The Taste of Betrayal Do ESP"ers Long for Fantasy?
Part 1
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Since the Super Water-Ball incident, the number of people in Tokyo had increased, Why? Easy. It was because the live broadcast of the battle between the Super Water-Ball and the mysterious people in black ignited a fire in the hearts of occult-maniacs all around the world. If I wasn"t the one behind the match-pump1, I would probably be excited as well. I would"ve probably investigated it until my eyes became completely bloodshot. Haneda International Airport"s flights are full all day long. The flights are not only completely booked, there"s also a long waiting list and even additional flights have been added.
The increase in the number of foreigners in the city makes it seem as if the Olympics have started early. The hotels have no vacancies, police officers are busy with traffic control and preventing riots; everything is rather chaotic. Interpreters gather together in large groups, offering their services to the large amount of people going sightseeing in Tokyo, and the government has been raving about the sudden economic boom.
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However. As one would expect, when the population increases, the amount of abandoned/deserted areas decreases. To be more specific, those who are investigating the Super Water-Ball incident and the mystery of the enormous black bird that took off from the warehouse district near Tokyo Bay coastal area seem to be searching for it in unpopulated areas. They"re acting like searching for an ESP"er is like going on a hunt for a rare animal or something. For a while now, at night there"s been the odd scene of groups of foreigners, including people with showy hairdos holding crystal canes and dark-skinned men with dubious tattoos, loitering around these areas.
I can"t sacrifice Shoutkun and Toukchan to these hunters, but I do deliberately let them catch a glimpse of the world"s darkness every now and then, just to keep the gossip going. I don"t allow them to get any hard evidence, just enough to keep them interested. For instance, I"ll make one appear at a corner, then disappear before they can get their cameras out. Or I make their camera break down or make it so that the image is too blurry to clearly see anything.This arouses curiosity more than providing hard evidence would. And at the same time, rumors are being spread of people being attacked and even eaten by a black water monster. In order to make sure that people don"t find out the truth, I also post misleading things on the internet, like; "It"s the world"s darkness and is a collection of the evil thoughts of mankind"; or, "It "s actually made of oil and explodes when it gets too close to fire"; in this way it becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction.
It is true that the world"s darkness has been witnessed.
It is a lie that people have been attacked by it.
However, the two rumors started at the same time, so people get mixed up, and both are misunderstood as true. Of the approximately 80,000 missing people in j.a.pan every year, 1000 to 2000 end up never being discovered. Those are being claimed as victims of the world"s darkness. Before long, the rumor that "The world"s darkness has attacked people" spreads far and wide. And no matter how much people investigate, there"s not a sc.r.a.p of physical evidence. Even official police investigations turn up nothing. Therefore, eventually it"ll be treated as nothing more than some sort of occult phenomenon. It was Kaburagi-san"s idea to circulate rumors and create this sort of "urban legend", and by hiring a trustworthy person to spread detailed rumors, we experienced a great success. This urban legend will be extremely helpful in creating "victims" of the world"s darkness without their being any actual victims.
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On the subject of the world"s darkness, after the Super Water-Ball incident, it experienced a major upgrade. Specifically, it went from having an unfixed, irregular shape, to being a humanoid-like figure.
It was humans that beat the violent existence of the Super Water-Ball. As a result, an unconscious change of perception that man is more powerful than an unknown monster occured. As a result, the world"s darkness, which was irregular, came to imitate the human form. Because it is a symbol of human violence.
…Well, that"s the "official" reasoning anyway. The truth is, I did this to keep the battles from becoming stale. No creature fights as diversely as humans. There are many fighting methods. Therefore, the human type is more convenient for preparing various attack methods and battle situations. There is a risk that, once they get used to the existence of humanoids, they won"t hesitate to attack humans themselves, and that their morals will be destroyed. However, after completing the World Graduation Exam, Shoutkun and Toukchan have grown spiritually, so I believe that having their targets resemble human beings won"t cause a breakdown of their morals. Those two have a very strong will.
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Unfortunately, willpower alone isn"t enough to improve your academic ability. If you don"t study, your knowledge won"t increase. Shoutkun and Toukchan are now in their third year of middle school, and are diligently reviewing and prepping for lessons every day. Occasionally, Kaburagi-san will help them with things that they don"t understand. It seems that Shoutkun is smarter than Toukchan. It"s to the point where if he studies hard enough, he can understand the material without having to be taught by someone else. But, sometimes he pretends to not understand things so that they can ask Kaburagi-san for help. Kaburagi-san sees right through him though, and continues on teaching only Toukchan.
It seems like Shoutkun is sometimes alienated from the other two, so while they were chatting, I disguised an erotic magazine as a reference book and silently pa.s.sed it to him. It had big b.r.e.a.s.t.s on it. He tried to keep it a secret from the girls, but Shoutkun could sense them silently staring at him. How do you do that, Kaburagi-san, Toukchan? You communicate with just one look!
With simple and heartwarming days like this, time flew by, and before we knew it, it was the third-year middle school students" summer vacation. Kaburagi-san set a goal for the summer break period: to use the Super Water-Ball incident to make connections in the government, police, and the media. Also, we decided that it was about time to induct a new member to our organization.
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During the break, I also prepared the world"s darkness, in order to refresh the two who were tired from their exams. Of course, I set it up in a place where it has been confirmed that there are no people in the vicinity and that no surveillance cameras are installed. Toukchan decided that it would be better for her to stay home and copy sutras than to partic.i.p.ate in the mission, so Shoutkun ended up going by himself.
Shoutkun confronted two humanoid world darkness" in a bare concrete room that was covered in a blue tarp in a building that was slated to be demolished. He used the maximum stable temperature he was capable of (-200°C) to create two ice swords, and used a dual-wielding sword style to magnificently take them down. When the battle was over, he changed the temperature of the ice swords from -200°C to 0°C, then threw them on the ground, shattering them into pieces. After it was all over, Shoutkun was sweating, but he had a refreshing expression on his face. Umu. Until they enter high school, I will continue administering battles with the world"s darkness in small amounts, in a moderate enough measure so that it continues to be a source of stress relief.
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Was it because I was distracted by these random thoughts?
I didn"t notice that, the whole time, a little girl was watching Shotkun"s battle with her eyes wide open from behind the broken door of the abandoned building.
I was shocked. This was confusing. I had confirmed that there was no one in the abandoned building. I had even monitored the windows and doorways to prevent new people from entering. I also carefully checked places where people could hide. So why was a little girl standing there? Did she teleport in? That doesn"t make sense. Did I just overlook her?
No way.
There"s no way I just overlooked her.
Right?
There isn"t, is there?
Isn"t there?
I might have.
It"s possible.
…I"m not confident.
The little girl rushed over to Shoutkun while excitedly shouting in an unknown language. She rapidly shook his hand, not taken aback at all by his delinquent-like red hair and jangling silver accessories. Her hair is braided and white… actually, looking closer at it, it may be silver? Well, either way, she has it in one long braid. She looks like she"s around 9 or 10 years old. She"s wearing a plain white dress, and has beautiful dark green eyes. She looks so mysterious, like she could be in a fantasy film or something. For some reason, she feels more elegant and beautiful instead of cute, like a girl her age should be. Maybe it"s because of her ears?
Yes, the little girl had strange ears. Her ears were long and pointed, like an elf"s.
"Rea yo au verbra? M"i te heequn f o Alvse, Lonalia Linalia VavNyan!"2
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Two things. First, This sentence sounds awkward because for the side story and ch.19, we"ve been in 3rd person, and now we"re switching back to 1st person from Sago"s POV. Second, if you don"t remember the term "match-pump", go here ⇒ ↩ I literally copied and pasted this line from the web novel, so yes, it"s supposed to make no sense. ↩