The Kidnapping Fiasco and the Magical Girl Comic Book Festival
Eight had been launched three kilometers away, but Vira returned to the event hall in just thirty seconds. By then, however, Eight was long gone.
Damn it… Has my edge dulled after so long?
Coming to a place like this in the first place had been a mistake. The sheer number of people made it impossible to prevent contact. The most important part of bodyguarding was keeping others from approaching. If that was impossible, they should never have come here at all.
Entering an indoor venue made it even worse… but what could she do? It had already happened. Rather than wallowing in regret, fixing the situation came first.
Vira took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs.
Her voice echoed throughout the entire event hall. A woman suddenly screaming at full volume drew every eye in the vicinity. The nearby otakus who turned to look quickly averted their gazes once they noticed her mismatched skin tones on her limbs.
It wasn’t long before Aile came waddling over from the far side of the hall. She clearly wasn’t used to wearing heels; her run was painfully slow and clumsy. The moment Vira spotted her, she sprinted straight toward her.
“S-Sis? Why are you suddenly…?”
“Eight’s been kidnapped. The culprit is a teleporter.”
“Huh…? Eh…?”
For a brief moment Aile stared at Vira in utter confusion, but she quickly pieced together what had happened and began to panic. The classic amateur reaction—completely lost on what to do next.
Vira, who had once been a true professional, immediately began issuing orders.
“W-What should we do!?”
“First, return to headquarters. Be ready to rush out the moment you’re called. Tell Galrm and Levitan about this too. I’ll contact them myself, but just in case.”
“Y-Yes ma’am—!”
“…I’ll handle the boss for now. Go.”
After sending Aile back to headquarters, Vira swallowed hard and pulled out her phone. She knew she had to report this to the boss, yet a wave of reluctance kept rising in her chest.
It hadn’t even been a full week since the boss had entrusted the scientist to her with the words, “Take good care of him.” And now she had failed at protecting him? If this had happened during her professional days, she would have been fired on the spot. It was the kind of catastrophic mistake that would have barred her from the industry for life.
Swallowing again, Vira carefully dialed the boss. After a few rings, the call connected.
“Boss. The scientist has been kidnapped.”
[……What?]
“I have no excuse. I will accept any punishment.”
[Details later. Can you locate him?]
“—Without fail. I will take full responsibility and bring him back.”
[When you return, bring both of you straight to my office.]
Hearing the boss’s consideration, Vira expressed her gratitude and ended the call. From now on, she needed to find out who had kidnapped Eight and what their goal was.
Fortunately, the event hall was littered with CCTV cameras. If she went to the control room, identifying the culprit’s face shouldn’t be too difficult…
How dare they touch the Evils organization.
She didn’t know what kind of suicidal fool had done this, but one thing was certain—it wouldn’t end peacefully. She would make them understand exactly who they had provoked. She would teach them what it truly meant to mess with the Evils.
It was humiliating. Was this how a pro boxer felt after being knocked out by a high schooler? Being kidnapped as a member of the Evils—worse, as an executive—was utterly mortifying. The fact that the kidnappers didn’t even seem like professionals at first glance only deepened his shame.
“Hey, check this guy’s contacts. He only has two numbers.”
“What? Let me see… Whoa, you’re right. Just ‘Boss’ and someone named Aile.”
“So is this Aile the girl he was linking arms with earlier?”
The way they casually chatted right in front of their victim, the complete lack of effort to hide their faces—everything screamed amateur. It was obvious they weren’t seasoned criminals but just winging it on the fly.
“…I have a question.”
“You’ve got some balls, old man. Getting kidnapped and still asking questions?”
“Why me, of all people?”
Eight looked around at the kidnappers as he asked. The boss’s information control was flawless. Even among the organization’s members, there were people who didn’t know he was the Evils’ scientist.
So they couldn’t have kidnapped him for his knowledge. That much was certain. Then why had they taken him?
The answer came quickly.
“—Because you stood out, old man.”
“……What?”
“You got out of a fancy car, right? And you were walking around with a woman at a place like this… You looked like the type who gets off on feeling superior to otakus, so we picked you.”
“Wait, that’s your reason?”
“We’re gonna become villains.”
The kidnapper pointed at himself as he spoke.
“We’re doing bad stuff to get into a famous villain organization. Making some side cash along the way is a bonus.”
“……Ha, hahaha. You’re committing crimes for a reason like that—.”
“People like us give heroes something to do, right? So, old man—you look rich. How about a little donation?”
The man held out a phone toward Eight. If Eight called the police or a hero right now, what would they do…? At least they weren’t complete idiots who hadn’t considered that. They were probably just confident in their abilities.
After all, they had sent Vira flying before she could even react. It was likely a time-lag-zero teleportation ability…
Eight didn’t know what powers the others had, but they were clearly bad enough to join a villain group, and the teleporter must have had useful enough skills to recruit them. In other words, pointless resistance was a bad idea.
“……Can I make a call?”
“Go ahead. Oh, put it on speaker.”
“Mm—.”
He was worried they might not take the boss’s voice seriously and think it was a joke—but doing nothing would be worse. Eight dialed the boss, and the call was picked up shortly after.
Eight shrugged and held the phone out to the kidnappers. The lead kidnapper let out a snort and began speaking to the boss.
“We need some money. Give us some.”
[How much?]
“The more the better… How about a million dollars?”
[Give me the account number.]
“City Bank 7ET……”
The kidnapper tilted his head at how easily the boss agreed to send the money, then cautiously recited his account details. Shortly after he finished, he checked his phone and broke into a wide grin upon confirming the deposit.
Giving in to a kidnapper’s demands so readily was one of the worst moves according to criminal psychology. Sure enough, the kidnapper immediately changed his tune.
“Ah— what should I do? On second thought, this seems a little short.”
[Short? Very well. I’ll send more.]
“Huh?”
Another deposit notification. The kidnapper’s expression stiffened slightly as he checked his phone. Just how much had been sent…?
“Uh, um—.”
[What? Is that still not enough? Do you need more?]
Ding—!
The kidnapper’s face froze completely. After chewing his lip a few times, he glanced at Eight and let out a sound of realization.
“Ah— I get it! This is some kind of cyber money, right!? Fake cash you made to trick villains! I’m not falling for it! Cash! Bring real cash!”
[Where should I send it?]
“……Locker number 5, the one closest to exit 10 at the G City subway station.”
[Wait ten minutes.]
A short while later, after hearing that the cash had been prepared, the kidnapper teleported away. He soon returned with a bag stuffed full of bills.
The kidnapper who returned looked back and forth between the bag and Eight with slightly trembling eyes, then spoke carefully.
“……What exactly are you, old man?”
“A normal civilian.”
The kidnapper glared at him as if he couldn’t believe it, then grabbed his accomplices and left the room. Eight glared at their retreating backs before quietly turning his gaze elsewhere.
—They left the phone behind?
Eight casually picked up the phone and immediately began modifying it. He had upgraded the device precisely for situations like this. Now that preparation was finally paying off.
The kidnapper who had left the room with his accomplices began biting his nails and trembling violently. His companions looked at him in confusion.
“Hey—what’s wrong with you?”
“Fuck… We’re screwed…”
“What the hell is it?”
The kidnapper nervously held out the bag of money he had brought back. Inside was an amount so enormous they couldn’t even begin to count it.
It was a sum they had never even imagined earning in their entire lives.
Robbing banks, kidnapping people, committing terrorism—none of the villainous acts they had planned could ever yield this kind of fortune. Faced with such an impossible amount of money, the amateurs who had only just decided to become villains began shaking uncontrollably, unable to process reality.
“N-No way… This has to be fake, right…?”
“It’s real… The same amount even got deposited into my account once before…”
“No fucking way… This is twice that amount…?”
Realizing that the sum before them wasn’t something an individual could cough up, but rather the kind of money handled by major corporations or national organizations, the kidnappers finally understood they had touched someone they should never have provoked. They began to shake even harder.
If their target could casually hand over this much money, they could probably send an army of heroes to arrest or kill them without batting an eye.
In fact, heroes might already have the area surrounded.
“Shouldn’t we… let him go?”
“Or maybe we should just leave him here and run?”
“Y-Yeah! With this money we could live without working for the rest of our—.”
“Sorry, but I’d appreciate it if you left that money behind.”
The kidnappers jumped at the sudden voice and whipped their heads around. There stood Eight, the very person they had kidnapped, alone.
Seeing him, the kidnappers breathed sighs of relief even as they spoke cautiously.
“……Old man. We’ll spare you, so just stay here. You’re not even an esper, after all.”
“Hm? Did I ever say I was a non-powered person?”
“My friend’s ability can tell, you know? Whether someone is an esper or not. That’s why we kidnapped you. If you were an esper, we wouldn’t know what kind of power you might have.”
“Ah—I see.”
Now that he had learned the ability of the last accomplice whose power he hadn’t known, Eight smiled faintly and raised his modified phone. He pressed a button with a soft click.
A moment later, an unpleasant noise began blaring from the phone. The kidnappers frowned at the high-pitched beep.
“What are you—.”
“From now on, I wouldn’t recommend using your abilities. Your body might explode.”
“What the hell does that—.”
“If you’re curious, go ahead and try it.”
The kidnapper let out a hollow laugh at Eight’s words and attempted to teleport. He planned to snatch the phone from the cocky hostage’s hand and shut off that annoying sound.
But the instant he tried to teleport, the kidnapper felt his head ring violently and began vomiting.
“Uweeegh—!”
“I told you not to use it.”
Eight smiled lightly as he watched the kidnapper retching on the floor. He explained it in a way these idiot criminals could understand. He needed to buy time until his colleagues arrived.
“It’s based on the Space Control Techniques derived from Professor Emilia’s announcement on quantum spatial folding phenomena… To put it simply—from now on, anyone who uses their ability will die.”
Of course, it was all a bluff. But these amateurs in front of him clearly lacked the ability to see through it. Eight grinned and shook the blaring phone from side to side.
Amid the sharp beeping and the sound of the kidnapper’s retching, enough time had passed. Enough time for his colleagues to track the signal from the tracer hidden in the bills.
“—Scientist!”
Kwaaaaaang—!
The upper part of the building was completely blown away as the dark magical girl made her entrance. Struck by flying debris and losing consciousness, Eight looked up at Aile.
Friendly fire…
Just like always, the most dangerous thing on the battlefield was friendly fire. Especially when that ally was a superhuman who could collapse an entire building with a single attack…
A short while later, Aile descended to the ground and exploded with rage upon seeing the unconscious scientist.
“To do this to the scientist…!”
“Ah, no—that was actually you just now…”
“I won’t forgive you—!”
The dark magical girl’s fury was unleashed upon the kidnappers.