Bonus: The Grave Dilemma③

Time rewinds. Back to when Reicia Blackguard’s group confronted the members of “School.”

“Ah, and one more thing.”

“The weakness of a telepath is machines. Your subordinates’ performance can’t compare to mine, you know?”

One of Reicia Blackguard’s men—Baba Yoshio. It was his robots that staged the abduction of Kuriba Ryouko.

“Nice work, Baba. As expected of you.”

『Well, this much is nothing. You were distracting the enemy with words, so my job turned out a lot easier.』

Just as the heiress praised the tactician, and the tactician answered her praise—

“Hama, over here!”

Hamazura had stolen a tourist’s abandoned bike amidst the chaos. He linked up with Frenda, who had already fled the battlefield, and together they attempted to escape the area.

By now, both Hamazura and Frenda had completely abandoned the idea of defeating Nurikae. After witnessing that clash in the skies—something so terrifying that it made even a Level 5 esper look trivial—only a suicidal fool, or someone utterly ignorant of life’s value, would still say “Alright, let’s fight! If we take him down, we’ll get a reward!”

“Damn it, people really work me to the bone!”

The bike had been easy to find. Lately, the “messages from Mars” craze had sparked a minor astronomy boom, so tourists were never short on “rides.”

The one Hamazura stole was a big two-seater, even fitted with a rear chair. Clearly the Skill-Out it belonged to had gone all out—probably to impress a girl on some kind of astronomy date.

Hamazura felt a little bad about stealing such a spirited bike, but then again, only an idiot would believe some nonsense like “microbes from Mars sent us a message!” And to use it as an excuse to flirt with a girl on top of that? Such a shameless fool deserved to have his bike abandoned a few kilometers away.

“You’re late!”

“I was sprinting at full speed! You should be praising my quick thinking under extreme circumstances!!”

“In the end, I was the one carrying a girl on my back at full speed! If you don’t step up here, what kind of man are you!?”

“Damn… If you were a guy, I’d just call you a lucky bastard and curse you out…”

Trading barbs like usual, Frenda—still carrying Bisai—ran up to Hamazura, who was already astride the bike.

The three hid for a moment among the trees on the mountainside. There, they shifted Bisai onto the bike, resting her against Hamazura’s back. Her mature figure—especially her chest—pressed into him, and the pervy demon king Hamazura’s face loosened into a grin he couldn’t possibly show anyone.

Luckily, with his back to Frenda, his expression went unseen. To cover it up, Hamazura forced himself into a serious topic.

“So… how the hell did you end up in this mess? You’re an undergrounder too, just like Frenda. So why—”

“First, a man named Kihara… and a woman who was a machine… came to my laboratory.”

Haltingly, Bisai began to speak. Frenda climbed onto the bike behind her, and with that settled, Hamazura started the engine.

“Then afterward, a man called Nurikae barged into the observatory above the lab… and it turned into a fight. I tried to suppress both sides, tried to stop it, but…”

Bisai trailed off. She didn’t need to say more. From the wreckage they’d seen, and from her own battered state, it was obvious she had been completely outmatched.

“Honestly… all I could do was divert the collateral damage enough to keep myself alive. In the end, Mars World’s systems were destroyed…”

“That’s enough.”

Seeing how pained her voice had become, Frenda gently cut her off before she could dig her own wound deeper. The destruction of her laboratory had been catastrophic—Hamazura and Frenda could tell without words.

Silence wrapped around the three.

Even for ordinary students with nothing to their name like Hamazura and Frenda, it wasn’t hard to imagine how precious a research lab must be to someone who had built her career and her life upon it.

The bike tore through the trees, down the mountain, putting distance between them and the two monsters clashing in the skies above.

According to appearances, Hamazura and Frenda had already been defeated by Misaka. If they just escaped with Bisai, they could reach a safe zone, at least for this incident.

At that moment—Hamazura stopped at a red light.

“…Have you heard the news? About how microbes from Mars supposedly sent us a message…”

Perhaps talking eased her tongue. Or perhaps she just couldn’t bear the heavy silence. Slowly, Bisai began to speak again.

“Huh? Oh, that thing? Yeah, I saw it on the news. But that’s gotta be a hoax—”

“Fufu. I was the one who received that signal, you know.”

Hamazura and Frenda’s eyes shot wide in shock.

The astronomy boom had all started from a report that some research group had picked up a message from Mars. While excited students went wild with it, cynical outsiders like Hamazura dismissed it as childish nonsense. But now—

“…Wait. So if it’s ‘Mars’… then that means…”

“Exactly. That facility was designed to recreate the Martian environment. To recover and host the microbes who reached out to us from Mars. It was supposed to be a test case… If the experiments had succeeded, we could have saved ‘them.’”

Her words, edged with bitter self-mockery, left even Hamazura—once skeptical—speechless.

Straining for words, he forced out a reply.

“B-but… can you really be sure? That it was microbes from Mars that sent the message? I mean, these days even civilians can launch satellites. Someone could have timed it, had a satellite drift between Mars and Earth, and then sent a fake signal from there. Couldn’t it have just been a prank?”

Of course a “pro” like Bisai must have considered that possibility. Still, Hamazura had to say it.

Could it really be true? That someone with knowledge so far beyond what a dumb student like him could ever grasp, would still devote herself so seriously to such a thing?

"You… you actually believe this!? That some Martian microorganisms, which supposedly evolved on their own to gain intelligence, sent a distress signal to Earth? That kind of story isn’t even an urban legend—it’s nothing but a ridiculous tall tale… and you really believe it!?"

"Y-yeah."

The reply came instantly.
Bisai showed no anger at having her judgment belittled, nor sadness at not being understood. She simply and directly voiced her affirmation.

"………………………………"

It could very well have been a lie.
Precisely because she was a specialist, there should have been endless doubts and reasons for denial.
Yet even so, Bisai chose to listen to the voices of beings that might not even exist on that distant planet. And she stated her decision calmly—neither embarrassed nor proud.

In that moment, ability didn’t matter at all.
No matter how uncertain things were, she would give her all for what she wanted to save. It was a kind of inner strength—something Hamazura, nothing more than a washed-up Skill-Out drifter, could never hope to possess. That pure-hearted nature of the girl was right there.

"…Though in the process of creating a proper environment, what ended up forming as a by-product was a microorganism with incredibly strong reproductive capabilities, able to survive even on Mars. That, most likely, is what caught Kihara’s attention. After stealing the microbial data and passing it to that machine woman… he used some kind of immense power to blow away Nurikae."

"And that led us to where we eventually joined up, right?"

"Exactly. Well, I suppose it’s fortunate in a way. When the research functions were destroyed, at least the explosive spread of the microbes wasn’t unleashed into the outside world."

Bisai said it lightly, then added:

"…But just so you know, it’s not like I wanted to save them purely out of goodwill, alright? I’m part of the dark side too. I’m not so naïve as to indulge in some sappy hero complex or to put faith in my own decency."

"Then why go that far?"

"I just liked the idea, that’s all. Don’t you think it’s wonderful? On a faraway, distant planet, microorganisms developed intelligence and reached out to us. It’s like a dream, isn’t it? There’s a kind of romance to it."

Her voice almost brimmed with laughter, full of excitement.
It was as if, for a moment, the emotions of a brighter, more straightforward time—before she had sunk into the pitch-black world of the dark side—had returned to 『Bisai Otome』.

Then, gazing up at the sky, her lips parted, and as if letting a tear slip out, a single murmur fell.

"…I really wanted… to save them…"

But that hope was already gone.
The specialized research facilities were gone, and the accumulated data had been stolen. Even if they rebuilt from scratch, even with every shortcut, it would take months. And though the microorganisms could survive on Mars, without water and oxygen, they could never last that long.

In other words, the situation was already checkmate.
Bisai Otome could not save the Martian symbiotic microbes.

"………………………………"

The signal light switched to blue, meaning “go.”

But the bike didn’t move.
Hamazura Shiage couldn’t move forward.

"Isn’t it a little too soon to give up?"

At that moment, just as if to push Hamazura forward, words came—along with Frenda stepping off the bike. The abruptness of her statement made Bisai turn toward her in surprise.

"…What?"

"Kihara, right? I’m not exactly an expert, even though I’m neck-deep in the dark side myself, but he made a big splash at the Daihaseisai, so I’ve managed to pick up a few things. Apparently, he comes from a family of scientists who specialize in misusing science."

Frenda flashed a mischievous grin at Bisai.

"And that kind of guy stole your microorganism data. Meaning, he wants to exploit your science for himself."

To misuse science.
Bisai didn’t think she had the right to say anything about that. After all, she herself, embedded in the dark side, had used science and technology to hurt people. For someone like her to play the victim when her own field of study was misused—that was hypocrisy, and she knew it.

And as she lowered her gaze—

"What’s with the pious look? In the end, your true nature is still that sadistic queen, isn’t it?"

"What!?"

"Go on, play the victim. Put aside all the rotten things you’ve done, and with that holier-than-thou saintly face of yours, cry and scream, 'Please don’t use my dreams to hurt anyone else!' That’s what I’m telling you to do."

"Wha… wha…!!"

"Any bastard out there has the right to do at least that much."

At that moment. Watching her profile, Hamazura understood—Frenda Seivelun’s “switch” had just been flipped. This was likely a turning point for her. No matter how deep she sank into evil, this was the one line she still wanted to protect. The last stronghold. The tiny fragment of decency left in Frenda Seivelun as a human being, the core of it.

"And you know what? Anyone who steals someone else’s science doesn’t get to complain when their own science gets stolen in return. You get what I’m saying?"

"………………,"

Frenda’s smile, bright as the sun.
Seeing her intent—and the pitch-black malice hidden behind it—Bisai froze. Because if her suspicions were right—

"I’ll take back your 'science' that Kihara modified with his twisted experiments. And once I do, don’t you think you’ll be able to leap over the barriers of technology you could never manage on your own? Achieve a breakthrough ten generations ahead, just like that?"

Because what Frenda was saying was—she intended to use 『Kihara』.

"N… no way."

Facing Frenda’s fearless grin, Bisai’s first words were denial. Forced out, her words began to spill, more and more, like water gushing from a broken faucet, or tears that could no longer be held back.

"It’s impossible!! Facing a monster like that—something that makes even Level 5 espers look cute—while you’re just a powerless Level 0!? It’s suicide!! Even I barely managed to survive, and you think you could actually steal anything from him!?"

And Hamazura thought—she was absolutely right. This wasn’t courage. It was reckless bravado, the kind of idiotic impulse that mistakes outrage for omnipotence. Like a child catching measles. That someone as hardened as Frenda Seivelun, who had lived her life in the dark side, would fall into something like this was surprising… but thinking back, this girl had recently moved to help some other mysterious girl as well. She had wide connections, and the kind of personality that willingly took on other people’s trouble.

But this was no good. She had stepped completely over the line that needed to be protected. What awaited ahead was only ruin. Even someone as slow on the uptake as Hamazura could see that.

And in times like this, Hamazura knew exactly what to do—run. Before the atmosphere turned into one of inevitable entanglement, just run. If he left it to Frenda, she’d drag him along no matter what he said. And then, no matter how many lives he had, it wouldn’t be enough. So his best option here was to butt in, break the flow, say he’d escort this girl back, and then slip away before getting dragged into the mess.

"That’s impossible from the very start—"

"But from where I’m standing, this whole project about recovering microorganisms living on Mars seems just as impossible."

Chapter 3: The Value of a Soul Is Worthless　Double(Square)_Faith.
Extra: A Grave Problem >>>>The Battle for Ryoko Sashi in District 21③

Hamazura Shiage, while throwing in his words, felt a strange illusion as if the mouth moving was not his own.

(What the hell am I saying!? That’s not it, right? I should be stepping in and cutting off that idiot Frenda’s nonsense! Not getting swept up in some heroism crap like this! Hamazura Shiage was the kind of guy who’d say “I’m not playing along with this crap!” right!?)

An even greater anger welled up inside him.

"Yeah, you’re right. That blonde over there is missing a screw. Acting all self-important, spouting crap like he’s some kind of hero when he’s just a bastard. …But you know what, what you said was just as stupid. Microbes on Mars called for help!? So you built a lab to save them!? That’s ridiculous! It’s ridiculous and… it was damn cool."

Several images flashed back in his mind.
A blonde girl in a sweet lolita outfit, crouched and crying.
And standing behind that girl, Komaba Ritoku.
He didn’t know why these memories surfaced now.

"Someone like you, don’t give up on such a wonderful dream so easily!! Don’t lose to this shitty world!!!!"

Hamazura Shiage was useless.
He just went along with Komaba Ritoku, who had united Skill-Out, drifting toward the easy way out. The most he could do was drive a car or pick a lock. His pride was far too high, and when cornered, he had dirtied his hands with the lowest of deeds.
He couldn’t create anything of his own—only break things. An unproductive, incompetent fool. That was Hamazura Shiage.

And that was why he had truly respected Bisai when he heard her story.
She had been trying to build something with her own hands, to make her “dream” come true. Even while living in the world of the dark side, she had carefully kept such a pure thing locked inside her heart.

Now, that was about to be destroyed. For some reason, that was something he simply could not allow.

"If you don’t have the resources to get back up, then we’ll prepare them!! If you’re not ready in your heart to stand again, then we’ll push you forward!! So just once more—rise up again!!!!"

Before he realized it, Hamazura had already stepped off the bike and was kneeling in front of Bisai.
It was a pitiful pose, as if he were confessing his sins to the very person he was trying to encourage. Watching this, Frenda laughed beside him.

"Sure, we’re just talentless Level 0s with nothing special going for us."

Most likely, she was recalling some memory in her mind.

"But in the end, even talentless Level 0s… if we put our lives on the line, this world is built so that we can protect the things we care about."

"…Honestly, you really are stupid."

Despite her words, Bisai smiled gently.

"This is enough. From here, I’ll walk on my own. You two are heading back the way you came, right? Take care of my research data for me. And also—"

Gripping tightly onto Frenda’s shoulder, Bisai’s voice trembled for the first time as she forced out the words.

"…Please…! In my place, give that bastard a punch right in the face…!!"

"We’re not running some kid’s errand here. Still, I’d be willing to hear a request with a bit more challenge to it, though?"

Frenda spoke half-jokingly. Bisai slowly lifted her face, showing a smile mixed with tears.

Hamazura, uncharacteristically close to tearing up himself, rubbed his nose with his finger to cover it.

And with that same smile, Bisai slowly pointed to something behind Frenda and Hamazura.

"Then, for starters, go smash that thing."

The gears.
The gears of their smooth conversation suddenly screeched in dissonance.

So much so that Hamazura and Frenda almost imagined a ridiculous creaking sound, like a machine doll that had completely run out of oil, as they awkwardly turned their heads around.

And of course, what they saw was a mountain.

But Bisai hadn’t been pointing at the mountain itself. To be precise, she was pointing at something that was just now about to be born from a part of it.

Tearing through the mountainside, crawling out from underneath, a silhouette emerged—shaped like a sphere.

And above it, there floated a single girl—a Doppelganger.

Bathed in moonlight, she spewed massive amounts of “something” from her body, gathering iron sand with the currents flowing from it, shaping it into one massive weapon.

"……………………"

It all happened so smoothly.

No more than a minute must have passed. Iron sand was melted and fused together by raging high-voltage currents, until at last, it became a completed weapon.

A sphere, fifty meters in diameter.
From the sides of the sphere stretched two pairs of arms, longer than the body itself, curving forward like massive hooks.

At its base were propulsion devices shaped like armored greaves, with turret-like mechanisms aimed downward.

A single machine with a presence powerful enough to change the very shape of warfare.

The Doppelganger who had created it slipped into the machine.

In her place, a “scarecrow” burst forth from the machine, clothed in “something” that shaped it into a human form, then flew off over the mountain.

Judging from the situation, that was most likely the Doppelganger’s “clone.” The real one was now seated inside the weapon.

Which meant, no matter how you looked at it, this was the stronger one.

The Queen’s order was the complete annihilation of that thing.

And there was no taking back their words now.

As if to remind the dumbstruck Frenda and Hamazura, Bisai once again handed down her royal command to her beloved reckless fools.

"For starters, go smash that thing."

"…………Seriously?"

And so began a grave problem.