He couldn't flee too far a distance. Even focusing fear in his legs had its limits, and in the first place, using an excessive amount would inevitably leave traces. Then he'd be caught in no time. At the very least, he needed time to tend to the wound on his cheek.
The place he found was near the combat zone, a certain ruined chapel. As the proverb says, 'it's darkest under the lampstand,' hiding in a relatively close place seemed more advantageous for concealment than going too far. But just as he was about to enter the chapel while catching his breath, the alarm bell in his head began ringing madly. A chill ran down his spine, and his heart pounded.
It was a familiar sensation. That chilly feeling he always felt right before facing death in the mental world.
"...Huh."
He realized the reason. He spotted the various explosives installed inside the dimly visible chapel. Certainly, if he just entered a place like that, he'd die. Kenji let out a deep sigh and clenched his fist tightly. Without further thought, he swung it.
A series of explosions followed. Flames surged upward, and the air vibrated with the huge blast sound. As the dust settled, he could see the cleanly blown-away chapel entrance. The glinting muzzle beyond it was also visible.
...A muzzle?
The moment he recognized it, he kicked off the ground and dashed forward. He closed in on the gun's owner in an instant. Before bewilderment could even settle on her face, Kenji grabbed her wrist, twisted it, and made her drop the gun. A pure white assault rifle tumbled on the ground. Kenji kicked it away so she couldn't grab it, then subdued the owner of the captured hand.
Only then could he confirm the face of the subdued girl.
It was Azusa. She looked up at Kenji with an expression mixed with bewilderment and frustration. Kenji was about to say something, but just let out a deep sigh and tied her to a suitable pillar. He used a rope from something rolling on the floor. Azusa resisted, but when he grabbed the nape of her neck like a cat, she calmed down. Indeed, he seemed to have figured out how to handle Azusa.
"Grr, how frustrating."
"What are you saying, like a female knight captured by an orc..."
Kenji let out a hollow laugh and picked up the earphones that had fallen on the floor. Putting them on, he heard Saori's urgent voice.
"Azusa, how is the executive's condition? Is there a wound on his cheek? Is he bleeding? He was hit by explosives, are his limbs intact?"
Listening to Saori's words, Kenji held back a bitter smile. A hunter worrying about their prey. Of course, it wasn't actual hunting, and they needed to look out for each other's safety, but the fact they were currently hunting didn't change. The worrying could be done later.
For that reason, he told her not to hesitate next time they met, but Saori didn't do that. Judging by the worry and concern thick in her voice, she seemed like a kind-hearted girl from the start. Beatrice had broken such a child like a special forces operative.
The longer he lived here, the stronger his hatred for Beatrice seemed to grow. Kenji internally suppressed his anger, exchanged appropriate words, and ended the communication.
The explosion sound had been quite loud. Moreover, with one person captured, it was only natural for the squad to come rushing here. He thought about running away, but figured it would be better to just subdue them all here. He was tired and didn't want to fill the full two hours of training.
Anyway, they'd tire themselves out by fighting each other. He was just moving that up a bit.
Thinking so, Kenji applied the disinfectant he brought to the torn wound. Bubbles rose as if the germs were dying, and after brushing off dust and stone powder, he stuck on a band-aid. Azusa, who had been watching the process, tilted her head.
"You got hurt? How?"
"My body is too fragile, even just grazing against a glass shard tears my skin. This is a gunshot wound, though."
"...Now that I look, you don't have a halo. But even without a halo, wounds shouldn't appear that easily?"
"I'm a bit special."
Kenji glossed over it vaguely and got up from his spot. He turned his gaze. The shattered chapel entrance was blocked by a huge stone lump, making it seem difficult to enter. Then the remaining entrance would be the window; certainly, a window at that height could be broken and entered through.
'Should I prepare in advance?'
He got up from where he was sitting and approached the large window. Then, he discovered a scripture on the verge of crumbling placed on a chair. Too thin to be a Bible, too thick for a fairy tale book—a scripture. Kenji tilted his head and picked up the scripture.
*Tap tap*, after brushing off the dust, he could see the scripture's title. It was written in alphabet, but even at a glance, one could tell it wasn't ordinary alphabet but Latin. Unfortunately, he wasn't well-versed in Latin, so translation was impossible.
'Can Azusa read it?'
He stopped the window repair work he was about to do and approached Azusa holding the scripture. Then he showed her the scripture's title.
"Azusa, can you read this?"
"I have no information to give the enemy."
"...You're already caught, so your training ends today. No enemy or anything now."
"Grr! So frustrating!"
"..."
Azusa kept a sullen expression for quite a while, then read the scripture's title.
"Vanitas Vanitatum Et Omnia Vanitas."
"What's that? Vani, vani, vani?"
"...'Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.' That's what it means. It's the scripture of our Arius Branch School."
"What, are you trying to teach nihilism or something?"
The word 'scripture' means it's related to religion. But teaching nihilism in a religion where you should believe in God? Is there a situation more nonsensical than that?
Perhaps that scripture itself might be a phrase used in Christianity, but unfortunately, Kenji on Earth was non-religious. He had never read any religion's doctrines, nor visited churches or temples. But he had shallow knowledge of philosophy. Thanks to that, he knew nihilism had a color hostile to religion.
It's a kind of pessimism. Since the world is filled with such filth and ugliness, everything is vain and meaningless. This is passive nihilism. The Latin phrase written in that scripture didn't seem much different.
Perhaps his philosophical knowledge might be insufficient, leading to misunderstanding, but Azusa's subsequent explanation cleared his head.
"This scripture has existed since long ago, but I heard its proper interpretation was conveyed 10 years ago."
"...10 years ago?"
At the words '10 years ago,' a remark he'd heard in passing came to mind.
-10 years ago, thanks to that, there's a stable place. It's the place where I gained the 'justification' to 'take responsibility' and 'rule' it.
-What nonsense, idiot.
A memory sleeping beneath the waters of oblivion surfaced. Kenji let out a hollow laugh and looked down at the scripture in his hand.
"Beatrice's doing, huh."
"Huh? What?"
"...Nothing. More importantly, do all Arius Branch School students believe in this scripture?"
"Yeah. Isn't that obvious? Since everything is vain and vain..."
Kenji rolled only his eyes to look at Azusa. At those obsidian-like eyes, Azusa gasped, 'hup,' but didn't stop her voice. No, her voice tone seemed to have risen slightly compared to before.
"But I think even if everything is vain, I shouldn't give up resisting."
"...Not bad."
Kenji let out a small laugh and nodded.
Everything is vain and meaningless. Kenji felt that phrase wasn't much different from fatalism. If everything is determined by fate, is there any need to do anything in the first place? If an omniscient and omnipotent God bastard decided everything from the start, what meaning does effort have? How is this different from Arius's scripture?
It's the same. At least that's how Kenji felt. From a great philosopher's perspective, it might be different, but Kenji was neither a philosopher nor, moreover, a great person.
In the first place, having philosophical thoughts itself was strange. Suddenly having a spar, what is this? If he were going to think like this, he'd have sat at a desk and engaged in fierce debates, not dodging bullets and swinging fists. He smiled bitterly and roughly threw away the scripture he was holding.
But it was true he liked what Azusa said. Because he didn't like the word 'fate' much either.
"Keep that thought from now on. If possible, forget that scripture itself."
"...You're not punishing me?"
"What punishment?"
"Before, I said such a thought and got hit by an executive. You won't do that?"
"...No. In front of me, say whatever you want to say, whatever comes to mind."
Kenji stroked Azusa's head with an expression mixing pity and a smile. Azusa tilted her head with a puzzled expression. This was the second time being touched, but like last time, she didn't feel displeased. Rather... she felt a pleasant warmth.
Was a person's touch this warm? She didn't know. The only touches she'd received until now were fists and slaps. Thinking about it, her first experience eating delicious food was also thanks to his help, and the second time was the same. Did she feel warmth then? She remembered feeling full....
Azusa shook her head left and right, trying to understand the emotion she was feeling now. Kenji left her be and got up his weary body.
Because he felt approaching presences. Three guns. As expected of a sniper, Hiyori was still maintaining distance? Whatever. He first erased thoughts from his mind and rotated his wrist. As a *crack* sound came from the joint, the chapel window shattered.
Beyond the snow-like scattering glass shards, three figures appeared. Saori and Atsuko, and Misaki. Ridiculously, Misaki was holding a weapon like a rocket launcher. If that got fired, he'd probably die without even bones remaining, so Kenji first set his target as Misaki.
There was no separate conversation. The three took appropriate positions and moved to catch the 'prey.' Kenji chuckled and operated fear.
Thus they clashed.
The result was Kenji's victory. After 30 minutes of combat, the three were knocked out, and Hiyori came trudging along carrying a huge gun case, crying, "Bweeeeee~! We loooost!" Kenji pulled out the bullet deeply embedded in his forearm and smiled with difficulty.
If that bullet had been the anti-material sniper round Hiyori fired, his arm would probably have been cleanly severed.
Thinking that, it really couldn't be more fortunate. Q0NGL1BUQXN0SWVkOHpKbW5hcVdZUmlLdE9GODk3VmlHNzdjZlhwU2V2d2N1QnJ5QTIyb0g4Y1A5WU9BM1VTSA
Truly.