It’s 10pm.
Kanzaki’s standing on the balcony on the 2nd level of the resort. The night at the seaside is like the night in a desert, as the beach doesn’t retain heat extremely well.
Tsuchimikado climbs up the pillar on the balcony. To others, he’s a ‘star who was exposed in a scandal’, so he can’t appear normally.
Tsuchimikado’s currently staring at Kanzaki, who’s letting the night wind stroke her.
“What’s up? Your face sure is red. Are you still thinking about what happened just now?”
“…Do you think I would?”
“Sigh…actually, you want to, right? There’s a thrill on being seen—I…I was joking! Kanzaki nee-chin, as a swordswoman, can your temper not be that violent?”
“I understand.”
Kanzaki answered impatiently.
Then, she sighs gently.
“However, it seems that the boy really has nothing to do with ‘Angel Fall’. If he’s really a magician, his personality wouldn’t be so naďve.”
“He has no reason to do this. But if we’re to think like that, the people around Kami-yan are like him. These people wouldn’t even know what to do with an Angel even if they captured one.”
These words aren’t implying that they look down on Kamijou, but that it’s a different problem. Even if they get (what was said to be) the incredible power of an Angel, it’s useless if they don’t have any knowledge of magic. Though Japan’s household appliances are brilliant, they’re useless if they’re taken overseas only for the plugs to be different. Thus, this isn’t a discussion of superiority.
But if so, there’s no other suspicious people.
Nobody knows what they should do.
Both of them can’t find the crux in their thoughts at all, and they can only focus on other stuff.
“Speaking of which, is it alright to put that child in Kamijou Touma’s hands? It’s been less than a day…no, just half a day, and that happened. To make the mistake of entering a ladies’ bathroom, that’s not something that even a 3rd grader will do. Maybe he and that child had something…even worse…”
“Hm…however, Kami-yan should be able to control himself, right? He’s not the type who’ll attack when girls are sleeping.”
Tsuchimikado folds his arms in front of his chest and says,
“And he’s not an expert, you understand? He’s not an expert. He’s not like us who can get rid of the guilt of killing by a lofty reason. He won’t push his own sin to anyone else; he’ll always move forward with the guilt. Don’t you think that’s enough reason to be confident in him?”
“…Well…”
“Besides, Kami-yan was the saviour of Index, and we couldn’t even thank him enough. How can we pick on his shortcomings?”
“I know, I understand what you’re saying.”
That’s right, when Index was at the brink of death, the one who saved her was Kamijou Touma.
Not Kanzaki Kaori, not Stiyl Magnus, but Kamijou Touma.
Normally, she should be thanking him. No, using such a term would be too light. She should repay him with all she got. Even the crane and the tortoise know how to do that.
“…But I really can’t find a chance to do that.”
In truth, ever since what happened during the Index incident, Kanzaki was too busy with her job. Because of that and the circumstances, she never once thanked Kamijou, which makes her feel guilty.
“In the end, he actually did such a stupid thing, and it’s really awkward for me to thank him now…”
“Aiya, Kanzaki nee-chin, he just saw you naked, is that enough reason for you not to thank him now?”
“Uu…”
Kanzaki’s speechless.
“Aiyaya, so Kanzaki nee-chin’s level of repayment is just this?”
“Uuu…”
Kanzaki grits her teeth as she stares at Tsuchimikado.
At this moment, Kamijou Touma’s standing alone at the first level of the ‘Wadatsumi’ resort as he ponders about something.
Though the lights are on, there’s nobody else around. The girls can be heard laughing about, maybe Index and the rest are playing poker cards or something.
The TV is on, and it’s now airing the night news. The night news isn’t any different from the afternoon news, but has some unnecessary descriptions to buffer the load.
“Dear viewers—the criminal Hino Jinsaku who escaped from the Shinfuchuu prison is still at large. Hino’s modus operandi is rather unique. He’s called a ‘ritual killer’, and so there are a lot of people who worship him and even imitate him. This time, the police thinks that these people may be helping him…”
Through the image displayed on the screen, Kamijou blankly sees Komoe-sensei report the news.
“…Besides that, Hino Jinsaku had a history of being a psychiatric patient in a hospital, and admitted before the trial that he has a split personality, so whether he should be responsible for the murders is still up for debate…”
Hino Jinsaku.
To Kamijou, who lost his memory, he has no impression on this killer before he was apprehended. However, when there’s a serious case of homicide, his name will always be mentioned, and even now, there may occasionally be a photo of him on TV programmes or weekly magazines. It can be seen that he carried out many infamous murder cases.
It isn’t good for the mood to continue watching such news, so Kamijou continues to switch the programmes to a variety programme that introduces a diet food that allows people to slim down fast. While watching the news, Kamijou continues to think of what he saw on the news.
(Split personality…that’s right, the summer remedial did mention about espers with split personality…)
Kamijou’s casually watching the TV as he thinks. This so-called split personality doesn’t always been that the line between ‘personality A’ and ‘personality B’ is clear. In some cases, there can be instances of ‘both personalities’ appearing at the same time, like for example, the left and right hands are respectively commanded by different personalities, or when personality A is thinking, personality B is moving the hands.
—The above knowledge was what Kamijou learnt from the summer remedial 1 week ago. Komoe-sensei said that there’s a lot of data regarding those with split personalities, because there was a time where it was popular to research on people with split personalities to see whether they can have two different abilities.
“…Ugh…”
Remembering the content of the lessons, Kamijou, who hates studying lazily prones onto the table.
A lot of things happened today, and Kamijou’s mind starts to make some adjustments.
A spell called ‘Angel Fall’ was activated.
It’s said that this spell is aimed at controlling an ‘Angel’ with a strong power.
And the side effect is that everyone’s ‘personality’ and ‘appearance’ got ‘switched’.
The effect lasts throughout everywhere in the world.
‘Angel Fall’ isn’t complete, so they have to destroy it now.
Once ‘Angel Fall’ is complete, it’s all over.
If they want to destroy ‘Angel Fall’, they have to beat the caster or destroy the place of ritual.
Kamijou Touma is located at the centre of this phenomenon, so he was seen as the caster.
A few magicians who noticed this phenomenon may come to assassinate Kamijou.
So Kamijou has to find the ‘real culprit’ before ‘Angel Fall’ is complete, beat the caster or destroy the place of ritual.
“…Hm…”
Lonely, Kamijou lies on the table and ponders.
For a person who’s about to be assassinated, such an action is way too defenceless.
(There’s no tension at all…)
That’s right, this time, Kamijou isn’t sneaking into a killer’s building like the ‘Misawa Cram School’, nor will he be slowed down and let 20,000 people get killed. Though the world’s in a dire situation, to Kamijou, he’s feeling that this is somewhat comical and unreal.
(And I have two experts from this magic world this time.)
Though to Kamijou, Tsuchimikado’s still just a ‘neighbour’, since those two (seems to be) experts in this, Kamijou feels somewhat safe now that they’re with him.
Actually, Kamijou didn’t notice that he’s using the reason of being an ‘amateur’ to push the responsibility to Kanzaki and Tsuchimikado, the ‘experts’. Besides, Kamijou’s just an ordinary High School student.
—‘The owner of the stare’ is now staring at the completely defenceless boy.
And this ‘owner of the stare’ is hiding underneath the resort ‘Wadatsumi’. The resort has a 70cm tall space below the floor to prevent sand and moisture from entering. In terms of structure, it's like a platform of a shrine.
'The owner of the gaze' is staring at the boy from through the wooden planks.
"...Angel-sama, angel-sama."
This frail and skinny middle-aged man has a shrill voice like an elementary school student before the voice breaks. The voice echoes throughout the darkness, bring a sense of madness.
"...Angel-sama, angel-sama, please listen to me!"
One can slightly hear the sound of something like nails scratching wildly on the floor.
In truth, 'the owner of this gaze has nowhere to go'. He didn't come to this place willingly. He actually wanted to find his comrades, but the police's movements were faster than what he expected, causing him to be trapped here.
"Angel-sama, please listen to me, Angel-sama!"
However, the 'owner of the stare' doesn't have the fearful and anxious look of a fugitive.
His right hand is holding onto a uniquely shaped knife, and his left hand is holding a thoroughly scarred wooden board the size of a notebook.
Krekrekre...the sharp edge of the blade continues to scratch the wooden board. The 'owner of the stare' peeks with glare.
"Angel-sama, how can I escape the police pursuit and find my other friends?"
Krekrekre...as if responding to his own question, the right hand moves on it own, with a will that's completely unrelated to the 'owner of the stare'. The 'owner of the stare' continues to stare at the sharp edge of the blade. The scars on the wooden board are all carvings made by the knife. These are the instructions of the Angel-sama.
"Angel-sama, do you mean that you'll help me if I again offer sacrifices?"
Krekrekre...the 'owner of the stare' will always follow the directions given by the words. The Angel-sama is always right. As long as he follows the directions the Angel-sama, he won't be wrong. But sometimes, the Angel-sama will give requests that are somewhat uncomfortable. Under the orders of the Angel-sama, the 'owner of the stare' has already killed 28 people.
"Angel-sama, Angel-sama. How about I choose this boy as a sacrifice?"
Krekrekre...the knife carves three letters on the wooden board. 'YES'. The 'owner of the stare''s expression darkens. He's going to kill again. How irritating. He hates it, he really doesn't want to kill. But I hava to do it. This is the Angel-sama's orders, it's not my fault.
"Angel-sama, I'll believe you again."
The 'owner of the stare' said this as it licks its thick and short tongue on the uniquely shaped knife.
This 'owner of the stare' is the death convict, Hino Jinsaku. He uses the knife to cut an extremely thick electric cable.
In a moment, all the lights are out.
"No electricity?"
Kamijou frowns in the darkness. As the entrance to the resort is open, the moonlight shines in from outside, so it's not completely dark.
The moment the power is out, people will consciousless turn to the electric appliances that lost electricity. Of course, while Kamijou casually turns to look at the ceiling lamp that suddened turned dark--
zzz...
There's a light cutting sound coming from the wooden floor below Kamijou's feet.
Feeling suspcious, Kamijou stands up and looks down at the floor around his feet. At this moment.
PA! A crescent shaped blade pierces through the floor below his feet.
"...!"
Kamijou feels his throat becoming parched out of a sudden. Just two seconds ago, if Kamijou's consciousness wasn't attracted by the darkened light, and if he hadn't stood up, he would have been...thinking about this, uncomfortable sweat oozes out every single inch of Kamijou;'s body.
A short knife blade.
This crescent-shaped 30cm long blade is sharp on the inside, and not on the outside. Thus, instead of calling it a dagger, it's more like a sickle or a claw.
Krekrekre, the blade sways back and forth before gradually sinking into the floor.
He got to get out of here. However, Kamijou couldn't move. His mind is all blank, as if there's a mysterious drug in his blood. His heart about burst due to the sudden pumping. Kamijou barely glimpses, the hole on the floor that's left behind by the blade.
Kamijou seems to see something.
Looking through the hole on the floor and into the darkness, Kamijou sees something bloodshot, like a marsh, something that's looks like it's peeking through a keyhole that's staring at it...
A crazy looking eyeball.
"Ee..."
Kamijou inadvertently lets out a terrified sound as he takes one step backwards. Immediately, the blade that chases Kamijou pierces out near Kamijou's sole. Kamijou loses his balance and tumbles onto the floor. The blade again sinks as it prepares to make another strike.
(Calm down! Calm down!)
Kamijou muttered what sounded like a curse, but this causes his body to freeze up more. With his mind almost completely frozen, Kamijou starts to think hard. He definitely mustn't fall onto the floor. That'll be too dangerous. Since the enemy's attacking from below the floor, he just needs to jump onto the table. Just as Kamijou thinks about this as he intends to climbs up--
PA!
The entire floor splits open as a hand reaches out from the floor to grab Kamijou's fot.
"UWA...AAAHHHHH!!!"
The sudden shock causes Kamijou's heart to nearly pop out of his mouth.
Kamijou tries to drag his foot away, but he can't get rid of the hand that's holding onto it. This isn't because the hand that's holding onto the foot is rather forceful, but because Kamijou's foot seems numb as it doesn't follow his commands at all.
(Calm down! Don't panic! Don't be scared! I don't know who the enemy is, but it's definitely not a monster I never saw before! Piercing a knife through the floor and punching through the floor with a fist, these aren't things that humans can do! So if I calm down...)
Thinking about this, Kamijou's eyes suddenly see something.
The hand that's holding onto his ankle.
Some fingernails are cracked, some are torn out; some are stained with blackish-red blocks. The fingers are blueish-black, and there's a large scar on the back of the hand. The blood spots continue to peel, and the disgusting black pieces of meat flip out from the wounds.
It looks like a rotten fruit that's excreting some transparent fluid.
Like a corpse's hand that got infected by some mysterious killer virus.
"Ah...ah...ugh..."
Kamijou's breathing starts to hastening, his heart starts to beat irregularly.
Every single thing his attacker did isn't something that a human can't do. It's nothing compared to Accelerator or the Alchemist. From a passer-by's view, the person may wonder why Kamijou is breathing so hard as his pulse remain extremely messed up.
However, there's an easy to understand reason.
For example, in a plastic bag, there's a live coakroach. Even if one knows that there's a plastic bag, they won't dare touch the cockroach directly, let alone bite it to death.
It's the same logic.
Thus logic tells us that it's nothing, the fear and trembling won't stop.
This attacker specializes in using psychological fear and irritation to cause the prey to be immobile.
"Ah....ahh...ugh...UGH...!"
Kamijou continues to tug at his leg, trying to shake off the hand that's grabbing onto his ankle. However, his body feels like it got hit with some anesthetic. Kamijou can't get rid of the black-coloured fear thats rooted deep within his heart.
Kamijou tumbles onto the floor as a foot of his got grabbed. The sound of wood being cut by a blade can be heard near his chest.
On the other hand.
The owner of another stare is lying in ambush 150m away on the dim beach, looking at what's going on in the Wadatsumi'.
This is a red nun.
She's about 13 years old, and her blond hair is wavy. Her white skin seems to reflect the bright moonlight. Though the girl looks cute, her attire is rather weird. She's only wearing a shirt underneath her robes and a hodo over it. Actually, the shirt isn't any different from a formfitting underwear, as it reveals the girl's pretty figure fully. Also, the girl is bound by black straps and metal braces, and they seem to be able to form a bondage outfit. There's an extremely thick ring around her neck, with a rein around it. The leather strap on her waist is full of tools like pincers, hammers, L-shaped pliers and saws.
These tools aren't used for carpentry, they're witch tribunal tools that specialises in cutting flesh, scraping bones and breaking bodies. Looking closer, these tools are slightly modified to be different from ordinary carpentry tools.
The girl with interrogation tools all over her remains expressionless.
She lowers her head. The sea seas most of her face, only revealing her small lips that are sighing slightly.
The girl is listening closely.
There seems to be quite a few people on the 2nd floor of the 'Wadatsumi' resort. They seem to feel that something's not right, but it'll take them about 6 seconds to get down to the 1st floor.
6 seconds. The blade of the attacker from below the floor would have pierced through the victim's heart.
The girl, who's expression is hidden behind the sea, again sighs.
She then gets up.
Without any preparatory moves, the girl's little body quickly moves forward, reducing the distance of 150m to 0; the time taken is far less than 6 seconds.
50m per second.
It's about as fast as a crossbow. No, maybe even faster.
At that moment,
The red nun moves into Kamijou's vision at an alarming rate.
As it was too fast, Kamijou didn't even realise that it was a girl.
The red girl lowers her body, almost sticking onto the ground as she continues to run. She draws the L-shaped plier and aims at the hand that's grabbing onto Kamijou's foot and swings hard at it like a baseball bat.
The bone, and even the entire wrist got fractured.
"Uo..ah...GYAAHHH!!"
The cry of agony can be heard from below the floor. The hand that was grabbing onto Kamijou's ankle sneaks down and escapes. The attack seems like it's trying to pull some distance as the sound of a body rubbing against the floor can be heard.
"..."
The red nun throws the piler away and pulls out the hammer. She then raises the hammer and slams it hard onto the floor, forming a 70cm wide hole.
The blond hair flutters about as the girl throws the hammer away and pulls out a pincer as she jumps into the hole.
After a second of silence.
BAM! A terrifying sound can be heard from underneath the floor. Something seem to have been knocked hard, as the sound of a beast trying to break out of s sturdy cage can be heard.
Kamijou can roughly hear the battle going on below.
BOOM! A hole suddenly opened on the floor 5m in front of him. A black figure leaps out of the floor like a dolphin.
That black figyure,
Isn't that of the red nun.
A skinny and bony middle aged man tumbles around on the floor and hurriedly stands up.
His skin colour is extremely unhealthy; it's obvious on first glance that his insides are all damaged. The rice-coloured workclothes are stained with sweat, dirt, blood and fats. His right hand is holding onto a sickle that looks like a metal claw; and his left wrist is fractured, with bluish-black clotting underneath it. The red liquid flows down his lips, and a incisor and canine of his is already forcefully pulled out.
"Guu...AAHHHHHH!!"
The middle aged man is like a wounded beast as he raises the curved knife and hacks at Kamijou.
(Ugh...!)
Kamijou reflexively looks around for a 'weapon' that can be used to block the curved knife. He frantically reaches into his pockets and search around, and his fingers feel something hard. Pulling it out to look, it's just a handphone. This thing can't possibly block a knife, Kamijou cursed. Suddenly, he thought of something. He flicks the foldable phone open and shines the screen at the face of that person who's attacking.
PA! The strong light instantly lights up the surrounding darkness.
"GYAAHHH!!"
Having lost his sight, the middle aged man stops what he's doing. Kamijou tries to escape, but his feet aren't listening. He can only roll on the floor and pull the distance from the attacker.
The middle-aged man raises the curved knife, yet it didn't come pursuing.
He wavers his body about, muttering in his mouth.
"Angel-sama...angel-sama..."
On the workclothes, near the chest, there seems to be something reflecting the moonlight.
Looking closely, it's a nametag.
"ANGEL-SAMA! ANGEL-SAMA! ANGEL-SAMA!!"
On the plastic nametag that's sewn onto the clothes, there're a few words on it.
Prisoner number 710687 Hino Jinsaku.
"Angel-sama, what's going on? Angel-sama, I followed your orders, why did I get this outcome!? Angel-sama, I gave up 28 lives for you!!"
The man in prisoner clothes let out a confused, maniacal cry of despair.
At this moment, Kamijou suddenly remembers the news content he saw on the TV the entire day.
"Dear viewers, I'm the live reporter Komori. The death row convict that escaped from the Shinfuchuu Prison at midnight this morning is still not found. The nearby Middle schools have suspended all club activites. Right now, the atmosphere is very tense..."
(However...)
Kamijou sees this psychotic person that's shouting and rambling about. This person is definitely the criminal. It's not hard to tell from his clothes that he's the 'Hino Jinsaku' that escaped from jail.
However, why didn't Hino Jinsaku switch appearance with others?
--Under the effects of Angel Fall, won't anyone's appearance be swtiched?
And who is that 'Angel-sama' Hino Jinsaku's shouting about.
--What is the final goal of this spell 'Angel Fall'?
(Don't tell me...this guy...)
Kamijou wants to open his mouth and asks, but at this moment, Hino Jinssaku suddenly raises the knife.
"ANSWER ME, ANGEL-SAMA! WHAT SHOULD I DO? WHAT SHOULD I DO NEXT? ANGEL-SAMA! YOU HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY, TELL ME THE TRUTH!!"
The knife lands.
But not at Kamijou. Hino swings the knife at his own body. The blade violently moves about, creating a sound of things being ripped apart. The workclothes are torn by this blade that's swaying about, and the shirt that's stained in sweat in shredded as well, instantly becoming red.
The large number of wounds seem erratic, but they're lined up in words like a child using a knife to carve a table wildly.
GO ESCAPE
There's no other way to express it, just a line of alphabets. However, on seeing this 'instruction', Hino Jinsaku's bloody face shows a smile of despair.
Then, the floor between Kamijou and Hino is shattered. The red nun jumps up, holding a pincer that has something white between it; it looks like a human incisor. The red nun grips the pincer forcefully, causing the white thing to shatter.
On seeing the red nun, Hino Jinsaku, who lost an incisor unnaturally is terrified as he backs away. He then pulls a wet cloth out as he wipes the blood stains of the curved knife, before throwing it at the girl.
The red nun sways her head slightly, easily dodging the curved knife.
Having lost its target, the knife flies at Kamijou's face.
"Eh?"
After letting out a puzzled sound, Kamijou suddenly realises how foolish he is. At this moment, the knife is still approaching Kamijou quickly, and the speed can be compared to a hammer that's swinging down on a nail.
"WAHH!"
Kamijou frantically rolls away and dodges it, but the knife still grazes his face.
Just a light cut.
But at this moment, Kamijou loses his balance. He collapses onto the ground, unable to get up. He's sweating profusely, and really feels like vomitting.
(Poi...son? Damn it...what did he apply on that...?)
The action of rubbing the knife with the cloth was to apply poison.
It's said that among some minority tribes in Africa, they would applu some poisonous caterpillar fluids on the tips of the spears before hunting. Maybe this is a similar poison. Though Kamijou's body has developed a rather decent resistance due to Academy City's training, he can't prevent the power of this poison from taking place at all.
Kamijou's vision becomes blurry, and then darker.
With an unbelievable laughter, Kamijou feels that Hino Jinsaku has already escaped the seaside resort.
The red nun wants to give chase, but after hesistating, she decides to dash towards Kamijou.
At this moment, Kamijou loses consciousness.
2011-05-30, 03:07
?!
Artist
it is literally just a shooting game to AC pilots, who aren't even full time pilots either. 
.
