CH 104

Fly Away

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

“I wonder if I can get the materials too. I came here in a hurry, so I don’t have all the details.”

Toono said and gracefully sat down on a chair in the conference room. The staff members were surprised by Toono’s sudden appearance but did exactly as they were told and prepared the materials.

The atmosphere in the conference room seemed to revolve completely around Toono. –A talent to make people obey. Toono had that rare charisma.

Soon after, a staff member who had the materials in his hands – the man who had been giving Suzushiro a hard time earlier – asked Toono in a bewildered tone.

“…I don’t doubt Toono-san’s words, but just to be sure, I have to check with the Ministry of Divine Worship. Toono-san–I understand that you yourself strongly desire to volunteer to be in charge of this matter. If you don’t mind, may I ask why?”

Toono narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth with a small smile.

“It’s not much of a reason. –Yatagarasu asked me to move. Even I can’t ignore his request.”

“Yatagarasu-sama? Why on earth would he do that?”

“I don’t know. You will have to ask him yourself.”

Toono answered in a curt manner, then turned to Suzushiro and gave her a small beckon. Then, as invited, Suzushiro sat down next to Toono.

“Um, thank you. You even get permission for me, too… But how did you know I am here?”

When Suzushiro said that, Toono smiled and answered.

“There’s no need to thank me. I was just told by Yatagarasu to get permission for you as well. –I didn’t think you were really here, though. This girl–were you that close to Nanase-san?”

Toono tilted her head in wonder as she said this, and Suzushiro returned a wry smile.

“I’m not close to her, but I’m friends with her brother. About Chidori-chan, Tsugumi-kun… I’d heard so much from her brother that I couldn’t help but think of her as someone else.”

“That’s right… But I’m glad you’re here, Suzushiro-san. I’m not very good at going easy on people, to be honest. –If I overdo it, you’ll feel sorry for them, you know?”

Toono said such a disturbing thing matter-of-factly. …It was a little bad nature for a joke, but the scary part was that Toono could do it.

“Haha, Sumire-chan has firepower. …Yeah, maybe it’s good we’re together.”

Moreover, Toono was a genuine magician who possessed the power of a miko, as well as the power of a Magical Girl. The range of her attacks was immeasurable.

What worried Suzushiro more than anything else was Toono’s personality. Toono seemed to be a graceful woman who was both bewitching and elegant when she spent her time like this, but that all changed when she went out into the battlefield.

Lovely and harsh. Arrogant and merciless. It was no exaggeration to say that she was a flower blooming in a sea of flames as she slaughtered without mercy those who seek to avenge Amaterasu.

“Now, I have a general understanding of the situation. What is the status of locating the kidnappers?”

Toono, who had finished reading the materials, called out to the staff member. The staff member who was stopped shook his head dejectedly.

“I am sorry. The interference from the kidnappers seems to be so severe that we have not been able to locate them yet.”

“Right. I’m not very good at lost property searches myself, and in this case, it’s probably faster to deal with the interference.”

Toono said this with a small sigh and slowly stood up in her place.

“I am going to go to the site now and trace the caster’s connection from the remaining spells there and try to dispel the disturbance. Then the search will be trouble-free, won’t it? As soon as I get back here from the site, I will leave for the enemy camp. It’s an emergency situation – and for them, it’s a crisis within their own people, so I’m sure they’ll take care of it for once.”

Toono said calmly.

–If you are being obstructed, then you should just lift the curse. That idea was certainly correct. However, there was one disadvantage to Toono’s proposal.

“Wait a minute, Sumire-chan. It would take at least an hour to get to the movie theater from here by car. If you go there and back, it will take more than two hours. Are you sure you can handle that?”

If they set off the sirens and drove the car to the limit, they might be able to shorten the time a little, but it would still be a big loss of time. When Suzushiro voiced this, Toono opened her mouth with a small nod.

“Yes. –I’m going to use my secret weapon.”

Saying this, Toono smiled mischievously.

After giving some instructions to the staff, she took Suzushiro by the hand and got into the elevator that lead to the roof of the building. Apparently, the secret weapon was on the roof.

“Are you going to use a helicopter, by any chance?”

–There was a helipad on the roof of this building. It was usually used only for transportation to defeat Demonic Beasts, but she wondered if it was something that could be moved so easily.

When Suzushiro asked that question, Toono quietly shook her head.

“It will take a long time to get permission to move something that big. Besides, the area around the movie theater is densely packed with buildings, and there will be no place to unload the helicopter, right?”

“Then why the rooftop? I think there’s only a helicopter there…”

When Suzushiro tilted her head in wonder, a ding resounded as the elevator arrived.

“Let’s talk about the details as we go on. –This way.”

Saying so, Toono unlocked a small warehouse on the rooftop. She beckoned Suzushiro to follow her into the warehouse. Standing alone in the warehouse was a bike.

“Bike…?”

“Yes, that’s right. But it is not just an ordinary bike.”

Toono gently stroked the back of the bike, and with a fascinated look on her face, she said.

“A magical device that combines the use of the magic nucleus based on modern science and the power of Magical Girls – a dream magical device devised and realized by a genius in a certain laboratory at Teito University. A camouflage effect to prevent people from seeing you while driving. Collision avoidance to prevent unforeseen accidents. A magic engine to maintain high mobility and acceleration, and a gravity control device to drive on a slight foothold. –It’s no exaggeration to call it a flying bike. The only problem is that the divine power used to control all of the abilities is so great that I’m the only one who can handle it.”

“Uh…?”

Suzushiro couldn’t catch up with the sudden explanation, and a question mark appeared in her head. –Is it a safe bike that can run around on a small number of footholds?

With Suzushiro’s eyes fixed on her, Toono continued.

“The maximum speed of this bike is 300 kilometers per hour. If we travel in a straight line along the road to the movie theater, we will arrive there in about five minutes.”

“In a straight line? Well, you know, that’s not the way…”

“Of course, I’ll ignore them. There are a lot of buildings around here, and if we use the walls as footholds, we can get there in no time. No one can see us while we’re operating anyway, and there’s no danger of collision, so there’s nothing wrong with that, right? I’ve done a lot of temporary runs now, and I haven’t found anything out of the ordinary.”

…There would be plenty of problems. Traffic laws and all that. Suzushiro thought so, but Toono was too unconcerned that she couldn’t anything. Perhaps the Ministry of Divine Worship or the government had something to say about it.

Toono tossed Suzushiro an armored helmet as she looked sideways at Suzushiro, who took a step backward with a retreating look on her face. Suzushiro’s eyes wandered around as she hurriedly accepted it, looking shaken.

“I knew we have to ride this one, too…”

–Because of the nature of her abilities, Suzushiro’s physical strength as a Magical Girl was not that high. Especially outside the barrier area, her physical strength was considerably inferior to the martial artists Mibu and Agatsuma. Clinging to a thing running at such speed was somewhat frightening.

As Toono said, running on the wall of a building – even if she should fall from it, Suzushiro’s ability to cushion [Water] would help, but she was still afraid of scary things.

“I think it will be better if you’re there since we are going to your friend’s place. But if you don’t like it that much, I won’t force you to go.”

“…No, I’m going. I just needed a little time to prepare myself.”

With that said, Suzushiro put on her helmet, straddled the bike, and hugged Toono’s waist. 

“Then let’s go. –Keep your hands close.”

Toono quietly started the engine and switched gears. At that moment, she felt a large amount of divine power being sucked out of Toono and into the bike. Without time to be surprised by this phenomenon, Toono twisted the accelerator pedal as hard as she could.

With a jerk, the bike started to move forward, and in no time at all, the edge of the rooftop was in front of her. In the blink of an eye, the body of the bike was thrown into the air.

“–Hyah!!!”

It was a free slide from a height of several hundred meters. –For Suzushiro, it was the beginning of a terrifying time.