The Bloodstained Dress

Come on, now all he has to do is fall on top of me and drive the knife into my stomach. Normally I would have used my other hand instead, but my hands had shrunk so much that I hadn't accounted for their reduced thickness, and I'd already committed both of them. No matter what state my body was in, if we ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠kept fighting a war of attrition without weapons, I would be the last one standing. I had no idea how many of those same weapons they still had, or whether they had some other plan. But in the end, I would be the one left standing. So fall already. Fall and stab me in the stomach with that knife. Then drop it. Let's fight bare-handed.

He fell. The knife, crushed beneath his body, began to pierce into me.

"He's trying to steal the weapon! Be careful!"

The first one who had stabbed me shouted. Having experienced my actions up close, his voice carried the certainty of someone who had figured out my intent. He was right, but unfortunately the terrorist who heard him only gripped the knife harder and twisted it while it was still buried in my stomach.

"Kgh!"

Blood surged up. Or at least, that was what it felt like. Driving the blade deeper wasn't a bad choice. The problem was that he'd forgotten the very first thing he'd said—that I possessed the Regeneration superpower. That was his fatal mistake.

Ptooey! I spat the blood that had pooled in my mouth straight into his eyes. Startled, he seemed to drive the knife even deeper before scrambling to his feet and backing away.

"What the hell did you do to my eyes?!"

He was still disoriented. I yanked the swords embedded in my stomach and hand free, lowered my stance, and charged, aiming for his ankle. But—

Thud!

Someone kicked me hard in the side. While flying through the air I slapped the floor with my palm to regain balance and landed. My vision began to sway. Anemia? Accumulated shock? Had I inhaled too much gas? There were plenty of possible causes, but no time to dwell on them. I needed to act, yet my body was already lagging.

The villain wiped the blood from his eyes with his sleeve. The one who had kicked me was the sharpest of the bunch. The other three terrorists seemed to have assigned roles; they paid me little attention and focused on their own tasks. Did that mean I still wasn't enough of a threat to warrant their full involvement? One was tying up civilians, another was looting the cash registers, and the third was threatening a clerk and heading somewhere.

Which one should I target? All three needed to be stopped to minimize damage, but one of them had to be the most important. The two blocking me were probably the least critical to the operation, left behind to keep me occupied while the real key figure operated elsewhere.

I adjusted my grip on the knife and rushed the two villains in front of me. If backup arrived while the gas prolonged the standoff, things could drag on, so I had to deal with these two first.

"Hoo—" I exhaled and braced my abdomen. The spot that had been stabbed was already healed, leaving only bloodstains. My body was fragile and my strength diminished, yet because it had shrunk, the regeneration seemed to concentrate; wounds closed before I even noticed.

I swung the knife. He swung his as well. I reached out with my free hand to grab his blade, but he must have anticipated it—he let go of his knife and seized my arm with both hands instead.

"Damn—"

He twisted his body, flipped me over, and wrenched my wrist. He had seen the knife in my hand, but apparently decided my strength wasn't enough to actually hurt him even if I tried to stab him.

"Is it really okay to treat a girl like this, even if the contents are different?"

Thud! He stomped down on my solar plexus while I was on the floor.

"Keh—"

It didn't hurt, but it felt like the air was being forcibly squeezed from my lungs. The knife that should have been in my hand had vanished; I was empty-handed again. I grabbed his ankle with both hands, but he ignored it and kept pressing down. I raked my nails across his ankle, yet a superhuman's body wasn't so easily pierced.

"'Girl' is a word for humans. Don't use it for mutants like you."

"—Damn superpower bigot."

"So how does it feel, being pinned to the floor like a taxidermy specimen?"

Taxidermy. Not an inaccurate description, since I couldn't move anymore. I had tried not to damage the clothes since I hadn't paid for them yet, but at this point it couldn't be helped. Actually, they were probably already ruined. I tucked my thumb inside my fist… To activate the superpower, I needed to draw blood. I pressed my thumb hard against my palm and scratched.

Now, again, regene—

Click. The faint sound of heels on the floor.

Ah. Never mind. No need to use the superpower after all.

Shhhk—!

The leg pressing down on me was severed, sending up a fountain of blood. Then, through the blood that sprayed into the air, someone spoke to me.

"You shouldn't use that."

"What took you so long?"

"I've actually been here for a while. I was just waiting for the right moment."

A figure in black clothing gradually became visible where the blood had been hanging in the air. One of Ganema's direct subordinates—an esper from the Hero Association's H.T.K. team. The name didn't carry any particular meaning.

"From the way you're talking, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I guess you heard everything."

"Yes."

She crouched down and offered me her hand. I'd experienced the same thing several times already today.

"Whoa! We're alive!"

"Long live the hero!"

All the villains had lost consciousness, and the civilians, realizing it, began to cheer. Hero, huh… In a way, she was a hero too. I took the hand she offered and pulled myself up. My hands were covered in blood from the wound I'd just inflicted, but it wasn't anything serious, so she probably wouldn't mind.

"Blood…"

Apparently she did mind. I needed to change the subject.

"So, did you catch the rest of them?"

"Yes."

I turned to look at the other villains. The one I'd just dealt with had already been moved; all four were now piled up unconscious.

"They didn't look familiar, but they seemed to have prepared quite meticulously. If the Association President hadn't been watching, they probably would have gotten away cleanly."

"Well, the real problem would have been after they left."

"They likely had preparations for that as well, but since this is Serion Department Store, they were bound to be caught eventually."

Serion Department Store. Back when Area 4's crime rate had been extremely high, the stores had been scattered and easy to rob, so everything had been consolidated into this single department store. The number of terrorist attacks had increased, and there were far more robberies, but apparently they had decided it was better to have one place attacked repeatedly than to have multiple places robbed. Even now, it remained standing. As could be seen from the fact that they had opened the department store as a business and stocked it with inventory, it was the kind of place that handled all sorts of things, so even without me or Yeon, these people would have been caught eventually. That aside, I had stepped in for the sake of the citizens' safety, drawing their attention to myself.

In the worst case, they could have looted everything and then blown up the building before escaping, couldn't they?

"By the way, I heard you were supposed to have the day off today."

"…What are you talking about? I didn't do anything."

I looked at her and gave an exaggerated wink with one eye. Even if I handed over the credit after already stopping them and getting thoroughly exposed, I couldn't erase the attention completely, but I could at least reduce it a little. And on top of that, I could make it seem like I hadn't worked at all! Thinking that, I nodded, but Yeon, unable to watch any longer, gave me a look and pointed to the side with her finger. I followed her fingertip and saw Mari, who had grabbed the neck of an unconscious villain at some point and was wearing an angry expression.

'Get. In. The. Car. Now.'

She hadn't made a sound, only moving her lips, but I could read exactly what she was saying. It was one of those moments when I regretted learning lip-reading.

'You have to pay for these clothes…'

"Yeon. See you next time."

"Yes…!"

Yeon's body and clothes began to turn transparent, and even the blood on her became invisible, vanishing in an instant as if it had never been there.

"That looks like you're the only one running away."

"No, no! This is… well… because it's work! I can't play around during work hours!"

Her voice grew distant and faint. She'd already escaped. I trudged toward the parking lot.

***

"How could you make such a choice?!"

"Could we get your name, please!"

"What is your relationship with that Association employee from earlier?!"

"Please give us an answer!"

Click— Click—

While heading to the parking lot, I somehow ended up on the sixth floor. Since I was already there, I had planned to pay for the dress I was wearing, but it was so soaked in blood that it drew far too much attention. On top of that, many people had seen me drop into the middle of the terrorists and fight them, so I got held up by them and ended up giving the reporters time to arrive.

Click— Click—

"Uh… well…"

This was bad! We hadn't discussed how much I was allowed to say. The Association President had his own ideas, and I was of the opinion that we should wait and see, so I had planned to observe the situation before deciding. No one had expected things to turn out like this on the very first day.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Thanks to all the fighting, I'd put on some muscle, so I could probably endure this to some extent.

"Huh? Hey! Grab her!"

Click— Click— Click—

I turned and sprinted back toward the railing, then threw myself over it.

Thud!

"Uwaaaah—"

Last time I'd landed on people, so it had been manageable, but they must have already cleared them away, because I hit the bare floor. From the ringing in my head, it seemed like I was bleeding, but the dress was already dyed so thoroughly with blood that it didn't show much. Staggering, I got to my feet and headed toward the parking lot. I debated whether to take the stairs or the escalator, but if I took the stairs I might end up on the sixth floor again, so I ran for the escalator instead. My unsteady gait quickly steadied. Behind the descending escalator, I could see the car I'd arrived in. Had Mari noticed the commotion and brought the car around already? It would have been better if she'd just come to pick me up!

Creak—!

Thud—!

After sustaining multiple injuries and regenerating, my muscles had developed enough that, unlike before, the car door opened easily. Of course, that was compared to a body with no muscle at all; it still wasn't much, but it was fortunate that I'd gained even a little.

"You could have just walked straight here, so why are you only arriving now?!"

"…If even that much worked, Ganema wouldn't have assigned you to me, would he?"

"How was I supposed to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠know it would be this bad… There's only one department store in this area, so you must come here often… And besides, how was I supposed to pick you up in that situation? There were so many people, and if I went around with you, since I only have one manager career, people would notice right away! If I get fired over this, I might end up completely unemployed since I'm not even an esper—"

"C-calm down."

While I was putting on the clothes, she had seemed excited, so I'd thought she was fine, but the mental shock must have been greater than expected; she was rambling in agitation just like when I'd first met her. It felt like I should be the one more worried than her, but there was no need to say that out loud.

"More importantly, did you release the articles about the incident? Those guys will cause a scene all day if there's no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dispatch report."

"Yes. I was already checking while waiting. I was waiting while checking anyway… You should take a look at this."

Mari picked up the tablet she'd left in the passenger seat and handed it back to me. She seemed to have calmed down again, but the fact that her emotions shifted so frequently and easily made me wonder if she had developed bipolar disorder or something. I reached out and barely managed to take the tablet, then looked at the open news article page.

Positive articles and negative articles. But all of them were talking about me. Frowning, I clicked on an article and read the contents. Most of the articles were similar, and the attached photos fortunately showed me after I'd changed into new clothes rather than covered in blood. Judging by the angle, it looked like they'd used footage from the CCTV that had been obtained in the meantime…

"These guys really went all the way…"

"Right? They didn't even get consent, and they're using your face in articles while claiming you're not a hero."

"If they're going to do this, why did they take so many photos earlier saying it was for coverage—"

"She's my hero!"

…Heroes were public figures, Mari.