It was all connected.
It all began with my destruction of the Bright Cross.
As a zombie, Ayumi"s body would begin to rot without periodic preservation treatment. That had been done by one of the "relatively harmless" divisions within the Bright Cross.
With nowhere else to turn, Ayumi had apparently relied on an American pharmaceutical company with the same tech - or rather, that had lent its internal tech to the Bright Cross. And of course, she had kept this from me. Since it would have been dangerous to go on her own, Erika had gone with her.
But the scheduled day had pa.s.sed and they had not returned to j.a.pan.
"From there, I had Maxwell mess with the drawing for movie extras. We needed a pretty major excuse for a j.a.panese student like me to make an unsupervised foreign trip."
The one piece of luck was that my sisters were unharmed. They were locked in somewhere, but they could contact me via video chat when their captors were not paying attention.
I had managed to reach Las Vegas and was preparing to investigate the pharmaceutical company when those gels had begun their citywide rampage like some kind of preemptive strike.
The sun had completely set by the time we lost the gels which had learned how to increase their apparent volume. We had escaped to a boxy smoking area made of thick but transparent acrylic panels. The gels used their skin rather than eyes to hunt. It would be pointless if the acrylic panels themselves vibrated, but it would still be harder for them to find us with that barrier between us.
"Why did you take so long to tell me something so important, Truth!?"
"Because I was pretty sure you would run headlong into danger if I did. I mean, crackers love breaking into major corporations in the first place, so add a bizarre sense of righteousness on top of that and you"d start a full-throttle game of chicken."
"The term is hackers! ...Honestly." Anastasia pouted her lips in her red camisole and tennis-style miniskirt that, annoyingly enough, were all silk. "So what"s the villain"s name? This could be any number of pharmaceutical companies. That"s just how dangerous they are."
"What if I told you it was a pharmaceutical company in Las Vegas?"
"Oh, h.e.l.l."
That had apparently been enough. Anastasia placed a hand over her eyes and looked up into the sky.
"Herbal Science, then. They originally sold cigarettes, but the negative campaigns grew too powerful and they shifted into pharmaceutics. They sold both the cigarettes and the nicotine addiction drugs to make double the money."
That had led to further dark rumors that they had similar scams going with drugs more serious than tobacco. In other words, they were secretly distributing dried gra.s.s and rock candy so they could sell the anti-addiction drugs. No matter which side of the equation sold more, Herbal Science still profited.
"So is it them, Truth?"
"I couldn"t turn up anything. But if they were clean, they wouldn"t have such strict defenses. It"s so suspicious it makes you wonder if they"re hiding a decomposing corpse in their vault." I breathed out. "It isn"t clear why they"re interested in Archenemies, but given their logic, we can make a decent guess, can"t we?"
The Bright Cross had been following a twisted philosophy that led them to believe they were helping everyone by managing the Archenemies.
But Herbal Science was different.
This was driven by an almost pure love of money. They weren"t thinking of anyone but themselves.
"They infect humans...and make money off of the cure? B-but wait. There is no cure for vampires or zombies! They"d win several n.o.bel Prizes if they had one!"
"That"s right."
That was why.
That was why this was such a big problem.
"They"re underestimating my sisters."
"They think they"ve conquered all Archenemies with nothing more than some preservation treatments. If they spread the infection, they won"t be able to control it. Herbal Science will be destroyed first and the rest of the world that will have to deal with their problem for them."
"Hmm," groaned the Cla.s.s Rep. She seemed close to recovering from her jetlag. "But what was this gel attack? Was that Herbal Science"s doing too?"
"Of course it was! It was meant to stop Truth when he"s so close to taking them down!"
"No." I rejected the idea. "Why would they go this far for a single j.a.panese student? If this was Herbal Science"s attack, they"ll have made an enemy of the White House. Besides, if they had an Archenemy like those gels, they wouldn"t need Erika and Ayumi as well. They could have just spread the gels."
"Oh... Yeah, you"re probably right."
"The gels are weak to heat. With a simple weakness like that, selling a means of defeating them would be easy. So I doubt they would abandon that and go with an uncontrollable vampire or zombie instead."
Of course, it was always possible they wanted several different Archenemies for more variety.
"In that case, Satori-kun. ...I feel bad saying it, but isn"t this our chance?"
I brought a hand to my face when I heard the Cla.s.s Rep"s question.
Yup.
Herbal Science was located in Las Vegas despite being a pharmaceutical company because, as Anastasia has pointed out, they originally sold the king of luxury goods: cigarettes. Since shifting into pharmaceutics, they had developed new drugs that matched the city"s style, such as hangover drugs and fatty liver drugs.
While I thought about that, we arrived downtown. But this was Las Vegas, so there were neon lights and bright screens everywhere. Some areas had become tunnels like a pathway through an aquarium.
The smart building located between the casinos and theatres blended into the scenery, but that was why it felt so fiercely malevolent. It was a lot like seeing the p.a.w.n shop or the consumer loan dispenser inconspicuously located next to a pac.h.i.n.ko parlor or horse racing track. Even if there was nothing intrinsically wrong with it, the combination was horrifying.
"Hey, Truth," said short Anastasia.
I had wanted to find a way to protect our hands and feet, but this was a city of casinos and bars. If we had run across a mall, we might have found a diving wetsuit...but maybe not in a desert city like this. The thick rubber might have come in handy if the gels really did insist on only eating biological things, though.
In that sense, a rescue team in thick fireproof clothing would have been more rea.s.suring than soldiers or police who wore short sleeves in the desert.
"Would they really hold something as infectious as an Archenemy at their headquarters in the city? There"s plenty of unpopulated desert just outside the city."
"Hey, Maiden, if they had really built the perfect prison, would my sisters be able to call me up for a video chat so often?"
"Ah."
"They"re even stupider than you think. What they believe to be perfect is actually full of holes. And that"s all the more reason we can"t leave this in their hands."
...Now, then.
"What do you think, Maxwell?"
"Sure. Anyone with normal sensibilities would put together some kind of plan once you were sighted in Las Vegas."
"You mean they would try to kill Satori-kun?"
"No. They could easily abduct him by threatening him with a gun and he would be much more valuable taken alive and used as a collar to restrain Miss Erika and Miss Ayumi. Since they have not done so, they must be very confident in their own techniques."
They were nothing but idiots.
I could already predict what had happened at Herbal Science without making an unannounced visit at the front gate.
Who had released the gels and why were different matters entirely.
"Yeah, I had a feeling this is what we"d find."
I had considered faking a part-time janitor"s ID to pretend I was taking shelter in the building, but that proved unnecessary.
There was no one at the front gate.
There was no one at the reception counter either.
I stepped through the entrance gate and looked around, but I couldn"t spot a single person.
I only saw some synthetic clothing lying on the floor, presumably from the night guards.
"The gels!? Dammit!!"
There would be no point in faking an ID and pretending to be a part-time janitor.
They must have reacted to the movement of air caused by the swaying of our limbs or rubbing of our clothing because red ma.s.ses dripped down from the ceiling. I had thought the metal detector gate was useless at this point, but a loud buzzer began to blare when we ran through it. The gels only reacted to movements of the air, so sound itself would not matter...or so I hoped. I gestured the Cla.s.s Rep and Anastasia further in. We were headed for the emergency stairs to the side of the elevator hall.
...I noticed these gels weren"t puffing themselves up.
Anastasia had theorized they had learned how to use their bodies, so it may have been a difference in individual knowledge. Or had they begun to learn that taking in air and increasing their apparent volume like flower petals or a petticoat slowed them down?
"S-Satori-kun. Should we really just go in without permission like this!?"
"It"s an emergency, so we can claim we came here looking for help!"
It was Herbal Science that could not have anyone taking a close look at things. It would actually help us if they got the justice system involved.
We could not take our time and avoid creating any wind as we moved. As we ran across the floor, we saw movement in the tucked-away employee vending machine area.
My eyes met with someone else"s.
When I saw the glistening black metal in their hand, I did not hold back.
"Maxwell, detonate their cellphone"s battery!!"
With a loud bursting sound, the many gels hesitated and then started toward the vending machine area instead. I could see the Herbal Science worker dragging one leg while desperately trying to get away.
...There were dangers around every corner. Both human and Archenemy.
"Pant, pant! Truth, this building is like a maze. We need to watch out for blind spots!"
We finally arrived at the emergency stairs, but this was where the real challenge began. Not all of the gels had gone to the vending machine area and there could be some lying in wait up ahead. We were in a cramped area with lots of blind spots and little room for evasion. We had to be even more careful now.
But Herbal Science had probably collapsed as an organization. They had failed to stop the gels. There were security cameras in the emergency stairwell, but there was no sign of armed guards rushing in to stop us. Everyone may have been holding their breath and adjusting their goals downward to ensure their own personal survival.
"(Truth, there"s a gel on the next landing.)"
No matter how small it was, we could not break through with brute force. With its living prey, it was more dangerous than concentrated sulfuric acid. If it touched us, we would be devoured. Our only choice was to open a nearby door and enter that midway floor.
This may have been the general affairs or accounting department because the office of normal desks and chairs seemed out of place for a pharmaceutical company. Or maybe this was the proper look for a company headquarters in a major city.
At any rate, a game of tag in a building with limited routes was not the best plan. The three of us squeezed underneath a random desk together and I gave Maxwell some instructions.
"Take control of a computer located away from us and the exit and then run the fans. Find one that"s on a table and move some bread or pastry someone left behind. If possible, something with ham or egg in it would be best. If they eat biological matter, we can use protein and carbs as bait."
"Sure."
"For example, that...what, what is that? Why is that popcorn blue???"
"Obviously because it"s Blue Hawaii flavor, Truth."
...And what kind of flavor is that? How can you Americans eat things that look so toxic?
"Ahem. Maxwell, check the sprinklers too. Activate them once we start moving. If we"re right, they sense the movement of the air by dissolving the small particles floating in it. If we knock the dust out of the air with water, won"t their accuracy drop?"
"Geh. You"re going to dump water on our heads!?"
...Even after all this calculation, it could end up being useless. My predictions could be entirely wrong and we would just get eaten. My heart was pounding in my ears. The Cla.s.s Rep"s warmth saved me. If I had been alone, I might have been overwhelmed and only able to scream.
"C-c"mon, Truth, don"t nestle up against me like that. Well, if you insist."
"Tch."
"I"m not going to forget that tongue click, Truth."
A damp splatting sound cut off our whispers. I fully focused on my ears.
Was the gel approaching or leaving? We were hiding to protect ourselves, but that kept us from seeing what was going on. It was like some kind of paradox.
That was when a great downpour began dumping rain on us.
"Emergency! Please run!!"
I didn"t know what was going on, but we had to do what Maxwell said. I stood up on the floor, which was slippery from the sprinkler water, and looked up to find a gel surprisingly nearby. The bait hadn"t worked!? My throat went dry, but there was no point in screaming. Luckily, the sprinkler water acted as a slight barrier. We ran toward the exit while it hesitated.
"You cannot trust the previous emergency stairs. Please head toward the other stairway on the opposite side of the floor."
The Cla.s.s Rep had started back the way we had come, so I grabbed her arm and we cut across the wet floor.
Anastasia grabbed a pumpkin decoration from a desk along the way.
"What"s that for? Are you going to throw it to distract the thing with the vibration?"
"It"s a tacky lighter. The gels are weak to fire, right?"
We would lose everything if we set fire to the building before rescuing Erika and Ayumi, but it could help hold off the gels. Just like an oil lighter, the flame did not go out even after you released your finger. After lighting a fingertip-sized flame from the pumpkin"s head, we placed it in front of the metal emergency staircase door while making sure the fire would not spread. Then we left the floor.
They could slip through the gaps in a normal door.
...And yet there was no pursuit as we ran up the stairs. Even if it was just a lighter, a fire seemed to help a lot.
"d.a.m.n, we really should have made a torch when we had the chance."
"The gels aren"t our only enemy. If someone with a gun finds us, they"ll turn us to Swiss cheese."
The Cla.s.s Rep was right.
At any rate, a silent world spread out around us. We could not relax because we could be attacked at any moment, but the emergency stairs were not the place to find anything useful in a fight. My only option was to grab the fire extinguisher on the landing.
"Truth, what about an axe instead? There has to be one for breaking down doors somewhere."
"Drop that and I"d be short some toes, so no thank you."
Besides, we were crammed into this narrow stairwell. I couldn"t exactly swing around a big weapon like that.
Then Maxwell interrupted.
"I have detected voices beyond that door."
That meant it wasn"t the gels.
But if it was someone from Herbal Science, that was a problem too. I had no idea what the proper way to deal with a bullet was.
"How many? What should we do?"
"No. The pattern suggests they are young female voices speaking j.a.panese. a.n.a.lyzing voice prints..."
Hm?
Does that mean...?
We nodded and then slowly opened the metal door.
And there we found...
"Huh? Onii-chan?"
"Oh, my, my. Did you come all this way for us?"
It felt far too easy.
This was my older sister with gorgeous blonde ringlet curls and a black gothic lolita dress and my younger sister with black twintails balled up at the end and sportswear. They were laughing in the center of a room and surrounded by several layers of thick reinforced gla.s.s.
I set down the fire extinguisher and Anastasia, who had been clinging to my waist, quickly moved back.
"Wait...what is this place...?"
Test tubes lazily strewn about. Plastic gloves set down just anywhere after being removed. A half-opened gla.s.s door. Even an amateur could tell just how careless this place was. And those careless people had tried to use Archenemies, infection sources which could truly bring down an entire continent.
"They called it their secret lab."
"They probably thought they were being tricky by not using a facility deep in the mountains or on a remote island. Well, I suppose Las Vegas is surrounded by desert."
"Wait," interrupted the kind Cla.s.s Rep. "Erika-san, Ayumi-chan! Don"t you have something else to say!? Satori-kun recklessly flew all the way to America for this!!"
"Oh, be still my heart."
"Oh, be still my heart."
"Not the reaction I was looking for! Be more disheartened!!"
Incidentally, I had not really been worried that some perverted scientist was experimenting on my sisters. I had been more afraid they would snap and fill North America with vampires and zombies. But I kept that to myself because they were sure to hit me if they knew.
Meanwhile, the Cla.s.s Rep was being her usual dutiful self.
"Oh, but what happened with your preservatives, Ayumi-chan? Um, didn"t you have to rely on this exploitative company?"
"Maxwell."
"Sure. There does not seem to be anyone left to inspect their internet security, so let"s leak all of their confidential data. Once it has spread around the globe, Miss Ayumi should be able to choose who she wants to do business with. Let"s go generic."
"Ah! Then let"s see who can break the lock first, Truth. I"ve gotten pretty fast at these things!"
The Cla.s.s Rep had to hold her head in her hands.
It looked like things were headed toward something of a happy ending.
However.
"B-by the way, Erika. And Ayumi too. There"s one thing I"m worried about."
"Heh heh. Not to worry, boy. I didn"t let them touch me where it matters most."
"It"s the way you keep bringing these things up that"s worrying me about the main issue!!"
And if you make that kind of joke, the Cla.s.s Rep coldly glares at me as well, so please stop! Or are you trying to hit me with indirect damage!?
"E-Erika?"
"Why aren"t you asking me, Onii-chan? Fuguu."
That"s because you"re kind, so I trust you to hold back in the real world, even if you don"t in a simulator.
In this case, the greatest threat was my older sister who looked gentle but was actually a total S.
"I pretty much know what happened to the people here. Being eaten by the gels kind of feels like their just deserts or like G.o.d was watching what they did. So that"s not what I"m worried about."
"Hmm, then what is your point?"
"...Umm. What happened to the gels that devoured Herbal Science? The ones in the halls and main floors weren"t all of them, right? That wasn"t nearly enough to take out everyone in the building."
There was just one important point.
Not "where did they go", but "what happened to them".
Hee hee.
"Well, you see. I was wondering what kind of grand plan and extravagant stage setting to put together for those trying to profit off of my cute little sister. Once I managed to leave their faces a b.l.o.o.d.y mess with almost disappointing ease, I was planning to stick a wooden stake up their a.s.s like you might drive a stake through someone"s heart and then drag them around a bit, but then a mysterious gel showed up and stole them from me. I suppose you could say I was infuriated, so I had no choice but to blow off some steam beating up those d.a.m.n gels that had devoured those d.a.m.n workers. By the way, Satori-kun, did you know this building has a large incinerator in the third bas.e.m.e.nt to prevent contamination from biological agents? It uses propane, so it can incinerate just fine even during a power outage. Really, having an undying body is not always fun. Hee hee hee. But since they can"t scream, their suffering is hard to sense, just like with the brazen bull, so it loses major points for that. Now, how long has it been since I stuffed them in the oven?"
"Wah! Wahhh!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?"
My older sister"s dark side popped out like a cuckoo clock before my scream drove it back inside her ample chest. I can"t believe this, I can"t believe this, I can"t believe thiiiissss!! How can she smile while name-dropping a famous historical torture device!?
"Oh?"
"A-any-anyway, I know you two are fine now!! I really don"t want to hear any more than that!!"
This was a horrible nuisance for the gels themselves, but I couldn"t feel any sympathy for them. Was that due to everything they had put me through on the way here? ...Although I was afraid of letting my senses numb over so much I failed to see the essence of the issue and focused only on the desire for punishment, like the Bright Cross had.
"But if this floor is clean, maybe we could set up a barricade and wait for a rescue chopper. And it doesn"t look like that sandstorm broke any of the windows here."
"It would probably be more of a seal than a barricade, but they"re already in the building, so we wouldn"t exactly be safe."
"But, Anastasia, you"ve seen what things are like outside. The gels cover everything out there, but they aren"t increasing their apparent volume in here. Wouldn"t it be better to focus on defending against them in here where the distinction between individual gels is still apparent? I honestly can"t imagine us surviving if the ones outside locked onto us. When they can break down walls and slip through the gaps in doors, there"s no stopping them."
"Well...that is true. In that case, the gels can"t eat rubber or plastic, right? Should we fill in any gaps with putty and rubber adhesive?"
It felt like we were fortifying ourselves against army ants.
This was a lot like those idiots had gotten carried away and self-destructed, leaving their secret base behind. We had to make use of it.
Or so I thought.
"Oh?"
"Warning, user."
I heard some light surprise from the ones checking through Herbal Science"s storage.
"An email has arrived for the company president. It used an emergency line to get through despite the communication restrictions."
"Where exactly is it from?"
Even if these were greedy fools, they had sold technology to the Bright Cross. It was unclear where that connection was. This would be quite dangerous if a very American PMC had been sent in to retake this building.
But that was apparently not what this was about.
"I can"t read English. Maxwell, translate."
"Sure. ...You really can"t even understand this?"
My blonde sister looked more shocked than me.
"Ehh!? You"re that shocked!? Erika, you briefly forgot we"re family, didn"t you!?"
"N-no, that"s not true at all..."
"The tremor in your voice, the way you can"t look me in the eye. It is true! Wahhhhhh!!"
But then I felt a tug on my jacket.
It was Anastasia.
"No, Truth. The email displayed here is just that bad."
Just as I tilted my head, I heard a quiet electronic tone. When I held my smartphone up to the computer screen, the j.a.panese text appeared for me.
President of Herbal Science,
The promised time period has pa.s.sed. We really should have handled this from the beginning, but we handed control over to you since you so obstinately insisted. And now look at things. Unfortunately for you, we will now take back control.
If you wish to evacuate, feel free.
However, we will not delay our schedule. We are currently beginning the heat treatment of the entire city, so good luck.
...What was this?
Someone had negotiated with Herbal Science from a position of superiority. And now that Herbal Science could not be contacted, they were taking back control.
They had mentioned a heat treatment of the entire city.
Those words sounded incredibly ominous.
And when I scrolled the text to the end, I froze in place.
P.S. I am sure those girls were well beyond your control, but I do have my own feelings on the matter. It is time you learned that firsthand. With a handwritten curse from Amatsu Yurina.
Why?
Why here?
Why was that name here?
"...Oh, no."
When Ayumi said that, she was not looking at the computer screen. She was looking at the s.p.a.ce outside of the thick reinforced gla.s.s walls. It was most likely a tablet belonging to one of the researchers.
They had probably used it to periodically gain information on the outside world while closed up in this room. It displayed security camera footage from outside the building.
"There"s something huge up in the night sky. This is really, really bad! That"s something from a war movie!!"
"No," said Maxwell. "Even in a gun culture like America, it seems unlikely they would use strategic stealth bombers to resolve a domestic incident."
"And yet there they are!"
"For a domestic incident, yes." Erika corrected the AI. "But what about preventing the spread of a highly infectious and deadly disease, or diverting a giant hurricane away from a major city? ...If it wasn"t targeted at people, wouldn"t the various hurdles be much lower?"
"Maxwell, what will happen if that strategic whatever-it"s-called flies around overhead!?"
"In the worst case, it could be loaded with 20 of the mid-sized nuclear bombs that were recently improved. It does have "strategic" in its name, after all."
The way Maxwell said it so plainly actually made it harder for my thoughts to keep up.
I screamed...I think.
But I couldn"t hear what it was I yelled.
A moment later, my vision and hearing were blown away and even the concept of up and down vanished.
This is a disaster relief mission.
A biological contaminant has appeared in Las Vegas. To swiftly stop the spread of damage before it crosses the desert, a bomber unit will be sent in.
We must handle this carefully.
While there were some lucky hits with balloon bombs, in the 300 years since its founding, the United States has never been hit by a largescale and strategic aerial bombing by another nation. It is somewhat ironic that it is our own Air Force that will first do so, but do not think of this as scorching the earth of your own nation. Remember that you are fighting for the liberation of Las Vegas.
This is a fluid situation. The basic plan is given in your mission papers, but keep in mind that any of it could change at any time. There will likely also be requests from the scene. Your adaptability will be tested here. a.s.sume that your work tonight will preserve the lives and dignity of everyone, military or civilian, who walks on the surface. Do not think that each second of delay is a single life lost. a.s.sume a single mistake will mean losing everything. Maintaining that sense of tension is what matters. Carry it in your highly-trained body and mind.
Now, you sewer rats who wished to be birds, your special black wings are waiting for you. Only 21 of those exist in the world.