However, it's pointless to try imagining that, so I look at my surroundings.
Behind me, some distance away, a gigantic castle towers. A huge, castle in Gothic style. I don't know how many floors that castle is made up of. At any rate, it's huge. Trying to find the diseased girl in there would be like searching for a needle in the haystack. No, in the first place, it isn't even certain that she's inside that castle. The distinction between truth and lie isn't clear.
I say.
"Himi."
"Hyauh!? Eh? E-E-Er-Erhm, y-y-yeess......"
She utters in strange surprise. For some reason, her face is red.
I cock my head to the side, and ask.
"Eh, why're you so surprised?"
"...... erm...... w-well, this is the first time...... that you called my name."
"Huh?"
"Erh no, you told me that I'm depressing and not to talk to you, so, I'm really happy."
"Haah, I see...... more like, isn't it strange to have that kind of reaction under such circumstances?"
"I-I-I'm sorry."
"Never mind. Do you have Mapper-class magic loaded?"
On hearing my question, Himi ponders with a thoughtful look on her face before replying.
"...... are you asking me whether I have any magic that can be used to locate the location of the diseased girl?"
"To make it short, yes."
Himi answers.
"Please forgive me. I don't have any magic that can be used to explore the entire labyrinth given its vastness."
"Tch. You're really useless."
"...... I'm sorry."
Shiro then says.
"Don't blame Himi. In the first place, we never expected such a turn of events. Besides, a thing like the diseased girl deceiving the scouting corps has hardly ever happened before ---"
It is just like what he said.
Therefore, a team which is only made up of three members, Shiro, Himi, and Yousuke, cannot afford to load up such a pointless magic. The three of them can only have up to eighteen slots of magic in total. They cannot afford to load up a magic that is used for exploration of the labyrinth when it should have already been done.
If there is someone who can afford to have such a magic, then it would be the Miss Noblewoman who have plenty of free slots available.
"Then, among those in Gunjou's group ---"
But, at that moment, Himi says from the side.
"I'm already on it."
"Hn?"
"Sumi-chan --- ah, I have a friend by the name of Sumioka Sumi-chan, and she should have been tasked by Gunjou-san to fully load up with map exploration magic ---"
"Horhh."
"And I've loaded a magic that allows me to detect the position of my friends into my 《Headphone Fuzz》. And have already activated it."
Himi uses her finger to trace a trail of light as she manipulates her 《Headphone Fuzz》.
I look at her.
Seems like she's a pretty smart girl. Even though she wavers meaninglessly at pointless things, right now, in this hard-pressed situation, rather than feeling flustered and fretting, she is dealing with it precisely and rationally.
Himi points her finger up at the sky of darkness and says.
"...... Intimate switch."
I sputter involuntarily. The name of the magic that allows one to know the locations of friends is 《Intimate switch》. Of course, the one who named the magic wasn't Himi. The one who developed the magic should normally give it a name that is most efficient in getting a reaction from the brain to activate it but --- this particular developer must have a pretty bad personality, I suppose. We might click well together.
Himi activates her magic.
A three-dimensional grid model appears in the air, and beside it floated two arrows that form a cross. One of the arrows is pointing north while the other is pointing to the sky.
Furthermore, in the center of the three-dimensional grid model, the words 『Himi』 can be seen.
Beside that is 『Shiro』.
In front of them, probably in the direction of the castle, is a group that is made up of around ten people. In that group, the words, 『Sumi』, is moving.
"Found it! They are really in that castle!"
Himi says happily.
But I'm bothered by something else. Beside the words 『Himi』 and 『Shiro』, 『Shinnosuke』 is written.
I ask in displeasure.
"This magic should only display friends right?"
"Ah, yes."
"Then why is my name there? I don't remember becoming your friend."
Once again, Himi's face flushes red in embarrassment.
"E-E-Erm...... it's because that just now, you called me...... by my first name."
Seems like that's the condition behind this magic. Anyone who calls the user by her first name gets marked as a friend.
I see, that could be seen as intimate.
"Don't make that face as if I'm really your friend."
I say but, with her face still red, Himi continues.
"I-I'm sorry. But erhm...... normally, my magic gets activated whenever I want to add a friend...... but it doesn't recognize the other person as a friend unless that person accepts me from the heart --- so, just now, when it recognized you, I was really shocked."
"Aah?"
My face couldn't have been more sullen than what it is now. Indeed, just now, for an instant, I might have more or less felt some sort of meaningless sympathy for her. When Yousuke was wounded, both Himi and Shiro wavered. But, to have sympathy getting taken advantage of and marking me as a friend without my permission is unbearable.
With a grinning face, Shiro puts his hand on my back,
"Somehow, I don't hate you that much anymore......"
"Don't touch me, idiot."
I brush away his hand.
But Shiro continues to smile.
Himi, with her face still red,
"Y-Y-You know! I'm really happy to become friends with you, Shinnosuke-san!"
"Huuuuuuuuuh? Don't screw with me."
I groan and clutch my head.
"Whatever. It's tiring to be around with you guys. Let's move on. We don't have time for pointless stuff like this right?"
"Yeah. That's right."
Shiro nods and starts running.
I too, start running and follow after him.
We are heading towards the castle.
The place where the diseased girl is.
♦
The gates to the castle are open.
There is no one inside.
The gray floor and walls are made of cold stone.
There is a vast amount of space and the pillars are tall.
There should be stairs that lead down and stairs that lead up, and according to Himi, Gunjou's team should be on the upper levels, so we need to find the stairs that lead to the upper levels. However, there are no stairs in sight.
"Where are the stairs? Shall we split up and search for them?"
Said Shiro. Naturally, that option is not recommended. With just a team of three people, we can't have one person too many if we get assaulted by the enemy.
However, even so, we don't have the time to search for the stairs at a leisure pace.
"Fine."
I say.
"In the first place, I don't need any friends anyway. Shiro and Himi will head to the right. I will head to the left."
Shiro looks at me.
"...... will you be fine by yourself?"
"Of course. I've assumed that people won't brazenly become friends with me and have a balanced slot configuration of magic just for that."
"Ah......"
Himi utters as she looks at me, but I ignore her.
Shiro then continues.
"I see. Then, we'll search for three minutes, and we'll meet back up here if we don't find anything. Get it?"
But I smile.
"What kind of plan is that? Are we girls who need to go pee in a group? There's
no need to meet back up here. The group that finds it will continue upwards. There's no time. The group that's on the wrong path will follow after the group that got it right. Am I wrong in that?"
Shiro immediately nods.
"...... you're not wrong. We'll go with that. Hey Shinnosuke."
"Uhn?"
Shiro looks straight at me --- with his red eyes and says.
"...... don't you die okay? I hate to have my friends die on me."
Are you referring to Yousuke? I wonder whether Yousuke's already dead? With that kind of a wound. It's possible. Or, are those words that came from experiencing someone else's death?
Anyway, Shiro seems to hate having his friends die on him.
I look at Shiro with half-opened eyes, and smirk.
"Ohhh. For someone like me who doesn't have any friends, I don't know much about such feelings."
"You're lying, aren't you? Your words may be irritating, but you're really a good guy. Even though you're acting like a solitary guy, you really want friends. Am I wrong?"
"Huh? You can go to hell."
But Shiro grins and says.
"I don't want to. I won't go to hell. That goes the same for you. It's a promise."
Upon saying that, Shiro lightly hits my chest twice with his fist, and smiles.
"Anyway, let's stay alive and clear this labyrinth!"
With that, Shiro starts running towards the right. Himi too, looks at me with a worried face,
"Please be careful, Shinnosuke-san."
She says.
I'm a stranger, and yet you make such a worried face. It's like you are forcing those feelings of friendship down my throat.
I look at her with half-opened eyes, and then, while running off to the left, murmur.
"...... even if you tell me to be careful."
In this crappy, rotten world, what should I be careful of, and how careful should I be?
While running, I twirl the tip of my right finger.
Twirling, twirling, tracing a trail of light in the air.
I'm keeping the tip of my finger fluid so that I will always be ready to activate my 《Headphone Fuzz》.
"Hn, Hnhn~ hn, hn ~"
While matching my utterances to the rhythm, I adjust the reaction speed of my brain.
In order to fight alone.
In order to live without any friends.
In order to be able to laugh mockingly at the weakness and coziness of the thing called friends.
"............"
Following that, I survey the inside of the castle with half-opened eyes.
This castle is indeed huge. On top of that, I have no idea where the diseased girl is at in this castle.
"Perhaps, it's impossible to save the 3 million people of Kanagawa Prefecture."
Of course, since I'm not an 《ally of justice》 in a manga or a special effects film, seeing 3 million people whom I've never seen nor known dying is nothing than looking at a fire burning on another island.
Thus, I've planned to escape immediately if my life is in danger. Even if my allies were to die before me, I would escape with a smile.
More like, such a strength is needed and called for in such a place.
Since if you die, everything will be over.
And if I die, it will be over for my little sister.
Because I don't think that anyone in this world would save my little sister.
"...... but yet, comrades? Friends? Don't make me laugh."
I grin foolishly.
As I'm grinning, I see the stairs from the corner of my eye.
A short distance away, I can see a staircase winding around a huge pillar.
"...... found it."
I mutter, and just as I'm about to raise my voice to shout out to Shiro's group about the stairs,
"............"
I stop.
Reason being, I can see a person flying out from behind the pillar with the stairs. What's flying out is merely the upper half body of a person. His upper body is wearing the same 《Metropolitan Kichijouji High》 uniform as me. He has an armband that said 『Class 3』. He's not my classmate.
Furthermore, from the shadows of the pillar, the one that had sent the upper body of that guy of the same school year as me flying appears.
It's a huge monster that stands about three meters tall. It has horns protruding from its head, and wings like those of a bat. With a muscular bulk and black skin.
In other words, it is the standard model for what is known as the devil in this world today.
That devil is holding an ax. The ax has blood on it. Clearly, from more than a single person. Since my armband is only showing the number of students left from 『Class 5』, I have no idea how many students of 『Class 3』 had been killed by it.
But, for now.
"............"
I just look at that 'devil', and give up on telling Shiro about my location.
More like, the 'devil' has not noticed my presence. If so, I should just ignore it and head upwards. There might be other students from 『Class 3』 behind that pillar but, I'm not obliged to help them, nor do I have the time.
Well, if they don't want to die, they can just escape immediately. If they were to develop superhero symptoms and finally die from exhibiting their meaningless sense of heroism, then they shouldn't complain about it ---
However, at that moment, a voice rings out.
"Ah, damn, it's fast...... hey monster, that's enough...... aah jeez!"
It's a voice that I know.
It's the voice of a certain girl whom I met at the interview, as well as in the corridor today.
Kiryuu Kiri.
Kiri appears from behind the pillar. With long madder red hair. Large pupils. A slender body, and breasts that seem ready to burst open her sailor uniform.
In her hand, she is gripping a sword that looks like a Japanese sword, born out of magic. With that sword, she is receiving and stopping the gigantic ax of the devil.
"Kuhh, this is heavy jeez!"
While grimacing, a tight smile surfaces on Kiri's face.
Gahn, gahn, gahn, with her sword, Kiri blocks the blows from the ax, which clearly, is being swung with a force that no human can receive.
"Guh...... ah, jeez."
The performance of the magic she's using looks to be pretty high. A second-rate magician would definitely have died by now. But, even so, it seems like she won't be able to hold out for long.
The devil raises its ax high up. Kiri readies her sword with both hands. And receives the blow. Endlessly.
"Uwah, this is not good......"
Kiri says but still a smile surfaces on her.
"Kidding. This opening is a feint ~. Aihara-san, Satou-san, please use your reinforcement magic now ---"
But, her words stop there.
The reason is because, for some reason, on the other side of the pillar, the rest of the 『Class 3』 students have all started activating their magic simultaneously.
And the magic they are using is ---
"Escape switch."
"Escape switch."
"Escape switch."
Kiri's classmates are escaping one after another.
"Wha, wait wait wait, this can't be happening right! We, we're definitely friends right! Hey, didn't we promise one another!"
Then, a girl answers.
"S-Sorry Kiri-chan. B-But, such a scary place, it's no longer possible for us."
"Huh?"
"If we don't get out of here, we might not be able to get out of here anymore...... so, sorry!"
With that, all the students disappeared. On the armband of Kiri's slender left arm, the ☆ marks disappeared at once, and in an instant, only one remained. Meaning that Kiri is the only one in her class remaining in this labyrinth.
"Wait...... you must be kidding me. Uwaah, crap......"
The monster swings its ax down. Kiri swings her sword up right away. Gahn, a loud sound rings out,
"Hnah, fuhwah...... I can
't absorb much of the power anymore......"
Gahkun, Kiri's knees buckle under the weight.
"Crap, the power absorption magic seems to be reaching its limit...... my n-next magic...... my next magic, I won't be able to make it...... ah."
But I grin at that.
I grin foolishly.
I grin in delight.
They would never think of saving others.
All of them live only for their own gains.
All of them live only for themselves.
In that case, if one can't bear the weight of words like 'comrades' or 'friends', one should not go too far in fooling around others.
And right now, Kiri has been abandoned by such friends and is on the verge of getting killed.
"Ha, haha, hahahaha, this is how it should be. This is what humans are like."
Laughing, I activate my magic. The song of magic flows from my 《Headphone Fuzz》 and fills my brain.
【In an instant ♪ In a flash ♪ In the time of a flash ♪
The flash of time, the flash of an instant ♪ In an instant ♪ In a flash ———】
"...... Acceleration switch."
I accelerate my body. The magic activated and accelerated my flesh. I can accelerate for just one second. Within that second, I proceed to use another magic.
Dancing my right finger. Selecting a song. The song flows into my head. The cursed chant flows.
【Sliced, shredded light ♪
Shredded, ripped-up light ♪
Abnormal, ruthless, extraordinary light ———】
"Demon Sword switch ---"
I take a knife out from my pocket. From the center of the knife, a sword with the color of darkness starts extending. This magic will confer its magic to any object touched, and transform it into a demon sword.
The power that would be conferred is dependent on the nature of the object that is touched. One would not know what kind of power it is unless one tries it. That is why this is a magic that is extremely difficult to use but, because it is possible to invoke all its different powers by changing the target object each time, if one has the time to test this general purpose magic, it could possibly make up for the limitation of having only six slots of magic.
However, there is no time now.
Thus, I chose this knife, which I had already tested the conferred magic beforehand.
Two special properties are conferred to this knife.
Mokushiroku Arisu - Volume 01 Page 10