Chapter 5 — There Wasn’t Really Much Point to Me Coming, Was There?

Yogiri was staring up at the sky with an unusually grim face, still holding on to Tomochika, who couldn't shake a fearful premonition, an instinctive, vague feeling that the world was about to end.

She shouted out loud, stomping on that formless anxiety with a joke. "What is this, a horror movie?!"

"What do you mean?" Yogiri's expression returned to normal.

"You sound like you're spouting lines from some urban legend."

"Oh, like the ones where you get a mysterious phone call?"

"Anyway," Tomochika continued, "I know I complain about this every time, but do you think you could let me go?" She was beginning to panic even though there weren't many people around. She wasn't particularly upset about him holding her, but it was a bit embarrassing for him to do it for so long.

"No, they might attack again."

"Is that whatever you were looking for?" She followed Yogiri's gaze upwards. A small machine equipped with a number of propellers was falling towards the ground, most likely her companion's doing.

It looks like a drone, Mokomoko observed.

"A drone?! How is there a drone here?!"

Surely it's not that surprising. Like us, some other things from our world may have made their way here.

"Someone was using it to watch us," Yogiri explained.

"So, you felt the killing intent coming from that thing?" If that were the case, Yogiri's ability should have been able to deal directly with the culprit behind the attack.

"It wasn't really killing intent, but I can tell when something is watching me. It's a pretty vague feeling, though, so I wasn't able to put my finger on it until we got away from all the buildings."

Within the city, Yogiri could generally feel the gazes of multiple security cameras on him. But here, where the previous battle had destroyed all other cameras, he was able to notice the drone watching from far overhead.

"So, what next? It's not going to be too helpful now that it's broken."

I don't know who you are, but it looks like you've underestimated me! Mokomoko exclaimed with a proud laugh. You stand no chance against me when it comes to electronic warfare! Fear not, I have pinpointed the source of the electromagnetic waves!

"Ah...no wonder Mokomoko is acting so strange, with all those waves going into her..."

Don't be a fool. I've been receiving such signals the entire time. I did it this time at the boy's request, a kind of fox hunting endeavor, if you will.

"I see...but in that case, there wasn't much point to me coming with you two, was there?" Yogiri had said he wanted her to try and spot where the attack was coming from, but finding a sniper lying prone on a distant rooftop wasn't easy to do.

What do you mean? We are connected, so I can't go too far away from you. To make use of my electromagnetic detection skills, your presence was entirely necessary.

"I didn't really intend to trick you or anything," Yogiri added, "but I thought you might feel uneasy if I told you there would be cameras watching us."

"Yeah, I would have. Definitely." Knowing that people were watching her would have made her act strangely, and there was a chance their assailant would have caught on. So she couldn't help but agree with his thinking. "Well, whatever. What now? Are you going to take out the guy who was watching us?"

"I guess I could, but if all he was doing was observing, I don't know how I feel about killing him." He scratched his head. There was likely a connection between the person spying on them and the sniper, but they didn't have any proof of it. And Yogiri wasn't the type to risk killing someone who had done nothing wrong. "That's why I said I was heading his way. We can decide what to do once we actually talk to him."

With that, the two of them set off, following Mokomoko's directions.

◇ ◇ ◇

Ryousuke Miyanaga was terrified. If this had all happened before the experiments, the answer would have been easy. Confident that there was no one who would be able to kill him, he'd have made his move and been killed by Yogiri in an instant. But by now, Ryousuke understood his target all too well. He couldn't claim to have a complete grasp on his powers, but he knew there was no way to fight against a monster like that. Merely facing the boy meant death. The fact that Yogiri knew of his existence put him in mortal danger.

"But how? Did he find me already?! No, if he had, I'd be long dead. So I still have time. That's got to be it." Or at least that's what he wanted to think, but if his drone had been destroyed, it must have been Yogiri's doing. And that meant his target likely knew who was behind the attacks as well.

No matter how much thought he gave the matter, he couldn't work out Yogiri's intentions with absolute certainty, so his thoughts continued to race in circles.

"Goddammit! Calm down!" Using his ability to search through the information in his head, he found the materials he was looking for and created a small pill in his hand, a mild tranquilizer. This was part of Ryousuke's power to reproduce objects. He could make almost anything that existed in his home world. There were size limits, but besides that, he could construct anything that wasn't alive.

Ryousuke swallowed the pill. It wouldn't take effect right away, but the action itself helped him to calm down.

"He said to wait. So that means he knows about this place and is planning to come here."

In that case, fleeing the city would be best. As a Sage candidate, Yogiri would have to stay in the capital for now. He wouldn't be willing to chase him beyond the city walls.

Ryousuke had many roots tying him to the capital, from his mercenary organization and the talent therein, to the equipment and wealth he had accumulated over the years. But now wasn't the time to be choosy. All he needed to do was survive; the rest could be built back up in time.

"Where are they now?" Ryousuke looked at the monitors. He couldn't bear not to know, couldn't bear the fear of being cornered without knowing what was going on.

The monitors showed Yogiri and his companion. They had left the ruined battleground behind and were once again in an area of the city covered by surveillance cameras. But one at a time, those cameras were snapping off. Each monitor's image was being replaced by the "no signal" message. Whenever Ryousuke switched to different cameras, the same thing happened to them. It was clear proof that Yogiri was approaching.

Fighting was out of the question. He had no choice but to run, but the issue was how. He didn't have time to plan a proper escape, so there were only two options available to him: quietly and carefully sneaking out, or making a break for it as fast as possible.

Ryousuke decided on the latter — if his current position was known, trying to carefully and quietly make an exit had a high chance of him taking too long and being discovered. He had no choice but to risk a dramatic exit. Drawing attention to himself didn't matter now; he just had to get out of the city as fast as he could.

He stepped out onto the porch, empty-handed. Given the circumstances, it was better to travel as light as possible. He climbed the ladder and made his way to the roof. Heading for the storehouse, he approached the waiting aircraft, a small Vertical Take-off and Landing unit that he had prepared on the off-chance he ever needed to make a quick escape.

As he climbed inside and switched it on, the roof of the storehouse opened up. Once the way was clear, the aircraft immediately lifted into the air and left the building behind. All he had to do now was fly straight. Once he got going, he would be out of the country in no time.

"Falcon Circle Cut!"

A moment after he heard the voice, the aircraft lurched to the side. One of the wings had been sliced off.

Determining that flight was impossible, Ryousuke reached for the emergency ejection switch. An explosion triggered directly beneath him, shooting him and the seat out of the aircraft. As he flew through the canopy into open space, he looked around him. A girl stood on the roof clad in traditional samurai garb, a katana in one hand and a smartphone in the other.

His parachute deployed to slow his descent, and Ryousuke began to panic. Floating back to the ground like this would make him stand out too much. Yogiri was making his way there at that very moment. Desperate to reach the ground faster, he released his harness and jumped from the seat. He was stronger than any ordinary human could hope to be, so a fall from such a height was nothing to worry about. But...

"Dannoura-style, Izuna Drop!"

As he began to fall, he felt someone grab him. Before he could react, there was an impact in his throat and crotch, filling his head with a blinding pain. He didn't understand how. He had spared no expense equipping himself and couldn't imagine anything being able to penetrate the numerous defensive barriers set up around him.

As he writhed in pain, he felt another blow as the top of his head slammed into the ground. An ordinary human would have been killed instantly. The only reason he had survived was his equipment and the numerous physical enhancements he had used.

"Wow...are you sure you weren't trying to kill him?"

As he lay there, stunned, he heard that voice again. A familiar one that he absolutely did not want to be hearing.

"I was just doing what Mokomoko told me to!"

"Well, it looks like he's still alive, so I guess it's okay."

Ryousuke lifted his head, already filled with despair. Yogiri Takatou was standing there in front of him.