はアキラの周囲だけに広がっている訳ではない。周辺の地下街一帯に広がっている。アキラがそのことに疑問を持つ。
『アルファ。あれはお互い相手の位置が分からないようにして逃げようとしているのか?』
『つまり、相手だけこっちの姿が丸見えか。何て便利なんだ』
極端な話、アキラだけ真っ暗闇の中にいるようなものである。アキラが現状の厳しさに皮肉を言っていると、アルファが意味ありげに笑う。
『そう思って油断している相手を潰せば良いだけよ』
『......なんだか知らんが、任せた』
『任せなさい』
アキラはアルファに任せてアルファの指示通りに動き始めた。
周囲に漂う煙は完全に視界を遮るものではない。薄い霧のようなもので、ある程度なら先を見ることができる。それでも周囲の索敵はかなり低下する。情報収集機器の高度な画像解析の恩恵は受けられないのだ。
されるまでは。だからといって、ヤジマが他の攻撃方法を模索することはない。その射撃技術がヤジマの最大の武器であることに違いはないのだ。だからこそ、ヤジマはアキラを殺して自信を取り戻さなければならない。
ヤジマは慎重に機会を
ヤジマが逃げないのはアキラを殺す必要があるからだ。ヤジマ達の存在が本部に知られた場合、ヤジマ達の計画に致命的な支障が出る。それを防ぐためにもヤジマはアキラをこの場で逃がさずに殺さなければならない。
ヤジマは自分の情報収集機器でアキラの動きをかなり正確に
から飛び出すのと同時に、右手に持つ拳銃の銃口をアキラの頭部に向ける。既にヤジマの意識の中では照準を合わせ終えている。後は銃を構え終えると同時に引き金を引くだけだ。ヤジマは勝利を確信して引き金を引いた。
ヤジマの銃から弾は発射されなかった。その銃はCWH対物突撃銃の専用弾によって彼の腕ごと粉砕されていたからだ。
ヤジマが銃を構え終える直前、アキラが強化服の身体能力を限界まで引き上げて、前方へ向けていたCWH対物突撃銃を一瞬で後方へ向けていた。そして右手だけでCWH対物突撃銃を構えて、ヤジマの方を見もせずに照準を合わせ、ヤジマよりも早く引き金を引いていた。
着弾の衝撃でヤジマが床に
事前に飲み込んでいた回復薬がアキラの治療を開始する。すぐには治らない。アキラは崩れ落ちそうになるのを何とか堪えていた。
アキラが倒れているヤジマを見ながらアルファに尋ねる。
『......お見事、で良いのか?』
アルファが笑って答える。
実際にヤジマを狙撃したのはアルファだ。アルファがアキラの強化服を操作して精密射撃を実施したのだ。
アルファはアキラの五感を把握している。つまりアルファはアキラの生来の感覚器が得た情報を取得できる。アルファにはアキラの肉眼から得た情報から空中の煙の微妙な動きの変化を探知して、ヤジマが隠れている
『頭を狙わなかった理由は?』
『理由は2つあるわ。1つは頭を狙って殺せたとしても相手の攻撃を防げない可能性があるからね。衝撃で引き金が引かれて、あるいは着弾までに引き金を引かれて、アキラに当たるかもしれないわ。これは念のためね。もう1つは頭を吹っ飛ばしても死なないかもしれないからよ』
『あいつは義体者、若しくは遠隔操作の機械人形よ。完全義体者なら脳が頭部にない可能性があるわ。機械人形なら、制御ユニットが頭部にあってそれを破壊したとしても、補助ユニットが別に存在する可能性があるわ。多分義体者ね。どちらにしても、相手が頭部を失っても反撃可能な場合のことを考慮して、反撃されないように先ずは敵の攻撃手段を奪うことを優先したのよ』
アキラが少し驚いてヤジマを見る。よく見ると腕を吹き飛ばしたのにヤジマからは血が流れていない。右腕の付け根からは機械部品が見える。
アルファの言う通りヤジマは義体者だ。体の大部分を生体部品や機械部品に交換しており、生来の部分は中枢神経系とごく僅かな部分だけだ。ヤジマは右腕を失ったが大して痛みを感じてはいない。少し痛い程度の感覚で済むように調整済みだ。それでも着弾の衝撃はヤジマの体に伝わっており、そのままでは戦闘継続に支障を来す程度の痛手を受けていた。
アキラにはヤジマが義体者だったことなど全く分からなかった。アキラが少し驚きながら尋ねる。
『どうやってそれに気付いたんだ?』
『いろいろ理由はあるのだけれど、一番の理由は無言での
『その節は大変ありがとう御座いました』
『どう致しまして』
『......で、それとどういう関係があるんだ?』
『私は相手の表情とかから、ある程度相手の
アキラが警戒を怠らずにヤジマに近付いていく。アルファが一応アキラに念を押す。
『直撃していないとは言え、CWH対物突撃銃の専用弾を食らったから相手のダメージは大きいと思うわ。それでも警戒は怠らないこと』
『後、今のうちにCWH対物突撃銃の弾倉を交換して。空ではないけれど大分減っているわ』
アキラがアルファの助言に従って専用弾の弾倉を交換する。負傷させたとはいえヤジマが格上の相手であることに間違いはない。アキラは油断せずにヤジマに近付いていく。
ヤジマは死んでおらず、気絶もしていない。床に倒れたまま状況を正確に認識して、それを好転させるために思考し続けていた。
ヤジマが負った痛手はこの場から動けないほど致命的なものではない。アキラと交戦するのは困難だが、この場から逃走する程度のことは可能だ。無論、逃げるヤジマをアキラが後ろから撃たないという前提が必要になるが。
ヤジマは既に仲間に援軍を頼んでいるが、到着までの時間は不明だ。援軍の到着時間を試算するが、どう計算してもアキラがヤジマの頭部を吹き飛ばす時間よりは後になる。つまり現状において、ヤジマは完全に詰んでいる。
アキラは床に倒れているヤジマにある程度近付いてから、CWH対物突撃銃をヤジマに向けて構えた。相手は格上だ。この程度で警戒を解く気にはなれない。ヤジマが飛び起きて襲いかかってきても、問題なく迎撃できる距離を保ち、不審な動きを見せたら
ヤジマは床に倒れたまま残った左手を弱々しく向けてアキラを制止する。
「だからそれは誤解なんだ......。頼むから話を聞いてくれ......。ちゃんと聞いてくれさえすれば、誤解は解ける......」
えた表情でアキラに命乞いをして、自分の話を聞くように懇願した。
アキラは優位に立っている。ヤジマの生殺与奪を握っているのはアキラだ。それはアキラに余裕を生み出し、余裕はアキラに現状把握の思考と行動選択の熟考の余地を与えた。
『......どうする?』
アルファの推察を聞いて、アキラがヤジマに尋ねる。
「時間稼ぎ!? 誤解だ! そんなつもりはない! 本当だ!
『取りあえず、残りの両手足吹っ飛ばして本部まで連れて行こう。多分その程度じゃ死なないだろうし、戦闘力も奪える。可能なら本部まで連れてこいって指示されているしな』
『そうね。大人しく捕まってくれるとは思えないし、安全に運ぶならそれぐらいはしないと危険だわ』
アキラはCWH対物突撃銃の照準をヤジマの左腕に合わせようとする。だが右腕の痛みでその動きを止めて顔を
『い、痛い。痛みが引かないんだけど、どういうことだ? 回復薬が効いていないのか?』
『強化服が有るとはいえ、アキラの強化服だと片手でCWH対物突撃銃を使用するのは無理があったわね。負荷で筋肉も骨も限界だから回復薬が足りていないのかもね』
『素早く動いて可能な限り短時間で反撃する都合よ。相手の油断を誘う
長くなりそうな話をアキラが止める。
『分かった。そうする理由はあった。そうだな?』
『そうよ。我慢できないなら今のうちに回復薬を追加で使っておきなさい』
アキラが回復薬を取り出して飲み込む。安い回復薬では治療にいつまで掛かるか分からない
になくなった。くそっ。弾薬費だけではなく、回復薬の代金も払ってもらえるように要求しておくべきだった』
『仕方ないわ。アキラ。前にも話したけれど、これでアキラが無理をした場合の危険度はかなり上がったわ。十分に注意して』
ヤジマはアキラの態度から理解する。
(話を聞く気は無し。時間稼ぎもバレバレか。この場で俺を殺す気がないのは有り難いが、本部まで連行されれば終わりだ。御丁寧に四肢を破壊してから運ぶ気か。念入りだな。どうする? この念の入れようだと、ネリア達が助けに来たら、まずは俺を殺してからネリア達の対処に移るぞ?
えているヤジマだったが、内心では冷静な思考を続けていた。ヤジマは四肢の喪失すら必要経費と割り切って危機的状況の打開策を模索する。
「何をやってるの!?」
ドランカム所属の若手ハンター達も地下街の照明設置の作業に加わっていた。カツヤ達もその中に含まれていた。
カツヤが率いているグループに本部から2名の人員を他のグループに向かわせるように指示が出る。カツヤは難色を示して指示の撤回を求めたのだが、それは通らず仕方なくレイナとシオリをその2名に選んだ。他のグループで不測の事態が発生しても問題なく対処できそうな人物がシオリぐらいしかいなかったからだ。
レイナとシオリは派遣された先にアキラがいることなど知らなかった。指示された場所には照明の積まれた台車しかなかった。レイナ達がここにいるはずのハンターを探していると、少し離れた場所に他のハンターに銃を突きつけるアキラの姿があったのだ。
アキラとヤジマの視線がレイナ達に集中する。アキラがレイナ達の姿を見て少し表情を険しくさせる。この状況をレイナ達に説明するのが面倒だと思ったのだ。
『追加要員って、あの2人だったのか』
『もう少し早く、できれば戦闘中に来てもらいたかったわね』
を吐いていない。レイナ達が来る前にアキラがヤジマの四肢を吹き飛ばすのを期待していた、などとアルファは一々説明しない。
アルファはアキラの強化服を強引に操作してヤジマを殺すことができる。しかしそのためには、アルファがアキラの意思を無視して強化服を操作するためには、そうするべきだとアルファが判断して実行に移すためには、アルファを裏で縛る様々な条件を満たさなければならないのだ。
それ以外の場合はアキラの意思が優先される。アルファがアキラの意思を無視して様々なことを強制することができないのはそのためだ。
アキラはそのままレイナ達を見ていたが、ヤジマは視線をアキラに戻した。
ヤジマがレイナ達を見るアキラの表情を観察する。ヤジマはそこに現状からの突破口を見た。
(面識はあるが、友人ではないな。少なくとも言い分を全面的に受け入れてもらえるような関係ではない。この状況を説明するのが面倒だと判断したな? 状況を説明したとしても、それを信じてもらえない可能性があると判断したな?)
「助けてくれ! 殺される!」
「こいつが突然俺を撃ったんだ! 俺を殺そうとしたんだ! 俺は照明の交換作業をしてただけなのに!」
アキラが慌てて否定する。
「違う! お前が俺を殺そうとしたから反撃しようとしただけだ!」
「ふざけるな! あれだけ明確に殺そうとしただろうが! 先に撃ったのはお前だろうが!」
「それはお前が銃を向けたからだ!」
アキラとヤジマはお互いに怒鳴り合った。
レイナとシオリは困惑していた。レイナ達は照明交換作業の追加要員としてこの場に来ただけだ。レイナ達にはどちらが正しいかなど分からない。アキラとヤジマが交戦してアキラが勝利した。レイナ達が状況から判断できるのはそれだけだ。そのことはレイナ達にも分かる。どちらが正しいかなどレイナ達には分からない。
レイナは混乱しながらシオリに助けを求める。
「シ、シオリ、ど、どうすれば良いと思う?」
「そう言われましても......」
シオリは悩む。何らかの切っ掛けでアキラ達が交戦したのは確かだ。シオリはアキラと殺し合う寸前まで緊迫した状況を経験したこともあるのだ。そのためシオリにはどちらかと言えばアキラを疑っている部分があった。
を言っているにしろ、両方の誤解の結果にしろ、自分達には分からない。シオリはそう結論付けた。
シオリがアキラとヤジマに真面目な表情で話す。
「まずは本部に連絡を取りたいと思います。
を吐いている。少なくともその可能性が高い。シオリはそう考えていた。シオリはじっとアキラとヤジマの様子を確認する。
「そうだ。本部に連絡してくれ。位置情報を共有できないハンターの対処を本部から指示されたんだ。対象の殺害許可も出ている。本部に連絡を取れば分かるはずだ」
の影響だ。お前、本部と連絡が取れないことを知ってて言いやがったな?」
「それを使ったのはお前の方だ! 俺を調べれば持ってないことぐらい分かる!」
「使い切っただけだろう。いい加減なことを言うな」
み合う。アキラとヤジマの両方が本部への連絡を求め、しかも本部と連絡を取ることができない。
レイナとシオリは本部から照明の設置作業の手伝いを指示されてここに来た。照明の交換作業をしていたと言うヤジマの発言と一致している。
アキラは位置情報を共有できないハンターの対処を指示されたと言っている。シオリ達はその話を聞いていない。アキラの発言と食い違っていることになる。
シオリは注意深くアキラとヤジマの様子を確認する。やはりどちらも
レイナはアキラ達を見ておろおろしている。レイナにもどちらが間違っているかなど分からない。レイナは迷った挙げ句、シオリを見た。手に負えないとシオリに助けを求めたのだ。
「では、全員で本部まで戻りましょう。少なくとも
「......ではアキラ様。銃を下ろしていただけますか?」
アキラが険しい表情で黙る。銃口はヤジマに向けたままだ。
『......あいつらが来る前に殺しておくべきだったな』
『この状況で撃ち殺す訳にもいかないし、仕方ないわ。大丈夫。記録はちゃんと取ってあるから
アルファの言葉でアキラは何とか落ち着きを取り戻した。
なかなか銃を降ろそうとしないアキラに、シオリがアキラに対する警戒を高める。
アキラは銃を降ろした。シオリはアキラを警戒したままだ。
シオリがアキラを警戒し続けているため、アキラも意識をシオリの方へ向けた。
『アキラ! 早く止めなさい!』
「ほら、立ちなさい」
レイナがヤジマに近付き、倒れているヤジマに手を差し伸べていた。右腕を失い、武器も持たず、
The jamming smoke not only spread around Akira, but it even blanketed the whole area. Akira noticed that and found it suspicious.
"Alpha, this will also make it hard for him to ascertain my position, right? Is he planning to use the smoke's cover to escape?"
"Doesn't that mean that he can clearly see me while I can't? That's really convenient."
In the worst-case scenario, it would be as if Akira was fighting without any information-gathering device support. He understood the graveness of the situation and made a cynical remark of it, to which Alpha just smiled.
"You can just let him think so and take him out when he lowers his guard."
"...I don't really know what's going on, but I'll be counting on you."
"Leave it to me."
Akira quickly moved following Alpha's order.
Akira's visibility was not affected by too much within that jamming smoke. Since it was not thick, he could still see up to a little distance in front of him. But even so, his ability to detect what was around him was greatly reduced. After all, he did not have the advanced image analysis support from the information-gathering device.
He had absolute confidence in his quick draw skill, at least, until Akira evaded his quick draw. But even so, he did not think that there was any need for him to try other kinds of attacks. There was no mistaking it that the quick draw technique was the most powerful technique that he had, as such, he had no other choice but to kill Akira in order to regain his confidence.
Yajima carefully gauged his chance.
The reason why Yajima did not run away was because he had to kill Akira. If the HQ discovered anything about him and his friends, it would be extremely hard to execute their plan. In order to avoid such a situation, he had no other choice but to kill Akira.
Yajima could accurately see Akira's movement with his information-gathering device. He even knew exactly where Akira was hiding. Yajima blended in with the smoke and carefully moved from the wreckage he was hiding.
Yajima jumped out from behind the wreckage where he was hiding, and at the same time, he quickly grabbed his handgun and directed it at Akira's head. He had already lined his aim, he only needed to pull the trigger next and it would confirm his victory.
But no bullet flew out from its muzzle. Both his handgun and his whole arm was torn off by CWH anti-material rifle's special ammo.
The moment Yajima lined his aim, Akira suddenly pushed his augmented suit to the limit to turn his CWH anti-material rifle to the opposite direction. He supported the CWH anti-material rifle with only his right hand and took a shot at Yajima without even looking back before Yajima could even pull the trigger.
The blast from the bullet smacked Yajima to the ground. He still could not process what just happened. In the middle of that chaos, he inadvertently mumbled his first impression of his current situation.
The medicines that he consumed beforehand started taking effect. But it was not like it could immediately heal his injuries. He felt like he would collapse anytime, but he was able to somehow hold his body up.
Akira looked at Yajima who was lying on the ground and asked Alpha.
"...Did I do well?"
Alpha smiled and said.
To be perfectly honest, it was Alpha who aimed at Yajima and shot him down. She controlled Akira's augmented suit to execute that highly accurate shot.
Alpha was able to completely grasp Akira's 5 senses, in short, she was able to extract information directly from his sensory organs. She used the image information sent from his eyes to search for any smallest suspicious shifts in the smoke, and thus she was able to guess where Yajima was hiding.
"Why didn't you aim for his head?"
"There are 2 reasons. First of all, it might not stop his finger from pulling the trigger even if you blast his head off. If he pulled the trigger the moment he got shot or before the bullet reached him, he might get a shot on you. So I shot his arm instead, just to be safe. The second reason was because he might still be alive even without his head."
"That man is a cyborg, it might be possible that he has a remote control function. There are cyborgs with no brain in their heads, you know. If it's just a remote body, then even if you destroy his head where the control unit is, he might have another support unit that can act as the control unit's substitute, he's a cyborg after all. But whichever the case, I was worried that he might still shoot back even without his head, that's why I decided to prioritize taking out any possibilities of him shooting at you."
Akira took a closer look at the still shocked Yajima. Although he blew Yajima's arm to pieces, there was no blood splatter at all. But he could see some mechanical parts peeking out from Yajima's open wound.
Just like Alpha said, Yajima was a cyborg. His body was composed of a mix between mechanical and organic parts, but the only organic part of his body was his central nervous system. Although he had lost his right arm, he did not feel any pain at all. His body was adjusted so that he would only feel minimal pain. But even so, he could feel the impact when the bullet tore his right arm, it caused enough damage to render him unable to continue fighting.
Akira never thought the possibility that Yajima was a cyborg. He looked a bit surprised as he asked Alpha.
"How did you notice that he's a cyborg?"
"There are a lot of reasons, but the biggest reason is that he's too good at lying. You got tricked and caught off guard back there, remember?"
"I'm really thankful for saving me there."
"You're welcome."
"...So, how is his lie connected to him being a cyborg?"
"I can get an inkling whether someone is lying or not from their expression. Like if they make a strange expression, or if they make any suspicious gestures, or if there's an inconsistency in their tone."
As Akira approached Yajima's body without lowering his guard, he heard Alpha's warning.
"Although it wasn't fatal, the CWH anti-material rifle's special ammo has caused him significant damage. But even so, don't drop your guard."
"And also, reload a new magazine. Although it's not completely empty, the loaded magazine has but few bullets."
Akira followed Alpha's suggestion and reloaded a new magazine. Although Yajima was badly wounded, he was still someone who was more powerful than Akira. He kept that in mind as he carefully approached Yajima.
Yajima was not dead nor was he knocked unconscious. He was lying there on the ground, completely conscious. And he was thinking hard about how to escape his current predicament.
Although he was badly wounded, it was not fatal. It might be hard to fight Akira without one arm, but he still could run away from Akira. But of course, he needed to think about what to do since Akira definitely would shoot him from behind if he started running.
Yajima had requested reinforcements from his friends, but he did not know for sure when his reinforcements would arrive. No matter how he calculated the estimated time for his reinforcements to arrive, it would only happen after Akira shot his head. So in short, Yajima was already in checkmate.
After Akira took a few steps closer to Yajima, he readied his CWH anti-material rifle and pointed it at Yajima. Akira understood Yajima was someone stronger than him, thus it did not seem like he had any plan on lowering his guard yet. He stood at a distance where he could safely kill Yajima even if Yajima suddenly jumped and charged at him. His gesture and expression were saying that he would not hesitate to pull the trigger if Yajima made any suspicious moves.
Yajima looked meek as he raised his left hand toward Akira expressing his surrender while still lying on the ground.
"Like I said, it's a misunderstanding... Please... Listen to what I have to say... If you just listen... I'm sure you'll understand..."
Yajima was trembling as he was pleading for his life, he made a plea for Akira to listen to his explanation.
Akira had the upper hand here, he basically had Yajima's life in his hands. His situation gave Akira a leeway to reassess and think about his next actions.
"What to do here?"
After listening to Alpha's explanation, Akira turned to Yajima and asked him.
"Buying time?! It's a misunderstanding! I have no plans to do that!! I swear!! I'm not lying!!"
"I'll just shoot all his limbs and carry him to HQ, I bet he won't die even if I do that anyway, and that would also render him completely harmless. Not to mention that HQ did tell me to bring him back to them if it's possible."
"You're right. I don't think he won't fight back if you're going to carry him to the HQ. It's rather dangerous to carry him around if we don't do that much at least."
Akira pulled up his CWH anti-material rifle and lined his aim at Yajima's left arm. But the pain on his right arm caused him to stop his action and made him twitch.
"T-that hurts. I can still feel the pain though, what's going on? Shouldn't the medicine already be working by now?"
"Even with your augmented suit, it seems that it's still impossible for you to shoot CWH anti-material rifle with a single hand. Your muscles and bones are at their limit, you might need to take more medicines."
"It was because that was the shortest and quickest way to execute that shot. It's also because you were facing the opposite direction from where he was in order to lure him out. Other than that..."
Since it looked like it would be a long lecture, Akira quickly interjected.
"Alright, alright. Basically, you had your reasons for doing that, right?"
"Yep. If it's too painful, you should take more medicines now while you have the chance."
Akira pulled out some medicines and swallowed them. Since he had no idea how long it would take for the cheap medicines to start having any effects, he chose to use his precious expensive medicines instead.
"...It's all gone now, dammit!! Rather than only paying for my ammo expense, I should've made them pay for my medicines too!"
"It can't be helped, Akira. Like I told you before, don't do anything dangerous from now on. Remember to be very careful."
Yajima understood Akira's plans from his behaviour.
[He has no plans to listen to me. I guess it's obvious that I'm trying to buy more time, huh? It's thankful that he's not planning to kill me here, but it'll be game over if he brings me to HQ. He's planning to destroy all my limbs before carrying me, huh? He's one careful boy. What should I do now? If he's this careful, even if Nelia and the others arrive to save me, he would kill me first before moving to fight them. I still can't contact them because of the jamming smoke, I'll again once I'm out of the jamming smoke's range...]
Although Yajima's expression looked like he was scared and in so much pain, he was still thinking calmly inside. He was trying to find a way to avoid having to pay the expense for fixing all his 4 limbs and escape that dangerous situation.
"What are you doing there?!!"
Drankam sent some young Hunters from the gang to help replace the illuminations. Katsuya's team was among those young Hunters.
The HQ told Katsuya's group to send 2 of their members to another team. Katsuya tried hard to negotiate with the HQ to rethink, but in the end, it did not work at all. And so he reluctantly sent Shiori and Reina. It was because, amongst all of his members, Shiori was the only person who could handle the situation in case something bad happened when they were in another team.
Reina and Shiori did not know that Akira was in the same team where they were sent to. When they arrived at their assigned station, they only found a cart filled with illuminations and no one around. When they decided to look around for the other Hunters, they saw Akira pointing his rifle toward another Hunter.
Akira and Yajima turned towards Shiori and Reina. His expression turned stern the moment he saw Shiori and Reina. He thought that it would be a huge pain in the ass to explain the situation to them.
"So those two are the Hunters that the HQ sent, huh?"
"It would have been great if they had come sooner while I was in the middle of that fight."
Alpha did not lie, it was true that the jamming smoke reduced her detection ability. But she did not say anything about the fact that she was hoping Akira would at least destroy Yajima's 4 limbs before Shiori and Reina arrived there.
Of course, Alpha could just control Akira's augmented suit to immediately kill Yajima. But doing so would mean that she would ignore his will, and to do so, there were many requirements that needed to be satisfied first in order to release her from her bind and execute that action.
But more than that, Alpha had to prioritize Akira's wish, that was why she could not just ignore his will and force him to do something.
Akira was still looking at Reina and Shiori when Yajima turned to Akira.
He looked at Akira's expression and found a ray of hope to get out of his crisis.
[He knows them but they're not his friends. Or at least, they are not close enough for them to believe his explanation without questioning it. And this boy just thought that it's a pain in the ass to explain what's going on, didn't he? He thought that those girls won't believe him even if he tried to explain the situation.]
"Help me!! He'll kill me!!"
"This boy shot me out of the blue!! He's trying to kill me!! Although I was just working on replacing the illuminations!!"
Akira denied in panic.
"He's lying!! I only fought back because he tried to kill me!!!"
"Are you f*cking kidding me?! You were obviously trying to kill me, weren't you?!! And you're the one who shot at me first too!!"
"That's because you pointed your rifle at me!!"
Akira and Yajima were yelling at each other.
Reina and Shiori were confused. They were only sent there to help with the work to replace the illuminations. They did not know who was saying the truth. Judging from the situation, they only knew that those two fought and Akira won. But they could not tell which one was lying and which one was saying the truth.
Reina was confused and asked Shiori for help.
"S-Shiori... W-what do you think?"
"Even if Milady asks me, I myself don't know for sure..."
Shiori did not know what to do. It was at least obvious to her that something had happened which triggered a fight. Since she was once so close to getting into a fight with Akira, a part of her was actually suspecting him.
No matter which one of them was lying, or even if it was just a big misunderstanding between the two of them, there was no way Shiori could tell, and she understood that.
Shiori looked at Yajima and Akira with a serious face.
"I believe that I have to contact the HQ first, will that be alright?"
Shiori thought that if any of them looked troubled when she wanted to contact the HQ, then that person would be the one who was lying. Or at least, the possibility for that person to be the liar would be high. So she stared intensely at Yajima and Akira.
"Ah, right, you can go ahead and contact the HQ. I did report to the HQ that I found a suspicious person who's not using the terminal from the HQ, then HQ gave me permission to deal with that person even if it meant that I need to kill him. You'll understand the situation once you contact the HQ."
"That's because this boy used jamming smoke!! You!! You knew that this would happen when you told them to contact the HQ, didn't you?!"
"You're the one who used the jamming smoke!! I don't have any grenades on me!! Just check me, if you don't believe!!"
"That's only because you used all of your grenades!! Just stop lying already!!!"
Akira and Yajima glared at each other again. Both of them encouraged Reina to contact HQ, but she could not get any connection.
Reina and Shiori came there to help with replacing the illuminations, which were the same excuse as to why Yajima was there.
On the other hand, Akira said that he was told by the HQ to deal with a Hunter who was not sharing his position through the same network, but Shiori did not hear anything about that from the HQ. Thus there was a discrepancy with what Akira said.
Shiori took another careful look at Akira and Yajima. Both of them did not seem like they were lying.
Reina looked confused as she was observing Akira and Yajima. She could not tell which one was lying. After racking her brains out and still unable to come up with an answer, she turned to Shiori for help.
"Well then. Let's bring everyone back to HQ first. Or at least get away from the jamming smoke until we can contact the HQ."
"...Now then, Akira-sama. Could you please lower your rifle?"
Akira's face was grim, his rifle was still pointing at Yajima.
"...I should've killed this guy before they came here."
"It can't be helped, it's not like you can kill him now in this situation. Don't worry, it should be recorded just fine. It's highly unlikely that you would get framed. Since we were also originally planning to bring him to the HQ, let's think of it as a good thing now that you got more help to bring this man to the HQ."
Akira calmed down after Alpha said that to him.
Since Akira did not lower his rifle, Shiori put up her guard.
Akira then lowered his rifle. But Shiori still had her guards up against Akira.
With Shiori keeping her eyes on him, Akira's focus shifted to Shiori.
"Akira!! Stop her at once!!"
"Get up."
Reina was already standing next to Yajima and extending her hand. It was completely normal to do that to someone who had lost his right arm, lying on the ground without any weapon, and looked completely scared. But it was a fatal mistake.
Rebuild World (WN)
リビルドワールド
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/rebuild-world/
Action Adventure Drama Harem Mecha Mystery Sci-fi Seinen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alternate World Anti-social Protagonist Apocalypse Artificial Intelligence Beautiful Female Lead Cautious Protagonist Child Protagonist Dense Protagonist Determined Protagonist Distrustful Protagonist Futuristic Setting Gangs Gunfighters Harsh Training Lack of Common Sense Male Protagonist Manipulative Characters Monsters Near-Death Experience Older Love Interests Poor Protagonist Poor to Rich Ruthless Protagonist Shota Sudden Strength Gain Survival Twisted Personality Unlucky Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9736dt/
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