The next morning, Touya suffered from muscle pain.
Even though she had no physical strength to begin with, she was in tatters after being subjected to long hours of shooting training, a simulated gun battle with Makoto, and even close combat training and strength training.
Toya's physical enhancement surgery does not always transform her into a superhuman, but rather a limited object, and when she does not consciously try to use her powers, she is no different from an ordinary person.
Junko warned me not to use my strength when it wasn't necessary because it would put an excessive burden on my body, so I approached training in the same condition as I have been until now. board.
Toya and Akira spent the night at Yukioka Research Institute last night as well. It was convenient for Toya, who didn't want to go home, but it was unclear how long she would be able to stay, and I wondered if Akira was okay with not coming home in the first place.
After breakfast, Toya and Akira boarded a taxi with Junko. Makoto is also following along.
Finally, Junko heads out to meet with the hostile organization. Touya was nervous, and Akira, who was next to him, was excited.
Toya is carrying a large bag. Akira asked her what was in her bag, but she didn't feel like answering. Even if she doesn't answer now, she will show it anyway. What is inside this is the true identity of the present that Junko said before the remodeling that Toya didn't like.
"It's unusual for you to come. I usually stand by at the research institute and watch from a height."
Makoto called out to Junko, who was sitting in the front seat of the taxi. Three men are in the back seat.
"I was going to watch the video that was distributed, but hey. The power I gave Touya-kun is special, and it's not quite stable, so I thought it would be better to check it out by my side."
Toya feels uneasy when Junko says that she is not stable.
"The opponent is that space-user mouse, right? No matter how you look at it, I think it's going to be a heavy burden for these guys.
Makoto said to Junko.
Both Makoto and Junko seemed to know what kind of enemy they were going to fight. Despite this, she showed no sign of telling Toya and the others about it beforehand.
I feel dissatisfied and distrustful because it would be nice if I could get even a little bit of information beforehand, but if I asked him why he didn't do that, I feel like he would laugh and say, "Because it's more interesting that way" because it's about Junko. but he hesitated to ask a question.
"The spirit art is troublesome, but it's a story that you can hit the main body. In general, sorcerers are often weak in the main body.Of course, Shizukuno style is aside."
An elderly taxi driver with a black and white mustache answered brightly. Apparently he also lives in the back alley.
"Are space users and sorcerers your enemies? Amazing, back alleys. I always thought it was a world of hard-boiled gunfights, but there are even wizards like that."
Akira's eyes sparkled with curiosity.
"Rai-kun is also a sorcerer. Besides, he's also famous in the back alley. Or rather, he's a historical figure in the Japanese paranormal industry, so if you're interested, you can check out the information site for the back alley residents later."
said Junko.
Toya thinks that the boy, who looks like a foreigner and seems to be quiet, is said to be a mysterious sorcerer and doesn't fit his image at all.
"Sorcery and witchcraft have existed for a thousand years. From around the world, the realm of the paranormal has been treated as a sham all over the world.Some privileged people, governments, and secret societies that can control nations from behind the scenes are hiding it in order to monopolize power. Well, in the information society, it's become impossible to keep it a secret, and it's been recognized as normal in the back alleys."
"In part, they were able to maintain their power because they monopolized them. , The realm that was thought to be fantasy until now is becoming more and more real."
"It was only ten years ago that it was publicly revealed. Actually, there were people who knew."
"However, if you haven't actually seen it, it lacks reality."
Junko and the taxi driver take turns explaining.
Ten years ago, the existence of ghosts, the afterlife, and reincarnation were scientifically proven, and since then, governments and companies around the world have been doing remarkable research into the supernatural realm as a new possibility to replace physical science. Even Toya knows that there is a story.
However, ordinary people rarely see these supernatural realms, and Toya never believed in their existence.
"It's a common religious view, but there is a deep-rooted theory that the other world is the base of the world, and this world is the training ground for the soul, but is that true?"
Toya asked Junko.
"Even I don't know about it. Because my knowledge of the other world is limited from this side. Right now, I can only guess from the realm of religious delusions and spiritualism. However, I have lived for over a thousand years. If you ask me, personality is not only formed by the environment, but it seems that the influence of the soul connected to it is greater than the reincarnation, so I think that theory is correct."
Toya was at a loss for words when he casually said that he had lived for over a thousand years. I had heard rumors that Junko Yukioka was immortal, and that she had only maintained the appearance of a young girl, but that she was actually old.
"More than a thousand years... Seriously?"
"Yeah, really serious. You've been around for about 500 years, too. I've been in Japan since the Edo period. Before that, I was moving around Europe. Ah, rice 30 years ago. I was at a military facility in the United States during the Second World War.During the war, the research budget is sky-high, and they let us do as many human experiments as we want, so the real war is a wonderful thing.Yeah, there are various wars. "
Junko speaks fluently with Akira's smile sticking to Akira's shady face. Normally, these words would only be taken as a joke, but by the time this girl said it, Touya didn't hear it as a joke.
The four of them arrived at the outskirts of Anraku City, Kanagawa prefecture to the south, and got off at the entrance of a building surrounded by a high wall.
With Junko leading the way, the four pass through the open gate. There is a fairly large garden inside the wall, and the building in the center is not tall, but it has a large area. The building is lined with bright blue windows.
This building seems to be the 7th branch of the organization called the Formalin-Picked President, which Junko is in conflict with. And this is the place where Touya and Akira are planning to attack. That said, Touya was the main fighter, and Akira was treated like a bonus.
"The formalin-soaked president is a pleasure-providing organization, so they sell their rivalry with me as a show, and I can test the performance of the mouse, so it's a system where we can both benefit from our rivalry." , I'm connected to the big executives over there behind the scenes, and I'm familiar with them."
That's what Junko said before coming about her relationship with her enemy organization. In the end, Toya was astonished that it was a life-threatening match-fixing.
Furthermore, it was not Junko herself who was actually putting her life on the line. The same goes for her enemy's chief executives.
"Did you just enter something?"
After walking around the grounds for a while, Akira muttered in surprise. I felt the same way about Touya. I imagined more black-clad fighters appearing in large numbers and a fierce gunfight, but they were completely unpopular.
"I'm sure you'll be greeted soon. Did you come?"
Just as Makoto said that, the lawn in the garden rose up, revealing three holes that one car could fit through.
As Toya and Akira braced themselves to see what would come out, three strange creatures emerged from within.
It's the first time for both Toya and Akira to see it in real life, regardless of whether it's on the internet or on TV. They were creatures that did not exist in nature.
A pale brown beetle-like creature with a giant body that reaches nearly 5 meters.
A large snake with a length of 10 meters and a girth of more than 1 meter, with needle-like spines all over its body.
Something like a shaved blade protruded from his abdomen, and he held a knife in the lower two of his six arms, and a machete in the middle two. giant monkey.
"They are biological weapons called Battle Creatures." It is said that it is used in war zones around the world because it is low cost, very effective as an anti-personnel weapon, and can be mass-produced in a short period of time.
"But that's not all." A naked male human upper body grows from the beetle-like head, and a human head grows under the serpent's jaw. The monkey had a human face under the blade on its abdomen.
"That, no way... did you mix humans?"
Toya timidly asks.
Although it is prohibited by international law to mix humans into the production of battle creatures, they may not care if it is an organization in the backstreets.
"Yeah, I guess that's what it is. Synthesizing a battle creature and a human in just one day, it seems that even a formalin-soaked president has an excellent mad scientist."
Only Junko knew, but they were the three of them who went to threaten Okumura at the instigation of Junko.
"Please don't kill me. If this guy dies, I'll die too."
Goro Kanda, who was mixed with a monkey, cries and pleads.
"In the end, the people who got mixed up are just for fun, and it's not like they're controlling you."
Looking at Kanda's condition, Makoto decided so.
"I guess. Well, it's troublesome to restore it, the lifespan of the battle creature is short even if you don't kill it, and it's troublesome to take it easy without killing it, yeah, let's beat it without worrying about it."
With a carefree smile on her face, Junko said something heartless.
Toya felt frightened that there wasn't even the slightest sense of malice. I don't think the rumors about Junko being a villainous person were correct, just like the case of Eldorado next door yesterday. But at the same time, her innocent cruelty is also stimulating.
"I mean, I was careless, but it takes time to transform."
Junko looks down at the bag Touya holds in her hand.
"Transform?"
Akira raises a questioning voice. Touya's remodeling said she wouldn't transform, but I wondered if that was changed too. Imagining Touya becoming a monster and fighting, it doesn't scare me at all.
"Shin-kun, Akira-kun, please buy me some time."
"Oh, suddenly it's my turn!"
After being nominated, Akira happily pulls out his gun. Even though there were three living murder weapons in front of him, Touya couldn't help but be surprised at Akira's nerves, wondering if there was any fear.
On the other hand, Toya herself doesn't feel much fear. I can't see the vision of being defeated and killed by the monster in front of her. He instinctively understands that he is superior.
"Don't overdo it, just focus on supporting me from behind.
Makoto walked out in front of Akira with two pistols in each hand.
"Whew. Tsukasa, does a gun work against such a monster?"
Akira obeyed Makoto and stepped back to take some distance. Even Akira knows that he is in the face of monsters much worse than the wild beasts of nature such as lions and bears.
"In the past, I've dealt with them to the point of rot on the battlefield.
Makoto pointed his muzzle at the needle serpent in front of him.
Along with the gunshot, the three bioweapons moved at the same time as if they had been repelled.
The beetle imitation and needle serpent headed straight toward the four, while only the six-armed monkey drew a large arc and approached them with a movement that seemed to circle them.
The muzzles of the guns, which had been aimed at the Needle Orochi, were suddenly pointed at the beetle-like creatures, firing a total of four shots at slightly different tempos to the right and left.
The thick-looking carapace seemed impenetrable to a pistol bullet, but the left front and middle legs of the beetle were broken and stopped moving.
Body fluids are seeping from the joints of the legs. In addition, body fluids are overflowing from the joint that connects the head and chest on the right side.
The warheads of bullets used on the battlefield for anti-battle creatures are equipped with a meat solution that decomposes a small amount of protein several times the volume, and the bullets shot by Makoto and the guns that Akira has. It was also installed in the bullet, but Akira didn't know.
Because Akira had sharpened his concentration by taking an outlet, he could clearly see that Makoto had instantly aimed at the beetle's joints. Even with the help of drugs, he doesn't think he can do the same.
The Needle Serpent approaches in front of him. Akira shoots a gun at Orochi. It hit a few times, but it didn't seem to work very well, and Akira's face was frustrated.
(Actually, I flinched a little from the impact. But the place where I hit it is bad. No matter how much meat liquid is prepared, if the bullet is repelled, the effect is weak.)
Shin calmly observes. The gun has suddenly disappeared from his true left hand, and the gun is only held in his right hand.
The serpent came right up to his own attack range, extending the needles growing out of his body all at once. The stinger, which stretched about 4-5 meters, looked as if it had skewered Makoto's body, but Makoto moved lightly forward and diagonally to the right to dodge the attack.
The needle serpent twisted its body, and at the moment when Makoto was about to attack, Makoto pulled his left hand in one go.
The upper jaw of the snake was cleanly cut off as if it had been slashed by an invisible blade and fell to the ground.
"It was easy to hook because it was full of needles."
Makoto murmured while rewinding the steel wire stretched out from under his left sleeve. When he dodged the serpent's attack, he wrapped a Yukioka-brand ultrasonic vibration steel wire around it and pulled it out at once according to the serpent's movement.
"Amazing... I mean, you said it was impossible for one person to be a match against multiple enemies, didn't you? But two monsters like that can be defeated in the blink of an eye..."
Akira lets out an excited voice while trembling.
"Normally it's impossible. It's just that I'm a very rare special strong person."
Makoto speaks out with an expressionless face.
"Don't be overconfident. Hey... Shin-kun, come on... I told you to buy me time, but why did you kill two of them?"
Junko raises her voice in protest.
"Yes?"
Akira, who turned around in response to Junko's voice, let out a frenzied voice when he saw Toya.
Until then, Touya was wearing a uniform, but now she's dressed in a strange way. She was dressed in full green tights, wearing metallic green shoulder and breastplates, and she was also putting on the gloves she had taken out of her bag.
"I'm done changing clothes..."
Finally, wearing a green mask that resembled a bird, Touya said awkwardly. Only the area around the mask's eyes is white.
"Well then, please give me the final lines and poses~"
"Green Bird Warrior, Mejiro Emeralder! Here we go!"
Prompted by Junko, Touya raises her hands at random and shouts in desperation. His arms are slightly bent inwards, and his fingers are flexed as if trying to grab something. On top of that, his legs were also half-bent with a slight inner thigh.
"No... I said you can choose any pose you like, but I don't think there's a pose like that..."
"Nanikore?"
Seeing Touya with her hands up, Junko and Akira draw in different ways.
(Why did you go out of your way to instruct me to pose, and even criticize the content of the pose I desperately thought of?)
On the other hand, Toya was disappointing at Toya.
"It's a hero-type mouse. It's one of Yukioka's standard mouse patterns. Yukioka's hobby is fully open, though."
Makoto explains to Akira.
"I'm really sorry. Isn't it stupid to change clothes on the spot...?"
Akira rushes in with an exasperated tone.
"Hmm, it's certainly a bit strange to change your clothes on the spot, but putting the tights aside, walking in front of people with these bulky parts and a helmet on would be tiring in many ways. Wearing on the spot――"
While Junko was seriously making excuses, the six-armed monkey, which was moving around to check on the situation, approached and jumped right before it. The target is Akira.
Akira, who was preoccupied with Toya's transformation, hurriedly rolled around to avoid the monkey's jumping attack. Two machetes grazed Akira's leg and cut through his uniform trousers, but did not reach his body.
"Hey, Touya-kun, go."
At Junko's further urging, Touya broke her pose and threw herself at the monkey with a repelling motion. Witnessing Touya's extraordinary speed, Akira rolls his eyes.
"White-eye Hell Thrust!"
Following Junko's instructions in advance, Touya unleashes his sword at the monkey's throat while shouting out the name of her technique.
The monkey wielded two hatchets and thrust a knife at the same time to try to intercept Toya, but Toya's sword had pierced the monkey's throat first. The machete wields the void, and the knife is repelled by Touya's breastplate.
The sword is pulled out from the monkey's throat, and dark red blood erupts from the monkey's throat. It was thought to be a fatal wound, but the monkey flinched only for a moment before roaring and wielding four weapons alternately, two at a time.
Toya didn't feel any fear at all, calmly watching their movements and dodging them. According to Junko, the suit that Touya wears has a mental uplifting effect during battle, and it increases her concentration and reflexes just like her outlet. Toya realizes that it is working now.
The monkey swung down its machete vigorously, leaning forward and exposing the back of its head and back. Toya quickly grabbed the upper body from above, and then lifted the monkey's body over his own head.
The monkey was held upside down and panicked, but Touya moved on to the next attack before he could act violently.
"Mejiro Bomb!"
As soon as he shouted, he slammed the top of the monkey's head into the ground.
More blood splattered from his throat, and all the eyes on all sides of his head popped out. Toya felt the definite sensation of his skull cracking through his body.
"Yeah, well done.
Seeing the horrific death of a monkey convulsing in a pool of blood, Junko smiled with satisfaction. However, immediately after that, she changed to an ennui expression.
"It's boring as an event.
"Wouldn't it be better if you were in charge of directing the formalin-soaked president?"
Makoto said to Junko, who expressed her dissatisfaction.
"No, that would be a self-made performance, and from my point of view, it's not surprising and I can't enjoy it."
"Do you understand at least the sarcasm?"
While Junko and Makoto were exchanging words, a woman appeared from inside the building.
A beautiful woman with long hair, dressed in a black suit with a large cut in her chest, a cross pendant with snakes shining on her skin, and a black tight skirt, slowly walked towards the four of them. come.
(I met her at the shooting range.)
Toya remembered that person.
"Wow, Rin-chan, it's been a while. You've grown up in just two years."
Junko called out to a woman dressed in black, Rin Kishibe, but Rin looked at Toya and Akira instead of Junko.
Rin slowly puts her hand in front of her own face and makes a gesture of holding something for her.
"eh?"
Toya is surprised to find that her mask has been removed.
"Hmm. After all, it was that girl from that time."
Seeing Touya revealing her true face, Rin mutters. In her hand was the mask that Touya had been wearing.
"Stay away. This is where he can reach."
Makoto grabbed Touya's suit by the neck and forcibly pulled her back. Looking at the mask in Rin's hand, even Touya somehow understood the true meaning of her words.
Toya couldn't see it, but Makoto and Akira could see it clearly. From the side of Touya's face, only her hand from the wrist appeared in the air, and it disappeared as if to withdraw from Touya's mask.
Rin threw down her mask. Then, a mask appeared in the space where Touya was earlier and fell to the ground. As if Rin was pondering something, she stared at Toya and Akira alternately.
After that, Rin's gaze turned towards Makoto. There was something like hostility mixed in her gaze, but I couldn't feel her murderous intent at all.
"Why isn't that woman working?"
"Yeah, I have absolutely no fighting spirit. Is there some kind of reason?"
Makoto and Junko are suspicious of Rin who won't move.
Before long, Rin turns her heel and goes back into the building, and the three other than Makoto look as if they were pinched by a fox.
"What the hell was the person just now?"
Immediately after Akira muttered――
"Geho!"
Toya coughs up blood and crouches down.
"Hey, Touya! What's wrong!"
Akira changed his complexion and looked at Toya. Toya looked at Akira with empty eyes for a moment, but then he rolled the whites of his eyes and fell to the ground.
"Ten nights! Twenty nights!"
"Come on, don't shake your body at that time."
Junko restrains Akira, who shakes Toya's body.
"What does it mean?"
Directing an accusing gaze at Junko, Makoto quietly asked.
"Hmm, maybe I made a mistake in adjusting it. Maybe it's a big burden on my body. Well, they didn't know what the circumstances were, but they pulled me up, and I'll retreat too."
Junko picked up Toya's body and started walking outside. Shin and Akira followed suit.