before, but didn’t the cremation chambers have thick metal walls? And he was Academy City’s Mr. Misfortune. It was looking more likely he was going to go unnoticed and be roasted due to this careless mistake. A lot more likely.
“Th-th-th-the ph-ph-phone! I need to call someone outside and- mgwah!? Why doesn’t it have a signal!? Because the walls are so thick!? Is this stone and metal cremation chamber blocking the signal!?”
It didn’t look like he could count on any help from outside.
He would have to crawl out on his own.
However, the space was so small. It didn’t seem like the coffin lid would be able to open inside the cremation chamber, but that just meant he needed to get creative.
“Hnh!!”
Specifically, he moved to one side of the rectangular coffin to shift the center of gravity. Then he rolled up onto the side. Like rolling around in a giant ball, he tilted the entire coffin over 90 degrees.
There would be more horizontal than vertical space.
He could finally push on the large lid and escape the coffin…or so he thought before a powerful blow hit his back. He choked hard and then realized he had fallen off of something. The ceiling had seemed so low because the coffin had been sitting on something like a stretcher. The metal scent was a lot stronger now. Still, the place was dark and he knew he was inside a giant fish grill that would burn his flesh and bones using city gas. Even now, he assumed the emotional goodbyes were solemnly approaching their climax. If he waited around, he would meet the same fate as a saury prepared by a childhood friend who was a terrible cook.
(How long until they ignite it? Damn, I can’t hear any voices from outside!!)
It might happen an hour from now, but it also might happen a minute from now.
Either way, he was done for once it happened.
Kamijou aimed the phone around and discovered steel pipes as thick as his thumb running near the low ceiling. He chose not to imagine what the black soot he saw was primarily composed of. In fact, he worked very hard to not think about it. The shape of the place was indeed similar to a fish grill. That meant it had a few gas sprayers and spark plugs.
(I’m screwed if those work properly.)
“!! Oh, hell!!”
Or to put it another way, he had to destroy them if he wanted to live! He grabbed at whatever he could and yanked until a pipe came away with a dull snap.
He couldn’t celebrate yet.
A horrible stench stabbed into his nose.
A threat familiar to anyone who used a kitchen clutched at his heart. Even more strongly than before.
(Wait a second. Is that city gas?)
“Gwohhhhh!! Doesn’t that mean this chamber is filling with gas, even if it isn’t burning!? Then I’m going to suffocate and die anyway!!”
He had no idea if he had increased or decreased his time limit.
Flailing about wasn’t going to help.
He knew what he had to do. He had to get out of here. No matter what.
There was nothing like a chimney. He assumed it did have an exhaust vent somewhere, but he couldn’t find it with his phone’s light. Was there a small hole hidden in some gap somewhere? At the very least, it didn’t seem likely he could sneak out through a duct like an action movie star.
That left only one option.
The only exit was the door he had been shoved in through.
“Kh.”
(But will it open? I don’t know much about funerals, but aren’t cremation chamber doors made of really thick metal!?)
He desperately shined his phone’s LED lights that way…and didn’t see a knob. In fact, he was surprised to find the back of the metal door was covered in stuff. A few metal panels and joints fit together complexly.
That was probably the mechanism that allowed the door to be opened by a large lever on the outside.
Did it look like one big panel on the outside, but this opening and closing gimmick was hidden on the back?
Which meant…
“Can I break it open by kicking at this stuff?”
…The problem was the flammable city gas beginning to fill the interior of the chamber.
If he waited, he would definitely suffocate and die, but what if two metal pieces collided and produced a spark?
Accept it.
Trust in hope.
Giving into fear will only mean suffocating.
“Open.”
He had to do it.
Even if he was terrified and even if his heart was raising a scream so soon after beginning to beat once more.
Kamijou Touma repeatedly slammed his heel against the complex stopper on the back of the cremation chamber door.
“Opeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!”
Part 12[edit]
It came from within.
The metal door was kicked down with a loud roar.
Everyone gasped.
There was a voice.
Today is my January birthday.
- Today is the day I was born.
- I am the star of this wonderful birthday.
Today is my January birthday.
He was dressed in burial clothes.
A triangle of cloth was tied to the forehead below his pointy hair.
It was definitely him who crawled on out.
And he spoke.
“Hi there, everyone! Sorry if I surpri-”
“Eeeek, a zombie! It’s going to infect us all with who knows what!!!”
They didn’t even let him finish his sentence.
Tears welled up in the eyes of the corner-of-the-classroom boy who didn’t get to be the star even after coming back from the dead.
Panic and pandemonium were already setting in.
Of course they were.
Based on his phone’s screen, it hadn’t just been a few minutes since he died. Anyone would be terrified if someone who’s heart had long since stopped beating suddenly got back up.
(I’m grateful you brought me back to life, but couldn’t you have worked a little faster, Kingsford!?)
“Abababawawa, no, no, it’s true I, Kamijou Touma, died, but I’m alive again, and I mean, technically today isn’t my birthday, but can’t you please give me a more peaceful reaction along the lines of what you would do if a cardiac massage work-”
“Quiet, everyone! Quiet!! Take deep breaths to calm yourselves and stay where you are. Now, what were you doing in there? Who are you!?”
The extremely part-time monk was shouting into his microphone.
Then Kamijou heard a strange mechanical sound.
Someone was coming.
These people were wearing shiny silver armor that covered them from head to toe.
No, were those powered suits?
“Is that the exceptional remains!?”
“Commence incineration.”
They were holding something at their hips.
They looked like a fire fighter’s hose, but not quite.
A small lighter-sized flame flickered in front of the nozzle.
“Flamethrowers!!?”
How well prepared were they!?
Why did they have a unit like this already on standby? Did corpses have a habit of getting back up in this city!?
Anyway, he couldn’t let himself be roasted after just narrowly escaping that fate.
He had no choice but to run barefoot out of the crematorium.
“Damn!!”
Kamijou Touma threw open the frosted glass window and climbed out.
Frigid rain was falling outside.
And the girl who pointed at me and called me a zombie right after I came back to life – that was Fukiyose, wasn’t it? Kamijou-san isn’t about to forget that!!
Part 13[edit]
Kamijou Touma wasn’t the only one in trouble.
Aogami Pierce, Fukiyose Seiri, and the others left in the crematorium were in no position to just stare.
The situation was on the move.
“Whoa!?”
They heard a “fwoosh!!” sound.
It came from right outside the window. More people in powered suits were spraying something out of large canisters. It was reminiscent of spraying agrochemicals on a field, but these weren’t pesticides. The outside of the window soon grew thick and translucent.
Aogami Pierce couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Is that a plastic glue? That’s like a more impressive version of the security sheets you put on windows.”
“With that, they can quarantine a location in less than 5 minutes. Now I doubt any person or any bacteria or viruses can get in or out.”
At field hospitals, thick plastic sheets were used to demarcate a space while air curtains controlled the air currents, but was this a more advanced version of that?
Then Fukiyose commented on the a phrase she had used that had caught her attention.
“Any person…?”
“A corpse just woke up and ran off. That qualifies as an emergency in my book. Did it not occur to you that we’re trapped inside here now?”
But the reaction had been too quick.
Kamijou Touma’s remains getting up and fleeing the crematorium was certainly a shock, but not even a few minutes had passed since then.
That speed was only possible if those people had been on standby to begin with.
It meant they must always monitor the cremations of anyone who had died under “suspicious circumstances”.
“(If they were this well prepared, does this kind of thing happen from time to time in Academy City?)”
“(Anything can happen here. I mean, this city creates superhuman Level 5s.)”
None of it sounded real.
Kamijou Touma had gotten up. That much was true.
But what exactly had happened? Saying a mystery virus was responsible sounded plausible enough, but it lacked the weight of reality. That was the same as saying ghosts were actually plasma. Smugly explaining that in a dark abandoned building did nothing to put your mind at ease.
And that aside…
“What happens to us now?” asked Aogami.
“Trying to move from here could be dangerous.”
That she didn’t scoff at his question meant Fukiyose was aware they were trapped in here.
This wasn’t like daydreaming about fighting terrorists during a boring class.
The entire building was sealed off from the outside by thick plastic walls. A mop or a metal bat weren’t going to break through the windows. Even a gun probably wouldn’t be enough. A specialized gas proof door had been set up as the only way in or out, but the powered suits were gathered around it.
And someone was loudly approaching from there.
At some point the number of powered suits had grown past 10.
“Quiet, everyone! We are Bio Secure!”
This person also wore a powered suit.
Maybe anything seemed suspicious when viewed in that light, but it felt like they were intentionally making themselves indistinguishable from each other. Like robbers in masks.
“Your movement will be temporarily restricted, but please do not worry. Once we ensure you are safe, you will be released, so I ask that you cooperate and avoid causing a disturbance.”
He “asked that” they cooperate, but he showed no sign of waiting for a yes or no response from them.
He was actually telling them to resist at their peril.
He made it clear who was in charge here.
How were they supposed to “not worry” when he was wearing a fully-sealed powered suit and equipped with a flamethrower? It was written on his hidden face that there was likely something invisible in the air and that his team would be fine.
“W-wait…” protested a pale-faced crematorium worker.
Even the adults didn’t know what this was.
That only worried Aogami Pierce and Fukiyose Seiri more. And they doubted Komoe-sensei was going to be much help here.
“Wait a second! What is happening? The paperwork said nothing about infectious disease, but are we safe? And do we have permission to continue running this facility!?”
“We are not authorized to answer that. Chief Kihara Goukei has yet to arrive, but she will explain everything once she does. Hold your questions until then.”
A sound a lot like steam followed.
The powered suits were tossing things into a large rectangular glass vat full of powerful acid. They were quite casual about it, probably because the splashing liquid and smoke wouldn’t harm them anymore.
Those were the bouquets and Kamijou Touma’s possessions prepared for the funeral.
They of course didn’t ask anyone’s permission first.
It had been through a screen, but during the funeral Aogami Pierce had seen the tearful face of that father enraged over his son’s death. The items he and his wife were meant to receive were all being heartlessly dissolved.
Even if this had been a performance put together by professionals, the sight seemed to fully reject the gentle atmosphere of the day.
His breathing was shallow and a cold sweat wouldn’t stop pouring down his brow, but Aogami may still not have accurately grasped the threat. If he had, he could easily have collapsed from hyperventilation.
If he couldn’t take advantage of his own ignorance here, he was in trouble.
His instincts told him so.
What was going to happen to them?
Would they be infected?
If they were, would that be done to them too?
But the situation was advancing whether he liked it or not.
A short distance away, one powered suit was speaking to another.
“What is it?”
“Chief Kihara Goukei has arrived.”
Part 14[edit]
The dead had come back to life.
Did that qualify as a good thing or a bad thing?
And this was Academy City.
If he was captured, he would either be sent to a lab to be soaked in formalin or he would be directly roasted by flamethrower.
Either way…
“I’m screwed!! My life is over if I’m caught!!”
Kamijou Touma ran outside in the frigid rain.
His burial clothes, which were one step removed from being a Halloween costume, did nothing to keep out the cold. And he was barefoot. Keep in mind it was January. Being stuck out in the rain dressed like this would kill him within an hour of coming back to life!!
“Ahh, brrr. There aren’t even any soaked girls caught in the sudden summer downpour. Winter sucks. There’s nothing at all good about being wet in this season.”
The city had been badly damaged.
The cumulative effect of the battles against Anna Sprengel, Christian Rosencreutz, and Alice Anotherbible really had left it close to collapse. The repairs could not keep up, so construction scaffolding and soundproofing sheets could be seen all over the place.
Kamijou Touma had received that same deadly force with his flesh-and-blood body.
That explained why it was so unusual for him to be alive.
He heard a groaning “gashunk!!” sound.
That was the sound of a powered suit’s artificial muscles operating.
“Dammit, they’re so fast!!”
Powered suit legs could run at 40-50km/h without the help of wheels or a car motor.
An ordinary human couldn’t hope to escape them while running along a wide street on foot.
“Kh.”
They had nearly caught up.
The powered suit’s thick fingers were approaching the back of his neck.
“Damn!!”
He clicked his tongue and changed direction.
He slid across the wet pavement, slipped below a soundproofing sheet, and tumbled into the construction site for repairs on a nearby building.
Sites like this could be found just about anywhere thanks to the battles against powerful foes like Anna Sprengel, Christian Rosencreutz, and Alice Anotherbible.
He heard the snapping of breaking metal.
After the powered suit’s thick fingers had found only air, it had easily torn through the exterior barricade made of soundproofing sheets and metal panels.
It worked like the building demolition beaks attached to the end of a mechanical arm.
A hit from that would smash his body apart even if it only caught on his clothes a little.
“Why aren’t we authorized to use our flamethrowers!?”
“Ask Chief Kihara Goukei. She’s the boss of Bio Secure, not us.”
He heard some terrifying voices from behind, but he couldn’t just stop.
The sounds of thick metal tearing apart continued.
The pursuing powered suits didn’t bother going around or climbing over obstacles. They would shove a stack of pipes aside with a single arm or tackle through a forest of erected steel beams, causing an entire half-repaired building to tilt.
Getting caught in any of that would be the end of Kamijou.
He couldn’t stay here in the construction site.
“Eek!!”
The loud and heavy sounds of bending metal filled the air.
Two of the rapidly-moving powered suits appeared to have collided.
“Y-your suit’s lost integrity!”
“Don’t worry about me and go on ahead! Hurry!!”
“Stop acting all heroic while brandishing flamethrowers! It’s terrifying!” shouted Kamijou, bristling as he fled.
In their minds, they weren’t ganging up on a victim to bully him – they seemed to truly see themselves as fighting to protect Academy City. Which meant they would not compromise or let their guard down. But so what? Someone who could emotionally kill a stranger without second thought was a terrible person in Kamijou’s book.
Kamijou spotted a slope leading underground, so he raced down it. He was expecting an underground mall, but was instead hit by a mass of malodorous air. He had apparently wandered into a culvert where a river ran below the city.
On the floor, he found large wireless communication equipment, professional-looking tools, and a long power cable leading somewhere.
Apparently repairs were underway here as well.
He was afraid of giving away his position, but it was dark in here. Missing a step and falling into the winter river would be no laughing matter, so he suppressed the fear and switched on the LED light.
“The all-purpose smartphone really is one of humanity’s greatest inventions.”
He wished he could just call Anti-Skill and have them come to the rescue, but he got the impression he couldn’t trust in the grownups’ systems.
Where was the exit?
Was heading outside even his best option?
Or should he hide out in this labyrinthine underground structure until his pursuers had moved on?
And how many minutes would he have to wait until he considered that plan a success?
He had too many unanswered questions.
Behind him, he heard the “gashunk, gashunk” of machines operating. Were they still after him!?
(But they’re not moving as fast as before. Did they not have night vision gear because it’s still daytime, or are they afraid of falling in the water and sinking like a rock?)
He thought he would pass out from the fear if he didn’t force his thoughts in a positive direction.
He had to keep running and escape.
It was all so unfair.
He was moments away from death, but for some reason he found laughter spilling from his lips as he ran away soaking wet.
He couldn’t stop.
“Ha ha ha…”
He was afraid of dying.
Of course he was.
Because no matter what anyone might say, Kamijou Touma was alive!!
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!”
He was alive.
He had never felt so aware of the life within him.
He wasn’t a ghost or a zombie or anything like that.
Being human was such a wonderful feeling!!
Although if Anna Kingsford saw this, she might hold a hand to her head in exasperation or she might bring her fist down on his head.
(Still…)
Chief Kihara Goukei.
They had used the name Kihara.
Was it the same Kihara?
In addition to the business with Kihara Kagun, he was pretty sure he had heard that name associated with the incident where he first met Alice Anotherbible. That operation had been meant to clean up the dark side lurking in Academy City’s shadows, but outside influence had twisted it into a great tragedy. Many people had died. But…they were still there.
“Does that mean that dark side thing is still alive and kicking after all that? Dammit!”
He heard an ominous roar.
That was the sound of flames sucking in oxygen.
He looked back while running and his eyes widened. A fireball of a flame flickered in the air.
That was the tip of a flamethrower.
“A-are you kidding me!?”
Even though it branched off every which way, this was still an enclosed space. Bio Secure might survive thanks to their thick powered suits and oxygen supplies, but Kamijou would either be instantly fried or would suffocate with his lungs roasted.
(I thought that Kihara person wasn’t letting them use those!)
It was too late to complain now.
And maybe it had been wrong to count on the enemy’s situation remaining unchanged.
Without hesitation, the flamethrower nozzle aimed his way spewed an oxidant and a jelly-like liquid combustible material.
And a moment later…
It exploded.
“Wahgyahhh!!!”
Kamijou was soaked with sweat as he leaped down a different branching path.
What?
He was still alive, but what was that!?
There had been flames, but that wasn’t right. If the flamethrower had been functioning normally, he knew he should have been wrapped in flames himself. The powered suit had done something wrong. Because it was the pursuer who had ended up on fire.
White fire.
What kind of explosion was that?
It had seemed like something at the powered suit’s feet had exploded immediately after the flamethrower was activated.
(Was that acetylene gas used for welding!?)
That special flammable gas was used to create the ultra-high temperature flames needed to melt and combine reinforcing steel. The powered suit appeared to be designed to withstand the heat of a flamethrower, but an explosion of that stuff at such close range had to have damaged it at least some.
Kihara Goukei was it?
This may have been part of the reason why the powered suits’ boss had banned them from using their flamethrowers. With propane, city gas, and more, the densely populated city contained a surprising amount of flammables and explosives. The recovery had finally begun after the many battles. There was even the possibility of unexploded shells or missiles lying around.
“Pant, gasp!!”
Anyway, Kamijou Touma was alive.
If he continued playing tag with these powered suits, he would be killed. If he was going to escape, it had to be now while they were panicked over their own screw up.
Bio Secure(?), or whatever they were called, didn’t seem worried inside the steel-melting flames.
He felt their gaze on him.
And heard a straining sound.
They were having trouble, but they only had to wait until their suits managed to reboot inside the flames. Kamijou know he couldn’t destroy them by going on the offensive. Once their self-scans and error recovery was complete, he would be out of options. He wouldn’t be able to escape.
So move your legs.
The culvert was one step removed from a sewer. He was worn out from all the strenuous exercise, but he wasn’t at all inclined to lean against the wall. He used his phone’s LED light to walk down a small side path in the dark culvert that stank of sludge and he eventually found a small door.
Maybe it was for work access and maybe it was an emergency exit, but on the other side, narrow stairs led up toward the surface.
“Wheeze, wheeze…”
He was right back out in the rainy world.
He honestly didn’t feel at all like he had escaped.
He was certain the flamethrower-wielding powered suits would find him again soon enough.
Was coming back from the dead really so difficult?
This was nothing like the emotional reactions to a miraculous experience he had been expecting.
(But what do I do now? If I’m supposed to be dead, my dorm room might be gone. And it doesn’t look like anyone I know will be any help.)
“?”
He spotted a camera-equipped security robot and instinctively moved from the main road to an alley to hide.
He felt like he was moving further and further from the sun.
At this rate, was he going to find himself crawling underneath a flower pot in the schoolyard?
“Also.”
Being dead had scared him.
Finding some way of returning to life had been the only thing on his mind.
But.
Could it be?
“Does no one want a world with me in it?”
He hung his head.
It really hurt.
Then again, he was only a high school boy. He wasn’t some important Buddhist priest whose remains would be preserved after death. So maybe there just wasn’t anyone who wanted to see him again badly enough to deal with something as bizarre as this…
He had died and come back.
Being killed by Alice Anotherbible had complicated matters this time, but he had actually already experienced something similar a few times with full-power Othinus and Good, Old Mary…but was it just different once the pieces on the board had made it as far as the funeral? Instead of just physically dying, his death had been socially accepted this time. It took dying for him to realize death happened in stages.
A whirring motor sound passed by overhead.
“Eek!?”
Now wasn’t the time to be waxing philosophical.
Kamijou released a quick shriek and then hid below an air conditioner attached to the wall in the narrow alley. The flying drone passed by. The dark side was supposed to have declined and they could still do all this? He really didn’t want to be found by the adults right now. They did have flamethrowers after all!
And that hadn’t just been a scout.
It wasn’t harmless.
It was very different from one of these drum-shaped security robots.
Specifically, an object the size of a rugby ball was hanging down from it. He couldn’t be certain, but he was pretty sure that was an anti-tank rocket.
If it had noticed him and fired that, he would have been blown to pieces along with this corner of the alley. That 8000yen-a-pop explosive was enough to fully change the meaning of the electronic device.
It was over once he was caught.
Kamijou Touma desperately held his breath.
Maybe he was doing something incredibly stupid. After all, it wasn’t a living creature. Staying still behind cover like this might not matter depending on what kinds of sensors it was using to scan the surface.
The next 30 seconds seemed to scorch his heart.
And that was assuming his sense of time was accurate.
The drone indifferently flew off. Like nothing had happened.
In that final moment, its motion seemed somehow human, so it was possible it had shifted from programmed flight to remote manual control.
Regardless, that meant the threat had passed…right?
“Phew…”
Thanks to that assumption, it caught him completely by surprise.
While all his focus was overhead, he heard a noise from straight ahead.
A quiet footstep.
Someone was there.
The person was frozen in place, staring wide-eyed at him.
She was tall and beautiful. Her long wavy blonde hair was wet with rain and her skinny body was tightly bound by black leather belts, making for a strange manner of dress even for Academy City.
She was a Transcendent.
Alice Anotherbible.
She was frozen in apparent surprise, widened eyes directed his way.
“Y-you can…see me???”
The idiot had so lost his faith in humanity he had to ask that in a trembling voice.
Tears welled up in the corners of the girl’s eyes.
Large ones.
The cold rain was still falling, but these drops were noticeably different and carried body heat.
“T-””
She was stiff and trembling.
And…
“Teacher!!”
She spread her arms and leaped at him.
Her momentum was too much for him, so Kamijou Touma toppled back onto his rear.
Yes, he could feel her.
Her hair wet with the cold rain, her skin, her sweet scent, and her high-pitched voice piercing into his ears. Sensations the dead could never experience bewildered his senses and stabbed directly into his brain. Kamijou Touma was alive, including those brains.
…I thought I would never see you again.
His heart had stopped, his brain’s neural network had been shredded, and he had fully died.
Saying he would return to life had been an absurd fantasy.
Yet he had done it.
He had returned alive from hell.
However, he didn’t deserve the credit there.
That hell had been an artificial one that Christian Rosencreutz had created to resurrect himself and Anna Kingsford had hijacked control of it. And she hadn’t hesitated to hand the resurrection ticket to Kamijou Touma.
He had been saved every step of the way.
The pointy-haired boy hadn’t accomplished anything on his own. Those true experts had done it for him.
They had taught him what it means to save people.
But.
He hadn’t done the wrong thing.
He had finally found something in this half-destroyed world that convinced him of that.
“You’re alive, you’re here, ohh, the girl can touch you, teacher is really here. Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”
No matter how cold the rain was, he could feel this girl’s warmth beyond it.
Returning to life was meaningless?
Don’t be ridiculous.
There was a girl here letting him experience something he never would have if he hadn’t returned to the world of the living.
“Thank goodness… Teacher, you’re breathing, you’re alive. The girl, uh, the girlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!”
She couldn’t even get her words out.
Still slumped down, Kamijou Touma placed a hand on sobbing Alice’s head.
He could touch her.
He could influence things.
He could save a single crying girl.
The pointy-haired boy was undoubtedly alive here.
“Heh…”
What an awful day.
He had taken so long to return to life that now he was seen as the living dead. They seemed to think he was infected with some kind of Academy City something, so a group of adults with flamethrowers was after him.
But.
Nevertheless…
“Coming back to life…was definitely the right move.”
He could finally say that.
For today at least, he could smile.
