Chapter 171: The Petty Schemes of a Great Calamity
Final Chapter – I Don’t Know Anything About Predestination - Theory_"was"_Broken.
Chapter 144: The Petty Schemes of a Great Calamity - Productive_Purpose.
Thanks to the combined efforts of Mugino’s ITEM and Kakine’s SCHOOL, Shiren and the others somehow managed to escape from the Celeste Aquarium. However, their future still looked far from easy.
“So, uh… just to start with,” Kamijou began vaguely once they reached the main street.
“Why was Kihara=K fighting Aleister in the first place? I mean, I don’t really get Aleister’s goal either, but Kihara=K must have some purpose too, right? If we don’t figure that out, we’ll never know where he’s headed.”
Shiren had been cursed by Aleister—cursed to prioritize neutralizing Kihara=K above all else. The curse’s core had taken root deep within her body, making it impossible to remove even with Imagine Breaker. Knowing full well she was being driven by Aleister’s will, she had no choice but to pursue Kihara=K.
“Hmm… this is quite the problem. I’ve already asked In-dek-su for another favor, so contacting her probably won’t be possible, you see…”
If it were a magical issue, Index would have been a tremendous help. In fact, she had originally been one of the allies Shiren intended to rely on. But Index was likely already occupied assisting other collaborators. They couldn’t depend on her now. That meant they had to locate Kihara=K on their own.
“But from what we heard, Kihara=K was clearly trying to kill Aleister, right? Doesn’t that mean his goal is just to eliminate him?”
“Oh, come on, Misaka-san, don’t oversimplify it. Think about it—what could Kihara=K possibly gain from killing Aleister?”
“Huh!? How should I know!? The point is, he did try to kill Aleister!”
As the two girls bickered loudly, Kamijou quietly pondered Kihara=K’s reasoning.
“Even if his ultimate goal wasn’t to kill Aleister Crowley, the fact that he chose to attack then means the killing itself must’ve been part of his objective.”
“…But if that’s true, wouldn’t Kihara=K have gone straight for the Windowless Building to finish the job? In that case, there’s no reason for Aleister-san to have separated from me, right?”
If Kihara=K truly intended to assassinate Aleister, Aleister would have noticed. Logically, he would’ve wanted to keep Shiren close as a safeguard. He could have easily justified it—the curse ensured her obedience, and Aleister was adept at manipulating others. Yet, he had deliberately let her go. That could only mean that, for now, Aleister judged the risk of being attacked to be low.
“It’s likely the battle with Aleister was only one part of Kihara=K’s larger goal. That much seems certain. …But maybe the act of killing itself wasn’t the true objective. To put it precisely—perhaps it was just a step along the way.”
“…A step? You mean, even killing Academy City’s Board Chairman was just one task on the path to something bigger?”
Misaka, who had finally calmed down from their argument, asked in disbelief. Yet when they traced each of Kihara=K’s actions, that conclusion seemed inevitable.
“Then what’s his real goal supposed to be!? Are we talking about something on the scale of, like, destroying the world or something!?”
“Hmm, that might not be too far off, actually… Remember Kihara Gensei? He was ready to blow up all of Academy City just to observe your Level 6 Shift, Misaka-san.”
“…”
That name made Misaka wince. It wasn’t a memory she wanted to revisit—being deceived like that had left a bitter taste—but yes, back then, Kihara Gensei had been perfectly willing to “destroy the world for science.”
“Besides, I really doubt something as mundane as ‘killing the Chairman’ would interest a Kihara. Their goals usually align with research or academic advancement, don’t they? So maybe that assassination attempt was just a way to remove some obstacle interfering with an experiment.”
It was a typically pragmatic observation from Shokuhou—someone who had crossed paths with the Kihara family more than once. And indeed, that was what the Kiharas were: people who would throw away ethics and common sense in pursuit of results. That much was undeniable.
But—
“No. Maybe even that isn’t the whole truth.”
Shiren, who had been entangled with the Kiharas more deeply than anyone present, had begun to see something else.
“The Kiharas aren’t mindless machines that exist only for experiments. They each have their own emotions and motives hidden within them. That’s precisely why Souji-san helped me this time.”
Kihara Souji’s case was the clearest example. He had harbored genuine affection for Reicia Blackguard. His feelings had manifested through his creation—the Anti-V Arms, a weapon system born of science but driven by emotion rather than logic.
Even Kihara Gensei’s obsession with the Level 6 Shift had stemmed not only from scientific curiosity, but from resentment toward Aleister, who had exploited his ambitions for his own “Project Plan.”
Kihara Nayuta and Therestina Kihara Lifeline had likewise acted during the Daihaseisai according to their own convictions, fighting to protect the city.
So if Kihara=K was the same…
“When Kihara=K was struck by my Result Twister, his very existence was about to be invalidated as a ‘failed outcome’ of Kihara Amata’s actions. We treated that as a strange accident at the time, but… what if that was actually the key point?”
He had spoken of “revival.” Meaning, he saw himself not as the embodiment of Kihara Amata’s malice, but as an individual seeking rebirth.
Yet Result Twister had still classified him as the result of Kihara Amata’s deeds—something Shiren’s right hand could erase. Once Kihara=K realized that, what would he do next?
“If that’s true, then his first logical move would be to eliminate whatever threatens him—in this case, either me or my right hand.”
“But if that’s the case, wouldn’t it make more sense for him to attack first? I mean, Shiren’s powerless right now. She’s full of openings.”
Mikoto’s offhand remark made Shiren shiver.
Even though Shiren’s calculation ability alone still ranked at Level 5 among Espers, she couldn’t shake a feeling of unease. Having the third-ranked Level 5 right beside her didn’t change the fact that, in this situation, anyone from the Dark Side could attack them at any moment. Once that reality was pointed out, it was impossible not to feel exposed and vulnerable.
Still—if nothing like that had happened even amid the chaos at the Celeste Aquarium, then perhaps…
“…That probably means it wasn’t that important to K after all.”
“I’d say so too…”
Shiren’s expression darkened. In a way, that possibility was one she didn’t particularly want to accept.
“There’s one thing about my right hand that’s been bothering me,” she said quietly. “It’s… the limit of its effective range.”
Her gaze drifted down to her right hand, wrapped neatly in a white dress glove.
“K was the manifestation of Kihara Amata’s malice, which is why it became a target for Result Twister. But if someone merely provoked or incited another person into acting with malice, would that person’s actions also fall under Result Twister’s effect?”
Because this was a newly awakened power, the answer had never been tested. Yet Shiren had seen enough to form a theory.
“The answer is probably no. If that kind of case were included, then the current situation—where Aleister is manipulating Reicia like a pawn—could be resolved instantly with just my right hand. I don’t believe Aleister would make such a careless plan. And if this ability really covered that wide a range, it would be absurdly overpowered.”
After all, even Shiren’s own choices up to this point had surely been influenced by the malice of others. If every one of those counted as a ‘failure’ whenever she used Result Twister, the world itself would’ve already been torn apart.
“At the very least, when it comes to living beings, it might mean that the target’s free will takes precedence. And even if we consider inanimate objects… I don’t think they automatically qualify either.”
That much was clear from past examples.
For instance, Vento’s divine punishment ritual revolved around a cross extending from her tongue—a weapon unmistakably designed with harmful intent. If K had been destroyed by Result Twister simply because it was an object born from malice, then by the same logic, that cross should have also “failed” and collapsed out of existence. But it hadn’t.
Why was that?
“…It’s probably related to intent,” Shiren said at last.
“Intent?”
Touma echoed the word reflexively—not out of confusion, but because it struck a chord with him. The meaning behind it made him ask again almost instinctively.
Shiren nodded.
“Yes. Weapons and spiritual tools are certainly made to harm others, but they don’t necessarily assume a specific act of harm. At that stage, they don’t really qualify as the kind of ‘malicious intent’ Result Twister reacts to… or at least, not easily.”
Thinking back, even Vento had tried to avoid Result Twister’s effect near the end of their battle by firing indiscriminately rather than targeting anyone in particular. It wasn’t a perfect countermeasure, but it did suggest something—that ‘malice’ only truly manifests when someone envisions a specific target to harm.
“Now, if we look at the cases where Result Twister did activate, the one with Acqua is easy to understand. He hurled a massive torrent of water with the clear intent to crush us—that was a concrete act of malice. Because of that, the ability recognized the water as a valid target and activated. From that, we can infer that when a specific act of harm is deliberately envisioned, it falls within Result Twister’s range.”
As Shiren spoke, she raised her index finger for emphasis. A moment later, Touma’s eyes widened as he realized what she was implying.
In other words—
“Wait, hold on! Doesn’t that mean… Kihara Amata predicted everything K would do ahead of time? That K acted exactly according to those predictions, and that’s why Result Twister targeted it!?”
“…Most likely, yes.”
That meant Kihara Amata had foreseen K’s behavioral patterns in advance. Because K had acted precisely according to Amata’s preprogrammed design—spreading the malice he had built into it—Result Twister had judged K as an extension of Amata’s own malice.
If that was true, it perfectly explained why, during that battle, K’s very existence had begun to destabilize under Result Twister’s effect.
“That’s just… unreal.”
“Most likely, K itself had already considered that possibility,” Mikoto murmured. “In fact, your confrontation with it might’ve just been a way to confirm it. Eliminating the Chairman was probably only a side route toward that goal…”
Both Mikoto and Shokuhou realized it then—the true purpose behind K’s actions, beyond merely trying to assassinate the Academy City Chairman.
Its objective as the Original Manuscript.
With her eyes cast down, Shiren spoke the decisive conclusion.
“To break free from Kihara Amata. That, I believe, was K’s true goal.”
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