52: Jump
“Seriously… hey! Are you okay!?”
He rushed to Enka and observed her without touching her rashly.
Her forehead seemed to be cut, but it wasn’t a deep wound. He felt her pulse returning as the Bl00d received, and he called out to her.
It’s better not to shake someone’s body at a time like this.
“Can you hear me!? Hey!”
“Ugh… T-Tanuki… kun…”
“How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Momoka…”
“Are you okay? Well then.”
“I was just kidding, so don’t leave me…”
He stopped walking away and knelt down next to Enka.
“So what happened?”
“As you can see… I was about to catch up, but because Ira used hypnosis, I ended up like this… I narrowly avoided being hit by a car, but I must have hit my head hard on a telephone pole and passed out, so I don’t know what happened after that…”
“Do you know which way Misato and the others went?”
“If you head in the direction the chaos is spreading… I think they’re probably still within the range of Tanuki-kun’s sensor…”
In that case, it would be the pedestrian crossing. There’s still damage there too.
It’s like a monster’s footprints…
“Listen. Don’t move your head until the ambulance gets here. You may look fine, but there’s no telling what’s going on inside.”
As he said this, he operated his smartphone.
“I told one of the macho guys who’s following me to guard you. I doubt there will be any molesters or robbers in this dangerous situation, but just to be safe. I’d be troubled if your condition changed. I’ll give you a handkerchief for the wound, so press it on there. And…”
“…You’re being a little too overprotective.”
“What are you talking about? This is life-threatening.”
“Even after I did something so terrible… you’re helping me…”
“Just shut up and stay still. Please.”
“hehehehe… Don’t overdo it.”
“Yeah.”
Ryugo replied with a thumbs-up and went after the trail of the battle.
Enka, why did she say something like that in this situation? But she must have been feeling anxious in her own way. Wondering if Ryugo hated her. Or maybe she’s just got used to being overprotected and has become spoiled.
“How far did they go?”
There must be a limit to how far they can escape using the app.
Some of the destruction could only have been caused by an ‘order’. But if you use your head, there must be ways to do it that use less levels. It would be premature to think that Ira has weakened.
“This way… Man, they’ve come far.”
He kept running and running… until he reached a bridge over a large river.
The center was a roadway. Both ends were pedestrian walkways, and the handrails were red. It must have been twenty meters high. Just looking down made his legs go numb.
In the center were two figures facing off.
Misato and Ira.
“Hm? Wait a minute, this is…”
He looked at the sensor on his smartphone and pondered this ‘situation’.
For now, he sent his current location to the macho guys and slowly approached so as not to provoke them.
Apparently, they were so exhausted that they could barely speak. They were supporting themselves with the handrails and glaring at each other.
“…”
Ira noticed Ryugo and clicked her tongue.
“Makoto… Can’t even hold her back…”
“He stepped aside on his own.”
“…Huh?”
“You used the wrong hypnosis. He ‘resisted’ you… like a slave.”
“Damn…!”
“There’s no escape. This is the edge of the battle area.”
That was why the two of them had stopped and were glaring at each other.
If they stepped outside the area, they would be forcibly defeated. In other words, Aira couldn’t escape beyond this bridge.
Checkmate.
“Ryu-kun… It can’t be over…”
“What?”
“Haven’t you wondered why Misato isn’t attacking me?”
Aira beckoned.
At that, a woman in a suit emerged from the shadows of a steel pillar. She must have been on her way home from work. Her face was as pale as death, and her expression was on the verge of screaming. It was obvious that she was desperate.
“…What did you do?”
When Ryugo asked, Aira said with her usual smile.
“If I ordered her to ‘jump off’ here, what do you think would happen to her?”
“How did you make her believe you…”
“It was easy. I hypnotized another passerby to ‘bang his head against the pillar until it bleeds.’ Seeing that strange situation, she seemed to understand what would happen to her.”
In other words, she had given an ‘order’ that would be activated when the timing was right. No, that’s confusing…
The person whose head was bleeding… He was nowhere to be seen, but there were certainly Bl00dstains on the pillar.
“In conclusion, she’s a hostage.”
“S, stop… That person will die…”
This woman would do it if she said she would.
No, she probably intends to do it. While Ryugo was stopping the woman, Aira could escape this situation.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“I understand… What do you want me to do?”
“I’ll delete the app, so hand it over.”
Not delete the app on the spot, but hand it over.
It seemed that she knew that if she didn’t delete it herself, she wouldn’t get the level.
He couldn’t refuse. Trying to stall for time would probably be useless… Judging from the way she had noticed him earlier, if he tried it again, she would immediately give an ‘order.’
“Okay… I’ll hand it over…”
Misato grabbed his arm and said, “Wait!” but he shook her off.
It would be bad to hesitate here.
“Don’t come any closer. Throw it to me.”
“I understand… Don’t worry, big sister. I’ll handle it somehow.”
The woman was about to cry, but she groaned repeatedly.
“It’s okay. Big sister. That’s right. Why don’t you sit down on the guardrail over there? Yes, that’s right. You must be tired.”
As Ryugo instructed, the woman hesitantly tried to sit down on the guardrail, but then,
“Don’t move!!”
Aira so loudly that it hurt Ryugo’s ears. Her eyebrows were furrowed in anger, and she was glaring at Ryugo. She didn’t seem to be planning on looking away.
“I can read Ryu-kun’s mind.”
“…”
“The ‘order’ Aira gave was ‘jump off’… In other words, it could be interpreted as meaning that it doesn’t matter where you jump off.”
“…Tch”
“But, is that really true? What if the order was, ‘Jump off the bridge’?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re not smart enough for that.”
That’s right. If it were the latter, it would contradict his earlier shout of “Don’t move.”
He must be bluffing. He’s probably just desperate.
Well then, it seems like the victory has already been decided-
“Wha-!?”
Suddenly, Aira began running towards the woman.
“Oh, no!”
Ryugo also started running in a panic.
If the woman were to be pulled over the fence, the order to “jump off” would send her plummeting to the river below, where death awaited.
However, they were too far away.
Aira was only about five meters away from her, while Ryugo was at least ten meters away.
“We won’t make it in time…!”
Before Ryugo could reach her, Aira had grabbed the woman’s arm.
“Kyaaah!!”
The woman screamed as her feet left the ground.
“Jump off!!”
Aira’s order rang out.
“Stooooop iiiiiiiit!!!”
Ryugo ran towards the woman, who was walking towards the river with her arms outstretched.
Aira, do you really intend to kill her!?
After giving the order, Aira once again retreated to the edge of the area.
“He…help…”
The woman’s face turned pale as she reached out for the guardrail that prevented people from falling into the abyss. Below her, a vast river stretched out as far as the eye could see, its darkness threatening to swallow her up.
Once the hypnosis had taken effect, there was no way to stop it. No matter how much he tried to restrain her, the woman would try to jump off the bridge.
Wait a minute, though?
“Misato!! Lend me a hand!!”
“Y-yes!!”
As the woman leaned over the guardrail, her body tilting towards the void, Ryugo and Misato grabbed her outstretched arm.
“Jump over here!!”
The woman clung to them desperately, hooked her feet on the guardrail, and then-
“Agh!”
She “jumped” towards them.
It was a ridiculous sight, but Ryugo’s heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst.
Jump off… That should be the correct answer.
The woman who had landed seemed to realize that she could move her body of her own volition.
“Yes!”
“Tha-tha-thank…”
As the woman spoke her words of gratitude behind her,
“See ya.”
Aira got into the car that had been parked.
This is another decoy!
The car sped away in an instant, carrying Aira back to the city. Was the driver on her side, or had she used hypnosis?
“Damn it! I’ll chase after her!”
I tried to cast the ‘soldier’ hypnotize on the car as it tried to pass me, but instead, I had to release one of the musclemen because I had reached the limit of the number of people I could hypnotize.
Then, when the car stopped, I instructed the driver, “Follow the car in front!”
Misato got in with me, and we set off.
“How long are you going to make us chase you? Today alone, the pool was destroyed, the school building’s windows were broken, and there were multiple car accidents…”
“Hey, half of that was you…”
“Oh, was it? …Hey, look at that.”
From Noble mtl dot com
The car slowed down.
There was a traffic jam.
Drivers were looking out the windows of the cars lined up in front of us, wondering what was going on.
Ryugo knew the reason for it.
“Probably because Aira was rampaging around… She even destroyed the traffic lights.”
“Wait, so Aira is here too?”
“Ah…”
As expected, Aira had gotten out of the car.
She’d probably be faster running at this point, even if she was exhausted. It was a smart move.
Ryugo burst out laughing and clapped his hands.
“After all that, that’s how it ends! Ha… This is great.”
“You know, I’ve thought this for a while, but you’re really messed up in the head.”
“Anyway, let’s go after her.”
I wish she’d think about how it feels to constantly have to send my musclemen their current location.
But this should be the end of it no matter what.
She has no allies, she’s out of stamina, she has no means of escape, and she has no hostages.
I finally reached the top of the hill, panting and wheezing, feeling like my lungs were going to burst.
The top of the hill was a small open area. It was too small to be called a park, with nothing to speak of except for a couple of benches. It was a little higher than the surrounding houses, but the view wasn’t anything special.
“Aira!!”
I confronted my nemesis in the center of the open area.
The moonlight peeking through the clouds illuminated Aira’s grimacing face.
“Jeez. You’re so persistent… Seriously, how long are you going to keep chasing me?”
“……..YOU’RE the one who called me here, dammit!!”