chapter3 · 055-ep55

Episode 55: Where He Ran To

Kanzaki ran.

His right arm had been destroyed, and he should have been cornered that badly, yet he forced his way through the participants and started running back the way he'd come.

The men in work clothes were supporting the man Kanzaki had shoved. Their faces had completely lost their nerve.

They didn't look anything like the people who had blocked the participants' escape routes until just moments ago. Now nobody was trying to move on their own.

"Aizawa-san, keep an eye on Segawa."

I said that, then hurriedly checked only Segawa's condition.

He was pale, but breathing.

A few bones might be broken, but for now I was relieved he was alive.

If it hadn't been for the Endurance enchant, this really might have been bad.

"Himura-kun..."

Aizawa-san looked worried.

But leaving Kanzaki alone like this wasn't a good move.

One reason was that I had no idea what he might do outside, but Kanzaki was also one of the valuable people in that video.

That video that had caused such an uproar.

The short but impactful video where Mibu said something to me, then I punched Kanzaki.

Because of that, the Awakener Development Program was stopped.

I couldn't enter dungeons.

There were only limited Achievements I could get, and it was hard to Level up too.

I didn't know what chasing Kanzaki down and catching him would solve about all this.

But I didn't think letting him go like this was right either.

I'd figure out what to do after catching him.

Yep. A very me kind of plan.

"I'll be right back."

Aizawa-san nodded slightly.

I looked at the men in work clothes too.

"You guys too. If you try to run away at this point, I'll stop you."

The men didn't say anything, just as expected.

Of course not.

There probably wasn't anyone who could butt in on the guy who had just beaten Kanzaki.

It'd be bad if there was.

Even if all those work-clothes guys were Awakeners, it would have been seriously bad if they came at me in numbers.

My heart pounding inside, I ran through their midst.

Of course, I already knew where I was headed.

The Gate leading to the exit.

After a while, I saw my goal.

Kanzaki wasn't anywhere here.

Which meant he'd already gone outside.

But not much time should have passed.

It'd be nice if I could spot him the moment I got outside.

Thinking that, I dove straight through the Gate.

My vision warped.

The scent of stone and damp air vanished, and in the next instant, I was standing on the ground of the former materials yard.

I was outside.

The instant I thought that, a shout rang out.

"Takatsukiii...!"

What I saw was Kanzaki, his right arm hanging limp, running straight toward the front of the materials warehouse.

Takatsuki was there.

Representative Mibu's assistant policy secretary.

Here, surrounded by police.

Takatsuki stared this way, his face drained of color.

No, more accurately, I think he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Kanzaki.

Kanzaki's eyes were fully fixed on Takatsuki.

And for some reason, Kanzaki was headed for Takatsuki.

Not to escape, but to vent some kind of anger on him.

One man stepped between Kanzaki and Takatsuki.

I'd seen him before.

Short black hair.

A build and height about the same as Kanzaki's.

A scary-looking adult with a strict air.

Kujō Masaomi.

He was some important person from the National Police Agency, I think.

Didn't they say he was the strongest when it came to Gates or something?

Why was Kujō-san here?

No, why were the police here in the first place?

Not that much time should have passed since I entered the Gate.

I didn't understand what was happening.

"Kujō-san. That guy's a Fighter, so be careful. Even with one arm wrecked, he's still dangerous."

A drawling woman's voice reached me from a little ways away.

A suit, striking long blonde hair.

An office lady with a loose sort of air.

I could never forget her.

The big sis who split us into Beginner and Intermediate and such in the Program.

Kashiwazaki Yura-san.

I wondered why she was acting so casual in a situation like this, but Kujō-san didn't look particularly surprised. Without taking his eyes from Kanzaki, he let out a small breath.

"Yeah. I know."

Kanzaki kicked off the ground.

"More importantly, Kujō-san. Just confirming, but this qualifies for special-duty allowance, right?"

Not caring at all about Yura's wildly out-of-place question, Kanzaki raised his uninjured left arm and threw a fist as though to knock Kujō-san aside.

"Move, old man!"

Fast.

Even with his right arm unusable, he could still move that much?

If it were me, I'd stack enchants to stop him.

Touch his foot or arm and stop the flow with Stagnation.

If I didn't, just taking him head-on looked like it would blow me away.

But Kujō-san hardly took a stance.

"Yeah. If you file for it, it should apply."

Saying something like that, Kujō-san turned half aside from Kanzaki's fist.

It wasn't a narrow, hair's-breadth dodge.

As though he knew from the beginning that it would pass there, Kujō-san's body had already shifted outside before Kanzaki's fist could graze his shoulder.

The next instant, Kujō-san's hand grabbed Kanzaki's left wrist.

For a moment, I couldn't tell what he did.

All I saw was the force that had been carrying Kanzaki forward in his step-in get redirected strangely.

Kanzaki's body tipped.

Kujō-san hadn't forcefully pulled the wrist he held.

It didn't look like he'd overpowered him with strength either.

It was as though he had simply dropped Kanzaki's own rushing momentum into the ground.

Kanzaki's body slammed into the ground of the former materials yard.

"Gah...!"

Kujō-san put a knee on his back and pinned down the left arm that tried to thrash without hesitation.

"More importantly, Kashiwazaki. In a scene where lives are on the line like this, you could show a little more tension..."

Yura sighed as though exasperated and laughed.

"No, no. I don't want to hear about on-site tension from Kujō-san, who's casually flipping an Awakener onto the ground while lecturing me."

Kujō-san furrowed his brow a little.

"That isn't what we're talking about right now."

Yura pouted, saying, "Ehh," but even I, a high schooler, could plainly see Kujō-san was one hundred percent right this time.

Obviously.

You couldn't start yammering about money in a scene this tense.

Kashiwazaki-san was kind of a weird person.

No, I was honestly beginning to wonder if she was at a level where weird person even covered it.

Even during that conversation, Kanzaki tried to struggle on the ground, but Kujō-san had him pinned so completely that he couldn't move at all.

"Don't move."

Watching that sight, I stopped breathing without thinking.

Unreal.

He's way too strong.

That was all the vague impression I could manage.

No, I knew Kujō-san was strong.

I thought I'd heard he had the highest Level among the Awakeners on the government side, or something like that.

I didn't know now, but at the very least, there was no way he was weak.

I understood that.

But this wasn't that kind of thing.

I had stopped Kanzaki only with everything I had, and Kujō-san had dropped him to the ground while scolding Kashiwazaki-san.

He hadn't seemed rushed, and he hadn't overpowered him with force.

I would need to stack an Endurance enchant, use Strength too, stop the opponent's flow with Stagnation, and even then still take normal pain.

But Kujō-san was different.

He hadn't received Kanzaki's force directly at all.

The match had already ended before they collided.

Even as Awakeners, we were looking at different places.

That was how it felt.

Kanzaki was breathing hard as he lay pinned to the ground.

He couldn't struggle anymore.

He couldn't go after Takatsuki either.

Still pinning Kanzaki down, Kujō-san gave brief instructions to those around him.

"Keep Takatsuki restrained. Investigation team, enter the Gate and rescue those inside, as well as secure the other suspects."

The police around us moved immediately.

More than ten people called the investigation team entered the Gate in a line.

Takatsuki had cuffs on, looking down.

Kanzaki was caught by Kujō-san.

And help was going into the dungeon too.

All the things outside that I couldn't do anything about by myself until moments ago were changing shape all at once in the adults' hands.

Seeing it, I finally let out a small breath.

Then Kujō-san's eyes met mine.

"Himuro Ren, correct?"

"...Yes."

"Thank you for providing the video."

He suddenly said that, and I was slow to react.

"The video...?"

"Yeah. The footage you took at the Former Minami Ward Third Materials Yard."

Kujō-san spoke evenly.

"It showed Kanzaki Jinya and Takatsuki Ryōsuke leading the participants into the Gate. You sent it to Mibu Iroha, didn't you?"

Only after he said that much did it connect in my head.

"Ah... yes. I sent it."

Before I entered the Gate, I had recorded Takatsuki, Kanzaki, and the participants entering it.

Then I sent it to Mibu.

Honestly, that was all I could do then.

"Mibu Iroha contacted her father, and it reached us from there. With the footage and location information, we could enter the scene immediately."

Kujō-san continued.

"We could confirm that Takatsuki was here too. If you hadn't sent it, it would have been difficult to secure them this quickly."

For an instant, I couldn't speak.

The video I'd sent Mibu.

It reached Mibu, Mibu passed it to her father, and that connected it to Kujō-san and the others.

While I had been chasing Kanzaki inside the Gate, people outside had been moving outside.

"Mibu..."

"Yeah. Her judgment was quick too."

Kujō-san said that.

Hearing it, the tension in my shoulders loosened a little.

I had sent Mibu the video as evidence, of course, but I never imagined things would move so smoothly.

Thank goodness.

I truly thought that.

Adults had intervened.

Kujō-san and the others had come.

That fact alone made the weight deep in my chest a little lighter.

"...Screw you."

But then, Kanzaki's voice reached us from where he was pinned to the ground.

It was low.

Different from when he had shouted at Takatsuki moments ago.

It sounded as though it leaked from even farther within him.

"Kanzaki-san. You really shouldn't move. If you resist anymore, Kujō-san's seriously the kind of person who'd break your left arm too."

Kashiwazaki-san said lightly.

"...Hey, what kind of inhuman monster do you think I am?"

Kanzaki ignored that exchange.

Still facing the ground, he laughed through clenched teeth.

"Kuhaha... fine, then..."

Takatsuki jerked at the sound.

Seeing that, Kanzaki twisted the corner of his mouth further.

"You think I'm the only one going down?"

Takatsuki's face changed color at those words.

"Takatsuki. You're coming down with me. You, the people above you, all of you."

Kanzaki raised only his face.

"About Black Gate."

It was a name I'd never heard.

At least, it wasn't the name of any group or organization I knew.

"If this is ending anyway..."

Kanzaki's voice grew a little louder.

Still pinned down.

"I'll spill it all."

Kanzaki twisted his mouth.

"Everything I know. Everything about the organization."