A World Just for You (6)
Four minutes until the experiment began.
I crumpled the document in my fist and went to Misaki, tapping her shoulder as she lay unconscious.
"Misaki. You need to wake up. We've got four minutes until Yui's experiment."
"…What?"
The color drained from Misaki's face. The moment I handed her the document, she shot up from her seat.
Then I heard movement outside. I snatched up the fox mask and pulled it over her face.
"An intruder made it in here!"
"Shit. Of all the goddamn times…"
The curse had barely left my mouth when—
BOOM!
Something slammed hard against the door.
Awakened.
The lab wasn't staffed by ordinary researchers alone — guards were stationed here to protect the place. The fact that we'd made it this far without being caught was a miracle in itself.
"Misaki."
No answer. She was still staring at the experiment schedule, completely gone.
I understood. But we genuinely didn't have time for that right now.
"Get your head on straight. Nothing's happened yet."
"…You're right."
Misaki crushed the paper in her fist, tears streaming down her face — pure, raw fury written across her features.
Anger was better than despair. Anger was fleeting, but it was the kind of fuel that could push you past your own limits.
"That door's about to give. I'll clear a path — you find the lab where they're keeping Yui. Once you're there, shout so I know where you are."
Misaki didn't argue. She just nodded. She trusted me completely now.
I fixed my crow mask in place with a bitter smile.
And then—
CRAAASH!
The steel door buckled inward and flew off its hinges.
Through the billowing dust, men in black uniforms emerged.
Staff. Greatsword. Stun baton.
I catalogued their weapons in an instant.
And behind them, a man walking out at a measured pace.
Close-cropped hair. A scar running all the way up to his neck. One look at his eyes told you he was no ordinary fighter.
He swept the room once, then spoke with flat indifference.
"Keep him alive."
Three or four of them kicked off the floor at once. But I was faster.
Daggers in both hands, I spun and carved through them high and low.
Slash.
"Ghk!"
I'd meant to drop them in a single stroke, but they twisted their bodies and took the hits on their forearms. Trained movements. Still, I'd broken their stance.
I grabbed the lead man and hurled him into the guards coming up behind him.
"Waaagh!"
In a heartbeat the entrance was pure chaos — and a gap opened.
"Now!"
The instant I shouted, Misaki vanished. The scarred Awakened's expression hardened for a split second.
I smirked and flipped him the middle finger.
"Surprised?"
His face twisted into something ugly — and then—
"Reeeeen!"
Misaki's cry rang out.
Body becomes transparent for 7 seconds.
My stealth partially erased even my presence. In the chaos of that entrance, picking up my trail was impossible.
Fortunately, Misaki hadn't gone far. I slipped out through the doorway and ran toward the source of her voice.
Time Remaining: 4 seconds
Yui lay inside a glass tube. They seemed to be transferring her toward the experimental wing.
Researchers around her reeled at Misaki's sudden appearance — then recovered and tried to drag her down from atop the tube.
I pulled a gun from my coat and fired into the air. The researchers hit the floor in a panic.
Time Remaining: 1 second
I grabbed the glass tube holding Yui and raised my fist high.
I already knew the rule — to break glass, you hit the edge.
So that's exactly what I did.
CRAAASH!
The tube fractured with a sharp crack, shards exploding in every direction.
"Yui… Yui!"
Misaki pulled the limp girl into her arms. Whether it was the drugs or something else, Yui didn't stir.
Remaining Cooldown: 600 seconds
Damn it.
The lab had rated Yui an S — her ability was that powerful. Fighting our way out with her would have been so much easier.
Nothing for it. Only one option left.
"Misaki. Take Yui and run. Go first."
"…What?"
Her eyes trembled clearly beneath the fox mask. I forced myself to look past them.
"In your accelerated state, you could lift heavy things like they were nothing, right?"
"No… I don't want to…"
Tears dripped from beneath Misaki's chin. But she knew. We'd come here to save Yui.
"It'll be hard to make it all the way in one go, but I'm counting on you."
I lifted Yui high in both arms.
Misaki's ability accelerated her own time. She could pull other people into her temporal field, but with my consciousness intact, the strain would spike dramatically.
That was why, during the infiltration, I'd kept her from using her power as much as possible — except for scouting.
And now, exhausted to the point of near collapse, she had one use left.
"Grab them already!"
Scar bellowed. A swarm of guards came charging toward us.
"We're out of time. Go. I'll be right behind you. The car key's still in the ignition, so if I'm not there by six…"
She couldn't see it, but behind the mask, I grinned.
"Just leave without me."
"Please…!"
Misaki hesitated, but I couldn't give her any more time. If she couldn't decide, I'd decide for her.
I let go of Yui.
Misaki's face went deathly white.
Even from a little over a meter up, dropping an unconscious person would mean serious injury. She had no choice but to use her ability.
Whoosh.
In the blink of an eye, Misaki and Yui were gone.
Using her power meant abandoning Ren. Not using it meant putting Yui — and herself, and Ren — in danger.
He must have known this was her last acceleration. That was why he'd forced the choice on her.
Cruel man.
A good-looking guy from the same class. A secretive type who barely showed emotion — which had sparked a little curiosity.
That was all Ren had been to her at first.
So when had it started? When had she started falling for him?
"Ren."
Misaki took a slow step forward.
The infinitely slowed world was silent. Her falling tears didn't drop — they drifted sideways, suspended in midair. Scattering dust hung frozen.
Ren was frozen too.
Misaki removed her mask and stood before him. With trembling fingers, she traced the crow mask.
"I… don't want to leave you behind."
There was so much she wanted to say to him. So much she wanted to do for him.
Ren and her. The two of them had broken into a secret laboratory together, and in the end, they'd saved Yui.
But without Ren, she couldn't bring herself to be happy. And Yui wouldn't want someone else dying in her place either.
"So…"
Let's share the joy of saving Yui together.
Let's go back to our ordinary lives, the three of us, and share drinks and talk about nothing important.
So that someday, looking back on this, we can just say "yeah, that happened" and move on.
And someday—
So I can tell you how I feel.
"…You have to come back alive."
She stepped closer still. Her fingertips carefully cupped his cheek, and she lifted the crow mask just enough.
And then—
She pressed her lips gently to Ren's.
I'll wait for you, Ren.
Without even wiping her tears, she pulled the floating Yui into her arms.
Then, with everything she had, she began to run toward the outside of the laboratory.
"…Good."
Misaki and Yui had made it out. There was a chance she'd collapse somewhere along the way, but I trusted her.
"Son of a bitch. A teleportation ability? After all the trouble we went through to catch an S-rank!"
Scar stormed toward me, seething. Guards had already closed ranks around me in a tight ring.
Even excluding the ordinary researchers from the fight, there were easily thirty of them.
"Hey. Who sent you?"
Scar jerked his chin. I smirked and drew my gun.
"Does that matter right now?"
BANG!
The muzzle spat fire. The distance was decent, so I aimed for the easy target — center mass.
But a metallic clang rang out, nothing like a bullet hitting flesh, and the round shattered to pieces.
The exposed skin beneath his clothes had turned a dull gray.
What the hell is that. Did he turn to stone?
Scar chuckled and tapped his own stomach with a finger.
"You thought that toy would take me down?"
The gray spread from his gut across his entire body. His muscles swelled, and his skin roughened into something like raw rock.
His clothes tore to shreds. When the transformation finished, he looked less like a man and more like a colossal stone statue.
He's a good three heads taller than me.
Scar slammed his palm into the floor.
BOOM!
Concrete erupted like an explosion.
I clenched my teeth and rolled on pure reflex.
A fraction slower and my whole leg would've been gone.
I exhaled and locked eyes with Scar.
Anyone looking at him would struggle to find the will to fight. But I gripped my daggers in both hands.
No ability came without a cost.
Misaki paid for her acceleration with an enormous drain on her mental strength.
My physical enhancement had a cost too. Every time I pushed past my limits, my metabolism spiked — meaning I burned out fast.
Of course, that didn't apply to me. I'd brought my real-world body here. It was more like having no Awakened ability at all.
Either way, he's an Awakened too.
He looked invincible, but he had to have a weakness.
I reversed my grip on the daggers.
Scar clapped his hands together and twisted his mouth into a grin.
Every step he took cracked the floor, sending concrete fragments flying. The guards held their distance, watching tensely.
He glanced around at them with casual ease.
"You lot just make sure he doesn't escape. Looks like only that fox bitch can teleport."
This was the real fight. Ambushing researchers and knocking them out barely counted as combat.
And yet — for some reason, I wasn't that nervous.
"Haah. Didn't think my first real fight would be against a giant stone statue."
"What'd you just say?"
Scar's brow furrowed.
"Nothing. Just talking to myself."
I rolled my neck and loosened up.
Focus. Use everything I've got.
I might lack experience and seasoning, but the memories were still there.
How I used those memories was entirely up to me.
"Hss."
"Hup."
Our inhaled breaths overlapped.
The next instant—
We both kicked off the floor at the same time.