chapter3 · 058-ep58
Episode 58: A Temporary Resolution
After that, Takatsuki didn't say anything else.
Prompted by police officers nearby, Kanzaki and Takatsuki were taken outside the former materials yard.
I didn't know what the two of them would say from here.
Well, hearing that wasn't the job of me, who was standing here. It was the police's job.
A little later, once Takatsuki was out of sight, Mibu walked over to me.
"Hello."
"Uh, yeah. Hello... no, wait, is that really the right first thing to say?"
It wasn't like I wanted her to worry about me or had any particular words I wanted to hear, but still.
When I said that, Mibu loosened her expression just a little, saying, "That's true too."
Well, a lot had happened over the last few days.
But if she could smile like this, then anything was fine.
"Himura-kun, um... I'm sorry."
"Huh?"
"For not replying. For taking time off school without saying anything and running away the whole time."
Mibu's expression tightened again.
"You did nothing wrong, Himura-kun, yet I involved you on my own and explained nothing. I'm truly sorry."
"No, I'm not mad."
"But you not being angry doesn't mean I don't have to apologize, does it?"
"...Well, I guess so."
When she put it that way, I didn't have anything to say back.
"Got it. I don't care about it anymore."
"Thank you."
Mibu let out a small breath, and this time the tension really left her face.
"By the way, I heard you showed the video I sent you to your father."
"Yes. I sent the location information with it too."
"That helped. I couldn't have gotten the police and Kujō-san's group moving that fast."
"Yes. In that respect, I think sending it to me was the right decision."
"You don't hold back on being humble there."
"Because it's true."
She answered with her usual face, and my shoulders loosened a little.
"But it was thanks to you that things moved this far, Himura-kun."
"I didn't resolve it alone."
"I know. Even so, it was you who followed those two and found the scene. You who left video and location information despite the danger."
Mibu's expression grew more serious than usual.
"You even entered the Gate and helped the participants. If you hadn't been there, I think neither Father nor the police would have known what was happening."
"We made it in time because you told your father, Mibu."
"I only passed what came from you, Himura-kun, to Father. You were the one who connected everything to this from the start."
"I just couldn't leave it alone."
Well, wanting to enter for the Personal Achievement was about half of it, but that was seriously just between us.
"Not many people can actually do that."
Mibu said it without hesitation, then lowered her gaze slightly.
"And you sent me the video. I had kept running away without replying or explaining anything. Still, you trusted me, thinking I could act."
"...I thought maybe Mibu could do something about it."
"Yes. So this time, I was able to act properly."
Mibu raised her face and didn't look away from me.
"Thank you so much, Himura-kun."
"...No, you're welcome."
When I answered, Mibu smiled a little.
Getting your feelings told to you this directly was kind of embarrassing.
Not that she'd confessed or anything.
"Himura-kun."
Once my conversation with Mibu had settled down, Representative Mibu came over this time.
Kujō-san was beside him too.
What was this, one important person after another.
These big shots were lined up right in front of me. I was getting a little nervous here.
"First, allow me to thank you."
Representative Mibu stopped before me and looked straight at me.
"Had you not sent the video and location information to Iroha, we could not have mobilized the police here so quickly. By preserving the circumstances around when the participants entered the Gate, you also gave us reason to judge that Takatsuki and the others were involved."
"I only sent what I found."
"Doing that in a dangerous place is not simple."
Representative Mibu paused once.
"I also heard about Meeting Room Seven from Iroha."
"Ah..."
"I hear you protected Iroha."
"Protected her, well, I needed to fight then too."
It wasn't like I hadn't wanted to protect Mibu.
But about eighty percent of it was wanting to see how far I could step forward as an Enchanter against another Awakener, so getting thanked directly by her father was a little awkward.
Of course, there was no way I could say that to the girl's father.
"Whatever the reason, it does not change that Iroha would have been in danger had you not stepped forward."
Representative Mibu bowed to me.
"Including what happened this time, I am truly grateful."
"Please raise your head. I didn't handle this alone."
"Yes. Even so, it is a fact that you were the first to notice something wrong and act. I have no intention of making that contribution seem small."
When Representative Mibu raised his head, Kujō-san lightly placed a hand on my shoulder.
"I'll thank you too. Because you left evidence, decisions after we entered the scene came much faster. I also heard you protected the participants inside the Gate. You moved well."
This was the first time Kujō-san had praised me this clearly.
It felt like he had acknowledged that my decision hadn't been wrong, and at last the tension remaining in my shoulders began to leave.
"However."
Kujō-san's voice dropped a little.
"I don't intend to praise you for entering an unregistered Gate alone."
Yeah, figures.
"There was no way I could leave Segawa and the others there and wait in that situation."
"I know. That is why I will not tell you not to enter."
Kujō-san looked toward the Gate.
"If the same thing happens again, at least send us the location and situation before you enter. If you go down inside too, we won't even know where to look for you."
This time, contacting Mibu had ended up getting the location to the police and Kujō-san too.
But if Mibu hadn't seen her phone, nobody would have known I went into the Gate.
"Understood."
"Just because this one went well doesn't mean the next will go the same way."
He would caution me where I needed cautioning, but the gratitude that I had helped was still greater.
That came through clearly in Kujō-san's words.
"We'll take a detailed statement later."
"It doesn't have to be now?"
"Right now, hearing from Kanzaki and Takatsuki and transporting the injured come first. Before you go home, you should let the paramedics waiting outside examine you too."
"Okay."
Kujō-san started back toward the police officers.
I was about to head to the paramedics too when Representative Mibu spoke again.
"Oh, and one more thing, Himura-kun."
"Yes?"
"I did say I am grateful for your protecting Iroha, but... I do not recall giving permission for you two to go out together without telling her father."
"...Huh?"
Representative Mibu didn't look like he was joking at all as he followed after Kujō-san.
Beside me, Mibu wore a slightly troubled face.
Was this man, so stiff-looking as he was, actually a pretty serious daughter-lover?
That odd question was the only thing left in my heart as the disturbance at the Former Minami Ward Third Materials Yard came to an end like this.
That night.
After returning from the scene, Kujō and Kashiwazaki were in the staff break room at the Awakener Development Program facility.
The other staff had already left, and the only people remaining were the two of them.
Kashiwazaki sat down on a sofa, and Kujō, seated in the chair opposite her, opened his mouth.
"So, Himuro Ren's appraisal results. How were they?"
"Off-Hand Strike, Posture Control+, Enemy Observation. He apparently has several Skills. Beyond the ones an Enchanter would normally learn, too."
"When you appraised him before, he didn't have those Skills, right?"
Kashiwazaki went silent for an instant.
"Who knows. Ah, isn't it that? He got Achievements after the Awakener Development Program started. Himura-kun's been doing all kinds of things, so it wouldn't be strange if he got several in a short time, right? That's probably it. Yeah. Definitely that."
Watching Kashiwazaki suddenly grow talkative, Kujō let out a deep sigh.
"Kashiwazaki, don't tell me you overlooked them before."
"I didn't overlook anything. I properly saw the appraisal results. If the Skills he has are different between the last time and this time, isn't it natural to think he gained them in between? Only the person themselves knows the conditions for Achievements, and with Himura-kun, it wouldn't be strange if he got a few."
"I haven't even said anything yet, and you're talking that much."
"I'm only explaining."
"Fine."
Kujō cut off Kashiwazaki's excuses.
The government had known of Achievements and World-First Rewards from the beginning.
Awakeners' Statuses displayed an achievement list.
The state had begun investigating conditions and rewards early on as well.
Still, it hadn't announced them to the public.
If the existence of Achievements became widespread, more people would enter dungeons seeking rewards.
Some might test dangerous conditions, and even non-Awakeners might suffer some kind of harm.
Rather than expose many citizens to danger, the information should be withheld.
That was the government's judgment.
It even requested cooperation from the operators of widely used domestic search services and SNS, establishing a mechanism to detect posts about Achievements immediately after they were published.
That was why posts about Achievements and World-First Rewards vanished right away and could scarcely be found even through searching.
"In any case, Himuro Ren has completed Achievements. And not merely one or two."
"Going by the number of Skills, yeah."
"The medical team also examined Kanzaki Jinya's right arm."
Kashiwazaki's eyes widened.
"They say nearly all the bones from his fingers through his forearm, upper arm, and shoulder are shattered. The nerve and muscle damage is severe too. Even with treatment, apparently it is almost impossible for him to move it as he once did."
"Whoa. It was that bad?"
"Kanzaki is a Fighter-type Awakener. His durability is nothing like an ordinary person's. Yet Himuro rendered that right arm permanently unusable with some kind of attack."
Kujō looked toward Kashiwazaki.
"Among the Skills you saw, was there anything that seemed capable of inflicting that much damage?"
"...Hmm, if I had to say, Shock Grant."
"Shock Grant?"
"Yeah. I don't know the exact effect, but just from the name, isn't it the most likely?"
"Could it be an Enchanter Job-Exclusive Achievement? Its World-First Reward?"
"Seems like it, based on the Skill name."
"Then Himuro has completed even a Job-Exclusive Achievement."
"Looks that way."
After thinking a little, Kujō looked at Kashiwazaki again.
"Was there any other strange notation?"
"No. His Job was still Enchanter. He hadn't changed into a Unique Job either."
Kashiwazaki's appraisal results had displayed Ren's Job and several Skills.
But nowhere did it show Observer or Interferer.
All the appraisal revealed was the fact that Ren possessed several Skills that couldn't be explained by an Enchanter's normal acquisition.
"In other words, Himuro Ren, still an Enchanter, destroyed a Fighter's right arm."
Kujō folded his arms and fell silent.
Having several Achievement rewards was material that could explain Ren's power.
But it still didn't explain why an Enchanter would step forward himself and fight an Awakener stronger than him.
"Was it okay not to ask Himura-kun directly today?"
"Ask what?"
"About Achievements, or how he beat Kanzaki. You could have asked today."
"...He may want to hide it too. Achievement rewards are important information for Awakeners. I don't think it would be right to force it out of him."
"Kujō-san, you're timid only at times like this."
"It isn't timidity. It's consideration."
"Then will you ask next time you meet?"
"That is... I'll see how things look first."
"See? Timid."
"Kashiwazaki, shut up for a moment!"
Kujō's voice rang through the room.
Kashiwazaki laughed happily, leaning back against the sofa.
Then several days later, at night.
I was lying on the bed in my room, looking at my smartphone.
Afterward, Kanzaki, Takatsuki, and the men in work clothes at the scene were taken by the police. The injured participants were transported directly to the hospital by ambulance.
The participant Kanzaki punched had apparently survived.
Luckily, Aizawa-san had no noticeable injuries and was attending school normally now.
Segawa had apparently broken bones in several places and was still hospitalized.
But his life wasn't in danger, and I heard he would return to normal life after treatment for a while.
Though they both said there were still police statements and various things, so it didn't seem like everything was over.
Two days after the incident, the police and Kujō-san took another statement from me too.
Kanzaki and Takatsuki were arrested, but their contacts to Black Gate had already been cut, and every location the police investigated had been vacated.
And even under questioning, Takatsuki apparently kept repeating that his own judgment hadn't been wrong.
But when asked why he had begun doubting Representative Mibu, or why he trusted the people connected to Black Gate that much, he couldn't explain it well even himself.
When people get cornered, maybe they stop understanding even what they themselves were thinking.
Yeah, human psychology is difficult.
The people involved in this incident had been caught, but it wasn't as though they had reached the organization called Black Gate itself.
Kujō-san said investigations into Awakener job listings and surveillance around unregistered Gates would be strengthened from now on, and at least the same method as this time should become harder to use.
The following Monday, Mibu returned to school too.
I didn't know how she was spending time in class, but at least while we ate lunch together, I felt like she smiled a little more than before.
Anyway, the uproar from last week was settled for now.
At last, ordinary daily life had returned.
...Or it should have.
But in the SNS feed I was casually looking through,
I saw a post that gave me a ridiculously bad feeling.
"What's this?"
"Over a million concurrent viewers five minutes after the stream started."
"Apparently the same footage is playing on all the major streaming sites."
"It's started overseas too."
Every time I refreshed the screen, more posts about the same broadcast appeared.
The recommended feed and trending topics were nothing but that subject.
"What's this?"
I opened the account broadcasting it.
There wasn't a single past post.
The account had been made only today, yet the viewer count was continuing to rise at an abnormal rate.
There was only one title.
【To All Awakeners】
No matter how I looked at it, it was suspicious.
Too suspicious.
Even so, I couldn't bring myself to close something this talked about without watching it.
I opened the stream.
On the screen was a boy around middle-school age.
Without seeming to care about the ever-growing viewer count, the boy smiled lightly at the camera.
『Let me start by introducing myself.』
His calm voice came from my smartphone.
『I am an Achiever.』
Without losing his smile, the boy continued.
『I am one of the Awakeners given a special role, of which only eleven slots exist in the country.』
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Only two more episodes until Chapter 3 concludes‼️
Work on Chapter 4 is progressing earnestly (the outline is set, but I haven't written the actual text at all yet lol—and it is planned to have a lot more dopamine), so please look forward to it!
It may take a little time...
Also, I might put out a supporter-exclusive short story when Chapter 3 concludes, so please look forward to that too!