Lab Rat
Thinking back to action movies or anime I've seen from time to time, it seems like both the enemy and the protagonist fought in such a flashy way.
Perhaps those humans had overflowing imagination.
Or is it just me who's like this, fighting?
The duel between those arrogant students I saw on TV back then was incredibly flashy, after all.
Blood. Blood.
It's dirty, it stinks, and it's sticky.
While Lee Sohyun was staring at me with a dazed expression, the blood pond on the floor suddenly sharpened and stabbed my left thigh.
It was supposed to pierce through my leg, but it didn't.
It just twitched a little.
Thinking about it, this school uniform is noticeable.
Probably because it's what E and F-class people wear.
The woman gritted her teeth, reached out into the air, then kicked off the ground and charged at me.
Honestly, it looked like it was flying, but anyway, she was coming at me.
Simply spreading the blood like spikes wide, I jumped into the air.
At the same time, a spear appeared in her hand and was thrown straight at my right shoulder.
I didn't even see the throw.
Honestly, it was a bit unfair.
Some people are at their limit even after being drugged and having all sorts of things placed on their bodies, but how can someone who just tried a little harder fight like that?
It was someone who was originally assigned to a D-class class.
How wonderful it would have been if my problem could be solved with effort.
I had been waiting so eagerly.
I could only express it as barely holding on day by day.
It was like it would come back.
But when I crossed the river and came down, what is this?
Children shouldn't live such a life, you know.
The child who was living in such a happy place while leaving me behind to live that life is so envious.
Clearly, adapting to this place, living in a completely different world from where they lived, must have been incredibly difficult, but still. Still.
If I hadn't been treated so indifferently when I came to find them.
I let my guard down in the middle of the fight.
A spear flew at my wobbling right shoulder again.
I couldn't dodge it even though I saw it, and my right side completely fell off.
Thanks to that, blood spurted out, but...
Inserting a blade into your own body while sober is something you can't do.
“People would think how you'd be regarded if they knew you do this to your juniors.”
“As a hero who defeated the crazy villain hiding in the Academy, they'd praise you.”
The spear that was thrown at me disappeared in an instant and was in the woman's hand.
Without even a drop of blood on it.
I couldn't quite grasp the feeling.
Still, I wasn't particularly anxious.
Lee Sohyun was twitching her leg.
Much more severely than before.
And my severed right arm was starting to regrow.
Leaving chunks of meat on the floor.
The blood pond swallowed the white arm.
“...It grows even after being cut?”
“This can be obtained in any amount if you try.”
She furrowed her brows, thinking the words were a provocation.
But it was true.
Showing such a reaction would wound someone as fragile as me.
“By the way, I envy you more.
If it were me, that leg would have burst long ago.”
I flung the swallowed arm into the air and exploded it with a bang.
It's not like getting hit by a bomb that turns you into pieces.
It just makes your face feel bad with flesh and blood stuck to it.
The woman took out her phone from her pocket to contact someone.
I couldn't because of the flying spikes.
Was she trying to escape like this?
That would be a huge problem.
The villain hiding in the Academy would be captured and taken somewhere.
Back to the underground?
That was a bit unpleasant.
But giving up and running away like this was even more unpleasant.
Having been left alone was already too much.
Rather than that, dying here might not be bad.
I didn't want to die, though.
Luckily, a chunk of blood that was thrown away smashed the phone.
“What do you think about just running away like this?
I didn't come to find you in the first place, just...
I came to see the faces of the research lab staff.”
At those words, the woman ground her teeth.
It wasn't like she had a lover inside like the team leader.
“Honestly, those people are a bit like that, you know.
No one would say anything. If I run away, I can't chase you either.”
“...You're telling me to run away in front of someone like you right now?”
“W-well, what should I say.
Was it a strategic retreat? That.
It's not like the people behind me dying is better than you dying... ”
I was about to say it doesn't add up, but a spear flew at me.
I could block stabs or slashes with blood, but throwing spears was hard to block.
Of course, I couldn't dodge it.
It pierced my stomach and I felt like blood was spurting up.
Since it wasn't enough with my mouth, it was flowing from my nose too, so maybe it was spurting.
Still, there was no problem.
It hurt, but my consciousness remained, and my limbs moved fine.
I was a bit lacking in energy.
I don't know where my limit is, but it wasn't now.
It was enough not to die against someone who couldn't even stand properly on their legs.
The spear that pierced my body simultaneously pierced Lee Sohyun's right thigh.
“Indeed, it doesn't add up.”
The hole in my body was quickly filled, and my severed right arm had almost fully regrown.
Then, staring at Lee Sohyun who couldn't even take a proper step for a long time, I took out a cigarette from my pocket.
Because there was a hole in the middle of my body, my pocket was soaked with blood.
I didn't tear the packaging from the convenience store one, just left it as is.
After tearing the plastic, I opened the lid, tapped the floor with it, took out just one piece, and put it in my mouth.
The problem was that the lighter was wet and didn't light easily.
How did I light the fire and then inhale the rising smoke.
“Since it doesn't make much noise, the researchers probably don't even know there's a raider.”
“...Talk, so much. What a pathetic monster.”
At those words, I looked around cheerfully.
At least, I wasn't a monster.
Just a girl who happened to awaken her ability and was attending the Academy, at most F-class.
Just a bit better in physical ability than an ordinary man, about three times.
I made the blood flowing on the floor into sharp things and shot them out.
She screamed and tried to block them with the spear, but unfortunately, the spikes that dug into her body seemed more.
Meanwhile, the blood flowing from her body was merging with the blood pond I was carrying.
But the blood flowing in strong ability users' bodies probably doesn't move at my will.
Something, should I say I lack senses.
There's a feeling like there's something I can make flow from my whole body, but I don't feel that from this human.
I had made holes in her body too.
Still, the wound part clearly looked like it was crumbling like rotting.
The blood chunks flying and embedded were melting and eating away at the flesh.
“...You, are you that? There's nothing else, no matter how much I think.”
“What are you talking about.”
“Lab rat.”
At the word "lab rat", the woman twisted her body and said it.
Without me noticing, I picked up the spear made of red things and stabbed her deeply.
The body was so hard that the blade only went in a little and came out, not even making a hole.
“...I, even when I'm in place, there's something to hear.”
Her gaze was disgusting.
At that thought, something like iron pierced the woman's left eye.
No scream was heard, though.
“What do you think about just treating me as a villain?
It's not a very pleasant feeling to receive pitying eyes from someone you're killing.”
“You are a villain, after all.”
The woman laughed dryly.
“And I have no intention of leaving you next to the child I'm teaching.”
I was about to say what would you do if I didn't leave you, but the words didn't come out.
At the same time, the world started to look half upside down.
Something, my vision lowered, my strength gave out, I sat down, and a warm feeling, I felt around my neck and found my head half-cut and dangling.
Since it didn't completely fall off, I roughly attached it to the cross-section, but the reattachment speed felt very slow.
Thinking about it, the problem was that I had come while drugged.
Strangely, when drugged, the regrowth speed became very slow.
The woman with her body full of wounds stood up, reached out into the air, and grabbed the newly created spear handle strongly.
“I can't hear the last words like this...”
At the same time as the sound, the woman disappeared from my sight.
It was like something was bursting, but if I had to express it in words, it would be something like this.
Bang.
And when I turned my head in the direction the sound came from, a woman wearing the Rabbit Mask was standing there holding a large gun.
With relief, I immediately relaxed my body and looked up at the sky.
Blood was spurting from my throat, and my consciousness was gradually fading, but I didn't think I was going to die.
I just wanted to continue smoking the cigarette I was smoking with Lee Sohyun in front of me, laughing.
It was an incredibly satisfying feeling.
During this time, the sound of gunshots came again and again.
Honestly, it was just noisy noise, not something to take as a lullaby, but it was a sound that made my heart very comfortable, so I closed my eyes with a satisfied smile.
“I know you're not dead.
Say something, will you.”
“...My, my neck isn't attached yet.”
“Still, seeing your face after a long time is nice.”
I was wearing a mask, after all.
I was happy to meet her too.
Who wouldn't like the warm-hearted person who took out the lab rat from the transparent plastic box.