Kirima and this Echoes guy led us out of the lecture hall.
"Go straight home," Kirima insisted.
"I have to give the key back," I said sullenly. I wasn't finished sulking about not getting an explanation. "Maybe I'll report you."
"Whatever," Kirima said airily.
"What's wrong with you?" I retorted. "What makes you think you have to be personally responsible for everything? Can't you just let things be?!"
"Now, now, Committee President," Saotome-kun said, patting me on the shoulders.
"But-!" I insisted.
But Saotome-kun was completely calm, the exact opposite of my state of mind. He spoke to me like he was soothing a fretful baby. "There's nothing you can do. Kirima-san has things she needs to do." It was like he knew what those things were.
"..."
He was definitely too relaxed.
When I held my tongue, he turned back towards Kirima. At his steady gaze, she awkwardly looked away. He spoke to her anyway. "Kirima-san. I do understand."
He took a mechanical pencil out of his pocket, and spun it around his fingers, very casually.
"We can never be satisfied with normal."
"...?" Kirima stared at Saotome-kun, baffled. "What?"
"Looking back, I'm glad you rejected me. If I had been with you, then when I met her, I would've been her enemy." He sighed, almost happily.
Kirima frowned. "When you met who? What are you talking about?" She seemed confused. It looked like something about his turn of phrase that bothered her.
A little smile crept up the edges of Saotome-kun's lips. "In other words, I can't help but put you on the side of 'normal,'now." His shoulders slumped.
Then he moved like lightening.
Before I even realized that he'd turned around, his arm was reaching out towards Echoes, who stood behind him The mechanical pencil was in his hand. His aim was true. The tip of it stabbed deep into Echoes' throat.
"...?!"
Echoes staggered backwards.
In an instant, Saotome had buried the pencil all the way inside Echoes' throat. Then he turned his attention back towards Kirima.
"Now, you are our enemy."
A shadow fell towards us from above.
We all looked up, and saw a person dropping down from the school roof.
Someone I knew.
Yurihara Minako.
She was looking right at Echoes.
Falling on him... No, attacking him.
"...!"
Blood gushing from his throat, Yurihara cut him open from his shoulder to his waist... With her mere fingernails which were hideously long.
She'd fallen more than ten meters, but bounded upwards again like a grasshopper.
By God, she wasn't human!
"Ah..." I could do nothing but stand there with my mouth hanging open.
"M-Manticore!" Kirima shrieked, following the leaping monster that looked like Yurihara with her eyes.
That cost her her life.
Saotome was standing right in front of her.
She looked down just in time to see his hand slash downwards.
The knife in his hand flashed.
'"...!" Kirima's voice never made it to words. It was a tiny little survival knife, the size of his palm, like a toy, but the blade was sharp, and it sliced her throat open.
"I just changed teams-from the killed, to the killers."
I doubt anyone but Saotome himself could understand the meaning behind his words.
Kirima spun around, blood spraying from her throat.
She fell over.
"...!"
His throat pierced, his torso cut in two, Echoes was still watching Kirima. He clearly wasn't human either.
He dodged Yurihara as she attacked again, and dashed to Kirima's side.
Ignoring Saotome, who backed away, Echoes scooped up Kirima's convulsing body, and leapt away. He cleared the roof of the school in a single jump, vanishing into the night sky.
He ran away.
"Chase him! This is your chance!" Saotome shouted, and Yurihara reversed her course, leaping back the way she had come.
I was dumbfounded.
Beside me, Tanaka-kun wailed, then ran away screaming.
Saotome swung towards me.
I was frozen stiff, and I couldn't move a muscle.
"Heh heh heh," he laughed. His smile was exactly the same as it had been a moment before, back when he was on our side.
But this boy had just killed another human being...
My knees rattled. I was shaking with fear.
"To be honest, the plan was for Kirima to kill me here, but oh well. This way was pretty fun too," he said, grinning. Like everything was normal.
"I could get addicted to doing things myself," he commented, walking towards me, moonlight glittering off the knife in his hand.
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As Echoes fled upwards to the roof, he realized that there I was little power left in his body.
fled upwards to the roof, he realized that there I was little power left in his body.
The pencil from a moment before-instead of lead, it had been filled with a fatal poison created by the Manticore. He was infected.
"...!"
He quickly pulled the pencil out of his throat. But it was too late.
His feet and hands felt numb. Injuries that his massive regenerative powers should have healed instantly showed no signs of improving.
But what had happened?
That boy was the Manticore's ally?
He hadn't been brainwashed. Echoes was sure of that. But why would a normal human be working with a monster?
Echoes glanced down at Kirima.
She was no longer breathing. Her pupils were dilated, nothing reflected in her eyes. Her lips were half open, a stream of blood flowing out of them. She wasn't moving.
This girl had protected everyone from the shadows, in secret, and it had killed her.
"..."
Echoes stared down at her ashen face.
(Which is it...?)
He wondered inside. But only Kamikishiro could answer, and sadly, she was gone.
Yurihara hit the roof behind him, giving chase.
Echoes gathered Kirima up again, and leapt off of the roof.
"You can't get away from me!" The Manticore yelled, following him.
She was smiling. Saotome's plan was going perfectly.
Echoes was running, but he was too badly wounded. He could not hope to hide.
She was an imperfect copy, and would never have been his equal in a fair fight, but now the tables were turned.
When she next caught sight of Echoes, he was abandoning Kirima's body in the bushes of the school's garden.
Clearly, he was trying to lighten the load, but it was too late.
Grinning from ear to ear, the Manticore flung herself at the slow-moving Echoes.
Her kick sent Echoes flying.
***
There was a low thud from the school garden.
I snapped out of it.
Saotome was right in front of me, waving a knife.
I narrowly dodged it by rolling on the ground.
I got my feet up from under me and tried to run, but my right foot slipped, and I fell again.
I looked down.
My hands were resting in a pool of Kirima's blood.
"Aaaaahhhh!" and at last, I was able to scream.
Saotome came after me.
I tried to spin around. My fingers touched something.
It gleamed. It was the stun gun that Kirima had dropped.
"...!"
I snatched up the weapon.
"Grr..." Saotome scowled.
"St-stay back!" I pointed the weapon in his direction, and squeezed the switch-like thing on the side.
With a crackle, fireworks spat off of the tip, but they were only a few centimeters long. It was but a tiny little light, and it didn't look at all threatening.
"Hmph," Saotome smiled, coldly. "What are you going to do to me with that? That kind of weapon can't kill anyone."
"Wh-what are you people? That-Yurihara Minako thing... What is it?!"
"She is Yurihara Minako, but she is not Yurihara Minako. The original is dead. She is the Manticore."
"Manticore...?" I could swear I'd heard that name somewhere. In a computer game or something. I'm sure it meant...
...Man-eater.
Oh. God. That meant... That meant Kamikishiro-san was...
Saotome saw my expression, and guessed what I was thinking. He grinned. "Exactly. She's already been digested."He said it so normally. Without a shred of guilt.
"A-and all the other people who vanished?"
"Mostly. Well, there may be a few girls who just ran away on their own."
"And Kirima was looking for you..."
That's why she captured us. But she thought we had nothing In do with it, so she released us, without realizing that one of her enemies was hiding among us.
"You used us as cover, didn't you?"
"You had your uses. She was a fool. She allied herself with Echoes, but it never occurred to her that his enemy might have allies as well."
His complete composure put a match to the flames of anger inside me. They soon banished my fear.
"So you lied when you said you loved her?"
"No, that was the truth. But I no longer need her. Still, I wasn't going to let the Manticore have her; no, I wanted to kill her with my own hands. Do you know how good that feels?"
"How the hell would I know that?"
I thrust my weapon towards him. He dodged easily.
"Beautiful, President. I love your eyes. I love strong-willed, powerful eyes."
Grrr. "You little..." I swung my weapon wildly, not getting anywhere near him.
Then something passed over my head.
It was "Echoes." He slammed into the ground. He'd been thrown there.
He was torn to pieces.
While I was distracted, Saotome kicked my hand.
"Ah?!" I yelped, but the stun gun was already flung out of my reach.
From behind me, Yurihara yelled, "Enough, Saotome-kun! I'll finish things."
"Okay," Saotome replied, picking up the stun gun and stepping away. I ran over to Echoes.
He was a wreck. His right arm was half torn off his shoulder, and there were holes all over his body. He was covered in blood.
"E-Echoes?" I said, pulling him upright.
He opened his eyes feebly.
A pained moan escaped his purple lips.
"President, it's no use asking him to save you. He's almost dead," Yurihara Minako - the Manticore - said, laughing.
"That wasn't so hard. You might even have been able to win without any tricks," Saotome said, evidently enjoying himself.
"I never thought he would be this weak," the Manticore replied, amused. "I'm sure he used to be stronger."
I glared at her.
"You aren't human! You're both devils!"
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As he lay dying, Echoes heard the girl holding him shout, "You aren't human!"
Not human. She meant they weren't fit to be called human.
He still didn't understand.
Which were humans?
Humans had captured him for being different, and forcefully and quite mercilessly studied his body. Humans had made the Manticore. But the people who had saved him, the cloaked boy in the black hat, Kamikishiro Naoko, and Kirima were all humans too.
Which is it?
Which is the truth?
"Ha ha ha! You are stupid, aren't you?!" The Manticore laughed, mocking the girl. "I never was human! And Saotome-kun is nothing like you foolish humans. Devils? Fine with me! I think I like being called a devil!"
"You will be destroyed!" The girl shouted back, not at all cowed. "I will die here, and so will this man, but there will be other people who will stand in your way! No matter where you hide, there will be people who can't ignore the distortions in the world that you're trying to create! And you will be found again, just like Kirima found you!" Big tears were running down her cheeks.
She was sad.
Because she was about to die?
Then why was she holding him so tightly?
It was as if she was protecting him from the Manticore.
Like Kamikishiro had, when she found him wounded in town.
(Humans...)
He had no more time.
He had to make a choice.
***
"Like Kirima?" the Manticore chuckled. "I think I'll be her next."
I didn't know what she meant. I had to ask.
"What do you mean?"
"Just that I'll change from Yurihara into Kirima."
At first, I couldn't comprehend this. My mind went blank?
Then I was horrified. "W-what?!"
"She's an ideal specimen. She's crazy, so nobody will say anything if I behave a little oddly; she' s rich, and has a vast information network set up. It's perfect. There will be a commotion when Yurihara vanishes, which I would prefer to avoid, but the benefits far outweigh that."
I shuddered, turning to look at Saotome.
He had said that he no longer needed her. Because he had a new girlfriend now.
Saotome stared back at me, expressionless.
I had no words.
"As for you, Niitoki Kei," the Manticore continued. "The world will never know you've died. We will alter you, and make a slave of you. You'll be moving around, but you will have no heart. Even if you meet a boy you liked, you will feel nothing."
I was horrified again.
I could see it.
The Manticore disguised as Kirima, and me standing beside her as her slave... I could see myself on gate duty, Kirima beside me, and I'm pointing her to her next meal... Even if the boy I had once loved and his pretty girlfriend came, I would think nothing, simply greet them mechanically. And that's not all. The Manticore's terrifying words gave me a glimpse of a higher purpose.
She and Saotome weren't killing for their own self-preservation. This was just one part of their plan to take control of the world from us humans.
But if they graduated, and went out of school, what would happen to the world?
She came closer to me.
"...!"
I hugged Echoes' body tightly.
Then...
Echoes slowly raised his wounded arm.
It was shaking. His fist wasn't clenched or open, his fingers just hung there limply.
He pointed his hand at the Manticore.
"What? What's that mean? You still think you can do something to stop me?" The Manticore smirked.
"..." But Echoes wasn't looking at her.
He was looking at the stars in the sky behind her. And he suddenly spoke, using actual words, not to anybody, but to the sky above.
"My body into information, transmit to source!"
And the air around me was filled with white light.