My Vampire Older Sister and Zombie Little Sister:Volume5 Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Part 1

My smartphone was in the changing room where I had left it. And I could speak with Maxwell just fine.

"The law of conservation of mass has been broken."

"?"

"User, your clothes are folded up right here, so what is that you are wearing? And what is that smartphone in your hand? Not only is the SIM registration number identical, but the saliva spray, finger oils, and other bio-traces match as well. This will not solve the mystery, but I recommend removing one of the SIMs to avoid a conflict."

"...You're kidding, right?"

I compared the two identical smartphones.

This might seem insignificant compared to the submarine-sized man-eating shark or the blue water flooding the city, but I felt goose bumps silently covering my skin when I realized I had objective and undeniable proof that nightmarish experience had happened.

This seemed bad.

I probably needed to defend myself.

In that psychedelic world, all the mirrors and windows had said "today's exit". Today's? Why include that? Why wasn't "exit" enough? Didn't that mean this would happen tomorrow and the day after that as well!?

"...Maxwell."

"Sure."

"There's something I want you to research."

That something was of course the giant shark.

I thought about it all while facing myself in the changing room mirror.

Himatsuri Asami had experienced the same thing I did. That meant she had survived being pursued by that giant shark in that flooded city.

And the "today's exit" label suggested this had not started today. I needed to assume this had been happening for a while and I had only just been made a part of it.

That meant there might be more people having similar experiences. If there were enough of them, there could even be rumors about it online.

"Laugh and call it absurd if you like, but please follow my instructions first. Start by searching for the following terms: giant shark Archenemy, being chased by a shark in a glowing ocean, today's exit, and blue water with a glowing door. Show me a list of sites with a strong connection between those terms."

"I am not capable of spontaneous laughter. Beginning search."

I wasn't immediately sure what to do about my clothes, but I couldn't hang around my mom's apartment smelling like seawater. And if what Maxwell said was correct, then the ones on top of the washing machine were the real ones and the ones I was wearing were the physical evidence of the mysterious phenomenon.

There was no real reason for it, but I removed the one set and put on the dry set.

"User, is there any reason to cover the lens every single time?"

"It's basic etiquette. I'm not too fond of people who bring their phones in the bath or bathroom."

"But doesn't your bath-loving Class Rep-..."

"Don't say it!! Do you have any idea how much self-control it takes to not abuse your abilities there!?"

I grabbed the smartphone again.

"So how's the search going?"

"I have not discovered a shark Archenemy. The closest result would be Forneus, one of Solomon's 72 Demons."

"Is it more than 30 meters long and can it knock over buildings?"

"Very few sites describe any details of its physical data, but that does not seem to match. Although its basic specs may be quite high if it is named alongside Solomon. It seems to be a specialist in language, learning, and the arts and it has the ability to reform one's enemies, but that suggests it does not specialize in direct violence."

"Hm. Man-eating sharks are always depicted as vicious monsters these days, so that's surprising."

"Also, the phrase 'chased by a shark' had a few hits on urban legend message boards. And the IP addresses suggest they are from people in or near Kukyou City."

"Give me a summary of what they're saying."

"I must warn you in advance: the majority of current internet lore is invented by freelance writers. They write a book on the very rumors they spread in order to look well-informed, so I suggest you place a strong mental filter over the reliability of this information."

It was a lot like spreading rumors of the Kuchisake Onna to increase sales of pomade or bekko ame. The world was a cruel place, but I needed to rely on anything I could. ...Besides, I knew for a fact it was "real" this time. Even if it had started with a freelance writer's story, they probably had some secret related to this shark.

Once Maxwell summed up the information found on several sites, message boards, and social media posts, the man-eating shark rumor was as follows:

• People of this world are dragged into the water's surface and thrown into a glowing ocean. (Various names for this glowing ocean exist: Sea Firefly, Blue Hell, Sea Sparkle, Lord's Ocean, etc. Presumably because so many people have told the story.) It is unknown why any particular person is chosen. Any water's surface is a threat if it is large enough for your body to pass through. Also, any clothing or tools in your possession remain with you, so it is best to be prepared in advance.

• Once someone has been dragged into that world, it will continue to happen. It seems to only happen once a day, so if your return from that glowing ocean, you will not be dragged there again until the following day.

• Once dragged there, you will be chased through a flooded city by a giant shark measuring more than 30 meters long.

• In the glowing ocean, anything that functions as a mirror will display a map with the exit door labeled with the words "today's exit". The exit's location changes each time, and there is no known pattern. It seems new doors are not created, so an existing door is designated the exit.

• It can be assumed circumstances could line up so the distance to or position of the door makes reaching it impossible. There is no guaranteed method of victory. The stories are only from the survivors who just so happened to be near the door and have a simple path to it.

• Any injuries received in the glowing ocean remain once you return to the real world. So it can be assumed death there means death in reality. It is unknown what happens to people who fail to pass through the door and are killed. Are they returned to reality or do they go missing?

• Once someone has been dragged there, they are forced to continue the challenge again and again. The only options for survival are escaping the glowing ocean or defeating the giant shark.

"...Please tell me this is a joke."

Urban legends sometimes had no avenue of escape for those involved. People spread them because they found it amusing when it was not happening to them.

But weren't the conditions here a little too harsh!?

"It keeps happening over and over, it's all at the mercy of the giant shark that we don't know how to defeat, and the randomized exit location could lead to an impossible setup? That's like being forced to play Russian roulette over and over. You might get lucky and survive for one day, but your luck isn't going to last forever. Isn't that how statistics work!?"

I just had to think back to my own experience.

What if the orange glowing door had been another 10 meters away? I would have been bitten by the giant shark and dragged to the bottom.

"No. Calm down, user. These are no more than internet rumors which are likely fabricated lies. There is no guarantee the conditions listed here match the actual phenomenon."

"Oh, right. Does it look like a freelance writer started it?"

"Following the timestamps of the posts reveals that it began about a month ago while the Bright Cross was still active. But the originator does not really matter."

"...?"

"If a writer gets involved in internet lore, it is to write an article on it. Even if there is an actual mysterious phenomenon behind it, that phenomenon may not be sufficiently interesting for an article, so their job is to rewrite it in an interesting fashion and spread it like that."

"You mean...it's possible a lot of this is embellishments added to the factual story told by the originator?"

"Sure. An incredible phenomenon such as this would make for quite a scoop. If a writer had investigated it on their own, they would write a paid article about it, not an unpaid post. It is much more likely that they were altering it to something profitable without knowing what they were talking about."

Then what was I supposed to do?

I hadn't really wanted to reject the online information.

I just wanted confirmation.

If yes, then yes. If no, then no. If I knew whether it was true or not, I could use that as a starting point, but this just left me unsure. I had no idea what I was supposed to do if I was to survive.

Where was I supposed to start investigating? Sitting around was not going to improve my situation. I didn't even know when I would be dragged back into that variation on Russian roulette where I was chased by a giant shark through a watery world that seemed to exist solely to kill people!!

"If I may be so bold, I would strongly suggest you solidify what footing you do have," said Maxwell.

"What does that mean?"

"Sure. You should check to see if your experience really matches that of Himatsuri Asami. And if wounds really do remain, you should probably search past newspaper articles for information on patients or corpses with unnatural wounds seemingly caused by shark teeth."

That was right.

People suddenly disappearing from the bath or falling into a roadside puddle like it was a pitfall might get written off as nonsense.

But it would be big news if a corpse seemingly mutilated by shark bites turned up in a small, locked apartment that did not even border the ocean. As strange as it was, there would still have to be records of it. And those official records would be maintained much more strictly than some internet lore from an unknown source.

...We would run into trouble if the dead were left in that glowing hell and were treated as missing people back in reality, but I didn't need to fear failure before I even made the attempt. I had to try everything I could.

"You should probably also see if anyone you know has experienced anything similar. For example, Miss Ayumi and Miss Erika."

"Oh, right! What about everyone else!?"

The flooded city was gone. It was now a still night without a single raindrop. But I could still feel the fear I felt when I saw the city engulfed in dark water. If I felt that way, so would everyone else. With the water that high, two-story houses like mine or the Class Rep's would be entirely submerged.

This could mean the deaths of those people closest to me.

It was only a "what if" at the moment, but it was enough to scare me.

I used a finger to scroll through my smartphone's address book. I was unsure who from my family to contact, but I ended up choosing my stepmom. ...If I avoided her now, I had a feeling I would never be able to shake the strained atmosphere between us.

She answered after a single ring.

And she immediately began with this:

"Sob... Hic. Hewwo? Satori...?"

"Ehh!? Why are you crying that much, mom!?"

"Do I really have to spell it out for you? Kh, wahhhh!!"

This was odd.

My mental image of that parent was crumbling. Would a legendary demon lord really cry like that?

"Umm, I'm not sure how to say this...but sorry."

"And what are you apologizing for!? That's important, so tell me!!"

I could tell this was going to be a huge pain, but she at least seemed okay.

I had calmed down enough to realize I was essentially calling home in a panic after having a bad dream, but this was no laughing matter.

"Mom, I have a question."

"Where are you? Can I go meet you?"

...

"That would probably lead to another chainsaw rampage, so no."

"Hm? Chainsaw...???"

Crap, I shouldn't have given her that hint.

"Mom, would you know what it meant if someone was dragged into a glowing ocean and pursued by a giant shark?"

"Explain."

I did as she asked, but I felt like I was wasting my time. She reacted like this was her first time hearing any of it.

"Sniffle, a giant shark Archenemy, hm?"

"Maxwell said there aren't many varieties of those even though they're a horror standard."

"If it's a shark, yes." She seemed to be hinting at something. "Okay, Satori. Before beginning this Archenemy discussion, let's start with some basic information on sharks. First up, what does the word shark bring to mind for you?"

"A huge carnivorous ocean fish."

"Such as the great white?"

"Also caviar and shark fins."

"The sturgeons of caviar are not actually sharks...but it is true that gives sharks an image of being tasty. Even if actual shark meat is not eaten much."

She seemed to be smiling, but she did not cut me off either. I sensed satisfaction, as if she knew I was headed in the direction she wanted.

But where was this seemingly pointless conversation leading?

"Hey, Satori. My point here is not how sharks behave or how most of them eat only plankton or small fish and few are actually man-eating. Your general image of them is what matters."

"Um?"

"You think of them as the largest carnivorous ocean fish and a rare ingredient. ...So there was no need to insist on it being a shark. It's just that a shark is the first thing the general public will think of when picturing that being who is spoken of on a mythical scale."

"Hm? Hmm???"

"You know the giraffe and the legendary Kirin are different, right? The tapir and the Baku also work."

"Well...yeah, I guess..."

I didn't know much about it, but I vaguely remembered seeing a logo like that on the beer cans my dad and stepmom drank.

"The legend came first and the animal was discovered later," explained my stepmom. "A connection was assumed since it sort of fit the legend's description, but their roots are actually unrelated. Some animals end up in that odd mixture of legend and reality. In this case, it's 'the world's largest fish and an extremely rare ingredient'. Heh heh heh. It's important to remember that it's a fish and not a mammal. That's why it has to be a shark and not a killer whale."

What did that mean?

What were humans mistaking with what if that giant shark seemed like an acceptable answer?

"You still don't understand?"

I just wanted an answer.

And my stepmom finally gave it to me.

"The Leviathan. The greatest and strongest demon lord and an offering which god created along with the Behemoth to fill the mouths of all the apocalypse's survivors."

Even after she gave it, the scale of the answer was so great that I failed to understand.

"Levi-what? Why would something like that be hanging around a far eastern island nation?"

"You say that, but your own mother is Archenemy Lilith."

Dammit, famous people just have no sense of scale! I feel like I asked someone how to make friends with a Hollywood celebrity and got the answer "go for a stroll along the usual route in Beverly Hills" with a straight face!!

"I can't really tell you much for sure right now," said my stepmom. "I can't think of any legends or myths related to being dragged into an illusion or glowing ocean to be hunted. Maybe it's related to the Leviathan's ability to breathe fire and smoke. But..."

"...There's more?"

"The Leviathan may have chosen Kukyou City for commemorative reasons. In other words, sightseeing. ...After all, this is where anti-Archenemy Bright Cross was destroyed."

...That implied it was me who had invited it here.

But hadn't the witnesses accounts of the Leviathan dated back more than a month and thus before the Bright Cross's destruction?

"Also, it seems the Leviathan corresponds to envy of the seven deadly sins. Incidentally, Lilith (that's me) corresponds to sloth."

"So you're both powerful demon lords?"

"Yes, but there are more than 7 of us. Different theories place different demons in each spot, so the total number is too much to count on your fingers. Kind of like when you mass produce 'strongest' protagonists, the meaning of 'strongest' begins to fade. So it wouldn't surprise me if a demon lord wanted to settle things once and for all. After all, we stand at the very top of all those eeeevil demons."

"..."

"Your involvement may be a way of challenging me."

Part 2

It was lucky I was using a cellphone.

I never would have gotten past my stepmom's stubbornness without my special attack: "Ah, the signal just dropped to one bar. Hello? Mom? Hello!?"

"I guarantee you she saw right through that," said Maxwell.

"Really?"

I ended up spending the night at my mom's apartment, but I barely slept. I was given the guest room which was clean but smelled of insecticide and I dozed off a couple of times. But every time, I dreamed I was falling into emptiness and woke right back up.

I eventually noticed the morning sun entering through the crack of the curtain. The clock on the bedside table said it was just before 6 in the morning. On a floor this high up, you apparently could not hear the birds chirping.

"That was worse than I expected..."

After muttering that on the bed, I left the guest room. My throat was parched. Trembling in fear all night while terrified of water was rough on the body.

I borrowed a glass cup from the kitchen and turned the knob for the faucet which had a water purifier attached. The clear liquid poured in like normal, but I could see the water's surface wavering because my fingers were trembling a bit as they grasped the cup.

It would be fine.

What did this matter?

I pressed the edge of the cup to my lips and tilted my head back to pour it all down my throat at once. I could feel something permeating my body starting from my throat. I felt like I had consumed the fear and made it mine. I began to think humans might have gone out of their way to hunt large beasts and sea creatures as a ceremony for conquering their fear and transforming it into their own flesh and blood.

"Morning..."

I heard a door open and a yawning voice. It was Himatsuri-san rather than my mom. She apparently really was living here. She did not have her hair up like a fancy peacock or fruits first thing in the morning, but her blonde hair still looked Medusa-ish while down.

She apparently slept in a baggy dress shirt, but whose was it supposed to be?

"Taori-san doesn't eat breakfast, so there's no use waiting for her. If you're hungry you'll have to grab something from the fridge."

"Sure."

She had made breakfast every morning when I was little...so had that been a burden on her? I realized I had never really worked in the kitchen. Food was just something that had appeared as a matter of course.

Himatsuri-san followed her own advice and opened the fridge even though this was not her home.

"Kh."

Her shoulders tensed. Curious, I looked over her shoulder and realized her eyes were locked on the 2-liter bottle of mineral water lined up alongside the milk and orange juice.

Water.

The entrance to that death game.

We hadn't said much about it, but she had been caught in that problem too, hadn't she?

"..."

I couldn't blame her for being nervous and everyone conquered fear in their own way. I started to leave the empty cup in the sink, but then I reached for the sponge. Mom wasn't my servant, so I couldn't just leave all the work with her.

"How can you get your hands wet like that?" asked Himatsuri-san.

"I'll admit I'm afraid, but I can't avoid it forever."

"Uuh..."

"And aren't all of life's necessities reliant on water? You need it to drink and bathe, but also for laundry and the bathroom..."

"Dammit, what are we going to do?"

We would enter it, fall into it, and be dragged into it.

The depth was irrelevant. If the surface area was all that mattered, a roadside puddle would be a threat. It was true we had to watch out for water of that size. Even the thin layer of water in the sink was dangerous. But we would dry up if we were too afraid to do anything.

"I'll have orange...no, apple juice."

Himatsuri-san's hand indecisively wandered between options before grabbing a large paper package. I honestly didn't see how it mattered and it seemed no more important than putting a colorful additive in the bath, but it may have been a necessary ritual for her.

She then sat directly on the stainless steel countertop and spoke to me.

"Now, boy?"

"What?"

"...To be blunt, what are we going to do? We're stuck having to outrun that shark. It can only happen once per day, but there is no advance warning and you never know when it will happen. That's honestly too much to bear."

It would be for anyone. I never wanted to experience that again and I wanted to try every way I could of avoiding it.

Staying uninvolved would of course be best.

If we did not touch water, we could avoid the shark.

...But was that really enough? I felt like I was just trying not to think about it, like someone who was too afraid of an earthquake or typhoon to plan for what they would do in the event of one.

I knew the best course of action.

But shouldn't I also consider the second-best?

"To be blunt," I said.

"Yes?"

"I don't know what route you took, but I barely made it. I don't think I had any real control over where I went."

The view down from the 8th-floor bath window had seemed entirely hopeless. That might have been different if I had a way of crossing between buildings in that flooded city.

" 'today's exit'. We need to think about a situation where that door is located out of reach or where the emergency stairs leading up to it are destroyed by the storm or shark. I think our most pressing need is some means of moving through that flooded city."

A vinyl rope folded over several times would support our weight and it would fit in a bag while rolled up.

...And we fell into that demon lord's ocean when we were dragged down into the water. If we did it right, we might be able to tie ourselves to something to prevent us from falling in the first place.

"I guess we can't just defeat that shark and live happily ever after, can we?"

"Well, no."

For one thing, the shark was the size of a submarine at more than 30 meters long. Even a close-range shotgun blast would probably be stopped by its thick muscles and fat. I couldn't imagine accomplishing anything by swinging around a bicycle or street sign from the city. Or were we supposed to live in fear of that glowing ocean while carrying around a bazooka at all times. If we walked around town with one of those, we would be the ones seen as monsters.

...It might sound silly, but society was a nuisance in something like this. It was kind of ironic that such a ridiculous being was using the normal social system to make us suffer.

That suggested this wasn't just an animal. It was an intelligent Archenemy.

"But why us?" asked Himatsuri-san while sitting on the countertop with a hand on her chin.

...I decided it was best not to mention the possibility that this was triggered by the Bright Cross's destruction or because the Leviathan and my stepmom were both demon lords of the seven deadly sins.

Besides, those reasons might not even explain it.

They would explain why the Leviathan was after me or my stepmom, but not why Himatsuri-san was also affected. Plus, the witness accounts dated back to over a month ago, before the Bright Cross was destroyed. So it was not simply spreading from my stepmom and me. Despite what my stepmom had said, the Leviathan's behavior pattern here was still entirely unknown.

"Whatever we do, let's just hope we survive until tomorrow."

"Agreed."

In order to report on our survival, Himatsuri-san and I exchanged smartphone addresses.

How many people had been involved in that the day before? And how many had failed to return? It was possible the survivors category was the smaller of the two. It looked like I really needed to look through some old incident reports.

Part 3

The previous day had ended.

They had reloaded. I could be dragged down into some water at any time, so it was no time to be casually attending school. I had to assume it would happen again today, so I needed to be prepared.

I used my smartphone and an ATM to withdraw the savings I had built up in an online bank account from my allowance and I gathered the necessary items at a nearby hardware store.

I then walked to a container yard along the harbor.

"Maxwell. If you ignore the laws governing EM signals, how far could a signal reach from an independent home server that doesn't rely on the cell towers?"

"Sure. If the limiters are fully removed, it could reach a radius of 20km while stable or around 30km while spottier. However, this would drain the battery, hasten deterioration of the parts, and leave no guarantee for the user's health."

"20km, huh? That's good enough. If that isn't enough to reach the mountains, I guess I would have to attach an amplifier or expand the antenna with wires or a wire hangar."

"? Either way, those settings are not recommended. Might I ask what you intend to do with this?"

"There was a city-wide blackout when I was fighting the shark. I don't know if the flooding or the storm is to blame, but it means I can't rely on normal sources of power or communication."

The smartphone itself worked since it ran off a battery, but the cell tower was hooked up to the power grid. Even when you called someone a meter away from you, the signal was not passed directly between your phones; it was sent to a cell tower and back. So with that cell tower down, the connection between Maxwell and my smartphone was severed.

For household devices to directly communicate, you needed a home server. They were meant to wirelessly manage pre-authorized game systems and DVRs, but that would be enough to provide a direct link between Maxwell and my smartphone.

That just left one other problem.

I rapped on the metal surface of a container.

"You're already somewhat waterproof, but it's really just adding a rubber seal to the door so rain doesn't get in during a windy storm. ...I'm going to spend today on some construction. I need to make sure you won't be crushed by the water pressure when it floods to a height of five stories."

"No. That is not as simple as it sounds. You might think it will be the same as waterproofing a watch, but a lot more strength is needed to protect an open space as large as this."

"True, but who said I was building a submarine?"

I set down the large paper bag from the hardware store.

This large space is already filled with air like a balloon. If I make sure no water can leak in and I detach the latches holding it to the ground, won't it float up to the top of the floodwater? Just like a beach ball full of air. And you use liquid cooling, so making it airtight won't cause you to overheat."

Well, it was not quite that simple since I couldn't have the container floating away or flipping over. It would need a thick chain and some weights on the bottom, like a self-righting doll.

"What about the power supply?" asked Maxwell.

"The actual shark pursuit won't last long. Only 10 to...yes, let's say 30 minutes. Any longer than that and I'll be eaten and killed."

Maxwell was handmade by connecting 1400 handheld game system cores in parallel, so the inside was a complete mess of power cords. I had gotten an industrial power supply sent in since a normal socket was not enough, but a large lithium-ion battery would probably be enough for such a short time frame.

I couldn't afford electric car parts, but a few battery packs for an electrically-assisted bicycle would mean a lot. I had to pay careful attention to the voltage and amperage, though.

"It is strange to make preparations in the real world to provide greater freedom at unknown coordinates that may not even exist," said Maxwell.

"Tell me about it. If I could only know in advance what door would be designated the exit, I could place ladders on the walls and plywood between building roofs to construct a route, but I guess I can't hope for that much."

If the glowing ocean was overwritten onto the real world's data, then this would work. Whether or not I could use Maxwell in that flooded city hinged on that. This was a lifeline I could not afford to let slip away.

I had to protect Maxwell and the cooling container.

I said one last thing as I pulled out the thickest chain the hardware store had to offer. It was the kind used to keep cars out of a park.

"It's been a while, but it's time for another episode in our amusing construction projects series."

Part 4

"Fuguu."

While I was working up a sweat cutting the thick chain with wire cutters that looked like a monstrous version of nippers, a strange voice rang through the coastal container yard.

It was Ayumi, my stepsister with a twin butter roll hairstyle.

Since the zombie showed up in her uniform, school must have let out. I checked my smartphone to find it was half past 4. I had completely forgotten to eat lunch. The sky had grown cloudy while I wasn't paying attention.

"Onii-chan, why are you chaining up Maxwell? Do you like tying up your favorites?"

"I have problems to deal with."

"And so do we! You need to come home. Mom is acting all depressed and she's so out of it that her housework skills have plummeted."

That was probably how it looked since I had kept the trouble from spreading to the rest of the family. I was standing at a fairly important crossroads for my life, but Ayumi didn't seem to care.

"The laundry is piling up and we were only given cup noodles for breakfast. For breakfast!! If every meal is like this, we won't last three days."

"I notice that you cooking doesn't seem to be an option."

"I don't want to hear that from you, Onii-chan."

She had a point.

It hit me that kids were really reliant on the word "normal".

"It's not fair to make mom cook all the time, so maybe I should start eating out from now on. Maxwell, we could earn some money renting out your processing power, right? Like for calculating the aerodynamics of experimental cars."

"Don't do that. Mom really will start to grow horns."

Ayumi cut in while speaking rapidly and she looked up at the container skeptically.

"And what are you doing anyway? It's unhealthy to be surrounded by this strong adhesive smell."

"I know what you're saying, but I had to improve the waterproofing in a hurry. ...And I've just finished."

I gave the chain a lot of excess length and wrapped it around the stake driven into the ground. Then I nodded.

I had already finished the work on the container itself. In fact, I had only needed to check over the most important points and fill them in with thick rubber adhesive.

"Onii-chan, what are you going to do today?"

"Good question."

I had to choose whether I would sleep at my mom's apartment or my actual home, but then something occurred to me.

...Was it possible Himatsuri-san had been affected because of her proximity to me?

This seemed to have begun more than a month before I got involved, but the rules were still a mystery. The risk would be the same if it turned out the victims were all people I had passed by on the streets.

The risk of the people I cared for getting dragged into this, that is.

That meant I couldn't rely on either location.

"There's something I want to test out, so I'll be getting some sleep here. And I don't know what I'll do tomorrow."

"No!! You're dooming us to cup noodles tonight!!"

"Go beg Erika to cook."

"Onee-chan is just as out of it as mom, you idiot!!"

But that was all the more reason why I couldn't get Ayumi or Erika caught up in this mess. My vampire older sister would be at the most risk in that flooded battlefield because she could not cross running water. I had even done something similar to her in virtual reality.

Just then, I felt something cold hit the tip of my nose.

"Fugu?"

Ayumi made a weird noise and looked up. Thick clouds covered the sky. Those gray rainclouds had grown much darker and clear raindrops were falling from them.

It took no time at all.

"Unyah!?"

"Oh, no. Maxwell!!"

The sudden downpour pounded on the ground. This went beyond just avoiding puddles. The world was transformed in just 5 or 10 seconds. It was like the ground had become a dull and earthen mirror.

It was a giant surface of water.

And it could drag people into that glowing ocean.

"Eh? Ah...Onii-cha-!?"

I couldn't even hear Ayumi through to the end. With nothing to grab onto, I fell straight down like I had stepped on a pitfall.

Part 5

The world suddenly flipped upside down. I couldn't open my eyes or breathe. It was tossed about by an incredible force and I just barely managed to grasp that I was in a powerful current.

"Gbah!"

Once I realized that, I felt intense pain in my eyes, nose, and mouth. The taste and pain was like having salt directly rubbed all over me.

"Cough, cough!! Cough!! Gwoh!?"

It was that submerged and glowing hell. But the starting line was not a high-rise apartment this time. Was it really this much of a disadvantage to start on the ground!?

...Anyway.

I had to get up. To the surface. But which way was up!? Where did I have to go to be reunited with the air like normal!?

While I sat around, unable to do anything, I felt an explosion of heat in the core of my mind. I had no oxygen. Strength left my limbs and I was unable to resist while the salty current swept me away.

But that may have worked in my favor.

I had heard that humans were naturally buoyant, so the reason poor swimmers sank was because their fear of water caused them to subconsciously tense up.

For whatever reason, my face breached the surface of the raging water.

"Gasp!! Cough, cough!!"

I had reached the oxygen I longed for, but my lungs refused to breathe it in. Opening my mouth only let wet coughs out.

Even so, strength returned to my limbs.

Afraid of losing this natural buoyancy, I flailed my arms around. My fingertips happened to find something hard. ...A metal container? It was not sticking up from the depths like the high-rise apartment had. The pyramid of containers must have collapsed and the ones with air pockets inside had floated up separately.

As for Maxwell...I couldn't tell one container from another. I just held on tight to the edge of the container that's square roof just barely rose above the water's surface and I climbed on top.

"Pant, pant!!"

I rolled onto my back, sprawled out my limbs, and finally managed to truly fill my lungs with air. Calm down. You'll be fine. You experienced the flooded city in the simulator and this is the same. I shook my woozy head and found thick, dark clouds and blowing rain just like before. But perhaps because the sun had yet to set, the sticky blue glow of the water seemed weaker than before.

...Oh, right.

The blue light reminded me: Where was that map? Where was 'today's exit'? It was supposedly drawn on windows and mirrors using the liquid and water droplets.

"Are you kidding me?"

I got up and observed my surroundings. There was nothing but a dirt-colored torrent surrounding me. That and the metal containers floating and sinking within the complexly intertwining waves. I couldn't see a map. In fact, I couldn't see any shiny windows or mirrors at all.

An impossible scenario was a possibility.

That part of the rumor came to mind. This was bad. Since the demon lord's ocean was based on the real city, the mirrors and windows would not be evenly distributed. A ballet classroom would have a giant mirror covering a whole wall while a container yard was much less promising.

"Goddammit! Maxwell!!"

"Sure. Do you have a specific request?"

I could get help from Maxwell using my smartphone, but Maxwell would not know the location of today's exit.

I heard the sound of parting water.

When I hesitantly looked back from atop the rocking container, I saw...something. The distant water was being sliced apart by something like a sharp and sinister triangle of rock larger than the average tent.

...Is that a shark fin?

You're kidding right? Please tell me this is a joke!

The fact that it was completely motionless made it even creepier. Wouldn't a bigger body mean the current affected it more? Were its muscles powerful enough to defy nature or was it reducing the effects with special scales?

"I just want to get out of here!! Put together a route!! How do I get away from the water's surface!?"

"Sure. The fastest route would be to climb up the gantry crane used to carry containers."

I couldn't wait any longer.

I didn't have time to be trapped by common fear in this absurd and unreasonable place.

I took a running start.

The container rocked up and down like an unsteady boat, but it was the size of a small bus. I ran and I leaped.

The containers of the collapsed pyramid were floating here and there like cherry blossom petals on a lake.

If I fell in the water, I would be in the giant shark's — the Leviathan's — territory. So I had to jump from container to container no matter how unreliable they might seem.

Something like a loud roar hit me in the back. Did sharks roar? Or was that the sound of the air as that exceptionally large body moved around? I doubted I would have an answer anytime soon.

I honestly didn't have time for distractions, but I still looked back. How fast could sharks move again? It seemed strange it hadn't caught up yet, but I caught sight of something when I looked back.

"What? Is it randomly biting into all the containers floating in the water?"

"Sure. Sharks do not have very good eyesight, so they pursue their prey based on the scent of blood in the seawater or the bioelectricity escaping the prey's body."

"Are the metal containers messing with the flow of electricity? Or is it mistaking the smell of rust for blood?"

"The details are unclear, but it can likely distinguish the real thing from a fake if it can compare the two. In other words, this unintentional decoy will likely only work for as long as you have not fallen into the ocean."

It almost scared me how lucky I had been, but even with these cards dealt to me, safety was not guaranteed. The Leviathan was destroying all of the containers while approaching. If I stayed still, I would lose my floating island and end up in the water. Once that happened, the giant shark would leave that forest of illusion and make a beeline for the drowning raw meat.

That left just one option.

I could not stop running. I had to jump from container to container and escape far enough inland that the giant shark couldn’t reach me! I-i-i-it’ll be fine. You saw this flooded scenery when you fought your vampire older sister in the simulator! The giant gantry crane overhead looked like safe ground, but if the giant shark jumped from the water while I climbed the work ladder, I would be killed instantly by its teeth. And the Leviathan was more than 30 meters long and had enough strength and weight to tear right through my mom’s apartment building. Even if I was lucky enough to reach the control cabin at the top of the gantry crane, it would probably break right through the steel pillar and send me tumbling down into the water.

Thinking about that caused the gantry crane’s presence to grow in my mind.

Holing up there would accomplish nothing, but the crane’s controls were there. Yes, and they were contained in a transparent box surrounded by reinforced glass panels, just like a phone booth.

And the location of the one-and-only orange-glowing exit would be drawn in blue light on any kind of window or mirror.

“Maxwell! Use the zoom to photograph the gantry crane’s control cabin. And analyze the image for anything visible in the windows!!”

“Sure. I have detected the same diagram in all six surfaces. It appears to be some kind of hand-drawn map. Comparing to a road map of Kukyou City…searching for matching conditions…”

I of course had no time to wait around. The submarine-sized killer shark was approaching from behind while chomping through the metal containers like popcorn. My life was on the line here. With the wind blowing against me, I stepped on the slippery metal roofs and continued jumping from container to container as they rocked in the waves. If I fell just once or was slowed by just ten seconds, my fate was sealed. My chest hurt as my heart pounded harder than necessary.

“Corresponding location found. It is a section of the harbor sightseeing district’s harbor industrial region. It is a popular spot for an industrial tour that views the scene from a ship at night and…”

“Get to the point! I don’t have time for all this!!”

“Sure. Please move 200m northwest using the current container route. The ‘today’s exit’ label points to a maintenance hatch on the side of a smokestack on Hanaoka Heavy Steel Industrial Complex’s Building C Blast Furnace.”

“Still too much detail!”

“I suggest you learn how to read between the lines. I am saying you will be able to return if you climb the spiral staircase wrapped around the giant smokestack like a morning glory vine and open the door along the way.”

I arrived at the industrial complex before I finished reading Maxwell’s text. My jumping from container to container was weak-kneed, but the containers themselves were being swept along by the current all the while. It may have been like riding the moving sidewalk at an airport.

Luck was on my side.

My life was receiving a tailwind at the moment. Or so I wanted to believe.

With the dirt-colored water swallowing everything up, it was impossible to tell the land from the ocean in the harbor block. But the tall smokestacks rose up like a forest.

I was still not blessed with any solid ground and forced to jump between containers, but then something appeared in the corner of my eye.

Someone was converging on my path while following the containers from a different direction.

“Himatsuri-san!?”

“Oh, it’s the kid. Did you get dragged in here too?”

I didn’t know if she dyed it or bleached it, but her long blonde hair was done up in that cabaret girl way and she wore a champagne-colored dress that showed off bodylines you wouldn’t find in a high schooler. I realized I really didn’t know much about her. I was impressed she could pull off those killer athletic moves in such a frilly dress though. But the fact that I had run across Himatsuri Asami here held an important meaning.

…We could share this fear. We did not all have separate dreams. All of the participants were making their way to the same “today’s exit” door. And since both of us had survived the day before, did that mean the door was not a one-use thing for the first person who reached it?

The conditions could be impossible. It was like being forced to play a game of Russian roulette until someone blew their brains out.

I could see how that would happen. It was entirely possible that you would be forced to cut across the entire city from west to east. And while traveling through the flooded and stormy city with a giant shark chasing after you. Depending on where you started, your odds of survival could drop almost to zero. And your own effort could not change that percentage.

“How did you figure out it was this industrial complex from that ugly hand-drawn map?”

“The human mind gets a boost when your life is on the line. I just happened to remember seeing that layout on a field trip when I was younger. I think I even showed off a photo of it to that girl.”

…My mind didn’t seem to get that kind of boost, but that may have been because I had Maxwell. Just like how the ability to read and write kanji declined thanks to IMEs, a convenient agent could be a harmful thing. Himatsuri-san’s mind was still analog, so she may have had her life flash before her eyes.

The sound of metal being chewed reached us from behind.

Oh, no. That’s a lot closer than before. The giant shark had been chewing through the floating containers seemingly at random, but it was still the lord of the sea. Running and jumping might not be enough to escape.

But even that proved to be naïve.

This time it did not “sound like” an explosion. An actual explosion burst behind us.

I was confused.

I nearly fell flat on my face as the blast pushed on my back, but I managed to stop myself and regained my balance on all fours. Himatsuri-san in her wet dress completely tripped and fell, so I quickly jumped on top of her. It was all over if she rolled off and into the water.

We held each other and hesitantly looked back. Sticky orange flames covered the wavy surface of the dirt-colored water.

“An explosion…? Was it the oil used at the industrial complex…???”

Had the tanks of oil been floating in the waves just like the containers? Had they hit the giant shark, or had it bit into one of them?

Whatever the case, it did not end there.

While the water burned like the ocean at sunset, that sharp rock of a fin silently slid toward us. The intense current meant nothing, so it felt entirely removed from the laws of physics.

“Does none of it matter, dammit!?”

We had to flee.

More and more intense explosions followed the Leviathan’s path while we continued jumping between containers to reach the smokestack. We still had a ways to go, but the shockwaves of the explosions were sapping our strength. At times, the sticky flames would fly in an arch and pass over our heads. It seemed to be something like a Molotov cocktail, so we had to change our route across the containers or have the flammable substance poured down on our heads, setting us ablaze.

I had assumed a police officer’s handgun would not be enough to stop it.

But I had never imagined it would be this tough. It really was an Archenemy instead of a mere shark. It swam around just fine despite the explosions covering the industrial complex in flames, so I wouldn’t have had the guts to challenge it with a flamethrower or bazooka!!

“Himatsuri-san!!”

“That’s it, isn’t it!?”

We approached a group of gray towers spaced evenly like roadside trees. Their diameter was probably about the size of a classroom. Rusted metal spiral staircases wrapped around the sides of the giant cylindrical smokestacks like a barber’s pole.

To be honest, all of the smokestacks were identical.

So I looked further up while jumping between containers.

There it was.

One of the metal doors spaced at even vertical intervals was glowing orange.

And I checked the writing printed large on the smokestack’s side.

“Building C Blast Furnace! It’s the fourth door from the top!!”

I did not count from the bottom because I couldn’t see the bottom due to the flooding. We had to climb over the railing to reach the portion of the spiral staircase rising above the water. We had to be starting at more than 5 stories up already.

We jumped over.

Even as we ran up the spiral staircase from just above water level, we could still hear muffled explosions from the water below. At the same time, we felt an intense mass of heat rising up toward us.

Himatsuri-san glanced over the railing and gave a hesitant comment.

“A stove’s heat rises, doesn’t it? I hope this isn’t going to cook us.”

That thought made me shudder. I didn’t want a giant brute-strength shark to have that kind of intelligence.

But I should have given it more thought.

Yes, this thing specialized in brute strength.

A moment later, our footing shook violently. No, it didn’t just shake. The entire world had begun tilting!?

“Is he tackling the building to break the entire blast furnace from its base!?”

“Seriously!?” shouted Himatsuri-san as she ran. “But this has got to be sturdier than the Leaning Tower of Pisa!”

Meanwhile, another blow hit. This destruction required coming to a complete stop in that torrent of water and taking careful aim. We were already quite high up. If we fell, there could be something sticking out of the water there, but even just hitting the water would be dangerous. Especially when there was a submarine-sized shark in there.

“What do we do!?”

“We can’t beat that thing if we head back down! We might be able to use this height as a weapon, but we don’t have any rocks or stones to throw down at it!”

“Then what do we do!?”

“We get through that door before the smokestack collapses. What else can we do!?”

The metal stairs creaked disconcertingly as we ran up them two steps at time.

We finally reached the door we needed.

Guided by the orange light brightly decorating its surface, we tried to push it open with our shoulders…and then we realized something.

We heard a creaking sound, but it would not budge. The metal door wouldn’t open!

“A-are you joking!? Please don’t do this to us!”

“This is no joke! It really is locked!”

Was this due to the battlefield being based on the real world? But there was no turning back. We did not have time to search the flooded industrial complex for the key.

32 grams of an aluminum and zinc alloy meant all the world right now.

But we couldn’t let it matter.

Himatsuri-san and I exchanged a glance and then kicked the door as hard as we could with the soles of our shoes. It produced a loud noise. At the same time, the entire smokestack tilted to the right. It was definitely falling now. My spine froze, but I forced down the fear and tried again. As many times as it would take!

With a loud bang, I felt the lock breaking. The metal door flew open the other way.

We could not wait any longer.

We practically rolled through the door.

Part 6

It was the worst feeling.

“Cough, cough, cough.”

I was pulled back to reality by the unhealthy scent of burning oil. Himatsuri-san and I were soaked with seawater and we were in the maintenance entrance to a blast furnace in an industrial complex that would be off limits to the public. If we were found here, it would not be seen as a mere prank. We might be mistaken for terrorists planning a largescale conflagration or to pollute the ocean.

But we had made it back.

We looked back and saw the metal door firmly locked despite having kicked it down a moment before. No matter what that shark destroyed in the glowing ocean, it would not affect the real world, so the door was still a door.

…We had been lucky again this time.

What if the designated door had led to a women’s bathroom, a women’s locker room, or the Class Rep’s bath? I couldn’t imagine what kind of explanation would convince anyone I hadn’t been up to no good.

“I wonder what happened on the other side,” quietly said Himatsuri-san while looking at the metal door. “That smokestack was clearly falling. We made it in time, but…”

Yes, that was right. Since Himatsuri-san and I had been working together, all of the participants would have been gathered in that single demon lord’s ocean. So couldn’t there have been more people there than just us?

“The smokestack collapsed, but they might be fine as long as they can get through the door.”

That had to be true. If the door counted as the goal regardless of the state of the building around it, then it wouldn’t matter if the smokestack was standing or not.

“But no one would know where it was if the smokestack was broken to pieces, right? If the door sank to the bottom of the water, it wouldn’t be easy to find…”

“…”

I knew what she a saying. Simply approaching the exit would be difficult if they had to dive down into that water with so much wreckage strewn everywhere. And the water was the Leviathan’s territory. Whatever the case, the difficulty level would be very different from when we passed through.

We had been lucky.

That was all there was to it. And while today’s was complete, no one could say how lucky we would be tomorrow.

“…We can’t keep this up.”

[Self Record] A Science Magazine Column [Leviathan’s Record]

Animal evolution is said to have begun in the sea, emerged onto dry ground, and finally reached the sky.

But what have animals gained from that grand evolution?

For one thing, even after emerging onto dry ground, animals can never escape the sea no matter how hard they try. That is true even in an inland desert nowhere near the sea. You cannot discuss the conditions for rainfall or groundwater without bringing up the oceans that cover the majority of the planet.

Was it the cleverest of the animals that sought dry land? Or were the clever ones the ones that saw that as wasted effort and remained in the sea?

When you view the chaos of the modern age, it can be hard to say.

Notes

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