Bonus: The Grave Dilemma①

Clattering sounds echoed in quick succession. While large men hauled in cargo as bulky as household appliances, a boy sat lazily slouched on the sofa, exuding indifference.

"Ahh… well, guess that was a bust."

Casting a somewhat awkward glance aside, he found a twin-tailed girl smiling eerily and a boy in a headgear looking pale as a sheet. Clearly abnormal. The boy—Kakine Teitoku—showed a sort of reluctant sympathy, more like someone who just didn’t want to be dragged into trouble than true compassion.

"'Pincette's information was not obtained, but—'"

That one line carried the weight of countless assumptions collapsing. Of course, the only one in this world who truly understood its implications was Reicia Blackguard, and since she wasn’t present, no one else here had any clue.

"Well, there’s still a next time. You two switch gears. This round was just a bad match-up. …That woman won’t go down unless I step in myself."

Despite his calm tone, Kakine’s gaze drifted toward the bed visible from where he sat on the sofa. A girl lay there, chest rising and falling gently in sleep. In short, Yuzuriha Ringo had yet to awaken.

During that clash with “Dragon,” Kakine had appeared on the battlefield believing that Gensei’s knowledge held a way to save Yuzuriha. And indeed, the research that had driven Gensei to enact the “Usurpation Plan”—Personality Stimulation Make-Up—had borne some results for her salvation. Where once Yuzuriha’s body would have died instantly without Kakine suspending her vitals in a pseudo-death state using Dark Matter, now she could sustain life unaided by equipment.

"…Such a peaceful face."

As Kakine stared fixedly at the girl, a voice came from the side: the girl in a dress, Gokusai. Kakine turned only his eyes toward her, then looked away with clear disinterest.

"This isn’t anywhere near good enough. Stimulating her brain function has stabilized life support, sure… but she’s nowhere close to waking. And with just the incomplete notes that old man left behind, there’s no way to push the stimulation further."

"In other words… we’ll need to obtain those missing pieces from her, correct!?"

Beaming brightly, the twin-tailed girl—Yumiya—spoke in rapture. Her expression almost intoxicated, she piled on more words.

"That overwhelming power, that merciless domination… she could have killed me at any moment, yet she deliberately let me live! That is nothing less than friendship!! Comradeship!!"

"…This is gonna be a long one, huh?"

"And after that, she even clashed with ITEM, didn’t she! If she’s aiming for a goal so significant she’ll pick fights with the dark side, then inevitably, her path will cross with our ‘Darkness’ again, won’t it!? Hehehe… She’s stepping right into our territory of her own accord! If I don’t welcome her with every fiber of my being, how could I possibly call her my friend!!!!"

Kakine was already exasperated, not even listening anymore, while Yumiya’s excitement only climbed higher. Once she hit this mode, nothing short of Kakine’s full-blown rage would stop her. He completely tuned her out, instead shifting his gaze to Yobou, who was sighing in equal exasperation.

"So, Yobou. Any word on what the Back-Up No. 4—Another Four—was trying to accomplish by tangling with ITEM?"

"Y-Yes. It seems Another Four was chasing information related to Indian Poker, which led him to that lab. …Since Indian Poker was originally a technology developed at the Artificial Talent Workshop—Clone Dolly."

"Huh? …Ahh, I see. So the bastard was trying to crush the source of that obnoxious little toy leaking info from his own turf. But still…"

Kakine, with his own dark-side intel network, was aware of how things had turned out. The current owner of the “blueprints” for Indian Poker wasn’t anyone sitting in the dark ruins of the Artificial Talent Workshop.

The true culprit was Kuriba Ryouko.

Though she had no shady dealings herself, she was a girl with a peculiar history: while living in the “light” world, she had chosen to cleave herself apart and become a full-body cyborg. But in this case, it was her unfortunate fate to get involved with the darkness that was the Artificial Talent Workshop.

"…This one could be useful."

Looking at a photo of Kuriba Ryouko, Kakine’s lips curled faintly. According to intel, Kuriba Ryouko had a personal friendship with Reicia=Blackguard. Which meant that no matter what Kuriba might be involved in, that hopelessly righteous woman would still count her as a neighbor worth protecting.

The Number Two, his mind producing wickedly precise calculations, addressed Yumiya—still happily babbling about friendship with Reicia—and Gokusai, who was watching Yuzuriha lying on the bed.

"You lot, go grab Kuriba. …Time for an ‘information exchange.’"

Chapter 3 – The Value of Souls is Worthless: Double(Square)_Faith.
Bonus: A Serious Dilemma >>>>>> Battle for Kuriba Ryouko in District 21 (Part 1)

"Ughhh, seriously, what a disaster this has turned into…"

Academy City — somewhere in the shadows.

Inside a run-down warehouse packed with burly men, Frenda Seivelun, self-proclaimed blossoming high school girl in her prime, groaned with a melting expression.

In front of her was a table. No—more precisely, several wooden crates lined up with a board thrown across them, a makeshift “table.”

On top of it lay piles of handgun magazines and bullets scattered without order.

Frenda’s job right now was loading them.

The firearms used by underlings in the lower ranks burned through ammo like water. It wasn’t like the bullets came pre-loaded in the mags, ready to slot into a gun and turn someone’s head into pulp with a single trigger pull.

No—someone had to sit there and tediously push round after round into magazines, preparing dozens of them in advance for when the time came.

And, naturally, this kind of grunt work was exactly the sort of thing meant for small fry. But…

"I lost to that knockoff Fourth, got chewed out by Mugino, and now I’m stuck doing grunt work with the underlings…"

"Well, considering the mood Mugino was in, you should be glad you weren’t just executed on the spot."

Beside her, also clicking bullets into magazines, was a boy. Yes—our very own Hamazura Shiage.

He’d seen firsthand how furious Mugino had been once she regained consciousness afterward, so honestly, he thought Frenda was being outrageously spoiled to be complaining when she’d gotten off with all her limbs still attached.

‘…So you just let her go? Frenda… Are you seriously saying that? After even telling her our objective?’

‘Hiii—but—but!! If I’d tried to stop her, she would’ve just knocked me out in an instant anyway…’

‘Begging for your life, huh? Oi, do you even realize you’ve just disgraced ITEM’s name?’

‘Eeeeek!!!!’

Yeah. That expression of Mugino’s—Hamazura thought—was no joke. She really might’ve blown off an arm or two in that state.

If Hamazura hadn’t quickly shifted her interest by asking why Reicia had attacked the Artificial Talent Workshop’s Clone Dolly, Frenda probably wouldn’t be in this warehouse right now—she’d be stuck in a hospital bed instead.

"…Well, I do appreciate it, y’know. If you hadn’t jumped in, Mugino definitely would’ve given me another ‘punishment,’ that’s for sure."

Whether “punishment” would’ve actually stopped at just that was debatable… Hamazura thought, quietly working his hands.

Still, Frenda’s complaints didn’t slow her down. Her hands moved quickly—faster and more precise than his own. In terms of dexterity, she was clearly operating on another level. But now, she was reaching her limit.

"Aaaaahhh, enough!! I’m done!! So sick of this!! I’m completely sick of it!! I mean, come on! Mugino was the first one taken down by Another Four, and I’m supposed to deal with an unscathed, full-powered Level 5 on my own? Like that was ever possible in the first place!!"

"As punishment, you’ve been made to ‘supervise the underlings’—which really means working with me, huh…"

"Exactly! This is basically a demotion, isn’t it? Lower pay, and on top of that, how am I supposed to get motivated for this!?"

(…Honestly, it feels more like I’ve been assigned to babysit her, though…)

It had been hours now. Hamazura had been listening to Frenda gripe, coaxing her whenever she tried to ditch the work, over and over again.

And yet, despite how thankless the role was, all the losers around them probably saw him as some “spoiled bourgeois bastard who doesn’t appreciate what he’s got.” The world was absurdly unfair, Hamazura thought bitterly.

"Aaaaghhh!! I can’t take this anymore!! I quit!! Repetitive, brain-dead work like this is a total waste of the precious time of a talented person like me!!"

"Quit complaining. I mean, aren’t you basically like an engineer type? Shouldn’t these fiddly little jobs be right up your alley?"

"They are, but!! In my case, the reward at the end of all that fiddly work is blowing everything up! If I don’t get the explosion payoff, there’s no way I can put up with tedious stuff like this!!"

"You’re twisted, y’know…"

"Ah, Hamazura, you just bent the spring in that magazine. I could tell from the sound."

"What the hell, you!!!"

She kept whining, but even so, her specs were way higher than mine, who was taking this seriously. It really drove home again that she was part of ITEM, the kind of team that had managed to survive in battlefields crawling with powerful espers.

When I usually dealt with her, she just came off as a cheeky high school girl.

Still, that cheeky, selfish JK clearly wasn’t going to budge from her stance of "I can’t handle any more boring tasks!" If Frenda caused trouble here, it wouldn’t just be her. I, stuck with the babysitting job, could easily end up beaten to a pulp by Mugino too.

"Then how about watching this video? It’s a legendary thing they say makes boring tasks mysteriously fly by…"

Saying that, Hamazura rummaged through a wooden crate and pulled out a video to show Frenda.

What was written on the package was:

『Top Secret Bunny Girl Soldiers: Intense Breast Training』.

"…Hamazura. I’ll blow you up for sexual harassment."

"No, aaaaahhh!? At least sue me first!?"

Almost reflexively, Hamazura shoved the package back into the crate.

"N-no, wait! That’s not what I meant! That’s not the one I was trying to pull out! I meant that crappy B-movie Kinuhata forced on me the other day! It was so mind-numbingly boring you wanted to escape from watching it, which somehow boosted your work efficiency! That’s what I was going for! That one, not this one…!"

"…But seriously, what even is a ‘Bunny Girl Soldier’? That attribute’s already lost in a maze."

"Shut up!! Bunny girls go with anything—they’re the ultimate universal ingredient!!!"

Hamazura went on passionately, but Frenda just gave him a flat, cold look. Having the softest part of his heart so cleanly sliced apart, Hamazura slumped down with a whimper and went back to work.

The atmosphere had gotten awkward, and just as Frenda was about to change the subject, her terminal rang from where it sat on top of the crate.

The caller ID read: 『Mugino Shizuri』.

"…Hello!? Mugino!? Ohhh, finally the mission’s over!? Took long enough, huh,"

"It’s work, Frenda."

Mugino’s voice cut sharp, then continued.

"Human trafficking. Target: ‘Ayase Ryoko’. A researcher from the ‘surface’ side. You’re to abduct this woman along with our subordinates. …She could be the Achilles’ heel of the underground’s #4, Another Four."

With that, Mugino ended the call immediately.

Left behind were Frenda, looking extremely conflicted, and Hamazura, with an expression that was equal parts sympathy and exasperation.

"…W-well, at least you’re off the bullet-loading duty, right?"

"In the end, I’m still stuck with low-paying grunt work for the subordinates, aren’t I～～～～!!!!"

Frenda moaned in despair, "Ugh, I’m so done with losing…"

But she didn’t notice. That this seemingly simple job was in fact going to become a far harsher battle for possession than any other mission…