.

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.

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