Zaregoto-Volume 3 Chapter 7

There is a reason for the bullied.

1

What in the world is meant by strength? Similar to the basis of fortune and misfortune, if we consider that strength and weakness is simply a matter of personal perception, then one argument could be made that rejecting everything other than yourself is strength, and supporting everything other than yourself is weakness. And if that is not the case, when you decide on something, then you require a basis and intervals.

Is is simple strength? Or perhaps it is a large existence? or perhaps physical durability, or perhaps mental durability? Those who stand at the top of the stairs disdaining others cannot be called the strongest. Yet being able to perform every task, being talented in every skill, simply merits being called an all-rounder and not the high end. Perfecting a single ability becomes simply a single genius. It is not acquiring what you want, nor the ability to eradicate all. Undefeated and invincible alone does not point toward the strongest. Honor and pride are both relational. Then what exactly, what is similar and what is equal, such that one can determine one to be the strongest -- the more you think about it, the more you end up in a thesis of your own making.

Yet if you put forth these reasonings, she would probably flash a nihilistic smile as always, and answer like this--

I am the strongest, and as the strongest there needs be no reason.

"You know..."

Aikawa-san raised both arms, as if to show off her pure red outfit, and looked at Hime-chan and I at once. Her face still had a cynical smile plastered.

"I need this for the climax, y'know? When it's showtime, and I show up in black clothing, it just doesn't feel right. Nah nah, I left the academy for a moment and went back to the Cobra, and that ended up taking up more time than I thought. Sorry I'm late, Ii-tan."

Hime-chan was shaking tat-tat-tat. Her entire body was shaking. Why Aikawa-san was there, no, why she was in a different place than Aikawa-san, as if she could not comprehend.

"I do not mind... buying time at the last moment is the user of nonsense's expertise, right, Aikawa-san?"

"I said don't call me by my surname... the only ones that do are enemies. --So," Aikawa-san did not stop smiling, as she fixed her gaze on Hime-chan. "So, which name are you going to call me?"

"Ah, uh--"

"What're you up to, hmm?"

"... ah..."

"I'm asking what you're up to? Eh?"

"Is this--"

Hime-chan.

"Is this the end, just like that?"

Hime-chan still shook.

"Why--"

With her shaking voice. But with all her might.

"-- why did it go bad?"

With a soft voice that threatened to disappear, she screamed in pain.

"What was wrong? What?" Hime-chan asked, not Aikawa-san, but toward me. "I thought... I thought a lot, and it should have gone well, but. Hime-chan, what -- did I do something bad?"

"... Hime-chan."

"Is that, why everything went so wrong?"

"Like that matters shit," Aikawa-san said, interrupting. "The more you plan, the more you succumb to your plan" -- you thought too much, and Ii-tan too. And that girl rolled around on the ground there. Ahh, ahh, the hallway's covered with blood now. Jeez -- do y'all have nothing better to do? Puh-lease, don't tell me you think everything can be explained with logic?"

Aikawa-san scratched her head, her body language expressing how much she considered this all a pain in the ass, and also how much she didn't understand. And then she sighed, a short sigh that lasted forever.

"Logic only means one plus one is two. Thesis just means zero plus zero is zero. If you wanna see pretty logic then go read a math textbook for first-graders. Running off and leaving it to that elementary crap -- are you serious!?"

She shouted.

She was no longer laughing -- she was angry.

Extremely. She was intensely angry.

"It's over or this is the end or... stop howling and howling you pathetic loser! I'm just listening and you're making me blush! The hell do you think you're doing making me even redder! Ahh? If you survive alone you'll call it everything went well? You start it and then end it and are you kidding me? This idiotic play never had a chance retard! Brats without any reasonable trauma need to shut up and put up! Don't make me punch you!"

"... ah. Auh..."

Hime-chan had tears flowing down her cheeks as she took a step back, pushed back by the immense pressure. Already my body no longer had that discomfort of being covered by string. In front of Aikawa Jun, she had no composure to keep wrapping me up -- and hostages would only backfire against Aikawa-san. Hime-chan must know that well. That was why she wanted to keep Aikawa-san on her side.

No -- that was not the reason.

There was that, too, but Hime-chan just wanted, simply.

"Not funny -- not funny at all, to me! If you're gonna oppose me, make me laugh! Everyone and everyone looks away from what they really gotta do, and then they make excuses and lie and try to cover shit up -- crawling around like dirty scum! Stop being a slob! It's simple, don't slack! Why don't you people stand up straight! Stop slouching!"

I said...

I said, we cannot do that.

Hime-chan, and myself.

Yet still, Aikawa-san's fury did not end.

"Stick out your chest, straighten your back, be proud of yourself, howl at the enemy don't bow down! Don't give up don't let go and don't end it yourself! Do you brats want to be sympathized over? Stop dragging other people into your own narcissism, and if you want to brood then brood by yourself, no one knows or cares about how you freaks feel! Stop rejecting everything for beans and stop carelessly accepting! I don't care about other stuff, at least decide your own stuff!"

"... shut up!"

Hime-chan seemed to force her guts down and then stared -- at Aikawa-san. The tears were no longer there. Nowhere. She no longer had the eyes of a young girl -- but rather the eyes of Zig Zag, cut apart somewhere, and having no normal parts left after having been cut apart.

Everything was an act.

Innocence and recklessness. And action and fondness.

If everything was an act -- she could still have been saved.

"This is the end! Everything was found out... I killed people -- I broke a promise and I betrayed--"

Betrayed and betrayed and betrayed.

Deceiving allies before deceiving enemies.

Just repeating that over and over again.

Hime-chan was painful to look at. It was hard to look at her. Very, hard to just abandon her.

"Just... stop, Hime-chan--"

"Shut up shut the hell up and zip it! Stop calling me by that name! You act so intimate!"

Hime-chan screamed, and glared at me. With her eyes wide open. Not a hint of innocence or cuteness. Yet, more than anything, her expression invited pity.

"Stop being kind! Stop acting up and trying to be friendly! That stuff -- is disgusting!"

"... Hime-chan."

"What's with that face? Is it sad? Are you trying to sympathize? You said you hate murderers... but that's a grateful story. But -- the dean and Saijou-chan, Hagihara-san aren't the only ones."

And then she flashed eyes that were filled with hatred from the bottom of her soul, such a mismatch for her, and with a look of pity.

"Why -- do you think faculty and security never showed up?"

They had no chance of showing up, because that had been taken care of before I snuck into the academy--

I imagined.

Faculty ward. Faculty room.

One floor beneath the dean's room -- in a closed location.

The mountain of death and rivers of blood that sprawled over the closed area.

Murderer, was not sufficient.

Serial killer, was also not right.

Restricted to this area.

Restrained by walls on four sides, there was no chance of seeing that appearance. The living -- nor the dead. Until the collapse, there is no chance of seeing.

And then --

When it collapses, it is too late.

"This school is over, either way."

"You're right, that might be true," Aikawa-san answered. "But I won't let you end."

She pointed at Hime-chan.

"I won't let it end."

"... I said! It's enough, Aikawa-san! That's enough of an end!"

Hime-chan shouted Aikawa-san in that way -- and then flung out both of her arms.

Fwip fwip fwip fwip -- like the cries of children, the sound of air being sliced echoed through the hallway, and at the end of it was Aikawa Jun. The size and the speed made it impossible to track them. Yes, the moment one stepped foor inside this hallway, the indisputable fact was that one stepped into Hime-chan's spider nest. In this visibility, even mankind's strongest, within this sealed, bumpy area, could not avoid the strings that attacked at full force from every angle.

Yet, the contractor--

Did not even try to dodge.

Invisible string wrapped around Aikawa-san's body. Hime-chan did not expect this either, and she froze. She looked at Aikawa-san in surprise, and Aikawa-san venomously answered.

"What? Did you want me to dodge? Are you seriously still waffling now? Or is it something else, like, hahah, you wanted me to finish you?"

"... uh, guh."

"Spot on was it? But too bad-. I loooooooove you. So I'm going to go easy on you at the easiest of the easy levels. Don't think I'll kill you that easily. I'm going to warmly loooooove you so that you'll never again be able to get away from me. Hah, you're right, someone as stupid as you needs to die once to get fixed."

"Stop, screwing, around-!"

Hime-chan shook tat-tat as she bit down hard on her bottom lip. But that was no longer fear. It was rage -- at Aikawa-san. Or perhaps a warrior's excitement -- as a berserker.

"But you know, you've gotten better, I'll praise you there. You didn't even need to put weights at the end of the strings to throw them this accurately. ... you have a nice career in circuses waiting for you. What are you, Yamashiro Takuya? I can't believe you mastered this pain-in-the-ass skill. Or what is it? Has Hime-chan still not gotten over that?"

She was obviously goading, laughing at Hime-chan. And despite Hime-chan being in an inordinately superior position -- despite being in her own territory, her face twisted at the humiliation of being insulted, and she yelled.

"It's already checkmate, don't you get it, Aikawa-san!"

"Fresh-made Pawns shouldn't howl on their own. Unfortunately for you, I was born a Queen -- including kings, checkmates on lesser pieces don't matter to me."

Hime-chan set her resolve -- and yet for one moment, she hesitated. Still, the moment was nothing more than a single moment, and along with her resolve, she raised both arms at once--

"The end! Your line of thought--"

And then the end--

"Then first, despair. I've been pissed, fucking brat."

And then--, it must have been me seeing things, but in a kind way, Aikawa-san smiled-- and then--

2

The end -- right before it was brought down, Hime-chan herself, crumpled to the floor of the hall. Or rather, she seemed to have been pulled by the arm she was bringing down, as her upper body was tugged forth, knocking her off balance. With an expression of bewilderment, onto the floor of the hall she clumsily fell, face down.

"..... what? Huh?"

"What's wrong? Didja slip? Hmm?"

Aikawa-san -- of course, was not diced up. With an attitude of complete dominance, she had a thin smile. Hime-chan tried to quickly stand back up, but that failed, too, as if she was struggling with gravity, and once again fell face-first to the floor.

As for Aikawa-san -- it did not seem as though she had done anything. Of course, at this range, there was nothing that Aikawa-san could do. Since she had no projectile weapons, unless she used some sort of ESP, it was impossible for her to do anything to trip Hime-chan--

No.

Did she move a bit?

"It looks like you're using a lot of types of string to mix up the weight and speed and thickness -- but string user attacks always are the same. In other words, cutting through speed and edge. The same way you cut bread, I guess. Then there're two main ways of avoiding that -- the first is to move slowly. The other is to move quickly."

It was clearly paradoxical, what Aikawa-san said. Hime-chan paid it no heed, frantically trying to stand up, but every time, as if she were being pulled by something, she would trip and fall without being able to brace herself. As if -- as if she were being manipulated by string you cannot see.

"-- Ah."

"Get it? Ii-tan. Yup, that's it. As long as I'm outside of the zone of string set up right there -- it means the string that's wrapped around me, regardless of where else it might be attached to, ends up at those gloves. Then it's simple, isn't it? Faster than Hime's fingers or arms, that's all I have to do. Stronger than her strength, and faster than her speed."

When I realized it -- again, Aikawa-san was standing in a different place. And at the same time, Hime-chan, as if her arms were being pulled, fell down again. It was the same logic as a leash on a dog. However, Hime-chan just had to move her fingers, that was all the motion she needed. In that sense, Hime-chan's small stature and small reach was perfect for a string user. The speed of the motion to raise and lower her arms is lower than anyone else, so it gave her quite an advantage. By comparison Aikawa-san was not only wrapped entirely in string, but she also had to move her entire body. Because of this, it was not as simple as it may possibly sound.

"The vulnerability for strings as a tool of killing is that there's a time lag between contact and impact. That time lag is decisive against me. No matter how fast your string is -- it's still one-hundred years too late for me. If the speed is the same, then whoever's stronger wins -- it's the same as tug-of-war, Ichihime. It's a shame you're weak. Strength is necessary, eh? I don't know how much dangerous string is wrapped around me, but as long as I move faster than the string, this is just an accessory. Hah, I toldja this is just a circus act. If all you can kill is something immobile, then you can't be a serial murderer, just the same."

"Sh- shut up-- shut up shut up--" Hime-chan glared at Aikawa-san, still sprawled on the floor. "Th- this--"

Of course. This is impossible. Moving an entire body faster than she can move her fingers is unbelievable. As if Aikawa-san were not fast but rather than I am just slow, as if Aikawa-san were not the one moving and that Hime-chan and I were simply observers, as if this instantaneous movement that was just like ESP were ordinary.

There was no time lag at all between moving and beginning to move. The start and end were happening at the same time. It was not that her action was fast, but rather the action from the action to the action was fast.

"Ahh, ahh. I shoulda figured this is all there is to a brat," Aikawa-san raised her jaw and with a dry, malicious laugh looked down at Hime-chan sprawled on the ground. "I was right, a death match with you is boring, so I'm done."

"Done? Stop messing around -- if that's the case, I can still work around it!" Hime-chan wailed. "And, even if you can block a direct attack, as long as you can't get inside this zone, Aikawa-san--"

"I said, listen to people. We're connected to the point that you can't even cut us apart, didn't I say that?"

Aikawa-san opened her closed fist, and revealed that stungun. Hime-chan's eyes widened in surprise, but it was too late. There was no chance of recovering string while lying down, and the string was being controlled by Aikawa-san's instantaneous movements anyways. Once Hime-chan realized that, she tried to remove her gloves, but--

As expected, it was too late.

She was a hundred years too slow to take on Aikawa Jun.

Aikawa-san pressed the tip of the stungun into her own arm, and then flicked the switch.

The spark was but a moment -- was not the case.

Before that moment, far before, specifically by the time Hime-chan had decided to try to take on Aikawa-san, the match had been decided.

Still sprawled out, Hime-chan seemed to freeze, as if time had stopped. Then she jerked and arched like dried seaweed, and froze in that position -- after another moment her body began spewing black smoke, and plopped, like a puppet whose string was cut, back onto the floor. It seemed she had completely lost consciousness, but as a natural reaction by her physical body, cramped into jerking motions.

"Jeez... right after I changed, too."

Aikawa-san seemed to mourn her clothing, which had been fried and burnt like Hime-chan, and began tearing off bits and pieces. Her shoulder and stomach areas became bare, so it was quite a pleasant sight, but I had no time to stare, as I looked at Hime-chan again. Her muscles were still twitching. Especially her fingers, which took the full brunt of the electricity, were twitching pretty nastily. As if each finger had its own mind.

"Guah. I forgot, doesn't have conductivity. A bunch of them are still stuck. This one's Kevlar? Shit, I have to take off this mess? What a pain in the ass."

Aikawa-san grumbled as she un-knotted the string wrapped around her body that had not been fried by the electricity. The string had lost its master for recollection, so it seemed to be troublesome. I thought that this sight of Aikawa-san was rather amusing as I asked, "So this was what the stungun was for." It is my job to ask these questions.

"Yeah. Didn't I say so? I needed to drag someone out unharmed, or something."

"I thought you were talking about me."

"Oh? Why? I would never do such a cruel thing to my beloved Ii-tan."

Aikawa-san was engaging in self-concealment.

"Well, taking care of short-sighted kids is my part of my job. If I were to take on this Zig Zag normally, I wouldn't be able to avoid hurting her."

This person gets weaker by using weapons.

An explanation may be unnecessary, but -- just in case. Aikawa-san took that palm-sized stungun and hammered electricity into Hime-chan's string, electricity that in her words were enough to knock out two, three days of someone's memories, with the safety restraints removed. She unleashed the absolute limits of its electricity and pumped more voltage than normal. It was no different than touching a high-electricity power line. It was not just a stungun attack... but rather like a gigantic spark that was made using gunpowder. Fireworks were happening at various points along the hall, and even I felt it to some level just by being close, that was how ridiculous the power was.

No matter how resilient those different types of string may be, most could not stand the voltage and amount at the same time, and exploded and burnt -- that moment for them to burn was enough. The master would take the maximum amount of damage. Aside from the string that did not conduct electricity, everything became Aikawa-san's weapon.

If the opponent's card is speed, then to dominate with superior speed. If the opponent uses string, then to use the string against them. Hime-chan felt as though she had trapped Aikawa-san within her spider's nest -- but it was actually the opposite.

No matter how large a nest a spider spins,

Eagles can rip right through it.

"....."

..... of course, that meant that Aikawa Jun, who was connected to the string, was under the same condition, but in Aikawa-san's case (what was she thinking) she had placed the stungun to her own arm, so she had eaten the same high-powered, no, you might say she had eaten even more of the high-powered electricity, so this was supposed to be like the conclusion wrought by a suicide terrorist, but Aikawa-san seemed to be perfectly fine. Neither her consciousness nor her memories seemed to have been flung, and aside from her clothing she did not seem to have taken any damage. Because the underside of the clothing she had switched into was made of a non-conducive strands -- that Aikawa Jun had gone through the effort of changing into it for this purpose... or some sort of explanation like that would make this more reasonable, but I could not imagine this contractor feeling the need to make anything reasonable. This person could probably fly a plane into the barrel of a cannon and come home safe. Trying to explain something unreasonable with reason is self-destructive. The next number of zero is not reason but one.

"Woah! The string got caught! And it's digging into my skin, ow! Hey, you, stop watching and help! Are you some demon!?"

"..............."

I wordlessly walked to Aikawa-san and tediously untied one string at a time. The tips of my fingers were cut a bit, but I was able to un-knot the string enough for Aikawa-san to be able to move freely.

"Uni-. Thank you Ii-chan. Wa-i. Ii-chan I love you!"

"Stop that."

Seriously, no.

"Nah, but I was just trying to give the cast more equal screentime..."

"Then imitate Akari-san's voice."

"What's with the specific name..."

"... however, for you to be angered. That was unexpected," I said, looking at the fallen Hime-chan. "Not accusing, not forgiving, but just simple anger."

"I hate you! I do not want to even see your face so please die, pig!"

".....?"

"Chiga Akari."

"No, can we drop that?"

Although I was a bit pleased.

"..... Hah. I'm absurdly tolerant, but I've got a short temper. Unlike you. Actually, a week ago I turned into Super Saiyan Jun."

"Huh....."

It may be true.

"It's fun taking on someone like Zerozaki-kun, a simple-minded idiot. But people like you, these dawdling, logic-focused idiots piss me off the most."

".... you make it sound like a school-life drama. Although this place does not feel like a high school..."

"Teacher, I just wanted you to look at me, or something? What era is that drama from? But you know, Ii-tan. It actually doesn't matter, that." Aikawa-san smiled, and continued. "A lecture from me wouldn't get through to that. You were the one that finished the lecture. No matter what I say, it'd just come across as an untouchable perspective. It's like walking up to a starving guy and saying thou shalt live with only bread, they'd just be like "fuck off! right? You're in a similar place, so you already ended the lecture. All I had to do was clean up afterwards."

Was that so?

I felt like that was not the case, but if that were the case... then even if just a bit, maybe I was able to save Hime-chan. I, an existence that could not save, and the existence who could not be saved, Hime-chan. Even if that were to be a broken paradox.

"Of course, hahah, no matter what cool line you might spew, you're dressed in a skirt, so it doesn't have any impact."

"If only you stayed silent about this, no one would have to know. ... in any case, it is finally over."

"I said," Aikawa-san lightly punched my head. "Don't try to end things on your own. You know-. Understand this, alright? Life doesn't end even if you die."

"Even if you die," what a fresh opinion.

"Yeah. Even if you die, your effects remain. A true end doesn't exist anywhere. It's the same for that... but she'll figure it out when she becomes a bit more of an adult, maybe? And if you don't get it, just act like you do. That's enough to make a big difference."

"Although I do not want to understand." And then I lowered my gaze to Hime-chan. "... What will Hime-chan do, now? If this school is a dead body, ... but with such a large incident, I feel like it is no longer a question of escaping or being expelled? She killed the dean."

"How should I know? My job was to take Ichihime outside, and after that it'd be overtime -- I'd love to say that. But I guess I can't really. It's not like I don't know her, so, I know, I'll just figure something out."

"Is that so."

Indeed, this person was soft on friends.

That, however, that was definitely part of what made the strongest the strongest.

"In any case, let's hand her over to the police."

"You're scum!"

"Wahwah! Ikkun got mad! I only said the obvious! Like strip poker, except the tournament is filled with heat and wounds!"

"Can you just drop that!?"

No one could stop Aikawa Jun anymore.

"Kahaha. Well it's a pretty good masterpiece."

This time, Aikawa-san acted like a human failure as she sat down by Hime-chan's side. And then, looking resigned and saddened, she slid her hand along Hime-chan's sleeping face, as she had finally stopped twitching.

"If you look at her sleeping, she's just a cute brat... jeez. Fucking brat."

She mumbled.

Aikawa-san was like an older sister being lovingly exasperated by a troublesome little sister, and it was a bit heartwarming, I felt. Aikawa-san was absolutely not a kind person, and she was totally not someone who brought happiness, but even so, probably, she was not the type of person who could leave behind a girl like Hime-chan.

"... Hm."

"What is it?"

"Whoops. Her heart's stopped."

"That's an endless sleep!"

Please be careful when handling stunguns.

But seriously.

"Ahh, ahh, how can she just die?"

"What the hell!"

"The suspect is somewhere here!"

"It's only you! And what point was there in taking off the stungun limiter in the first place!? The normal amount was enough for knocking her out!"

"But then the string wouldn't burn up."

It was because taking care of the string was a pain in the butt!

"Don't worry. I'll revive her in a bit... don't get so disheveled. Ii-tan your selling point is your dryness. Take care of your rare characteristic."

She said, as Aikawa-san prepared to start heart massage, but then she looked at me, as if she had changed her mind.

"Ii-tan, you wanna try? It's a good chance to gain the title of a pedo."

"Please stop playing with peoples' lives! Please, it is a serious moment!"

"What, no? I guess resuscitation is a bit necrophiliac."

"Yes yes, even I do not have corpses within my allowable bounds -- no, really!"

The user of nonsense, out of pure momentum, did a on-and-off jab for the first time in his life.

"Please stop fooling around! Do you have an illness where you can only be serious for five seconds!?"

"You're so boring... boring. Idiot. Dumbass. I hate Ikkun!"

And then finally, Aikawa-san began rescue operations. As she performed heart massage, I heard the sound of ribs cracking, but that could not be helped, I made myself believe. Five minutes, ten minutes she continued, and then she finally stood up, "alright, done."

"She's revived, she's revived."

"How light..."

Dying and living, killing or being killed, even those things could be re-done or restarted by this mankind's strongest. This went straight past exasperation and into feeling hollow.

Really -- to this person, it was nothing. Acting and lying, counterfeit and fraud, everything and anything, was irrelevant to Aikawa Jun. Even if there were relevancy -- there was no meaning.

Aikawa-san lifted Hime-chan onto her back, then stood up.

"Shall I carry her? Jun-san might be tired."

"... Nyah."

Aikawa-san shook her head.

"This is my job."

And carrying Hime-chan on her back, Aikawa-san walked down the halls. I walked next to her, and confirmed, "in any case, this is the end of one interval."

"This academy no longer has a dean or a strategist -- so all that remains is to escape, correct?"

"…………"

"Why is your response just four three-point ellipses?"

Was she imitating Teruko-san?

Even I can do that.

"No, Ichihime," Aikawa-san said, without looking at me. "Was able to manipulate, hide information from the students inside, but it seems she did nothing for outside. There're some people who found out about what happened inside the academy."

"..... what do you mean?"

"The alumni of Hanging High School whom are working in Rule right now. Ah, and the Origami household's smarties. And of course everyone who supports Sumiyuri Academy around the country."

"Why are you saying this all of a sudden?"

"If everyone is gathered outside the school gate."

"..........."

Was... that why she was late in changing?

Then, right now the first floor, would be the biggest problem...

"Oh well. Time to clean up after the party. Let's charge through like a bold hurricane right up front before they start pouring in."

Aikawa-san said, enjoying this, and walked down the dark, low-visibility hallway. Leisurely, truly in an open-hearted manner, without any trace of anxiety, she walked.

"-- you make me laugh."

I simply, simply followed behind that mankind's strongest, with a sigh mixed with something like nonsense.

1. Noritsukkomi in Japanese, means to go with the fool's joke for a moment and then immediately shoot the straightman line.