Chapter 22: For the Salvation of the World

Regardless of individual differences, changing clothes is something men can get done pretty quickly.

Wipe off a little sweat, throw on your uniform, and that's it.

Things are a little different for the Bluffers.

I'm about the only one who uses the boys' changing room.

All the Bluffers are girls.

You rarely ever see a male Anchor around campus.

So while everyone else is changing, I'm all alone.

It's a little lonely. I guess I've gotten completely used to being around those lively girls.

I stood in the corner of the hallway, absentmindedly waiting for everyone.

"—You were Shota-san, right? Good work."

I heard an unfamiliar voice and turned around.

Standing there was Kanon Saisei of the Sugar Platoon, one of the Salvation Bluffers.

She carried herself calmly. She had gentle eyes and a soft way of speaking that left a good impression.

"Ah, Saisei-san. Good work."

When I awkwardly said her unfamiliar surname, she let out a quiet giggle.

"Fufu, please call me Kanon. My surname is ultimately just a falsehood, after all."

Oh, Hibari said something like that at first too.

Thinking that, I looked at Kanon.

Her black eyes, glowing with a gentle light, were fixed on me.

There was something about her that made me feel strangely calm just by talking to her.

As I observed her like that, she tilted her head slightly.

"Is there something on my face?"

"N-no. I just thought you were really calm, Kanon. I can't believe we're actually the same age. You stayed calm throughout the mock battle too. I guess you've been through a lot more than I have."

I hurriedly rattled off my words, and she smiled gently.

"No, I'm nothing special. I've heard that you Fox Platoon members are an elite group that has overcome many hardships."

Hearing that, I remembered what had happened not long ago.

The formless god. The girls fighting despite their injuries. Raika crucified.

The way they fought so valiantly certainly made them worthy of being called an elite group.

Compared to them, though, what about me?

"That's probably true for the Bluffers. But... I'm just a newcomer, and all I've been doing is following orders without really understanding what's going on."

All I could do was desperately deal with whatever was right in front of me. I hadn't become anything worthy of being called an elite.

Even in the mock battle earlier, I had done little but rely on Hazuki and Mana.

Remembering that left me feeling a little down.

"...Is that what's troubling you? If you'd like, why don't you tell me about it?"

"Huh?"

When I raised my head, her black eyes were fixed on me.

"You looked rather troubled. If you don't have anywhere to let those feelings out, why don't you talk to me?"

Maybe those were the words I had wanted to hear most right now.

Maybe I had wanted to talk to someone about these murky feelings inside me.

"...Thanks. Honestly, just having you say that makes me feel a little better."

I felt a slight inferiority complex toward everyone in my platoon.

There was no way I could tell them something like that.

So being able to have Kanon accept my worries here made me feel a little better.

"You're kind to someone you've only just met, Kanon."

She must be someone who was good at understanding how other people felt.

Her consideration for me reminded me of the girl who would lazily puff on her purple cigarette smoke.

"Thank you. But this is something I want to do. —I want to save people."

She continued smiling pleasantly, but the atmosphere around her changed ever so slightly.

"Human society is irrational, and there are all kinds of suffering. Illness. Aging. Death. The very act of living can itself be suffering... I want to eliminate all of that. I want to save the world. Listening to your troubles is the first step toward that."

Her ideal seemed far too enormous for a single girl to bear.

It sounded almost like something a saint or holy figure would preach.

And yet, she was a Bluffer. A girl capable of wielding extraordinary power. Bluffers make their own bluffs a reality. Even Kanon's grandiose claims might actually come true.

I stared intently at Kanon's face.

For a moment, I thought I saw flickering red lights within her black eyes.

But the light disappeared as quickly as an illusion.

Kanon suddenly relaxed her shoulders.

"Well, what I wanted to talk to you about wasn't anything that complicated. It's simply an ordinary suggestion: if possible, let's help each other."

She smiled. The superhuman aura from before was gone from her face. I felt a little relieved.

"If possible, I'd like to speak with Raika Usobuki-san, the leader of the Fox Platoon, in the same way... but I haven't really had many opportunities to talk with her alone."

"Ah, Raika's always busy with something or other."

Apparently, besides training, she also handled negotiations with the adults.

And whenever that nicotine addict had some free time, she'd immediately go smoke cigarettes behind the school building, so finding her inside the school might actually be difficult.

"Of course, I understand that she's busy, but... how should I put it? I sometimes feel like she's deliberately avoiding me."

"...Raika is avoiding Kanon?"

I'd never seen Raika avoid anyone before.

For better or worse, she treated everyone equally.

She was more or less rude to everyone. She didn't hold back. She wasn't intimidated by anyone.

"I think it's probably just your imagination... but I'll casually mention it to Raika next time. Kanon, you're probably a good person, after all."

"Thank you. You're a good person too, Shota-san."

Kanon said that with a happy smile.

The basic strategy for the Bluffers when dealing with the "Invasion of Fiction" is to defeat the approaching enemies in order.

They intercept enemies as they approach the final defensive wall on the outskirts of Tokyo, and if things become dangerous, they can retreat beyond the wall.

Because of this, the farther one gets from the defensive wall, the greater the number of enemies becomes, and the harder the fighting gets. Heading toward central Tokyo is practically an act of suicide.

That was precisely why nobody noticed the existence of a Bluffer who fought alone in central Tokyo late at night.

"The 'Jack the Ripper.' An entity distorted through rumors and speculation surrounding the existence of a mysterious murderer, is that correct? In terms of notoriety, I'd place it in the upper-middle range. As for its abilities... considering that its identity is unknown, we can't make many definitive conclusions."

With her glowing red eyes blazing intensely, Saisei Kanon analyzed the enemy before her.

Her opponent was an enemy that had been sighted since the earliest days of the "Invasion of Fiction." It was also responsible for taking the lives of numerous ordinary people.

A humanoid figure emerged from a collapsed convenience store.

Its face was hidden beneath a hood. Compared to some of the "Invasion of Fiction" entities that stood over three meters tall, it was relatively small.

However, the power emanating from its body was by no means weak.

"..."

After confirming Kanon's presence, Jack the Ripper drew a large knife.

"Let me reach out my hand to you."

A gigantic statue of Kannon appeared behind Kanon.

The bronze statue, surrounded by a halo of light, shone divinely even in the darkness of night.

Both of them readied their weapons and watched each other's movements.

In the heart of Tokyo, where almost every light had gone dark, two killing intents collided.

"Shh!"

Jack the Ripper hunched low and sprinted forward. He closed the distance in a straight line and swung his knife.

At the same time, the Kannon statue behind Kanon swung one of its arms downward.

A blow from a colossal arm. The impact thundered through the night, cracks spreading across the deteriorated asphalt.

The palm slammed down and appeared to have crushed Jack the Ripper.

However—

"Ha...!"

No one had ever managed to capture Jack the Ripper, the murderer who would go down in history.

As if recreating that very fact, the monster reproduced through fiction possessed astonishing agility.

Jack the Ripper instantly moved behind Kanon and raised his knife. With the enormous Buddhist statue at her back, Kanon had no way of seeing what was behind her.

The knife was about to plunge straight into Kanon's back—

But then.

Kanon brought her palms together, and the Kannon statue did the same. At that instant, a shockwave erupted from the statue.

Jack the Ripper was blown backward. Having created an opening and assessed the situation, Kanon immediately attacked him again.

Jack the Ripper had lost his balance and could no longer make use of his mobility.

With a thunderous boom, the enormous palm of the statue crushed Jack's body.

Pinned to the ground as though a fly had been swatted, the murderer let out a faint groan.

"Then let me put you to use for the salvation of the world."

Light began to emanate from the palm of the statue, and Jack the Ripper's body was gradually drawn into it.

The instant the "Invasion of Fiction" was absorbed, an immense amount of information flooded into Kanon's mind. The fears of strangers. Curiosity. Rumors. Confusion. All of it poured into her at once.

Information flowed like a raging torrent.

An ordinary human being would have lost their sense of self in an instant.

"...I'll take your power, then."

But Saisei Kanon had already abandoned the mind of an ordinary human being. She herself defined her state of mind as "Enlightenment."

A mentality that had become like a machine, unaffected by anything and pursuing only the salvation of the world. It was the state she had reached after the restraints within her had broken and she had been crushed beneath her own lies.

"If I can absorb that calamity god as well... then perhaps I'll finally be able to put the Salvation Plan into action."

She looked up at the night sky. Covered by gloomy clouds, it was a darkness without either stars or moon.

"Everything is for the salvation of the world."