As Alpha is looking over documents in her office, she suddenly looks up and frowns.
There's a sound.
"Alpha, bad news!! Plergh!"
The door flies open, and Gamma tumbles in. She slides across the floor, then crashes skull-first into Alpha's desk.
"What is it? You seem to be in rather a hurry to tell me."
Gamma presses down on her nose with tears in her eyes. "Owwww... Bad news. Th-there are counterfeits..."
"Counterfeits…?"
"Counterfeits of the MCA's currency have entered circulation!"
Alpha's eyes go wide. "Tsk... How many?"
"Not much, for now."
"Does the MCA know?"
"Not yet, I don't think."
"Start spreading rumors. We need the MCA to realize what's going on."
"Understood."
"Meanwhile, we'll open an investigation into where they're coming from. This mission takes top priority."
Gamma nods solemnly. "Agreed. We have to nip this in the bud."
"If a credit crisis happens, we won't get away unscathed, either... Don't tell me this is..."
"What is it?" Gamma looks quizzically at Alpha, who's lapsed into thoughtful silence.
"It's nothing."
"I certainly hope so. I'll mobilize the Numbers and begin the investigation."
Gamma bows, then leaves. Alpha watches her go, then turns her gaze to the window.
The roadside trees sway in the wind, their red and yellow leaves twirl in the air.
"Don't tell me this was part of their plan... No, I'm just overthinking things," she quietly murmurs as she shakes her head.
<<•>>
"We've discovered counterfeits? Is that what you're telling me?"
When he hears the news from Garter, Gettan doesn't have to feign his astonishment.
"W-we're looking into the details as we speak..."
Garter's voice shakes, but the reprimand he's bracing himself for never comes.
"Um, Mr. Gettan...?"
"...Find out where they're coming from. Now."
"Y-yes, sir! At once!" Garter quickly rushes out of the room before Gettan can start yelling at him.
Gettan crosses his arms and starts thinking.
The discovery of counterfeits isn't the bit he's surprised about.
After all, "having counterfeits discovered" had been his plan all along.
Once counterfeits make their way into circulation, a credit crisis is bound to happen, and the MCA's bills will become little more than scraps of paper.
That'll make the people start casting doubt on Mitsugoshi Bank's bills, too.
The credit crisis will spread like wildfire.
The MCA's been printing paper money for credit creation, but Mitsugoshi Bank is no different.
In other words, Mitsugoshi Bank won't have enough reserves to meet people's increased desire to trade in their paper currency. The MCA will go bankrupt, but Mitsugoshi will follow soon after.
Mitsugoshi Bank's bills are incredibly precise. Any counterfeits would get spotted immediately; they'd never make it far in the marketplace.
However, if the MCA printed low-quality, easy-to-copy currency, then that wouldn't pose a problem.
That had been Gettan's plan.
Except the counterfeits weren't supposed to be found until later.
The Cult still has a good deal of money tied up in the MCA. They weren't supposed to start introducing the counterfeits into circulation until they'd transferred it all to safety.
"Did the schedule change...?"
If that was what the Cult's leadership had decided, then Gettan has no choice but to follow along. Still, though, they could have at least told him.
"What exactly is going on?"
Gettan needs to check in with his bosses. If anyone messes up here, the Cult stands to lose a huge amount of funds.
He rubs the aching scars on his eyelids.
<<•>>
Just as planned, we're slowly introducing the counterfeits into the system and cashing them in.
As John Smith, I stand atop the clock tower and gaze down upon the city's unprecedentedly prosperous nightlife as I try to predict what the organizations working behind its scenes will do.
"This presence... The organizations' plans are coming into motion..."
I smile meaningfully.
Who will be the first to detect our schemes, I wonder?
As I idly enjoy the nighttime view, I spot a carriage trying to leave the capital inconspicuously.
I also spot the three figures trailing after it...
"I see... Well, it makes sense that the first ones to notice would be..."
Following the figures, I leap down from the clock tower.
The moment I saw their slime bodysuits, I knew they were associated with Mitsugoshi.
"Sorry…but I can't have you knowing the truth just yet."
Even though it's ultimately for their sake, I am currently pretending that l've betrayed them.
Only when the dust settles will they finally learn the truth.
<<•>>
As Number 664 stealthily follows the carriage leaving the capital, she turns around and glares at Number 666.
"Number 666, you really, really can't act on your own, got it? As your squad leader, I need to know you're going to follow my orders."
"I know."
"Clearly you don't, or we wouldn't need to have this conversation. Good grief... You rushed off on your own last time. I know everything ended up going okay, but still, what are you in such a hurry for?"
"I'm just... It's nothing." Number 666 hangs her head as she offers a brief denial.
"See, you're always trying to shoulder everything on your own. I won't know what's going on in your head unless you tell me, you know."
"Maybe it'd be best if we just focused on the mission."
"Oh, yeah, no kidding. But in order to do that, I have to start by telling off a certain someone who likes to take a little too much initiative."
Number 664 looks away from Number 666 and sighs.
As she does, she hears a yawn coming from behind.
"Hey, 665, did you just yawn?"
Number 664 turns around. This time, it's Number 665 she glares at.
"Noooope."
"You did. You totally did. I heard you. You need to focus on the mission, too, all right? I already went over just how important it is."
"Oh-kayyyy."
As Number 665 gives her listless response, Number 664 turns her glare back toward the carriage running in front of her.
Their mission this time is to find out where the MCA counterfeits are coming from.
Gamma of the Seven Shadows narrowed down the list of suspicious trade routes, and the carriage running in front of them is traveling along one of them.
It has been impressed upon Number 664 just how important their mission is.
That is precisely why she's so worried.
For one, Number 666 is rushing things. Now, everyone knows how strong she is, and it's thanks in large part to her that their squad is regarded so highly.
Recently, though, her habit of acting on her own has started to become intolerable.
Number 664 doesn't know what's gotten her so riled up, but at this rate, she's bound to eventually make some major blunder.
In this world, there are some screwups that just can't be fixed. Given the kinds of missions they go on, a single mistake can easily prove fatal...
As she starts concentrating again, Number 664 prays they'll be able to complete their mission without anything going wrong.
However — her wish goes unanswered.
"Below us!" Number 666 abruptly calls out.
They all react to her voice and try to leap away.
However, Number 666 herself is the only one who makes it in time.
"Hwah?!"
"Ah!"
Numbers 664 and 665 trip on something and tumble to the ground.
When they catch themselves and rise back to their feet, they discover something thin and threadlike tangled around their legs.
"Is this...thread?" Number 664 asks.
Number 665 answers, "It seems like steel wire with magic running through it, maybe..."
The two of them cut through the wire with their slime swords, then brace themselves for the follow-up attack.
In their peripheral vision, they can make out Number 666 staring intently at the darkness with her sword at the ready.
They can't sense any other presences.
However, a man is clearly walking toward them through the night.
His shoes click against the hard ground as he strides forward.
He's wearing a suit, and his hair is parted to the sides. His face is obscured from view by some sort of inorganic mask.
Notably, he's empty-handed.
He isn't holding a single weapon.
When they strain their eyes, though, they can make out the wire that surrounds him flashing in the moonlight.
It's drifting freely through the air, as if it has a will of its own.
"Be careful. He's the one using that steel wire," Number 664 warns the others as they square off against the wire-user.
There's a man wearing a strange mask surrounded by countless wires gleaming in the moonlight. The whole scene seems almost fantastical.
"My name is John Smith. Begone — you don't need to know what lies beyond yet."
His voice is as artificial as his mask, and it's impossible to get a read on his emotions.
The steel wire scatters through the night sky.
As it does, it shines under the moonlight.
Number 664 relies on that faint glimmer to dodge the wire as it coils around.
Its speed doesn't pose much of a problem. The issues lie in how difficult the wires are to make out, how unpredictable their movements are, and their sheer quantity.
John Smith has only ten fingers, yet somehow, the number of wires he's controlling far surpasses that count.
They come rushing in from all directions.
Between the angles and the timing, it's a mean piece of work.
They seem to be predicting Number 664's movements, as they always seem ready to cut off her escape routes. Then, by limiting the directions she can dodge, they're functionally controlling where she can go.
As a result, she can't approach him.
The wires have a longer range than their swords. If they can't get close, they can't attack.
Even knowing that, none of them has been able to close the distance by even a step since the fight started.
In fact, they seem to be losing ground.
It took the man only a scant few seconds to completely control the battlefield — and he hasn't taken a single step.
By just manipulating the wires with his ten fingers, he's been able to send the three women scurrying. They're like puppets, dancing on his strings.
"Everyone, fall back."
Number 664 issues the order, and the three of them move out of the wires' range.
As long as they're in John Smith's reach, all they're doing is burning their own stamina.
However, that doesn't change the fact that they have no way to attack him.
As they exchange glances, all three of them shake their heads.
This man-he's strong.
They'd been thrown off by his unconventional weapon, but even taking that into consideration, his ability to control space is phenomenal.
After all, accurately controlling dozens of wires, predicting the Numbers' movements, and leading them exactly the way he wanted? Not many could pull that off.
Number 664 knows plenty of people who are stronger than her.
Number 666, for one, as well as the Numbers' leadership, and the overwhelmingly powerful Seven Shadows above even them. All of them are far, far more skilled than she is.
But this John Smith is in a different league than any of them.
His power doesn't stem from his magic, his strength, his speed, or even the technical talent that lets him wield them all.
True, the skill required to manipulate his wires is high. However, the true nature of his power lies elsewhere.
John Smith's true power...is his ability to control the battlefield.
As a squad leader and as someone who gives orders to two others, Number 664 can tell.
John Smith's skill is born from a profound ability to envision the battlefield from above and a keen eye for understanding a fight's progression and predicting its future developments.
In other words, he's endowed with an incredibly sharp ability to think battles through.
"What's wrong? Not approaching?"
John Smith still hasn't moved a toe. He's simply standing in place and gazing down at the three Numbers.
That's how composed he is.
He's confident he can deal with any situation that might arise.
The wires he's deployed under the night sky have completely cut off their ability to fight back.
One wrong move, and they'll get completely tangled up.
Retreat seems like an increasingly attractive option.
Number 666 will probably object, but Number 664 will just have to shut her down.
A voice breaks her from her reverie.
"If you won't approach, then I suppose I'll just have to come to you—"
"Wha…?!"
John Smith's finger twitches.
When it does, Number 664 suddenly notices the thin wire wrapped around her neck.
What?! When did that happen?!
She should be outside of his range right now!
"Nobody ever said the wires were all the same length. And their thickness varies, too, of course..."
"It can't be-!"
Now that she gets a better look at the wire around her neck, Number 664 can tell just how thin and discreet it is.
The only wires they saw up until then were the ones John Smith let them see.
"You mean, from the very beginning…?"
"That's right — from the very beginning."
Number 664 has been dancing on the palm of his hand.
She grimaces, and the wire around her neck tightens.
It's filled with incredibly dense magic. All he needs to do is put a little more strength into it, and her neck will snap like a twig.
"If you're going to kill me, get it over with. I-I'm not telling you anything." She glares at John Smith.
Number 665 and Number 666 are bound, too. Number 664 braces herself for the inevitable.
That's when Number 666 makes her move.
She steps forward.
She simply steps forward, faster than John Smith can pull his wire.
"HRAAAAAGH!!"
Then, with her entire being devoted solely to speed, she charges at him.
"Good choice—"
However, his composure remains unbroken.
He simply gives his right hand's fingers a light tug.
"But nobody ever said the wire around your neck was the only one I laid."
Suddenly, Number 666 tumbles to the ground.
Then, midway through her fall, she comes to an unnatural halt suspended in the air.
There are countless wires already wrapped around all her limbs.
Then, out of nowhere, the same happens to the other two. They were bound head to toe from the very start. The moment they failed to noticed that fact, the battle's outcome was decided.
"Rgh...! Just kill me!" Number 664 moans.
For some reason, however, the man stops at binding them, making no effort to end their lives.
"This is a warning."
His voice is cold and unfeeling.
"Don't get involved — you don't need to know any more than that for now."
With that, he casually frees them.
"Akh, akh!" Number 666 glares at John Smith as she coughs.
Number 664 immediately dashes forward.
It's to hold Number 666 down.
"That's enough! We're withdrawing."
"—!"
"We can't beat him; surely you realize that! You'll end up dead!"
Number 666 hangs her head in frustration.
"I..."
"We have to warn Gamma about him….about John Smith..."
Until they get rid of him, they'll never figure out where the counterfeits are coming from.
Number 664 stares fixatedly at John Smith as he leaves.
<<•>>
"...And that concludes our report."
Alpha and Gamma listen as Number 664 relays what happened on their mission.
"—The three of you together couldn't lay a finger on him?"
"That's correct..." Number 664 shakes her head under the weight of Alpha's gaze.
The day she joined the Shadow Garden, everything about her life changed.
The world she'd taken for granted was shattered. She lost her friends and family. But in exchange, she gained both truth and power.
She'd never even held a sword before, yet now she's strong enough to wipe the floor with just about any dark knight.
That said, there exist people she knows she can never beat.
Alpha, the head of the Seven Shadows, is a prime example of such an entity.
As Number 664 quakes in her boots, Number 666 steps forward from her side.
"John Smith was incredibly talented, though. His power was on par with the Seven Sh-"
"Y-you're out of line!!"
Number 664 frantically clamps her hand over Number 666's mouth before she can say any more.
"Mmmph, but if we could just get another chance to...mmph!"
"Be quiet, 666! I'm the squad captain here!"
As they watch Number 666 trying to keep talking through Number 664's forceful gag, Alpha and Gamma sigh.
"We aren't here to scold you. You did good work out there. That will be all."
"Kaaay."
Number 665 responds unenthusiastically, then drags her teammates away with her as they grapple with each other.
Alpha sinks into her seat, then turns to Gamma. "...So what do you think?"
"John Smith... He certainly sounds formidable. But I can't think of anyone in the Cult who matches his description."
"In other words, he's with some other organization... On par with the Seven Shadows, she said?"
"Who could he possibly be?"
The Seven Shadows is home to all sorts.
Some of its members lack combat prowess, such as Gamma, whereas others specialize in it, like Delta.
"We should send in Delta."
"Delta? …Yes, I suppose that'd be for the best."
It's hard to picture Delta losing in a straight-up battle.
"John Smith, huh...?"
Alpha's blue eyes narrow.
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
After gently driving Mitsugoshi's hit women back, I spend my next few afternoons the same way I always do and my next few nights acting as an agent under the cover of darkness.
I'm a busy man-touching base with Yukime, protecting the flow of counterfeits, and stopping anyone who tries to find out where they're coming from.
Mitsugoshi seems to have their guard up, as they haven't tried anything since.
Tonight, once again, I lurk in the darkness and protect the carriage filled with counterfeits.
As it rolls across the evening roads, a silent, barely perceptible presence approaches it.
— An assassin.
Like I said, though, I can barely sense them.
If that's the case, well... there's only one person I know who can mask their presence so skillfully.
A little while later, a familiar figure emerges from the darkness.
It's a woman clad in a black bodysuit, her muscles supple and her movements flexible.
I'd know her anywhere — it's Delta.
It makes sense. I drove off that three-woman squad of theirs already, so now they're sending in the biggest guns they've got.
Unfortunately for them, though, they chose wrong. John Smith fights with wires, so his style matches up well against hot-blooded meatheads. Against Delta, all I have to do is tie her down with my hidden wires and that'll be all she wrote. Oh wait. Her instincts are crazy sharp, so there's a chance she'll be able to avoid them all on intuition alone.
Actually, that's totally what's gonna happen.
Wait... Is Delta secretly my worst matchup?
Eh, whatever. Worst comes to worst, I'll just go full tryhard against her and win the fight that way.
She's probably noticed me by now, so I make my grand appearance.
"My name is John Smith. You go no furth—"
"Boss man, what's up?" She sniffs at the air as she asks the question, her tail wagging happily.
"My, uh, my name is John Smith. I'm not your Boss m—"
"Boss man! Wanna go hunting?"
"...I'll pass."
It's no use. She has me dead to rights.
I did take a bath and drench myself in perfume before this, but I guess I underestimated Delta's nose.
I take off my mask and reveal myself.
"Boss man, you're John Smith?"
"Yeah, basically."
"Oh-woof... That means I can't beat John Smith... I gotta go tell Alpha!"
"Hold it!"
As Delta makes to go run off, I grab her by the tail to stop her. Sorry, I think I pulled a couple tufts of fur loose.
"Yow! Not my tail! No pulling! Pulling bad!"
"Sorry, sorry, sorry. Now, Delta, I need you to listen to me real close. See, l'm on a confidential secret mission right now."
"What's a confidential secret mission?"
"A confidential secret mission is a mission that's confidential and secret, so you can't let anyone know about it."
"Wow, cool! I wanna do that, too!"
"No, only I can do this particular mission. But if you tell Alpha about John Smith, then I'll fail. You know why, right?"
"Nope!"
"Because it won't be a secret anymore, see. So you can't tell anyone about any of this."
"But Alpha gave me a mission..." Delta's ears droop as she looks at me.
"It's okay, I have a new mission for you. You remember the Shadow Garden's rules, right?"
"Nope!"
"The missions I give you take priority over everything else. Even the ones Alpha gives you."
"Alpha won't get mad?"
"Nah."
Alpha will definitely get mad. I know that.
After all, Delta's on an official Mitsugoshi-related mission right now. Using the bullshit Shadow Garden rules from when we were kids to overrule it is totally foul play.
Sorry, Delta. When all this is over, l'll help you apologize to Alpha.
"This is for the greater good..."
"The greater good...?"
"Yeah, the greater good."
"The greater good!"
"That's right. Sorry about this, Delta. When you finish your mission, i'll give you some kind of reward."
"You'll do anything I want?!" Delta's eyes gleam, and her tail starts wagging excessively.
"I will not. But I promise I'll try, as long as it's something within my abilities, and as long as it isn't too much work, and as long as it doesn't cost any money."
"You'll do whatever I say?!"
"Other than those categories I said, sure."
"Hooray! I'll do it!"
"Now, what should I have your mission be? Oh, here we go. If you go straight that way, you'll eventually hit the Lawless City, and when you do, there'll be a black tower there. In that tower, there's a guy named Juggernaut. Now, he's a mean old bandit, so I need you to hunt him."
"Lawless City. Black tower. Juggernaut. And I can hunt him?"
"Yup, that sounds right."
"Got it! And when I hunt him, you'll do whatever I say!"
"With those caveats, yeah. Oh, and we're in no rush here, so make sure you take your time getting there."
"Lawless City! Black Juggler! Hunting!"
With that, Delta takes off at a dash.
I feel like she didn't get that quite right, but I'm sure it'll be fine.
At the end of the day, I got Delta out of the capital, so we'll chalk that up as a win. Her acting sucks, so even if I tried to get her to keep this a secret, l'd be exposed in no time.
This way, it'll take the others a while to track her down and pump her for info. That works out perfectly for me.
After all, I've decided they can only know the whole truth once all the dust has settled.
<<•>>
"Delta was tracking John Smith, but she's gone dark."
"—?!"
When Alpha hears Gamma's report, she drops her pen and looks straight at her.
"We also found this at the scene..."
Gamma shows her some scraps of fur from Delta's tail. Sorrow wells up in Alpha's heart upon seeing they were forcefully ripped out.
Gamma's eyes look cold and steely. However, uncontrollable fury lurks just below their surface.
"I see... So Delta's been...?"
Upon realizing just how frail her own voice sounds, Alpha takes a moment to compose herself.
She'd been prepared for this.
Someone was always going to fall, eventually. Today just happens to be that day.
"I can't imagine her abandoning a mission you assigned her. That idiot... She might not have had much going on upstairs, she might have been all brawn and no brain, but she always did listen to you, Alpha…" Gamma's voice trembles.
"It's okay. I know." Alpha tries to comfort her.
The Shadow Garden's missions are fraught with peril, but because of Delta's combat prowess, she's always the one being asked to handle the most dangerous ones. Her not coming back almost certainly means she's dead...
"Continue the search. We have to find her, even if it's just a body…"
"Understood."
Alpha then takes the lock of Delta's fur. After delicately wrapping it in cloth, she slips it into her cleavage.
Number 666 tried to tell her how dangerous John Smith was. She shouldn't have sent Delta in alone.
A deep voice wells up from within her throat. "John Smith...!"
"Also, the amount of counterfeits in circulation is continuing to rise. At this rate, we're bound for a credit crisis..."
"That was his plan from the very beginning,"
replies Alpha.
"...Huh?"
"John Smith isn't some small-time crook trying to use counterfeits to make a quick buck. Causing the credit crisis was his goal all along... If we look at it that way, all the pieces fit into place."
"What...?!"
"The credit crisis is a poison that will destroy Mitsugoshi and the MCA. While we've been fighting, he's been sowing his seeds in the shadows... And now, he's going to take everything."
"That can't be... You're saying that he saw this all coming from the get-go?"
"He understood the ingredients for a credit crisis, he noticed the flaws in the MCA's bills, and he used those two tiny grains of information to form a flawless plan."
"Is that even possible...?"
"—It is for John Smith."
The sound of Alpha grinding her teeth fills the air.
<<•>>
As the Cult's messenger leaves, Gettan slams his fist against the desk.
"What's the meaning of this?! Our counterfeits haven't been distributed yet?!"
He checked in with his bosses earlier about the counterfeit situation.
However, they told him that they didn't have anything to do with the fakes that were currently making the rounds.
In other words, that means some third party is the one mass-producing fake bills.
At this rate, the MCA is going to go under way ahead of schedule, and the Cult will suffer tremendous losses.
"This is unthinkable! Who would dare?!"
More and more counterfeits are pouring in every day, yet they still have no idea where they're coming from.
It's clearly the work of organized crime.
Whoever's doing it must have a mind like a steel trap, a sizable bankroll, sizable manpower, and intimate knowledge of the mechanisms behind credit creation...
"Wait..it's so simple..."
Isn't Gettan himself currently locked in battle with an organization that fulfills all those conditions?
"It's Mitsugoshi!!"
In the event of a credit collapse, Mitsugoshi and the MCA will go bankrupt in kind. However, there is a way to recover: by preparing enough funds to weather the bank run.
Mitsugoshi must have realized sooner than anyone just how shoddy the MCA's bills are.
By manufacturing counterfeits and liquidating them in the marketplace, they must have been able to raise substantial capital.
They'd seen through Gettan's plan.
They'd seen through everything, and now they're using it against him.
"Dammit... Cuuurse them!!" Gettan roars.
At this rate, he's quite literally going to lose his head.
The MCA will fall, the Cult will suffer catastrophic losses, and Mitsugoshi will gain a complete monopoly over the marketplace.
Gettan will be lucky if all the Cult does is kill him.
"It's not too late, I can still make it…! If I can just recover those funds…!"
According to Garter, there's a man named John Smith protecting the counterfeits' distribution chain.
If Gettan tracks him down, he can still salvage this...
<<•>>
The full moon hangs glimmering over the crisp winter night air.
Beta is with her master, delivering her regular report.
She finishes telling him about the Shadow Garden's activities like always, then moves on to Mitsugoshi news.
Normally, her report only contains information about the Shadow Garden. After all, Mitsugoshi's work is only peripheral to this organization as a whole. There's usually no need for her to waste his time with trivialities.
At the moment, though, Mitsugoshi is in a major pinch.
Her master seems to have sensed that fact, too.
He normally just nods and says "uh-huh" during her reports, but now, the air about him changes.
He straightens his posture, takes a notepad out of his pocket, and begins writing on it as he listens to Beta's report.
Then —
"I see. And?"
"—?!"
He's actually saying something other than "uh-huh" during her regular report. Beta chokes on her words for a moment.
"F-forgive me. As I was saying, the quantity of counterfeits has—"
When her master's gaze sharpens, she feels a tinge of joy.
He's taking this seriously.
Her master is a busy man, and he rarely gets involved in Beta and the others' affairs. He surely has much grander tasks that he's devoting his time and strength toward.
If he's getting serious now, that means that the situation must be important enough to warrant it.
The incident with Delta cast a heavy pall over all of the Shadow Garden.
However, if their master's going to get serious— Beta's sure they'll be able to overcome anything that stands in their way.
Warmth floods her heart.
"The amount of money in circulation's increased, so the value of goods has begun rising as well. At the moment, the inflation rate stands at..."
"I don't quite follow..."
"—?!"
Her master just told her that he didn't follow.
Now, he obviously didn't mean it literally. Her master understands everything, after all. That means he must be suggesting something else— in other words, there must be some error in her report. He's asking how it's possible that she made such a boneheaded mistake.
Maybe she got the inflation rate wrong, or maybe there was some flaw in her underlying logic, but the fact of the matter is that he noticed her failure in an instant.
"I-I'll go back over my analysis immediately."
She screwed up, and just when her master started taking the issue seriously, too. Beta's face reddens in shame and vexation.
"I don't follow, but oh well. May as well write it down anyways."
"My sincerest apologies."
Her report ends.
However, there's something else she needs to tell him, too.
As she watches her master start to put away his notepad, she speaks solemnly.
"There is one other thing I need to inform you about today."
"...I'm listening."
Upon seeing the quiet, almost drowsy look in his eyes, Beta realizes something.
He's already figured out what she's about to tell him. Now that she thinks about it, it's obvious. In fact, it would be stranger if he didn't know.
Even so, she still needs to say it.
She needs to tell him that one of their dear comrades died...
It's her duty as one of the people who let it happen.
"Delta was pursuing John Smith when we lost contact with her. Given the situation, we have no choice but to assume she's..."
Beta's voice is shaking. Delta was a dear teammate of hers. She was a handful to deal with, sure, but something about her always set Beta's heart at ease, like an adorable little sister.
"...dead…," she manages to say.
Upon hearing the news, her master cocks his head and thinks for a moment.
"No, no. She just...went off on a long journey, that's all," he finally says.
When she hears the gentle euphemism, Beta is unable to hold back the tears.
"You're... you're right. I see now. She's just off on a long journey..."
Tears stream down her cheeks. She's thankful for her master's awkward kindness.
"We consider John Smith to be a formidable foe. If it's at all possible, Master Shadow, we'd like to ask for your assistance in dealing with him…"
"Sorry, but I have business of my own to attend to."
"No, of course. Forgive me for my impertinence."
Her master's already moving along a different course.
No matter what it is, it must be absolutely essential for both Mitsugoshi and the Shadow Garden as a whole.
"That's all I have for you today... Oh, but before I go..."
Her report's finished, so there's other work she needs to get to, but there's something she wants to confirm first.
"And, um, forgive me for asking, Master Shadow, but that notepad..."
"This one?"
"Yes, about that notepad. We actually have a rule about immediately destroying or encrypting sensitive documents, so..."
She's sure he knows all about that. She just wants to make absolutely certain.
Her master freezes for a split second, then hands it to her. "Have a look."
"W-wait, this is…!"
Upon seeing the script written on it, Beta's eyes go wide.
"I encoded it in a cipher I made up of the five different languages — Japanese hiragana script, katakana script, characters, Arabic numerals, and Romanized Japanese."
"Y-you came up with this all by yourself?!"
"Yup."
The letters scrawled across the page aren't just written randomly. They're simple yet complex, regular yet chaotic.
Trying to decipher the five intermingled languages would be a daunting task.
Beta gazes reverently at her master, the man who devised that whole encryption method solo.
"Um, if it's not too much to ask, would you mind teaching me this code sometime…?"
"Hmm... It's a bit too early for that."
"I... I see..." Beta slumps her shoulders, crestfallen.
"Now that you mention it, though..."
With that, her master quickly writes something on the pad, then tears out the page and passes it to Beta.
"What's this…?"
"When you can make out the meaning there, l'll explain it to you — I'll explain everything."
There's a short passage written on the sheet in the five languages.
"Th-thank you so much!"
Beta carefully slips the scrap of paper between her breasts and makes a mental note to head to the lab at once to get it analyzed.
<<•>>
The MCA has mobilized a huge number of men and sent them looking for John Smith.
However, they haven't been able to find so much as a trace. Also, owing to the size of the search party, they've been drawing a whole lot of unwanted attention.
The existence of counterfeits hasn't been made public, but anyone with a sharp enough intuition is beginning to notice something's afoot.
There isn't much time left.
The crisis is almost here.
"Halt right there! We're conducting a search of this carriage."
Deep in the night, a group of men stop a carriage from leaving the capital.
They belong to the Garter Corporation's private army, and they've been going after every carriage that looks even slightly suspicious.
Now, they don't have permission to do so, and their actions have no legal basis behind them. However, most merchants wouldn't dare cross the MCA, so they have no choice but to comply with the investigation.
Just like the others, the carriage complies and comes to a stop.
The Garter men reach up and violently grab at the vehicle's curtains.
"...I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"What?"
Hearing a deep voice from somewhere, the soldiers stop and look around.
"You'll regret it."
"Hah, bite me."
Scoffing at the warning, one of the soldiers throws open the curtain.
He sees a mountain of gold coins inside-and his head immediately goes flying off.
"Wha...?"
"I told you you'd regret it."
With a spray of blood, the beheaded soldier crumples to the ground. A masked man wearing a black suit appears from behind him.
"Wh-who the hell are you?!"
The rest of the soldiers surround him and draw their swords.
"My name is John Smith. I am the man who destroys it all and starts from scratch—"
"I-it's John Smith! Don't move, you, just drop your weapon..."
Several fine threads shine in the moonlight.
However, nobody notices their glimmer.
Their heads go flying off in unison.
Knowing nothing and noticing nothing, their lives instantly end.
As their blood rains down on the surroundings, the gold coin-laden carriage starts moving again.
It gradually accelerates and vanishes into the distance, leaving only John Smith and the corpses behind.
He jerks his fingers as though playing the piano, and the myriad threads extending from them twitch in turn.
He calls out to the empty air.
"—I know you're there."
His steel wires slice through the darkness.
Something stirs.
The next moment, a woman clad in a black bodysuit emerges from the seemingly empty gloom. A mask covers her face, but her blue eyes are visible beneath it.
She's Alpha, the Shadow Garden's most powerful slayer-and she's here for revenge.
"Hello, John Smith."
Her voice has the beautiful tenor of a bell ringing. Her platinum blond hair flashes in the moonlight as she bows.
"And-good-bye."
Without pause, her ebony sword cleaves toward him...but even though it slices straight through him, there's no tactile response.
"—That was an afterimage."
Hearing his voice behind her, Alpha whirls around.
John Smith is standing there, unharmed.
She levels a frigid gaze his way as she readies her sword again.
She's fighting a foe that was powerful enough to put Delta down. She came in knowing he'd be strong. However, the skill he showed in that last exchange far exceeded her expectations.
"Moving at high speeds by compressing magical energy... That requires incredibly precise control and magic circuits able to withstand a tremendous burden. How did you learn to move like that?"
John Smith offers no answer. His fingers twitch, and countless white lines whiz through the darkness.
— Steel wire.
This corroborates Number 664's report. Alpha calmly analyzes their movements and looks for the real ones lurking among them.
Twing — a small noise echoes out as the thin wires are sliced in twain in midair.
"You hide your real, thinner wires in among decoys... I already know your tricks."
"Oh…?"
Alpha makes her move.
After closing the distance in an instant, she slices at John Smith with her black blade. The attack is aimed straight at his throat, and the timing is such that it should be impossible to dodge.
With the smallest tilt of his head, however, John Smith manages to do just that.
"—!"
Alpha's movements...stop.
Her eyes go wide, and John Smith's wires bear down on her.
"This... can't be..."
Alpha watches the wires, slices them away with her sword, then goes in for a counterattack in the space between their strikes.
It's fast and nimble — the perfect slash.
This time, there's no way anyone could avoid it.
And yet...
"But why…?"
John Smith's dodge is just as perfect as the last.
The sword's aim is unerring until the last possible moment. It practically slides over his skin. That technique, where he uses the smallest possible movements to dodge — Alpha puts a wide gap between them, effectively abandoning combat altogether.
"What are you doing here.?"
She takes off her mask. Her beautiful elvish face comes into view.
"Why are you...?"
Her eyes flash with certainty.
"...Shadow..."
John Smith meets her gaze for a moment, then takes off his mask in turn.
"I've abandoned that name..."
His face is one she knows all too well.
"What do you mean, you've 'abandoned' it?"
"Exactly what I said. I'm John Smith now. Nothing more, nothing less."
"But why are you John Smith...?" Alpha's voice sounds almost desperate.
"Because it was the best option..."
"The best option for what…? That isn't enough to understand what's going on."
"You'll know once this is all over."
"And what about Delta? What did you do with her...?"
"Delta's off on a long journey..."
"That doesn't tell me anything..."
Alpha's anguished cry echoes through the night as the force of her overflowing magic shakes the air.
"I'm dumb, so I don't understand all the things you do. I'm weak, so I can't do all the things you can. But still, even so... I want to understand, so I can support you. You saved me, saved all of us, so I want to do whatever it is I can to help."
Alpha's voice becomes quiet.
"But you're always going forward on your own, leaving us just gazing at your back..."
She squeezes her sword tightly as she looks down.
"Do you not need us anymore…?"
Tears start dripping from her sapphire eyes.
"I'm doing what needs to be done," John Smith replies.
"..."
The raging magic swirls down and coalesces on Alpha.
"I...l'm not just going to be a burden forever."
And with that — she vanishes.
Surprise makes its way across John Smith's face for the first time.
Her raging magic, her ebony sword, her body-every proof that she was ever there has completely disappeared.
All that's left is a red mist.
Then Alpha appears out of the fog and tries to rip into John Smith from behind.
Her blade is a dark red.
John Smith whirls around and tries to dodge with the smallest movements possible.
Just like always.
"—?!"
A thin wound carves its way across John Smith's cheek.
Without any warning, the dark crimson blade extends.
Alpha vanishes, and the red mist blankets their surroundings once more.
Another slice flies out of the mist.
It tears John Smith's suit, lightly splattering his shirt with blood.
By the time he's ready to strike back with his wires, Alpha's body has already transformed back into fog.
An instant later, she attacks him again from behind.
The speed at which she emerges from the mist and the speed she turns back into it are both incredible.
Her one-sided attacks seem to defy the concept of space, and her unfair defense bends the laws of physics.
She vanishes, then appears.
Appears, then vanishes.
The slashes bear down on John Smith without pause, and his suit is ripped to shreds. By manipulating his wires and relying on three-dimensional movement, he's able to avoid suffering any lethal wounds.
However, the fact that he uses wires to keep his distance matches up terribly against Alpha's ability to override the concept of space altogether.
"—Ngh!"
His suit suffers another tear.
It seems the red mist doubles as a sensory organ of some sort, as Alpha's able to completely sense the wires' movements.
It looks as though John Smith has no cards left to play.
Alpha's voice comes out from somewhere in the mist. "I'm not just a burden anymore. I'm strong enough to support you, to understand you.. So please, I'm begging you..."
"Mistform, huh…? It's an interesting technique, but it's lacking in mass."
As the words leave his mouth, his ebony sword materializes in his hand.
Devastating quantities of magic gather around it.
"If I blow it all away, you'll be helpless."
He swings his sword in a wide arc.
The released magic and wind-force combine into a massive tornado.
"This can't be—"
The mist disappears, and Alpha reemerges.
"Good choice. If you'd stayed as mist, it could have ended poorly for you."
Alpha looks up and sees that all the mist above them has been completely blown away.
She also sees a merciless strike bearing down on her.
"You've become strong."
The ebony blade crashes into her.
"Ah..."
The force of the blow causes her to start losing consciousness.
"—Don't worry, I hit you with the flat side."
His footsteps start to withdraw.
"Once all this is over, you'll realize this was for the best..."
Despite her rapidly fading consciousness, she frantically tries to reach out.
"Please... Wait..."
However, he doesn't stop.
Little by little, slowly but surely, he's growing distant.
"I'm begging you... Don't leave me..."
Her voice doesn't reach him.