Chapter 9: The Thing You Must Not Touch (7)
The room I returned to after so long had been turned into a disaster because of me.
I had tried not to kill. The weapon in my hands could snuff out a life in an instant.
Against kaijin, a full-force blow with this thing ended at the level of injury, but an ordinary person would lose some part of their body just from having it fall on top of them. The flames from the thrusters could probably burn clean down to the bone, too. Not that I thought of that as fire in any sense I understood fire—but it had at least been hot enough to melt the wire that had dropped onto my head.
There were two reasons I had tried not to kill.
One was that I didn't want to become a murderer.
I'm not a good person. Hadn't I come all this way on a thoroughly emotional whim, even at the most critical moment? I'd kept working for Noir Corporation even after watching the webtoon and knowing full well they were a villain outfit, and when my own life hung in the balance, I thrashed about without a thought for anyone else's safety.
But even so, I didn't want to kill anyone.
That was a kind of line.
...I might cross it someday.
If the current Chairman of Noir Corporation had been standing in front of me, I really might have killed him.
But no matter how far out of my mind I was—not in front of Jihye. No. I hadn't wanted that.
So, my expression frozen hard, I fed a fist to each of their gas masks in turn.
Crack.
It wasn't only the masks that broke.
Theirs weren't the military kind with two separate eyeholes but the industrial sort—a single broad pane of clear plastic for an easy field of vision—and one pane of plastic was a touch too flimsy to shield the face beneath it from my fist.
Blood spattered.
My fist ended up drenched in it too. Obviously not my own.
One by one, the men whose masks had shattered and who'd breathed in the gas collapsed. They were still breathing, so they weren't dead—but to the people watching, it clearly didn't look that way. Fair enough: an unconscious man with plastic shards embedded in his face looks exactly like someone who died with his face caved in.
Some ran. Some, if anything, charged straight for Jihye.
Neither worked.
I caught the runner by the scruff of his neck, hauled him back, and drove my fist down into his face. The man—a full head taller than me—cracked the back of his skull against the floor the instant his mask shattered, and went limp.
As for the one lunging at Jihye... he might have been trying to take her hostage.
I drove a roundhouse kick into his midsection. He went flying, spectacularly, and slammed full-length into my desk. My carefully collected CDs and player struck his body and rained to the floor with a shattering clatter.
……
In a room settled in barely a dozen seconds, I stood for a moment, dazed.
It was a wreck. Blood spattered here and there, my desk a disaster...
I didn't know what to do. Should I just disappear?
For now, I broke one leg of every man who had come into that room. Faces, legs—either way, they could heal at the Magical Treatment Center. That seemed more certain than simply tying them up and hoping for the best.
Then I dragged them outside.
The children and the teachers were all unconscious.
In the hallway sat something like a strange device. It looked like one of the oxygen tanks you'd see beside an ICU patient in a hospital, with all sorts of machinery bolted on.
……
A circuit was turning inside it. Maybe the despair I was feeling right now ran far deeper than anything I'd produced while rampaging through that building.
...It was all ruined.
Because of me.
Even the one place I had ever called home.
How would the kids here look at me now? The teachers? Would I ever be able to come back here again?
A black dot opened in the empty air.
I let go of the people I'd been holding. I don't know where they went, but they vanished. At least the ones who had forced their way in here were gone now. So was that device.
Would the unconscious ever wake again? And if they did, how long would it take?
I didn't know. I didn't know anything. My head wouldn't work.
I opened the building's windows and felt the hazy air begin to clear...
Then I ran for the director's office. The Director, too, was slumped over her desk, out cold.
I picked up the receiver and dialed 119.
Please, please, please.
Let them all be safe. Let everyone be okay.
There were too many kaijin.
However strong magical girls were, they weren't omnipotent. It varied from kaijin to kaijin, but as a rule it took several magical girls piling onto a single one at once to subdue it—because a monster gone mad with rage didn't care how many people around it got hurt, or even died.
The gap between fighting while minding your surroundings and minimizing the damage, and fighting without any such restraint, was a wide one. And on top of that, the magical girls had to subdue the kaijin without killing them. For a kaijin to return to its original form, it had to be sent back out beyond Earth's reach, far from human beings.
Those who came back remembered nothing of their time as kaijin. No matter how many people had been hurt or killed, no blame was ever laid upon them.
……
Of course, things were different here. They didn't have to worry about how much of the surroundings got smashed—but there were far too many enemies to subdue each one without killing.
Rose's gauntlet slammed into the face of a kaijin shaped like an enormous dog. A dog, though it walked on two legs—closer to an armored werewolf in silhouette.
"Grrk...!"
Even with the blow landing squarely on its face, even with its helmet cracked open to show what lay beneath, the kaijin swung its arm. The claws at the end of it were wickedly sharp.
Kiiiik!
Rose threw up her gauntlet to block, and the claws raked across it, gouging vicious lines as they scraped past.
Wham!
But then something heavy slammed into her from behind.
A foot. A scrawny, stick-thin creature with long arms and absurd height had driven that foot into her waist.
"Rose, get down!" Delphinium shouted.
Rose rode her stagger and simply threw herself at the floor. Flat against the ground, she felt something searing pass over her back.
BOOM!
Oxygen ignited, and air rushed in to fill the emptied space with a thunderclap. She heard two kaijin go down.
Dahlia hammered them with rapid-fire magic, pinning the wounded kaijin so they couldn't rise. Thanks to that, one more beyond the two unconscious ones wouldn't be getting back up.
Crack!
Across the way, Iris was shooting. The long rifle she normally used lay abandoned on the floor—there were no fuses left to feed it. Not that it mattered; at this range, aimed fire with a long gun was next to impossible.
Firing a short, SMG-style weapon, she covered Hayun's back as Hayun swung her blade. A quick glance back showed pink trails dancing through the air.
Hayun bent fluidly beneath a thick hand swinging down at her, slipped a fast step forward, and pivoted.
Swish.
...!
Hayun's circuit was spinning fast. Her glowing pink blade swept up from below, punched through the kaijin's armpit, and out past its shoulder.
Without so much as a blink at the ear-splitting shriek, she wrenched the blade free and seized the kaijin by the back. Then, stepping onto the belt buckle—the one thing jutting from its sleek armor—she vaulted upward and stabbed down into its opposite shoulder.
Fwoom!
With a small detonation, something burst. The arm didn't come off, but whatever device sat above its right shoulder blew away, baring a burned arm beneath.
The circuit.
Fighting kaijin, magical girls worked tirelessly to pinpoint where the circuits lay. But the exact spot differed with every kaijin. For ones with roughly human silhouettes, at least, finding it wasn't impossibly hard—it usually sat behind the left or right shoulder, perhaps to feed energy straight into the joints. For kaijin that ran on all fours, or ones with two full pairs of arms or legs, it was another story entirely.
Even so, Hayun calmly cut their numbers down, one by one.
Wham!
"Gwahk!?"
With its circuit shattered, the kaijin raged harder. Cut off from power assistance, its raw strength may have dropped—but in exchange, the restraints its suit had imposed on its movements came undone. The kaijin leapt and slammed its back into the wall, and Hayun behind it was driven into the concrete with it.
Another shot cracked out, and the kaijin took Iris's bullet in the head and crumpled. Then two more rushed Iris.
That was how the fight kept going. The count of downed kaijin was already into double digits. Had there ever been this many? The kaijin the magical girls had captured over the years were plenty numerous, but this many in one place felt like far too many. Could there be some way of manufacturing them?
They were all thinking it—
"No!"
A kaijin flung Rose aside and came sprinting fast. There was no telling whether it meant to enter the broadcast room; it couldn't make such judgments, and no one could give it orders. But merely coming close was dangerous. The walls around here had already been smashed apart in the struggle. If something got inside the broadcast room, its door long since blown away, there would be no containing what came next.
Hayun launched herself at it and crashed into it with her whole body. A groan slipped from her lips. It was like colliding with a massive boulder. Something felt broken somewhere—but she didn't let go of her wand.
...Jieun must have hurt like this too.
No—worse. Hayun was fighting with hope in her chest. Jieun had never been able to afford that.
"...Raaaagh!"
Forcing the shout out, she stepped forward. She swung her wand, slicing through the kaijin's leg, then drove it into its shoulder. There was no circuit there this time, it seemed—the kaijin seized Hayun and hurled her. She nearly sailed straight into the broadcast room, grabbing the wall to wrench herself to a stop. Her fingers made an ugly, dangerous sound; she ignored it.
I can still fight.
Hayun squared up again. Gunfire and magic came flying in from her flank at the same moment. As Dahlia and Iris struck together, the kaijin twisted and staggered. The support couldn't last—both of them would soon have kaijin of their own charging at them.
Bright light washed over the kaijin once, and its movement froze. While it reeled from the hastily thrown spell Delphinium had lobbed over, Hayun darted around behind its waist and slashed its back. With a small detonation, the kaijin went down.
"Hah... hah... hah."
Hayun held her ground, eyes wide open. She glared at the kaijin through clenched teeth, and their advance faltered. Creatures running on pure instinct were feeling something like fear.
Her magically woven outfit was torn all over—blood-soaked in places, bruised dark in others. But she couldn't fall yet. Not when Jieun hadn't come yet. She was the one who had sworn to hold this place.
……
The others looked no better than she did. And still, not one of them left. No one would have said a word if they had.
Hayun's sword blazed. She walked, slow and steady, toward the kaijin in front of her. A few of them shuffled backward.
No. She couldn't just let them go. If they got outside, people would be hurt. Nearly everyone in the building had probably escaped by now, but out beyond the walls there were still police—and the reporters who had swarmed the place. If the kaijin got out, those people would pay for it.
...Was a magical girl truly a force for justice?
No—was she? She still didn't know. Maybe she had simply been lost in her own little world all this time, never really looking at what was around her. But even so, she didn't want to abandon what she believed in.
Hayun ran. Not one would get in. And not one would be let out.
Gunshots rang out again; she saw magic streak past. The space behind her blazed bright. Delphinium was readying her next spell. And beside Hayun, Rose ran too.
...I'm sorry. For what I did.
If she had simply said nothing, maybe none of them would have had to go through this. No one would have blamed her for staying put instead of following Hayun. What would happen now? Would they become the hunted, too? Would the Federation arrive at any moment and demand their circuits back? She had no idea. Not even a guess.
And through all of it, Jieun must have kept enduring.
……
She clenched her jaw. Even if it was only one promise—even a promise Hayun had made entirely on her own—she wanted to keep it. So she didn't stop.
When I came back, it was a battlefield.
……
Kaijin lay sprawled in every direction. Almost none of them still had intact armor. Some had burst open in places, showing raw flesh or bristled hide; some flinched and tried to rise, only to collapse again, their bodies refusing to obey.
And near the door, four magical girls lay slumped against the wall.
Dahlia and Delphinium sagged against it, gulping for air. They didn't look to have the strength left to keep their eyes open. Rose, one knee raised and her right arm resting on it, looked up at me through unfocused eyes; her gauntlets were dented and cracked all over. Iris still sat with her gun in her hand.
...Not those four. The other one.
Hayun was standing. As if guarding the door of the broadcast room—shattered now, gone.
Past where that door had fallen, the interior looked pristine and whole, nothing like the corridor. Bloodstains marked the doorframe: the prints of hands that had gripped it hard, slick with blood.
"...Why?" I asked, numb.
How could she still be standing, wrecked like that? Why had she come looking for me—why had she helped?
"Jieun."
Hayun broke into a wide, bright smile. Wrecked as she was.
Sweat sheened over her body, and black dust had caked onto it, leaving her an utter mess. Of course, I didn't look much better—
……
Hayun turned slightly sideways, opening a path.
I held her gaze a moment longer, then walked slowly into the broadcast room.
"My, what a fine thing you've done."
The voice was thick with sarcasm.
"I do wonder—do you consider it rational to pull such a stunt at the single most critical moment?"
But even as he said it, James stepped aside. Every kind of cable hung from his drone, plugged into the broadcast equipment—and the equipment was lit up and running.
"Just as predicted—they cut the internet and killed the power," James said, still sneering. But this time the barb wasn't aimed at me. "After all, the only thing we needed was the equipment itself, intact. They withdrew every last troop that might have wrecked it and funneled all the kaijin in here. It seems only the magical girls frightened them. Foolishly, of course."
……
I moved forward as he talked. James had climbed down from the drone and perched atop the console. Standing beside the microphone, he said, "The preparations for piracy are already complete."
Then he pressed a single button. The microphone lit up.
So... I take it that means it's on?
Watching James bow with all the exaggerated flourish of an actor taking his curtain call, I picked up the wireless microphone. Then I looked back.
Hayun leaned against the doorframe and smiled at me.
Was she telling me... to do as I wished?
Thoughts came flooding in. Why? What for? She was a magical girl—she had stood on that side this whole time. When she didn't know who I was, and after she did, she had never once left it.
If this goes on... if she keeps being like this... I won't be able to hate her. And I couldn't win against her, either...
I gripped the microphone hard and turned to James.
Fine. But in the end, this was all I had left. That man called the Chairman had shattered even my last remaining tie to the people I loved. Jihye, and everyone at the orphanage, would probably fear me from now on.
So—I had to do it.
James pressed a button on the broadcast console. I couldn't tell what it did, but the moment it activated, my face filled the screen. Every screen in the room. Each one carried a broadcaster's logo in the corner; a few were dressed up like breaking-news coverage, as if newscasts had been running.
Sensationalist as ever.
"I am—"
What should I say? How was I supposed to introduce myself? I thought for a moment, then simply said it.
What would people say, watching this broadcast? I had no idea.
"I am not the one who planted those bombs. I was merely one of Noir Corporation's combatants—merely one of the people caught up in it all."
Once I'd started, the rest came without stumbling.
"I don't imagine you'll believe me just because I say this. It's only that— it was too unjust to bear. When I came to, knowing nothing, the people who came for me were police. I had simply been there. I was caught up in it too—I blacked out like everyone else—and still they tried to take me away to some place I'd never heard of. So I ran. I just kept running, and running, and the people chasing me kept growing in number, and I was— I was scared..."
The screen changed. Footage of me being shot. Me in nothing but a hospital gown, bullets punching straight through the thin fabric; me bleeding out, collapsing where I stood. Heavy nets raining down over my head, layer upon layer—at first I was visible through the mesh, but soon so much piled on top that I vanished from view entirely.
I looked at James. Where on earth had he dug these clips up? Had he hacked for them?
"After that, too, I did everything I could to survive. Running. Hiding. ...Yes—I did steal the Generator. I hated having people chase me. And that company threw me away without a second thought. They pinned every last shred of blame on me. I wanted to make them pay for that, too."
I kept talking.
"I tried to earn your goodwill, too. But even when I brought kaijin down, all that answered me was gunfire. Even when I rescued hostages, I was still nothing but a terrorist."
The screen changed again—me fighting kaijin, me getting shot. All of it looked like police bodycam footage.
"So I came here today. To tell you—all of you—who I am. You may not believe me. The government, the company, the Federation—they'll all go on treating me as a terrorist."
One screen cut out.
"But to say nothing— it was too unjust..."
Another screen went dark.
"...And."
Yes. And.
"...And to the bastards who crossed the line today, all in the name of stopping me."
I glared into the screens. They died off in a rush until only the one in front of me remained. James probably had that one under control, too.
"...You trash who took the orphanage hostage. I will never forgive you."
I ground the words out.
"Wait for me. I'll tell everyone everything. What you made me into, what you tried to do—I'll pay it all back. One by one, I'll come find each of you, and I will make every last one of you pay. Completely."
If they had simply let me broadcast after I'd come this far, I would have done nothing but protest my innocence. But that line had already been crossed. The moment they stepped over it, this could no longer end quietly.
With everything in me, I said it.
Even the screen I'd been glaring at went dark. My reflection in the dead glass glared back at me. A wreck, just like Hayun. But a wreck whose face was no longer hollowed out by helplessness.
Right up until I came here, this had been the end of the road. Now I had a new goal.