CH 78

Cracked Miniature Garden

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

Near the department where Chidori was enrolled – Tsugumi landed in the unpopular corridor and was greeted with an unexpected sight.

“What in the world is that…!”

A large hole had opened in one of the walls, destroying the entire area as if a tornado had struck. The door to the room where Chidori was supposed to be was open, and no figures could be seen inside. Seeing that the room was not in disarray, it seemed the mysterious attack had not reached this room.

As he looked around impatiently, he saw a figure crouching in the corner of the corridor.

“Are you okay?!”

“Ah, Hagakure-san, I’m sorry, I sprained my leg when I was evacuating. I think I’ll be able to move after a little rest.”

“This tragedy is… What is going on in the government right now?”

“I don’t really understand that either…”

The woman with the dark expression on her face made an apologetic gesture and began to talk about what had happened here.

“I was working in the room there when suddenly there was a roar. …I went out into the hallway and this is what I found. Immediately an evacuation order came from above, and I moved everyone else to the shelter in the basement. This is a very important department in the government, so evacuation is considered a top priority.”

“You didn’t evacuate with them?”

When Tsugumi asked, the woman laughed, looking embarrassed.

“My ability to transport myself is not good enough. Some of the girls offered to stay behind to carry me, but I refused because I didn’t want to reduce the number of transports we could use in a day because of this. From here, the evacuation route is very close. …And yet, I fell when I left the room. It’s pathetic.”

The woman, her eyes downcast as she said this, stroked her red, swollen ankle. Perhaps the high-heeled shoes that she used to move around were a detriment.

…At any rate, if Chidori had been in this room, she would have been able to escape safely. This was one less thing to worry about. None of the problems had been solved, but just being able to confirm Chidori’s safety was a big deal.

Tsugumi unclenched his right hand, which was clenched tightly, and let out a small breath of relief. He then crouched down, made eye contact with the woman, and spoke to her in a hushed tone of voice.

“You’re a good person.”

“Eh?”

“No matter how many instructions were given, you remained here even though you understood the danger, and you gave priority to preserving the number of transportation for others to consider the future. That is not a decision anyone can make. –You should be proud of it.”

With that, Tsugumi turned his respect toward the woman.

–With a little bad luck, someone on the rampage could have been back here. Not that she didn’t consider the possibility, either. Still, she put her duty first. He honestly thought it was amazing. The government personnel was of really good quality.

“I’m thinking of heading towards the sound of destruction, are you going to be alright? If you want, I can help you to safety.”

The woman’s cheeks flushed slightly and she shook her head.

“No, I am fine on my own. Please head toward the direction of the sound, Hagakure-san. –Be careful. According to the information I heard when the evacuation order was issued, there was talk that a Magical Girl is rampaging.”

“A Magical Girl? …It might be better to hurry up.”

The moment Tsugumi heard the word “Magical Girl”, Hitsugi’s face popped up in his mind.

–Thinking about it, there were only a limited number of people who could exercise such a powerful skill outside of the barrier area. At the very least, they would need to be a B-class. …Oh, he had a really bad feeling about this.

…The direction where the faint sound coming from was the southeast. The location was probably towards the gardens at the corner of the government. He had to hurry.

◆ ◆ ◆

Looking off at the disappearing afterimage of Hagakure Sakura through transportation, the woman let out a heated exhale.

“Hagakure-san is so cool. …She even complimented me.”

The woman stroked her heated cheeks. Even if the other person was a younger girl, it didn’t feel bad to be praised.

The woman closed her eyes and recalled what had happened six months ago.

“The blunder of the Transportation Management Department in the battle against Radon. The one who suffered the most from that damage was Hagakure-san, yet that woman never once blames us. …Really, she’s so human.”

The one-hour gap that they inadvertently caused in their busy environment. If Hagakure Sakura, who had the ability to transport, had not raised her hand at that time, there was no doubt that an unprecedented catastrophe would have occurred.

That day was talked about in the department at every turn as a reminder. If something similar had happened, thousands of lives would have been lost. When she thought about that, she felt reluctant to let the transportation used on her. One transportation consumed for herself might end up killing someone else. It was the woman’s biggest fear.

“Everyone is likely back to their normal duties in coordination with the Demonic Beast Countermeasure Headquarters, but I need to submit a survival report as soon as possible. …I’m sure the juniors are worried.”

–Other colleagues were probably hiding in shelters, so there was nothing to worry about. But the issue at hand was this assault on the government.

…It would be better if it was just a mentally ill Magical Girl on the rampage, other than that would be frightening. If this was an attack by a Demonic Beast that the government could not detect, it would mean that the Demonic Beast detection system itself was broken.

But fortunately, Hagakure Sakura, who was a Jukka, was on her way to the scene. Thinking this, the woman gently placed her hand on her chest.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I am relieved to know that Hagakure-san is on her way. In case of emergency, she can escape with her skill.”

She was a little worried about her going to the scene, but it was a person who held a position at Jukka. It would not be the worst thing that could happen.

The woman thought so and slowly stood up with her hands on the wall. She couldn’t just stand here forever. There was a danger of the wall collapsing, so she should move to a safer place.

Just as the woman was about to walk away, a person running from the opposite direction from where Hagakure Sakura had disappeared called out to her in a loud voice.

“Hey! What the hell is going on here!”

–The person standing there, out of breath, was someone she recognized.

“Excuse me, do you hear what I’m saying? I want you to answer me quickly.”

The spiky honorifics and the sullen look on her face. –The fifth of the Jukka, Hyuga Aoi, was there.

◆ ◆ ◆

After reaching the place where the sounds of destruction and angry shouts could be heard, Tsugumi was stunned and gazed at the scene.

The Japanese garden, which had been painstakingly created by a government-employed garden engineer, was located in a secluded part of the government grounds and was in a state of utter destruction. At the center of the garden, two people were confronting each other.

“Please stop! If you move any further, your life will be in danger!”

“…”

Yukino, with blood smeared all over her white clothes, was looking ahead and saying these words, while Hitsugi, with red blood running down her arms and legs, was standing there, lying her face down and keeping silent.

His left eye hurt. …Maybe it was reacting to the black threads that Suzune saw. Tsugumi couldn’t see anything, but he could somehow tell that she was surrounded by something bad.

“Excuse me!! Please tell me the situation!!”

–There was no point in worrying. Yukino shouted to Tsugumi.

“Hagakure? Just as well, you can restrain her with your string. The situation is as you can see here. Hitsugi has been manipulated by someone and is on a rampage!”

–The moment Yukino shouted, the surrounding air shook. Tsugumi reflexively took evasive action at the chill he felt. He rolled away and looked back to where he had been. It was a horrifying sight.

A seamless box cube the size of his fist, floating in mid-air. The boxes were spinning in place, as if their arrangement corresponded to the head, heart, and several other vital points of the human body. …If something like this suddenly appeared inside his body, he would not just get away with it.

“…This is a bit unfashionable.”

The two basic skills she had were [Box] and [Rotation]. The box, as the name suggested, was a skill to make a box-like object that appeared at will, but the box itself had no special effect.

Originally, it was a skill that seemed out of place, but through repeated trial and error, Hitsugi refined it to a level where it could be used in battle. Her persistence and effort were truly worthy of respect.

The box could appear anywhere she could recognize  – even inside her body, for example, ignoring the laws of physics. If the opponent was a living creature, just by making the box appear near the brain or spine, she would be able to drive it out of action in a matter of seconds.

Another extremely useful skill was [Rotation]. She used this skill to rotate the box she had put out at high speed, creating a drill-like attack force. She could also change the fulcrum of the rotation, making the attack look as if it were artificially created, like the tornado in the corridor he saw earlier.

–Ah, let’s admit it. The one who was rampaging through this government was undoubtedly Hitsugi herself.

Even though he saw Hitsugi facing Yukino, he still believed in Hitsugi somewhere in his heart. Even if she was being manipulated by someone, she would never turn on the government.

However, Hitsugi’s eyes were dark and stagnant, and he could not sense her own will. It was not unreasonable to think that she was being manipulated, and in fact, she probably was.

“–I can’t forgive you.”

He felt his eyes turning red with anger.

He couldn’t forgive anyone who made her do this, not to Hitsugi. Her dreams, her wishes, her efforts, all of them had been trampled on. This was the devil’s work.

Tsugumi looked up at Hitsugi as if to glare at it, spitting out red threads.

“It’s okay. –I’ll definitely stop you.”

–He couldn’t stand to have her humiliated any further. He would stop her even if he had to entangle her, capture her, tie her up and drag her off. He didn’t know who was doing this and why. But it didn’t matter. Right now, Hitsugi must be stopped at any cost.

With determination, he started running straight. Tsugumi’s first interpersonal battle was about to begin.