Volume 1, 2: A Dull Gray Alley. Skill_Out.

Volume 1, Chapter 2: A Dull Gray Alley. Skill_Out.

Part 1

It was early morning the same day, October 3rd.

However, Accelerator was in a rectangular underground area surrounded by thick concrete, so he couldn’t tell if it was morning or night. And it didn’t really matter. He was standing with his cane underneath fluorescent lights that gave off uniform illumination.

He was in a shooting range.

The room went about 50 meters back, but only the front 10 meters were made for people to walk in. The rest was cut off by an oblong table. There were a great number of human-shaped targets beyond the table and a training program could freely move them anywhere along a mesh-like series of metal rails.

There were a number of thin dividers on the oblong table creating 13 lanes for the shooting area. The space for each lane was about the size of a phone booth.

Accelerator was standing near the middle at the 8th lane.

His slender hand was gripping a small handgun and the area smelled a bit like fireworks.

“Exercise Number 42. Begin.”

A recorded woman’s voice gave that announcement as 5 targets began to move.

(I’ll go in order from closest to farthest. I just have to blow them away one at a time.)

Accelerator held the handgun in one hand and accurately shot each target.

Gunshots rang out in the large underground area. The loud noise bounced back adding even more pressure to his eardrums.

Accelerator was right-handed, but he was forced to shoot with his left hand because of his cane.

“Exercise Number 43. Begin.”

He only needed about 70 seconds per round.

(I can’t focus too much on the sight. I have to watch everything. Even the motions at the edge of my vision.)

As he thought, Accelerator was intent on his shooting. For him, reloading was more of an issue than the firing itself. As he had his cane in his right hand, he had to do so with only his left hand.

He removed the magazine, spun the gun around so the slot for the magazine was pointed up while his pointer finger remained on the trigger, pulled a magazine from his left sleeve with his mouth, put it in the gun, spun the gun halfway back around, put the slide in his mouth, and pulled it back.

It all took about 2 seconds.

But Accelerator felt that was too slow.

“Exercise Number 44. Begin.”

He had tried firing plenty of other guns.

(I have to choose a gun based on the speed with which I can reload, the weight when I’m swinging it around in one hand, and the recoil when I fire it.)

The table in front of the lane had military, self-defense-use, sports-use, and plenty of other types of handguns on it. It also had shotguns, submachine guns, and rifles.

There were empty cartridges scattered about his feet like a pile of fallen leaves. Because of the various types of guns, the shells had different sizes and shapes. Some were copper-colored metal and some were made of blue plastic.

“Exercise Number 45. Begin.”

He shot the targets moving at high speed on the rails.

(Don’t rely on the destructive force of a single shot. Shooting multiple times with an easy-to-shoot bullet works best as a generic strategy.)

The targets picked up pace and they could turn sudden, sharp corners at the numerous switching points, but he precisely hit every single one regardless.

Members of Anti-Skill underwent formal training and even they couldn’t do that. He had just barely started using guns and his posture was unsteady because of his cane, but he could already handle a gun like he’d been doing it for years.

But...

“...I can’t use this.” Accelerator said in an annoyed voice before the machine output his stats which were a personal record.

He pushed a few buttons on a calculator-like device on the lane’s table and the training program stopped. He then threw the handgun onto the table.

He spoke without turning around.

“What do you want, you disguised bastard.”

After he spoke, a purposeful sounding footstep could be heard from behind him. It was most likely in place of a knock.

“I was trying to suppress my presence, but it seems I need to practice some more,” spoke a soft male voice.

Accelerator turned around to find a thin brown-haired boy standing there. Accelerator recalled that his name was Unabara Mitsuki. But just after naming himself, the boy had said that his face and name were both fake.

“I’d actually like to consult with you on that matter. You were in the middle of target practice, so it couldn’t have been that I made a noise. So how did you detect my presence?”

“You’re always blabbering about something, aren’t you? I’m not gonna help you with that.” Accelerator spat out, but he honestly hadn’t noticed Unabara Mitsuki’s approach.

At least not with any of his normal sensory organs.

But...

(Tch. They’re trembling again...)

The hand that had held the handgun was hurting for a reason other than fatigue.

He didn’t know why, but this had been happening ever since he had first met the guy a few days ago. Whenever Unabara Mitsuki was nearby, his fingertips would tremble unconsciously. And he would feel a pressure on his chest like there was a basketball there.

One thing always came to his mind when it happened.

(Kihara Amata.)

The pouring rain, a dull pain, and the iron-like taste and smell of blood.

(Last Order.)

That small life that had been tormented by unreasonable violence and seemed like it could slip away even now.

And...

(...Those black wings that appeared on my back.)

It was nothing more than a vague, abstract image in his head. He had only started to become aware of that existence when he had joined GROUP...no, it had actually been from the point when he had crushed the researcher known as Kihara Amata.

But he couldn’t exactly discuss that with the man before him.

He would gain nothing from showing any weakness here.

“I asked what you wanted.”

“Have you decided on a weapon?” Unabara’s smile did not go away. “You won’t have time to do too close an examination. You have an urgent job to do. You need to learn how things work around here as soon as you can.”

“So far, nothing’s felt just right,” Accelerator spat out and looked down at the large number of guns on top of the table. “But somehow I doubt I’d find one that did if I checked every gun in the world.”

“How about you put together a list of equipment you can use along with your powers?”

“You just don’t fucking get it, do you?”

He tapped the choker-style electrode on his neck.

“I can’t rely on this thing.”

“Why not? It’s been improved, right? The report from GROUP’s technical team said that the time you can use your powers was upped from 15 minutes to 30.”

“GROUP...” Accelerator repeated as if he didn’t care.

On September 30th, some people in powered suits had appeared after he had pulverized Kihara Amata and taken him away to join a unit by that name, but even a formal member like him didn’t know the details. Currently, it seemed GROUP acted as a 4-member set including him. But he didn’t even know how many other such units there were or even if there were any others. The people in those powered suits may have been members of a different “GROUP”.

He had transferred to Nagatenjouki Academy.

That was what Yomikawa Aiho and Yoshikawa Kikyou had been told happened. Even Accelerator thought that was a nice method of explaining it. It was true that no one would find it odd that the top school in Academy City had a special class that stressed secrecy. There could very well be a single research room that even the other students didn’t know about.

Taking advantage of that, he was registered as a student there, but didn’t actually attend the school.

(It’s the people who control GROUP. I can’t see the whole picture, but the people above us must have the power to do that and a goal that requires that they go to that much effort. Sounds suspicious to me.)

Accelerator knew there were a number of subordinate organizations that worked under GROUP. They developed and maintained equipment, transported personnel, and completely destroyed all evidence of GROUP’s actions. A huge number of people must be needed to do all those various jobs and it was all for the sake of just four people.

One of the recipients of all that, Unabara Mitsuki, had a look of puzzlement on his face.

“Are you displeased with how the electrode is tuned?”

“Ha. Doesn’t matter if it’s 30 minutes or 3 days, it’s still fundamentally the same. If something fucks up, it’s all over. If the electrode breaks down, I can’t fight and then I’m dead.”

These were his feelings after facing a formidable opponent like Kihara Amata with the battery having died. He could no longer feel safe while he was relying on something.

From now on, he had to fight no matter what situation he was driven into.

“Ha ha. So you’re saying all the effort the technical team went to in analyzing the electrode was a complete waste?”

“I don’t fucking care,” Accelerator responded. “Is that all you wanted?”

“No, I was about to get to why I’m here.”

Unabara paused for a beat and continued.

“GROUP has gotten an order for a job from the Board of Directors.”

“...”

“Academy City is currently fortifying its anti-Roman Catholic battle lines, but due to the focus on anti-Roman Catholic things the defense on the inside has gotten thinner. Our job is to do a clean sweep of a force that is going to use that gap in the defences to do some damage to the functionality of Academy City.”

“Heh. Ha ha ha.”

Accelerator laughed without meaning to after hearing that.

“So I’ve fallen so damn far that I have a collar around my neck and have to be ordered to take out the trash? Life really is full of surprises.”

His red eyes turned to lines in enjoyment and his lips became a shape of scorn.

“I was told I had to make up for what that fucker Kihara did, but I never thought I’d be doing boring shit like this! Ha ha. I guess the higher ups see me as the same kind of trash Kihara was!!”

“You brought it on yourself. No one made you fall this far.”

In response to those words, Accelerator stretched out his slender arm and grabbed Unabara by the collar. He purposefully aimed for the very center of his chest.

He grabbed Unabara with those fingertips that could alter various vectors. He could even reverse the flow of Unabara’s blood with them.

“Listen up, kid. There’s something you need to learn.” Accelerator’s expression did not change as he pulled on Unabara’s shirt. “A human life is a fragile thing. I can destroy one with a touch of my finger. So watch yourself. If you don’t, I might break something you’d rather I didn’t.”

“I’ll be careful.”

But Unabara’s words did not match the smooth tone of his voice and there was a calm smile on his face.

“Tch,” Accelerator lightly clicked his tongue and let go of Unabara’s shirt.

“May I continue?”

“Go ahead.”

“The target is Skill Out. You probably know more about them than me.”

Accelerator frowned at Unabara’s words.

Simply put, Skill Out was an armed group of Level 0’s.

One’s status in Academy City was decided by academics and powers. Being a Level 0 was like living your school life with a test you got a 0 on hanging from your neck and it seemed some people couldn’t stand to be treated like that.

Potentially, there were around 10,000 Skill Out members in Academy City. Most of those were people who rented out a dorm but never went to school and people who went to school but acted as Skill Out members at night. The Skill Out members that never returned to the dorms and gave them the image of an armed group was only about 1% of the total.

They had no clear objective.

If a group of Level 0 boys gathered in the streets at night, they were treated as part of Skill Out. Consequently, there were Skill Out groups that were just 3 or 4 people gathered in a convenience store parking lot and some that made teams of a hundred and strutted around the streets.

“Hey, now. The scale of this job keeps getting smaller and smaller. The higher ups aren’t betting on how far I’ll go before I snap, are they?”

“Not at all. Just so you know, Skill Out has apparently reorganized recently. When an Anti-Skill unit tried to suppress them, they turned the tables on the unit forcing them to retreat. So it isn’t all that surprising that this has come to an unofficial unit like GROUP.”

“Hmph,” Accelerator said in annoyance.

Strategy or force. The good-for-nothings in the back alleys must have come by one of those.

“It seems Skill Out is making some toys.”

“Toys?”

“They are drilling into oak wood and packing explosives inside. They are about 5 cm in diameter and 70 cm in length. They are probably supposed to be rockets as they are completely streamlined and have been confirmed to have 3 PVC fins on the sides.”

“Wait, they’re making pole fire arrows?” Accelerator couldn’t help but laugh. “Those were experimental weapons in the Edo period. What, have they gotten obsessed with archeology or something? They were said to fly 2000 meters, but they weren’t all that powerful. If you packed ‘em with high grade plastic explosives, things would be different, but they’re probably using handmade explosives. They can’t make a single fucking scratch on a research facility wall with that. How are they supposed to be causing problems?”

“It seems that with some preliminary arrangements, they can be quite effective,” Unabara said in a calm voice. “For the past few days, they have been doing a lot of work. They have been moving abandoned cars into the designated emergency paths and clogging the drains around the entrances and exits to VIP facilities with trash. It’s all small things like that that aren’t treated as security issues.”

“...When the hell did we get stuck with cleaning up kids’ pranks?”

“But it seems that over 20,000 of these problems that are too minor to qualify as errors have been prepared already. And even though they could be ignored in peaceful times, when the alert is at orange or red, they are detected as errors. Which means...”

“So an attack by those pole fire arrows could cause a problem?”

“If they use those rockets, they could trigger a Code Orange. And as soon as the alert level rises, the 20,000 ‘bombs’ Skill Out has been setting up over the past few days will trigger as error reports all at once. If the large number of error reports knocks out the server that provides security for the communications network, Skill Out will be able to do whatever they want around the city without Anti-Skill coming.”

“Also, it seems this ‘hole’ in the security is not one that can be filled in just a day or two,” Unabara added.

“That’s quite a story... But how can you be so sure of their aim? Isn’t this just your guess?”

“Not at all. I have captured a number of them and separately made them talk, so there’s no mistaking it.”

Accelerator remained silent for a moment after hearing Unabara’s words, but he decided it wasn’t his place to criticize him. After all, he had taken out about 10,000 more people than that himself.

“So they can’t fight without making preparations? To think about all that little stuff, they must be nothing but cowards.” Accelerator spoke as if he was spitting out the words. “So what are they after? Are they going to attack a military research facility and steal some powered suits?”

“No. Facilities like that have independent security departments. Most likely, Skill Out is simply attempting to rebel against the espers.”

“Ha. So they’re just cutting off the communications network and overwhelming them? Using pure numbers does seem like the kind of strategy Level 0’s like.”

Anywhere from dozens to hundreds of them would corner a single esper and crush them. If they went around the city repeating that strategy, even a group of Level 0’s could cause quite a disaster.

“...If Skill Out’s plan succeeds, the communication network for at least 2 or 3 districts will go down. Which means we should assume the damage caused would be rather high.”

Unabara tilted his head to the side in puzzlement and asked Accelerator a question.

“Skill Out seems to have quite a showy plan, but will it really work? Even if a few dozen of them surrounded a Level 5 like you armed with handguns and other self-defense equipment, I doubt they could do anything.”

“Even a small opening can look attractive, and those idiots will jump at the slightest chance. Their plan will probably end up being a dud. A half-assed plan will give you half-assed results with only a half-assed amount of damage done.”

The ones that Skill Out hated most due to their clear inferiority complex was the Level 5’s like Accelerator.

But he didn’t think any Level 5’s would be defeated with a plan like this. So the members of Skill Out must have settled for a target they could attack more easily.

The only espers that would be defeated with this were powerless Level 1’s and Level 2’s.

Level 2’s.

Mass produced military espers and the single girl that controlled them from above.

Who was going to pay for this violence that had lost sight of its goal?

“...This is bullshit,” Accelerator mumbled.

Then he spoke to Unabara.

“The danger doesn’t come from Skill Out.” Accelerator spat on the floor. “The danger comes from the possibility of some religious group attacking at the hole opened up by the Skill Out attack. Those bastards on the Board of Directors don’t give a fuck about the people in the back alleys.”

“I see you have a good understanding of how things work.”

“So what are you waiting around for? If you know what they’re after, can’t you just turn off the automatic alert system? If Code Orange is never triggered, the communications network won’t go down, right?”

“If we weren’t at war, we would do so. But that would be like turning off your computer’s security software when an attack could be coming at any time.”

“So we’ve got enemies on the outside and inside. Academy City really has pissed off a lot of people.”

“And it is our job to deal with those people,” Unabara said while smiling. “Redoing Academy City’s security system won’t fix the problem in time. Anti-Skill and Judgement are working to fix the obstructions in the emergency paths and the entrances and exits of VIP facilities, but there is no guarantee that Skill Out will just wait until they finish. That is why we need to physically stop them.”

“Ha ha. So it needs to be done in a way too dirty to ask Anti-Skill to do, huh?”

“The target’s name is Komaba Ritoku. He is currently both the leader and brains of Skill Out.”

Unabara pointed to a picture on the screen on his cell phone.

“He is supposed to be quite an influential person in the back alleys of District 7. Have you heard of him?”

“No. I have no reason to remember those people.”

“This time the Skill Out plan can be preemptively stopped by quickly taking care of Komaba Ritoku.”

“That isn’t going to stop those bastards. Their preliminary arrangements are complete, right? As long as the alert goes to orange, they win. Currently, all of Academy City is at yellow. They’re halfway there before starting. Their leader dying isn’t going to stop the rest from-...”

“It will,” Unabara cut off Accelerator. “They have a specific spot prepared for the explosives. As I said before, they have been setting things up at the entrances and exits of VIP facilities and in emergency paths. Well, it seems there is a characteristic way that they are doing it. An explosion in a specific area will cause that area to go to orange or higher which will cause the automatic security to look for errors there. The system will find a ‘problem affecting the safety of a facility’ in the area, so it will check the nearby areas that personnel will be moved through. It seems their plan is that this will continue and the error area will grow exponentially.”

“And,” Unabara continued, “it seems only Komaba Ritoku knows where the spot for the explosion where it all starts is. At the very least, the Skill Out members I captured didn’t know it. It seems there was a need to hold the reins tightly to ensure the success of the plan and to prevent anyone from starting it prematurely.”

“Keh. He’s just making sure he’s important enough to keep around.” Accelerator spat these words out and shook his hands lightly. “I’ll take out that Komaba guy if you want, but I’d be worried about me trigging a Code Red. Unlike you people, things can get a little crazy when I fight.”

“If Code Orange or higher is triggered someplace other than the place Komaba has set up for the explosion, his plan won’t work. Because Academy City is divided up into such small security areas, that would likely only trigger an alert for a small area. All the preparation they have gone through is needed for it spread to a large area.”

“...Fuck, if you know this much about it, how can you not know where that critical explosion point is? With that, you could just get someone to guard that area.”

“Well, the only way to get that information is to ask Komaba Ritoku directly...”

Unabara Mitsuki grinned as he spoke.

“And if we’re going to do that, we might as well take him out while we’re at it, don’t you think?”

Part 2

Accelerator headed to the scene in a truck.

He was sitting in the passenger seat of a garbage truck. But its body was jet black and all of the windows were smoked.

“We have to clean up bodies too, so this is just more convenient,” said the middle-aged man gripping the steering wheel next to him. “The interior of the storage area in the back can be taken out and discarded. After each collection, it’s disposed of along with the bodies and replaced.”

(So it’s like a disposable pack for a vacuum?)

Accelerator was amazed.

“So the garbage this truck takes is corpses, huh? That’s a pretty grim job.”

It seemed to run on electricity instead of gasoline. Because of that, it made almost no noise when it ran. It was perfect for covert actions.

Accelerator watched the scenery go by out the window and spoke.

“What’s with the smoke-tinted glass? I doubt you cart anyone rich around in this thing.”

“Well, we can’t have our faces seen in this job.”

The truck and the driver’s outfit didn’t look thrown together. They had been formally prepared by Academy City for this type of job. He didn’t know how they got their funds, but with this equipment it looked like an entire Anti-Skill district’s worth of funds had been used.

The middle-aged man spoke to Accelerator during a break in the conversation he was having over the truck’s radio.

“You’re part of GROUP, right? And I hear this is your first job.”

“Your point?”

“Nothing really,” the driver said while looking straight ahead. “I just think sometimes that, even though I have no skills beyond being able to drive you around, there are people who wouldn’t be dragged down to hell if I wasn’t here.”

“...”

“Well, I’m sure they can get plenty of other drivers, but I still think about it. For instance, if I just held down the gas now, I might be able to save at least one person.”

“Ha. You’ve got guts. With guts like that you shouldn’t be wasting your time on a job like this.”

“Everyone else like Tsuchimikado-san and Unabara-san says the same thing. I wonder why.”

“Because you’re a sentimental, good person,” Accelerator muttered under his breath.

The GPS navigation system informed them that they had reached their destination with a recorded woman’s voice. The electric garbage truck silently came to a stop.

Accelerator opened the passenger side door, put his cane that had a modern design on the ground, and finally put his shoe down on the dirty roadway.

He heard a voice from behind him.

“As I was instructed, I’ll be back to pick you up in 20 minutes. Be careful.”

“So I’ll be taken away on that thing whether I win or lose. Either as I came or as a corpse.” Without turning around, he responded with a slightly amused voice.

The truck drove off behind him. He ignored it and looked around slowly.

It looked like most other parts of the city.

But this place had a different atmosphere. It was a strained atmosphere and it felt like evil presences were watching from the various entrances to the alleys. It felt like a swamp you would never be able to leave once you entered it.

While standing at an alley entrance, there were numerous iron stakes driven into the road surface at his feet.

The partially rusted stakes were at varying heights from 10 cm to 30 cm and were closely packed together from the entrance to about a meter in. It was like a thicket of iron.

(I see. This is to keep the security robots out.)

Accelerator laughed scornfully.

The drum-shaped robots in Academy City were made to climb up over various changes in the terrain and they could operate elevators using infrared signals.

But an intentionally made barricade like this was too much for them to get through.

After their “dangerous object evasion sequence” had repeated a certain number of times, they would put that area on hold and overlook it for the time being and then go elsewhere.

“...”

Looking up, there were plastic sheets stretched between the buildings almost covering up the sky. Most of them were blue and some were red or yellow, but it was clear they were just covering the space with whatever they could get across. Because of this, the sunlight was tinted oddly so they looked like speckled stained glass.

They were there to avoid satellite detection.

Anti-Skill would forcibly remove this obstruction on a weekly or monthly basis, but Skill Out would put it back up soon afterwards. It was a purposeful endless cycle on their part.

That was how they did things.

Easily made. Easily abandoned. Easily redone.

If their barricade was destroyed, they would prepare a new one. If their base was destroyed, they would make a new one elsewhere. If their organization was crushed, failing people would gather together and a new one would be made.

That was why they would never be gone.

For the same reason that roaches would never go extinct, they learned little by little and strengthened their resistance.

This was the result of a type of evolution focused on the negative that no one wanted.

“...What a nostalgic atmosphere.”

Accelerator’s mouth loosened on its own.

The dark alley spreading out before him was a lawless area where the security robots and the satellite could not reach. Whatever happened, no one would see it. It was a world where no one coming to save you was normal.

“Now then...”

As he was about to go in, his cell phone rang.

He took it out with an irritated look on his face and the display said “Entry 3”.

“Tsuchimikado.”

“I realized you were starting your first job. Before you begin, I wanted to give you a warning.”

“So you’re giving me a warning, are you?” Accelerator spat out. “What is it, senpai.”

“Don’t trust us,” Tsuchimikado responded. “You, me, and everyone else in GROUP are people who would find it problematic if what we’re doing became public. As GROUP was created using people like that, there is no way out.”

“...Were you hoping I’d be grateful you told me that?”

“If you just follow the rules the Board of Directors has laid out, they aren’t going to let you out. This is made so they profit no matter what happens. You need to think about how you can win in this situation. We both have things we need to protect.”

“...” Accelerator briefly remained silent.

He was reminded of a girl who must have been in the hospital at that time.

But he sealed up his expression, his actions, and his words before that could be seen by anyone else.

“Is that all you wanted?”

“Yes, it was. Finish this up quickly and come on back. Musujime should be starting her job about now. Make sure you don’t get caught up in that.”

(Her job?)

Just as Accelerator started looking confused...

Boom!!

A high-pitched explosion resounded from down the narrow, narrow alley.

It sounded pretty far away, but a lukewarm wind hit his face. While he was being bathed in the dust- and dirt-filled air, Accelerator asked Tsuchimikado a question.

For a second, he had thought Komaba Ritoku’s plan had started, but Tsuchimikado seemed oddly calm for that to be the case. After thinking for a second, he came up with a good guess.

“Is Musujime using bombs? And no one told me this was going to be a fucking competition.”

“She isn’t aiming for people; she’s aiming for money.” Tsuchimikado replied in an unconcerned voice. “Skill Out has funds for their activities. They have various ways of decentralizing its storage, but she’s taking it out anyway. After all, burning it is better than giving them a chance to run off with it.”

The sound of explosions continued.

But Skill Out was used to fights that used that kind of weapon. They wouldn’t falter from that alone. Someone with a suitable power was needed to stand in this battlefield.

He was pretty sure Musujime Awaki’s power was Move Point. She could move objects wherever she wanted free of any three-dimensional restrictions.

She must have been using that power again.

“So she can still be useful. And I thought she was just GROUP’s decoration. Wasn’t her unstable mental condition keeping her from using her powers?”

“She’s the same as you,” Tsuchimikado responded while listening to the explosions over the phone. “That’s being compensated for.”

“Okay, fine. So, I can just use this confusion to take out the Skill Out members here before they can regroup, right?”

“Well, with their money supply being attacked, I doubt their leader will just run away, but your main target is Komaba Ritoku, the bastard leading them all. Don’t let him get away.”

“I’m more worried about doing too much destruction. Digging flesh out of rubble sounds like a pain in the ass.”

Accelerator decided to hang up.

He put the phone in his pocket and moved his other hand up to the back of his neck without letting go of his cane. It looked like he was checking the movement of a joint, but that was where the switch for his choker-style electrode was.

“Well, I guess I should get started.”

He sensed a number of people around him.

There were over 20 sights of handguns and bow guns pointed towards him from within the alley, from the windows of the buildings, and from any other cover someone could find.

In response, Accelerator ever so slightly smiled.

This was the place he had once wanted to make his way out of even if he had to crawl through the dirt.

“Looks like I have some cleaning up to do. I’ll be done in 10 minutes.”

He was back with a smile on his face.

Part 3

Musujime Awaki was walking through a dark alley.

Because there were variously colored plastic sheets spread from building to building above her, the sunlight was tinted in various colors such as blue, red, and yellow. The flow of air was stagnated and the smell of trash and dirt permeated the area. The walls were covered in crude graffiti and a rusted remnant of an ATM that had been brought in from somewhere was lying on the ground with its cover pried open. The area must have had no shortage of activity because there were things like a saw with broken teeth and broken lumber lying around.

And as she walked through that area, Musujime was wearing a piece of cloth wrapped over her bare breasts as innerwear and a blazer that looked like it was part of a school uniform worn over her shoulders. That and her incredibly short skirt made it look like she was asking for something to happen.

But no one touched her.

Not a single one.

“...Too easy.”

The large man who had tried to swing a metal pipe at her and the skinny woman who had tried to shoot her with a bow from a window had been dealt with the same way. Musujime used her Move Point power to take things like rusted broken down cars and metal dumpsters that were in the area and forcibly move them in front of her as shields. After defending against the attack, she would take the corkscrews she had and directly stick them into her opponent’s arms and legs. It always ended with that same pattern.

Spinning in her hand was a military flashlight that could also be used as a baton. She used it to assist with her power by aligning her aim with it. Because her power had too high a level of freedom, if she didn’t establish her own point of reference, her aim was too vague.

She spoke in a bored voice while swinging the tool in her hand around.

“You don’t necessarily get an advantage by gathering a large group of people and you don’t necessarily win by gathering weapons. But I suppose only people who can’t figure that much out would join a back alley gang in the first place.”

In contrast to her calm, the area erupted into a roaring storm.

To defend against attacks from all directions, Musujime had created a tiny tornado with herself at the center. It was formed from a number of thick metal objects like a manhole lid and an iron plate. Her Move Point made no noise, but the number of projectiles hitting those shields made quite a din.

Musujime pulled the pin out of a grenade with her mouth and threw it towards the now lidless manhole.

A muffled explosion could be heard coming from the sewer.

From the information they had gathered, a safe about the size of a handbag was hidden down there.

“That’s #9. ...This just isn’t satisfying enough.”

Ever since she had caused an incident on September 14th and had the tables turned on her by Shirai Kuroko of Judgement, a mental irregularity had put her in a slump where she couldn’t use her powers.

The reason she had recovered from that was...

(...When I first heard about this, I thought it was complete bullshit, but I guess the technical team is just that good.)

She had electrodes stuck on her shoulders and her back that looked like compresses. It was a small low frequency vibration treatment device. Simply put, it was a massage machine that sent electric currents into her body. The machine measured the disturbances in her brain waves and created the most effective pulse pattern based on that.

It wasn’t perfect, but it certainly helped keep her stress down to a certain level.

(On the other hand, walking around with compresses all over your body isn’t exactly how a girl wants to live her life.)

Even though she had been able to get back in action with the help of these machines, there had been a major effect on the incident from September 14th.

The ringleader of that incident had been Musujime Awaki, but she was not the only one in the criminal group. In order to steal the Remnant, a part of Tree Diagram, she had gotten the help of a few dozen espers who shared her ideals. Most of them had been defeated by that Railgun and captured by Anti-Skill.

And she was the only one that had made it back out on the streets.

Currently, there was no clear crime in Academy City called treason. But no one was going to protect the civil liberties of a traitor who threatened the peace of the city. So the punishment was carried out in secret regardless of the law. And it was done in a brutal way that took advantage of that lawlessness.

She had to do something.

Her comrades who had once walked on the same path as her were in trouble.

“...”

Musujime threw a grenade into a crack on a large outdoor air conditioning unit and the bundle of bills hidden inside was blown to pieces.

And she continued further into the alley.

(Cash, gold bars, an access card to an IT Bank under a fake corporate name...This really is quite spread out. How did they gather all this money?)

Apparently, Komaba Ritoku the leader running everything in the area had banned the prostitution of girls. Since he had sealed off one of the quickest methods of gathering funds, he must have had some other method.

(I suppose it doesn’t really matter. I’m just here to make sure it’s all destroyed. Just another 14 areas and I can leave.)

As she thought cheerfully, she slowly spun the flashlight around in her hand.

“...I’d like for you to stop that, esper.”

A male voice suddenly cut off Musujime’s thoughts.

About 10 meters in front of her in the straight, narrow alley, a large gorilla-like man was standing. He must have come from one of the buildings’ back entrances. His hard muscles were covered by a cheap jacket, but it looked like it was going to rip apart if he flexed his muscles even slightly.

He looked like an incarnation of destruction, but his voice was quite melancholy in comparison.

His voice sounded like he had copy paper coming from his mouth as he spoke.

“We distributed our money like this to prevent it from all being lost at once. You could say it’s like how a coward afraid of being mugged carries several wallets. Having all of your possessions stolen at once isn’t a very popular option.”

Instead of responding, Musujime pulled out her cell phone right in front of her enemy.

She looked at the screen, checked the photo there, and gave a surprised gasp.

“Komaba Ritoku. Oh, my. It seems I’ve run into the target first.”

At some point, the Skill Out members who had been surrounding her had disappeared.

Komaba must have used his authority to have them evacuate.

He didn’t want them to get in his way.

“Don’t be mad, Accelerator.”

“That name... I suppose I should have abandoned the money instead of being greedy if someone like that is coming...”

Musujime wasn’t really paying attention to Komaba’s words.

She closed her cell phone with a snap and put it in her pocket.

She then slowly brought her flashlight up at the ready.

“Move Point, huh? A troublesome power.”

“Do you really think it’s only troublesome?”

“I suppose you’re right. I hate it much more than something that is only troublesome.”

It may have been a characteristic trait of members of the Level 0 group Skill Out, but Komaba’s copy paper-like words had dark emotions mixed in.

(It doesn’t really matter), thought Musujime.

He was 10 meters away on a straight, narrow path. She would use her corkscrews on him. No matter how strong Komaba was, he would fall to the ground before he could take 3 steps. And even if he was hiding a handgun or other long-distance weapon, Musujime could just call in a “shield”.

“I’ll end this with one right between the eyes.”

“So you‘ll spare me any pain? ...I’m so moved.”

Without saying anything else, Musujime swung her flashlight and sent a command to a corkscrew in her pocket. Ignoring the visible three dimensional vectors, the corkscrew flew through space using the theoretical values of the 11th dimension and headed right towards Komaba Ritoku’s forehead.

And it missed.

“Wha-...?”

Seeing the corkscrew appear in empty space, Musujime’s eyes widened in shock. She felt a slight pain in her back. In response to her tension, the stress-lowering low frequency vibration treatment device had sent out a stronger pulse.

It wasn’t that Musujime Awaki had aimed incorrectly.

Komaba had suddenly disappeared.

A roar like a dump truck driving by came from directly behind her.

“...Too slow.”

Along with that quiet voice, she felt a dull pain on the very top of her head like something heavy had fallen on her. As her consciousness fluttered in and out, Musujime realized that Komaba had forcefully swung his fist down at her.

An electric current ran through her shoulders and back.

Up until now, the device had helped her, but now it was just being a bother.

“Kh!?”

She looked over her shoulder and called an old abandoned car to the spot Komaba was standing in. This was no shield; she was trying to crush her target.

But Komaba was no longer there.

He had jumped 7 meters straight up into the air.

“Don’t be surprised...”

A sign or an air conditioning unit must have been installed there at one time, because Komaba was standing on a rectangular prism of a metal bar sticking out from the wall at the 2nd floor.

With an explosive noise, he kicked the metal bar, breaking it, and the pieces flew towards Musujime with enormous speed.

“I’m taking this seriously,” he continued.

Musujime couldn’t hear the sound of Komaba landing.

This was because the many sharp cross-sections of the metal bar quickly came at her all at once.

“!?”

She hurriedly called the old car she had attacked with to appear right in front of her.

She had intended to use it as a shield, but the metal bars were moving quickly enough to easily pierce through it. Musujime instinctually held her hands up to cover her face, but they only grazed her thigh and the brutal weapon stabbed into the asphalt and stopped.

As she watched the metal bars vibrated slightly, a chill ran down Musujime’s spine.

(A shield is useless if it’s destroyed so easily...!!)

“...Don’t look so dissatisfied. When fighting against a monster like you, I deserve some kind of preparation, don’t I?”

Komaba Ritoku’s low laughing voice reached Musujime’s ears.

Looking through the rusted car’s windows that had no glass in them, she managed to spot Komaba’s face. He was standing about 10 meters ahead in the small alleyway with concrete walls on either side.

(I’ve got him!!)

Musujime concentrated. She gave a slight wave of her flashlight calling for 5 corkscrews that were lying on the ground nearby and moved them all at once to coordinates inside Komaba’s body.

But...

“...You won’t hit me.”

There was a loud roar that didn’t sound like something that could come from a human body. Komaba zigzagged left and right down the narrow alley at a tremendous speed avoiding all of the teleported attacks Musujime sent at him.

And that wasn’t all.

“You can have these back. I prefer cheap booze to fine wine.” Komaba lifted his leg as he dodged the corkscrews. “I have no use for corkscrews.”

He gave a kick that sounded like a whip. His leg accurately hit the corkscrews that were still falling from the air and launched them at terrifying speed towards Musujime.

“...!!”

She had no time to move her flashlight and use Move Point.

The corkscrews flew through the car windows and straight for her.

She immediately moved her head to the side and received a light scratch on her right cheek. The sound of the air being split sounded from right next to her ear and the electrodes on her back and shoulders pumped out its relaxing signal to its limits.

(Ow... How can a flesh-and-blood human move like that?)

Komaba’s movements weren’t like those of an automobile that just moves straight ahead.

His movements contained the subtle and minute adjustments characteristic of a living being.

“That mobility... You have Hard Taping under your clothes, don’t you!?”

“So you’ve figured it out.”

Komaba slowly approached Musujime with undetectable footsteps.

The broken down car was between them, but Komaba would easily be able to jump over it.

To stop him, Musujime took irregular steps back about every time he took one to put some distance between them.

At some point, the roles of attacker and defender had been completely reversed.

“In my case, I have 6 ligaments in my knee protected and the muscles in my leg that are connected to my femur, my tibia, and my fibula reinforced from the outside. I also have metal plates in my shoes to keep my foot from being destroyed... Getting a hold of this special military-use ultrasonic wave elastic taping wasn’t easy.”

The taping was mainly on his legs, but he must have had it lightly reinforcing his entire body as well. You couldn’t balance with just your legs and, if you lost your balance while moving at high speed, you would collapse spectacularly.

“You could say this is just the portion of a powered suit that gives it its mobility taken out and isolated. If you want to kill me, you should have brought something with enough firepower to take out an armored weapon...”

“Hmph. Is Hard Taping really that convenient?” Musujime spoke with a smile in her lips.

But a cold sweat was appearing on her face.

She could move various objects ignoring the three dimensional limitations by using theoretical 11th dimensional vectors, but one exception was herself. If she moved herself, it caused her extreme mental damage. The low frequency vibration treatment device was supposed to compensate for this, but she didn’t know if she could actually pull it off. The odds were probably worse than 50/50. It was even possible that she wouldn’t be able to bear the mental pressure and her memories would distract her keeping her from using her powers properly or making any proper judgements.

She couldn’t get out of this easily.

But even if she could turn this around, she had to create the opportunity to do so herself.

With that in mind, Musujime moved her mouth in an attempt to stall for time.

“Powered suits aren’t that big because the parts needed for mobility and the thickness of the armor take up that much space. It’s because they have to put in safety devices for the pilots as well.”

As she spoke, Musujime carefully examined her surroundings.

The alley was straight and narrow. If Komaba attacked, escape would be pretty much impossible. The broken down car was in between them, but she doubted that would stop him.

“A powered suit has much higher mobility than a fully-equipped vehicle. It can move at speeds greater than 10 times what a vehicle can. But it’s still a flesh-and-blood human inside.”

Dodging or blocking Komaba’s attack was going to be difficult.

Musujime gripped her flashlight tighter and continued analyzing.

“I see. ...You’re talking about the body protection.”

“If you suddenly go from a standstill to high speed, there is a risk of pulled or torn muscles. That’s why the powered suits have multiple safety devices created to prevent that from happening. Similar to this low frequency vibration treatment device I’m using, the muscles are constantly having electrical stimuli given to them so that they are always in a state similar to after having performed warm-up exercises. That way the damage from sudden motion can be prevented.”

In the end, her only choice was to use Move Point to defeat Komaba Ritoku before his attack arrived.

If she didn’t end this before his first attack, her life could be in danger.

“Your Hard Taping has no such safety features,” Musujime informed him while spinning her flashlight in her hand.

Komaba Ritoku’s expression did not change.

“That’s a defective item that failed Anti-Skill’s tests. It may do quite a bit of damage to your body. Although, it won’t be anywhere near as much as I will.”

“Heh...”

Komaba laughed even as a clear weakness was pointed out.

“I’m prepared for that much... I have been ever since I swore I would fight monsters like you even though I’m a Level 0.”

His giant gorilla-like body swelled up another size bigger.

Most likely, he was working to resist the damage as much as possible by regulating his body in a rational way even more subtly than a professional athlete would. His body had turned into a single giant weapon.

“I need to finish this as soon as possible.”

(Tch.)

“...I have a lot I need to do!!”

(I’m really not going to get a chance to get away!!)

A loud roar sounded out.

Komaba Ritoku shot towards Musujime with a speed at which he would have been able to outstrip a train.

“!!”

Musujime instinctually took a step back and spun her military flashlight around.

She threw a giant sign at the spot Komaba Ritoku was in.

But by the time the command had been sent, he was no longer there. He ran further and further forward like a rocket shattering the asphalt under his feet.

(Kh... He’s too fast. I don’t have time to indicate his coordinates!!)

Musujime’s throat was dry.

Komaba flew towards her with a roar and landed on the roof of the abandoned car she had been using as a shield. The red, rusted metal cracked under the force and his feet sank deeply into it. Ignoring that, Komaba lifted his foot. He was going to crush Musujime under that foot as she hid behind the car.

He was only a step away now.

“Ah-ahhhh!!”

Musujime moved back while feeling a chill.

She gave up on attacking and moved a nearby metal dumpster in front of her. The thick metal box was big enough to hold 4 unit baths and she used it to block Komaba’s attack.

But...

“So thin...”

Musujime heard a faint laughing voice from the other side of the supposedly thick wall.

And...

“...You can’t stop me with a mere membrane like this.”

Musujime Awaki clearly saw the dumpster explosively expand from the inside out right in front of her eyes.

Komaba Ritoku used one of his legs which were reinforced by the Hard Taping to kick into it like his leg was a metal stake.

An explosive noise reached Musujime’s ears directly afterwards.

Komaba’s foot slammed into the dumpster like a dump truck, tore into the thick metal box, and smashed the contents to pieces scattering them everywhere.

An unpleasant clanging noise rang out from the metal falling to the ground.

The wreckage flew over 10 meters in front of Komaba. It looked like a giant dragon had vomited everywhere.

There was no way to determine where the body was. There was just something reddish brown mixed in with the partially decayed trash. The purple pieces must have been the organs. Her military flashlight was lying on the ground. After being cruelly crushed, there was only a red liquid stuck to the ground.

“Hmph...”

Even after seeing the hair mixed in with the blood, Komaba Ritoku’s expression did not change.

He merely spoke in his usual way that sounded like copy paper was coming from his mouth.

“...That was too quick. I didn’t even get to use my specialty...”

Part 4

Just as he had announced, Accelerator had quieted the Skill Out group within 10 minutes.

But he hadn’t used his powers that entire time.

At first, he had manipulated the atmosphere to create a gust of wind greater than 50 m/s knocking most of his enemies to the ground. He then turned off his powers and shot them while their movements were in disorder. When they were about to counterattack, he would create another gust of wind and start shooting again once they were rendered helpless. That pattern had repeated again and again.

He had easily won after 10 minutes.

Because of this strategy, he hadn’t even used 30 seconds of powered time.

In his battle with Hound Dog and their leader Kihara Amata, he had learned just how much a weakness the electrode’s battery was. He had to learn how to economize in his use of the battery.

“Now then. Where’s that bastard Komaba Ritoku everyone’s talking about? He wasn’t in that group I just took out, was he?”

Accelerator moved his hand to the back of his neck and flipped the switch off. He looked around to make sure there were no enemies left and headed further into the alley.

He had blown everything away with the wind, but, after walking a mere 100 meters in, the scenery was back to rusted metal trash and colored plastic sheets hiding the sky.

Accelerator suddenly stopped and leaned on his cane.

Musujime’s explosions had stopped.

“Tch. So her quota’s done. I don’t like being the last one done.”

He tilted his head to the side in annoyance, but...

“Then...I suppose I can let you take a break.”

Those words abruptly reached Accelerator’s ears.

He continued down the narrow alley and found a building that looked only partially completed. It was only made out of a steel frame, so it looked like a giant jungle gym. And on the 4th floor, which was about halfway up, a large gorilla-like man was standing.

The man spoke in a quiet voice that sounded like copy paper was coming from his mouth.

“Accelerator...Quite a famous visitor. But I never thought you’d be hunting us down as a dog of the Board of Directors...”

“So you must be Komaba Ritoku.” Accelerator looked up at the steel framework. “I suppose I should ask. What was the reason for this plan of yours?”

“Even if I told you, you don’t actually care why Skill Out is attacking espers.”

“Hah. From that I take it that when you got out on the streets you would be attacking everyone indiscriminately.”

“No, not indiscriminately... We would choose our targets carefully...”

“You seem pretty calm. Do you really understand the situation here?”

“There was a girl telling me the same thing just a bit ago.”

As he spoke, Komaba took something off of his belt and lightly tossed it down.

It was a blood-smeared military flashlight.

It hit the steel frame a few times on the way down and finally fell onto the asphalt where its glass lens and light bulb shattered.

“I killed her.”

“...”

Accelerator remained silent for a second at that quick comment.

Komaba frowned.

“You’re taking this peacefully... This isn’t the kind of person I was told you were. So you really have changed. Loners usually don’t hesitate at times like this. And they end up dying because they try to stand up to me. I’m well past the point where I worry about how to clean up a corpse...”

“I see.” Accelerator smiled slightly as he spoke. “Did you know that people who stand up to me tend to end up as mincemeat?”

Still smiling, he moved his hand to the switch on the back of his neck.

“Hoo...” Komaba exhaled. “If you’re going to try to act cool, at least be battle ready before hand...”

“You do realize you’re talking to Academy City’s strongest Level 5, right?”

“...Confronting monsters like you is what Skill Out does best.”

Komaba tapped the back of his neck with his pointer finger.

“That electrode...is a transmitter for some kind of electronic information, isn’t it?”

“Tch!!” Accelerator clicked his tongue and flipped the switch for the electrode.

He altered the vectors for his legs. The asphalt beneath his feet cracked and he shot like a rocket towards the fourth floor where Komaba was standing.

But Komaba was faster.

He pulled what looked like a spray can from his pocket and hit it with a whip-like kick. His kick was delivered with a force one wouldn’t expect from a normal person and it tore the metal can to pieces like it was made of paper. Its contents scattered through the air.

The contents were thin sheets of metal about the size of the lead to a mechanical pencil. They glittered in the dim back alley. They were composed of two thin wings so they looked like tiny helicopter rotors.

Hundreds of these thin sheets of metal stopped in midair while slowly rotating like bamboo copters.

“...These are a type of radio jamming weapon called Chaff Seeds. ...They use a micro motor to float in the air using the structure of the seeds of plants in the Dipterocarpaceae family...”

Komaba’s expression remained unchanged as he spoke.

“I originally had this to knock out Anti-Skill radios.”

“!!”

Accelerator’s power of ascent suddenly stopped.

He didn’t reach the 4th floor Komaba was on; he fell down and landed on the framework of the third floor.

Even his reflection ability must have been knocked out, because pain spread through his back like it would for a normal person.

“Gh..ah!?”

He let out a cry, but he didn’t have room to writhe around.

“I had seen something like that just a bit before.”

When he heard the quiet voice come from above him, Accelerator quickly looked up.

“The teleporter who attacked had something like that on her back... Hers probably works differently than yours and I don’t know exactly why the two of you are wearing them... But I’m betting they assist you with your powers.”

A shadow stretched out.

Komaba jumped down from the 4th floor aiming for Accelerator’s gut with both his feet.

If that hit him, his organs would rupture.

He had a handgun, but that giant body wouldn’t stop if he shot it.

“Tch! Fucker!!”

Accelerator gave up trying to attack, brought his arms and legs in, and rolled like a ball backwards on the narrow frame.

Komaba’s feet landed forcefully in the spot Accelerator had just been in.

A loud dull noise came from the metal.

Stopping his roll, Accelerator brought his handgun up and fired in response, but Komaba moved his upper body dodging the 3 shots fired. He wasn’t watching the bullets; he was keeping away from the barrel.

The cartridges that smelled of fireworks fell all the way to the ground.

“...How unsightly.” A smile spread across Komaba’s face. “If your powers were perfect, you wouldn’t need a gun...And you wouldn’t have avoided my attack.”

(God damn it. I just have to stop his movements by shooting him in the lower back!!)

Accelerator gritted his teeth and altered his aim. But...

“Heh... Don’t fall off.”

As he spoke, Komaba brought his foot down and the 3rd floor framework broke in half like a tree branch.

(...!? That strength...!!)

No normal human could produce that attack and Komaba was Level 0. That meant he must have some kind of equipment supporting him.

“...Kh!!”

As his already unstable footing slanted to the side, Accelerator’s aim strayed a good ways from Komaba. And before he could bring it back, Komaba’s gigantic body was headed for him.

(I still can’t use my powers!!)

The numerous glittering metal Chaff Seeds were still floating in the air like bamboo copters. They were spread evenly all throughout the area, so trying to brush them away with his hand wasn’t going to help much.

Accelerator clicked his tongue as Komaba Ritoku approached.

There was a roaring wind.

Even with the unstable footing, Komaba had moved a few meters in an instant.

And...

He was using his powerful leg to attack with a crushing kick.

“!!”

Accelerator immediately twisted his body, but that leg knocked his gun off of the frame. Komaba had been aiming for the gun the whole time. His speed had been too fast to react to.

“...You’re going to burst open and paint this area red.”

Komaba pulled a handgun of his own from his belt. It was a large handgun with an odd form that had two thick magazines sticking into it just in front of the trigger.

This wasn’t an attack Accelerator could avoid by moving his head to the side.

(Shit!!)

He prepared himself and jumped with all his might to the side and then right off the framework.

The 2nd floor was next.

But since he dove off without looking, he messed up the timing on his landing and struck the framework without being able to soften the blow. He fell down another floor because of it. The impact made a dull noise. He had partially landed once partway down, but he had fallen to the ground from the 3rd floor all the same. The pain was more than one could bear just by gritting one’s teeth. And for someone who left everything to his powers instead of training his body like Accelerator, it was even worse.

“Gwaaaah!!” Accelerator yelled while holding the top of his shoulder.

Komaba ignored his scream and pulled the trigger.

As he rolled on the dirty ground, Accelerator somehow managed to avoid the bullet.

The power of the bullet was much greater than a normal one. It pierced a steel frame partway down and the thick piece of metal exploded from the inside. The frame was transformed into a large number of small metal pieces and they rained down on Accelerator. He was rolling on the ground, but he still received small tears on his skin.

“Tch!!”

Accelerator searched the ground with his gaze looking for something.

(...! There it is!!)

He grabbed his handgun that Komaba had kicked down.

He rolled onto his back, held the gun up in both hands, aimed towards the framework above, and pulled the trigger.

The gunshot rang out.

But Komaba wasn’t there. The bullet flew through empty space and hit the edge of one of the plastic sheets covering the sky. The bullet must have hit the clasp because the sheet blew to the side.

“Checkmate...”

Accelerator heard this monotonous voice that sounded like the written words were being expelled from the speaker’s mouth coming from a blind spot diagonally up from his position.

Komaba must have already moved to a different frame.

“I give you one final choice... Where do you want me to shoot you when I kill you?”

“...So you have a Smart Weapon.”

Accelerator muttered that in annoyance, but it was hard to aim towards Komaba in his state.

He heard the voice coming from outside his vision again.

“My Smart Weapon uses infrared rays to accurately measure the target’s composition, solidity, and distance. ...And then it mixes the powder that will cause the most appropriate level of destruction. ...Then the plastic instantaneously hardens forming the bullet. It can shoot through a steel plate or it can leave the bullet in a piece of tofu. If you have a way you would prefer to die, tell me now. I am confident that I can create almost any type of death while operating it on manual...”

“I see,” muttered Accelerator.

If Accelerator was defeated here, Komaba Ritoku would trigger Code Orange which would knock out the communications network. Then he would take advantage of the confusion and indiscriminately attack the espers in the area. But nothing would be gained by it. Skill Out just wasn’t powerful enough to gain control of the entirety of Academy City.

That was why they had changed from the original target of their violence and were aiming for an “enemy” they could actually defeat.

They were attacking a low-level “enemy” instead of the Level 5’s and the Board of Directors who they truly hated.

The skin on Accelerator’s face distorted into a smile.

The law of the back alleys was ruled by strong vs. weak instead of good vs. evil. He was so familiar with it, he wanted to vomit. And Accelerator had parted from the world of light and plunged into the depths of GROUP in order to fight that type of law.

Accelerator gritted his teeth.

--Are you trying to rule Skill Out like this?

“In your case, it may be better if you remain suspicious of others’ kind words. Especially if you know the value of what you want to protect.”

--Are you just going to enjoy causing trouble at your own convenience like this?

“No matter how unsightly it may be, you have no choice but to keep paying back every yen, every fraction of a yen, you can. If you keep adding it up, your path will surely open up before you. After all, you have power unlike me. There are plenty of ways you can pay it all back at once.”

--Are you just going to continue bringing misfortune to innocent people like this?

“I’m back, says Misaka as Misaka gives the standard greet-...Ow! Why are you repeatedly chopping me without saying anything!? says Misaka as Misaka holds her head and pretends to cry!!”

(Is he just going to devour other people’s happiness just to vent his own pent up anger and satisfy no one but himself!?)

“Fuck that, you piece of shit!”

And with those words, two guns fired.

Part 5

And with that the battle was over.

Who won and who lost was as clear as day. Accelerator’s last ray of hope was that his gun was pointed towards somewhere other than the metal Chaff Seeds scattered throughout the air that were obstructing his powers or his target, Komaba.

And Komaba Ritoku’s Smart Weapon was accurately pointed at him from a blind spot. In shogi, that was called a perfect checkmate. It was a situation where his attack couldn’t reach and his opponent’s attack could take his life.

The fired bullet pierced soft flesh.

The bullet from the Smart Weapon tore through the meat of a person’s side. The scraps of clothes torn off were soaked with blood and the weight kept them from floating. The scraps merely fell to the ground.

A second later, a burning pain ran though that side.

But there was no time to even put a hand to the wound.

“Why...?”

The words naturally seeped out.

The taste of blood spread through that mouth and that red liquid spilled from those lips.

“Why is your ‘reflection’ back?”

Looking at Komaba coughing up blood above him on the framework, Accelerator gave a thin smile while still lying on the dirty ground.

“You idiot.”

It was a thin, thin, thin, thin, ever so thin smile.

It was a smile that looked like it had been split open by a razor blade. It was a smile that starved for blood.

“After you scatter that foil called chaff into the air, it jams electromagnetic signals. So the solution was simple. I just had to get those thin sheets of metal out of the air somehow. With ventilation, for example.”

“You...don’t mean...”

Komaba looked up.

One of the various colored plastic sheets that were spread from building to building as a satellite countermeasure was blown out of the way. Accelerator’s bullet had knocked off the clasp.

Due to the sudden wind, the Chaff Seeds had blown well out of formation. They could float under their own power to a certain extent, but it wasn’t enough to stand up to a strong blast of wind. A large hole had been blown in their compact formation from before.

“Now then...”

The sound of the ground being struck was heard.

Accelerator must have altered some vector or other because, from lying on his back, he stood straight up without bending like a door being opened.

“You need to rethink what it means for a Level 0 to pick a fight with a Level 5!!”

“...Tch!!”

Komaba slowly reached for his pocket.

Whether he used his special gun or strong legs, Komaba Ritoku had no chance of winning now that Accelerator’s vector conversion ability was back.

So he must have been trying to disseminate more Chaff Seeds and retreat.

“Too slow!!”

Accelerator kicked some pebbles at his feet.

That was all he did.

Nevertheless, the vector converted pebbles shot strait through Komaba’s palm. A loud roar could be heard after the flesh on his hand was torn open.

“Gwaaaaahhh!?”

The Chaff Seed container Komaba had taken out fell and he crouched down holding the wrist of the hand hit. But that was when he lost his balance. While crouched down, he fell from the 3rd floor frame.

Komaba Ritoku wasn’t going to die from just that. His legs were strong enough to break those steel frames. If he could regain his balance partway down, he could easily make a proper landing.

And for that very reason, Accelerator showed no mercy.

“Ha ha! C’mon, let me have a little more fun!!”

He altered the vectors of his legs and shot forward like a rocket. He grabbed Komaba’s gut just as he was about to land and slammed him into a nearby steel pillar.

He had converted Komaba’s falling vector to one straight ahead.

The thick steel pillar bent unnaturally from the impact. Komaba’s giant body trembled. His cell phone and the reserve Chaff Seed containers came from his pocket and scattered across the ground.

“Gh...bh...!?”

Komaba coughed up blood, but, regardless of whether it was going to reach Accelerator’s face or not, he repelled it to the side so not a single drop landed on him.

He rejected even that.

“Now it’s checkmate. You have no feeling left in your lower body, right?”

“Kh...”

“You did a good job of actually managing to keep your Smart Weapon in your hand through all that. I’ll give you that much. If you want to continue this, go for it. Seeing people kill themselves like that can be quite fun.”

While holding his target by the gut, the edges of Accelerator’s lips lifted up.

“It’s true Level 0’s are weak, but being weak doesn’t make you evil.”

He was enjoying disgracing this man who was on the verge of death.

“People like that are treated like nuisances because it’s always people like you in Skill Out causing the problems. Give you rights? A guarantee of safety? Fucking ridiculous. Can’t you tell you’re strangling yourself by doing things like that?”

“...Heh.”

All his teeth were stained red, but Komaba still laughed.

“Here’s a...hypothetical question...” he said in his voice that sounded like copy paper was coming from his mouth. “These ‘harmless Level 0’s’ you’re talking about... If attacking them for no reason became popular among you rotten espers...what would you do?”

Accelerator’s eyelids closed slightly out of disinterest.

“Problems with a person’s personality aren’t taken into account when it comes to whether they get powers or not... There are some people who have powerful abilities but are weak people. These horrible people can do nothing but gloat about it. ...I have seen dozens of espers like that who are nothing beyond their powers.”

Komaba Ritoku didn’t beg for his life; he merely looked Accelerator in the eye as he spoke.

Skill Out.

That group was originally created in order to protect themselves from powerful espers.

“And if...it became popular among those people to play a game where they hunted down Level 0’s who weren’t part of an organization like Skill Out...what would you do?”

There was something glowing on the ground.

It was Komaba Ritoku’s cell phone that had fallen when he had struck the steel pillar. The phone had unfolded when it hit the ground and light was coming from the standby screen.

The screen showed a low-resolution photo.

It was of a small elementary school aged girl and Komaba Ritoku standing uncomfortably next to her.

It was a scene far removed from the Skill Out and the back alleys.

Perhaps Komaba had gone to a lot of effort to distance himself from that kind of thing for that photo.

(This bastard...)

The reorganization of Skill Out.

The objective of this incident and its result.

What Komaba Ritoku had with him.

“Heh. I knew if I kept taking out-of-place actions it would eventually end like this...”

Accelerator lifted his head when he heard Komaba’s voice.

“But I got to see something good in the end. I suppose it all worked out...”

Komaba looked at Accelerator’s expression and smiled with his blood-covered mouth.

What exactly had Komaba taken from the change in the look on that Level 5’s face?

With slow motions, Komaba pointed his gun right between Accelerator’s eyes.

“It seems...you and I are living under similar circumstances.”

A gunshot shook the area.

Accelerator’s “reflection” made no exceptions. The bullet bounced back and flew back into the Smart Weapon’s barrel. The iron weapon was smashed to pieces from the inside and the bullet continued on its path and hit Komaba’s face. And with that Komaba Ritoku’s face was gone. There was a raw noise. The torn pieces looked like a bowl with chipped edges. It looked like a crude container with skin and hair on it that had only brains inside.

Accelerator saw it from point-blank range.

He saw it from closer than anyone else.

“...”

He let go.

The body fell to the ground and the arms and legs bent limply and remained stuck where they were. Komaba wasn’t going to say anything more. He had been a troublesome enemy when he stood in Accelerator’s path, but all resistance had left him.

And Accelerator’s job was over.

His first job had been completed without a hitch.

Part 6

“Well done,” Unabara Mitsuki said from the other end of the phone. “All that remains is transportation of the bodies as well as elimination of evidence. We’ll take care of the empty cartridges and blood stains. That black garbage truck is on its way, so get on that.”

“No,” Accelerator responded while holding his phone. “I’ll come back on my own. I don’t want any favors from you people.”

“That’s fine, but try not to run into anyone you know. There’s a reason we keep ourselves hidden; standing out isn’t going to bring you any favors. I wouldn’t advise it for any of us.”

“Quit speaking down to me. Do you want me to fucking kill you?”

Accelerator gave that parting comment and hung up.

(...Chaff, huh? So there’s an artificial way of jamming electromagnetic waves. Maybe I could carry a bomb or something around to knock that kind of thing out of the air.)

He looked back at the dirty ground as he thought about what he should do in the future.

Komaba Ritoku’s corpse was there with the top half of its face gone. The military flashlight that had broken in its fall was, too.

“Keh.” Accelerator made a noise of annoyance. “I know you’re alive, Musujime Awaki.”

After he spoke, he heard footsteps coming from farther into the back alley.

“I was watching from a window for some of it, but when did you notice me?”

“Heh. It was obvious you were there.”

In order to avoid Komaba Ritoku’s gunshots, he had jumped from the 2nd story of the framework.

Accelerator had retrieved his gun from the ground afterwards and counterattacked. However, when he thought about it now, it was obvious that that was just too much good fortune. It was pretty unlikely that his gun would be within reach after he fell. Musujime Awaki had used Move Point to move it within reach.

“Don’t interfere in other people’s fights.”

“Oh? Is that any way to talk to the person that saved your life?”

“...Do you want me to kill you?”

“Right back at you.”

A thin smile appeared on Musujime’s face and she got so close he could feel her breath on his face.

Her eyes were open so wide they looked like dinner plates.

“Did you forget? The only reason I’m here is because you interfered with my fight on that day. If it weren’t for you, I could have hidden and gotten more people to help me. Then I could have attacked the facility my comrades are restrained in and rescued them.”

The smile on her face looked like it was slicing her head in two as she slowly spoke.

“Heh. Heh heh. If you use your powers to help me with my work in GROUP and my comrades are released as a result, I’ll forgive you. But if you get in my way, you’re dead. Make sure your value to me doesn’t fall any farther. If you don’t you’ll have corkscrews all over your body.”

“Shut the fuck up, woman.” Accelerator cracked his neck as he responded. “You’re the one that doesn’t understand. You’re the one that got so upset just because I smashed some of your luggage. Try and get this in that defective brain of yours. If you waste even a second of my life, you’re going to be nothing more than a stain in a back alley.”

“...”

“...”

The two stared at each other for a bit, but then a car horn sounded multiple times with short intervals between. It seemed the black garbage truck had arrived at the entrance to the alley.

The tension between them disappeared when they heard that.

“Fucking ridiculous,” Accelerator spat out.

“You’ve got that right,” Musujime Awaki nodded and stepped back.

It wasn’t time for that yet.

“How did you trick Komaba?”

“It was actually quite easy. Because his legs were so powerful, he wasn’t going to leave a corpse. So I used a dumpster as a shield. It was behind a restaurant, so it had a pig bones and organs in it.”

“I used Move Point to move myself, so I did vomit once partway through,” she added.

To add more detail, she had apparently wrapped some hair she had pulled out with Move Point around her flashlight. She could teleport something as particular as specific hairs, but she still found moving herself difficult.

“...So you used a dumpster full of organs that just happened to be there. That was lucky.”

“Yes, it was. I would have just used something else as a shield had I not been so lucky. I could have used one of the other Skill Out members. I do consider it fortunate that I didn’t have to do that.”

Musujime picked her flashlight up from next to the corpse.

“You did quite a number on him,” she said in a disinterested voice. “Unabara called you, right? What did he say?”

“He said to get on the garbage truck that was coming. I said I’d go back on my own.”

Musujime gave a puzzled look at that.

“Oh? Do you have somewhere you want to go? It’s a bit too soon for lunch.”

“That elegant-acting man asked me that too, but it’s nothing much.”

Accelerator had another cell phone in his hand.

It was a plastic electronic device that was covered in the blood of a man who was now gone.

The standby screen showed a young girl smiling.

And when he pressed a few buttons, a number of phone numbers appeared.

The entry category was “People Requiring Special Attention in Regards to Attacks on Level 0’s”.

He looked through the entries.

As he did, he relaxed and spoke.

“I still have a job left to do. A special bonus job.”