33. The Building Collapsed
The gun melted into a muddy puddle, Sefiku’s body stopped moving all on its own, and then— — —
“— — —A giant… robot…?”
Chie is astonished upon seeing a giant robot kick off the floor they are all on to stand up.
Sefiku, who is frozen in place besides her, is also at a loss for words due to shock.
“[Melt], [Capture], and [Toy]… How, how are you able to use our special abilities!?”
Chie screams out at the reality before her.
“Special ability duplication? Or is it the ability to forcibly invoke the special abilities of others!?”
“…Fumu. As expected, it seems that my ability was unable to be understood.”
Kuro shakes his head in response to Chie’s words.
“I have confirmed this with [Perception] just now, but the outcome on the first floor has already been decided. Your lordships should also surrender. If not, there is nothing more to be done.”
In line with Kuro’s words, the giant robot glares at Chie and Sefiku.
“Not only do you have a better invocation of [Toy], you can even use my [Perception]… I give up. Against a monster that can utilize multiple special abilities, we don’t stand a chance.”
“I too… give up.”
“Umu.”
Kuro nods in satisfaction as he watches the two surrender.
“In- incredible…”
Souji gasps out in awe at the scene. Then, upon recalling that the black cat who created such a situation has a beloved house head, feels a sense of reverence.
“Oh, I need to lower down this puppet.”
As Kuro mummers such, the giant robot takes hold of the side of the building to climb down it. Then, the building, unable to bear the balance of the giant robot scaling down it, collapses.
—Diamond fire—
“Nn… Yuki… kun?”
Shizuka looks around as she opens her eyes, recalling the last thing she saw just before fainting.
“Jizugu— —! I’m zo appy, zo appy—!”
“Onee-chan!?”
Then, upon looking around, she discovers Akari crying as she hugs her with a tear stained face.
“Do you hurt anywhere?”
“Souji-kun.”
Beside Shizuka stands Souji. She looks around while being hugged by Akari and assesses the situation.
“We’re in… my room?”
“That’s right! We were… rescued!”
Shizuka, unable to make sense of what is happening, tilts her head as she looks at Akari.
“Shizuka seems to have been helped just as Dius caught you while Souji and I were rescued from the organization branch! To be honest, I also just woke up not too long ago, so I don’t actually know all the details.”
Shizuka explains up to there to Shizuka who was unable to make sense of their situation.
“Souij seems to know the details, but he refuses to say anything.”
Akari glares at Souji as she says those words.
“I ain’t saying a thing. That was the agreement for being rescued.”
Souji neither yields to Akari’s gaze nor does his resolve weaken.
“You’re not going to say anything at this rate. Well, if Souji is going to go this far, then whoever the people who rescued us are, they probably aren’t bad…”
“Those people are alright! There’s no problem!”
““I- I see…””
The 2 are a bit moved by Souji’s loyalty.
“At any rate, have we really been saved from the organization? Dius was chasing after Shizuka at the time, so claiming we’re safe…”
“No, no, there were 2 rank A there when we were rescued. But even… ah, no, never mind.”
Shizuka and Akari are shocked by words that slipped from Souji’s mouth. They themselves had to deal with 1 rank A as an opponent. As such, they are well aware of how threatening 2 would be.
“I don’t know who it was, but for there to be such an incredible person in this city… Wow, the world sure is small…”
“It really is.”
Shizuka nods at Akari’s thoughts.
“For now, let’s contact Yui and Touri and decide our future plans. If it’s Yui, she might have information over whether the person who helped us is trustworthy or not.”
“Yes. I too, think that’s a good idea.”
“There’s no need to specifically ask Yui-san either. If it’s those people, they’re alright…”
The 2, despite being moved by Souji’s loyalty, go forward with Akari’s plan.
—Diamond dirt—
“Even so, I was shocked to see that he could help Shizuka-san and the others.”
Yui, who hacked a security camera at the temporary branch where the battle was taking place, gasps out in surprise.
“Honestly, even with disregarding that high school student-kun and black cat, I never would have expected for there to be such a monstrously strong little girl and crow.”
Touri, who also watched the clip with Yui, is frightened by that truth.
“More importantly, Yui, are you having any trouble?”
During the middle of all that, Touri stares with worry at Yui who is writing with a brush.
“Am I having any trouble? Excuse me? How rude, Touri—. I can at least do something like write a letter!”
“You say that, but this is the first time I’ve seen you write one.”
On the contrary, Touri, in his heart, believes that is the first time he has ever seen her hold a writing tool.
“Could it be, are you planning to send something to that high school student-kun?”
“Geh.”
Yui doesn’t know who her opponent during the previous cyber brain battle was, but she was attacked upon hacking Kousuke’s smartphone. Therefore, now that he has a flawless defense against cyber warfare, she is restraining herself from hacking his appliances such as his PC and smartphone.
“What are you going to send?”
“Nothing strange. It’s something I thought I should have ready as a reward incase he’d help Shizuka-chan and the others. One way or another, he seems to have helped them, and it’s pointless for me to keep it, so I figured I’d send it.”
Yui, back when she hacked Kousuke’s PC, had looked through his search history in order to uncover a proper reward for him.
“He’ll be happy to receive it, but at the same time, it may scare him.”
Touri’s expression crumples as he watches Yui stuff the reward into an envelop.
“I don’t know what else could work as a reward, and I already made this one, so I’m going to send it. There, now to put it in the mailbox.”
“Hold it! [Capture].”
Touri [captures] Yui in a hurry just as she is jumping out of their camping car for the mailbox. He then takes the envelop from her hand.
“I thought as much… Yui, this won’t reach him.”
“Eh?”
The envelop Yui was about to mail doesn’t have a stamp. It doesn’t even have an address written on it.
“A ha ha—, that’s because I’ve never sent a letter…”
“…I’ll teach you. Furthermore, check with me next time.”
Yui has more computer related knowledge than even first class engineers, but she is ignorant in regards to such things as general knowledge and social etiquette to an alarming degree.
Touri, as always, supports that helpless girl.
T/N: To be fair, Yui said she could write a letter, not send one. Also, I’m getting the feeling that Touri was being used as a target for Shizuka’s [Bestowal]. It would explain his having multiple special abilities.
Thanks for the chapter.