Chapter 184: I Alone Am Enough
According to Tokyo's official time, the time Emiya sent the students away was around 9:00 PM, which was also almost the exact time Romm brought the news to him. By the time Emiya finished understanding the situation, set off, and rushed from the Tokyo school to the Shibuya District at top speed, it was nearly midnight.
In the daily routine and concept of time for most people, this hour is undoubtedly time for rest.
Compared to students and retired elderly people, the "workers" who have to clock in every day are the mainstream group of this society, accounting for roughly 70% or more of the population.
For those who only get off work after 9:00 PM and then have to wake up at 6:00 AM the next morning to eat, wash up, and rush to catch the bus or subway for work, staying up until nearly midnight is practically a life-threatening act.
Especially in a fast-paced country like Japan, even middle and high-level management in companies have similar routines; at most, their schedules are only slightly more relaxed.
As for the elderly, whose share of the population is increasing year by year?
Don't make me laugh. When you were a child, your family didn't let you enjoy yourself; when you grew up, you had no time to enjoy yourself because of work; and by the time you're old, you no longer have the physical capacity to enjoy yourself.
Beasts of burden should act like beasts of burden. What were you born for? Do you really not have a clear idea in your own heart?
Of course, finding joy in hardship is a skill in itself, and life is not composed entirely of painful stages; those truly toyed with by fate are only a minority.
However, that just means there is an absence of "pain." As an ordinary person living in a high-paced society, "hardship" is absolutely unavoidable.
At this time, which should have been a point of rest, the Shibuya District was not only brightly lit, but the streets were still filled with a sea of people.
Considering today wasn't even a holiday or a weekend, how did these people manage to be so full of energy in the middle of the night?
Of course, it was visible to the naked eye that most of those lingering on the streets were young people, at most around twenty years old. Every gesture and movement was filled with the beauty of someone who had not yet been beaten down by society.
After all, they aren't far from the age of suffering; it's fine for them to be a little happy now.
Upon arriving at his destination, Emiya did not rashly step into the boundaries of the Shibuya District. Instead, he was first taken to a base two kilometers away that served as a temporary command headquarters.
"Emiya-san, because we are currently unable to determine the trigger conditions and nature of the curse, all jujutsu sorcerers in Shibuya have been evacuated to the perimeter and dispersed among various strongholds.
Since the sorcerers currently missing are all individuals with strength above a certain level, the curse's criteria for judgment are likely ranked from top to bottom, or perhaps it targets those whose cursed energy has reached a certain limit.
If the curse's logic follows the former, then none of us auxiliary personnel can enter at will... however, it's still possible to draw a few people to enter and investigate alongside you, Emiya-san.
Alternatively, we can provide technical support from knowledgeable personnel. Non-sorcerers should not be affected in any way."
In the two hours it took for Emiya to arrive, the college had already discussed most of the possibilities, finally concluding that the probability of it being a "curse" was the highest.
Although jujutsu sorcerers generally have resistance to "curses," there really were cases many years ago of curses that specifically targeted sorcerers. Therefore, they tentatively set this as their target for action.
It wasn't that the probability of a "curse" was the absolute highest, but rather that, compared to this, the idea that all those missing sorcerers had been captured or killed by someone was an even more unimaginable and unacceptable conclusion.
The difference between a sorcerer and a non-sorcerer is quite distinct, as the latter cannot see cursed spirits and cannot feel the existence of cursed energy at all.
In ancient times, when rules were not so refined, curse users or sorcerers often wanted to investigate the difference between the two, resulting in the brutalization of many enemies and an even greater number of non-sorcerers.
However, the result of countless dissections was the same—there is not a single shred of difference in physical structure between a sorcerer and a non-sorcerer.
Yet, the process of elimination was enough for them to reach a conclusion.
After all, in nearly a thousand years of global medical history, most of the human body's structures and organs have lost their secrets. The only domain that remains impenetrable is the brain.
In other words, the brain structures of sorcerers and non-sorcerers are likely different.
Take the auxiliary supervisors of the college, for instance: they can also use cursed energy to set up barrier techniques, so they are undoubtedly genuine sorcerers. It's only because they lack an [Innate Technique] and don't have much talent for combat that they are relegated to auxiliary roles.
Because of this, if the curse's range of judgment actually includes all sorcerers, then those who enter with Emiya would likely meet with disaster.
Once the strongest, Emiya, is taken by the curse, the next judgment would fall on them. And facing the unknown, those with little combat ability would likely suffer. Yet, even so, there were still determined auxiliary supervisors willing to enter with Emiya, weren't there?
"It's fine. It's enough for me to go in alone.
Assuming the curse really spreads to them as well, they would only become burdens... it's better for them to be useful outside the area."
Emiya's words were a bit cruel, but it was also the fastest way to make the other party drop the idea.
This way, even if he lost contact for a long period, the outside world would hesitate about whether to send more people in, which would buy him a great deal of time.
Emiya never considered that he would fail; at most, he was only afraid it would take a long time.
"Compared to that, shouldn't the more important matter be evacuating the masses within the Shibuya District?
If such a rare, large-scale curse suddenly breaks out, the situation will truly spiral out of control."
Emiya could prevent the outside world from sending more people into the area for a short time, but evacuating the million residents of Shibuya was not something he alone could decide or accomplish.
For this area with a potential threat, extremely high population density, and no way to freely dispatch sorcerers, a single powerful "curse" could easily cause hundreds or thousands of casualties.
"...Emiya-san, that is too difficult."
The person in charge of the base immediately showed a troubled expression.
"To evacuate such a large number of people, even the most professional planning would require at least an entire night to complete the withdrawal—not excluding stubborn individuals and criminals who would take advantage of the chaos to cause trouble.
Chaotic scenes are actually more prone to accidents. Furthermore... the higher-ups won't necessarily agree."
Psychologically speaking, almost everyone possesses a trait called "optimism bias" (the fluke mentality).
People who receive a disaster evacuation notice might think that such a massive disaster won't happen at all, or won't necessarily descend upon them.
People who find the situation becoming chaotic might think that no one can notice them, and there's no harm in releasing the hidden malice in their hearts while things are messy.
Even the government officials responsible for making the decisions might subconsciously deny the occurrence of the disaster and the necessity of the evacuation.
After all, ordering the evacuation of up to a million people is definitely no small matter. If it turns out people think it was unnecessary and they don't see a disaster happen, who knows what level the public outcry would reach?
It's no exaggeration to say that the official pushed to the front might be ousted within a few days or even face some kind of terrorist attack.
Though he might also be impeached if a disaster actually happens... but these things are indeed not absolute.
Even if it really happened, he could completely push the responsibility away with the excuse that he knew nothing. After all, is there anything easier to deceive than the masses, or anything better at redirecting public opinion?
In essence, this fluke mentality is also a gambling mindset.
The problem is that if they happen to run into one or two statistical successes, they become increasingly confident... and even if they fail again, they won't necessarily correct themselves.
Otherwise, why are gamblers despised, and why can't they quit their gambling behavior no matter what?
"Honestly, hearing this is quite infuriating.
Well, whatever."
As long as Emiya can resolve the curse in the shortest time possible, then all these problems will cease to be issues.
The reason things developed to this point, in the end, cannot be blamed on the ordinary people in the Shibuya District who are completely ignorant of the truth.
"Alright. Is there anything else or any items you need to give me?
Let me go in alone from here on."
Emiya asked one last time.
"Of course, of course. We also have a data list that the technical staff rushed to put together; please make sure to read it first.
It records the location and time each missing jujutsu sorcerer disappeared... or more accurately, the last time they were spotted before disappearing.
Some intelligence was provided by other sorcerers, while other intelligence is the result of analyzing monitoring equipment... We apologize that we haven't been able to sort out any useful patterns for now.
But the list also includes basic information on every sorcerer; it will definitely be of some use!"
Because he knew exactly what kind of situation this was, the person in charge was filled with guilt.
So many powerful sorcerers had already gone missing in the Shibuya District, which already illustrated how critical the situation was.
Yet, in such a situation, the hundreds of them staying outside couldn't help at all, and they still needed this child—who was clearly more than twenty years younger than him—to solve the problem...
Feeling ashamed should be considered the normal reaction of a human being, right?
"Yes, I understand."
Emiya could see the other person's emotions and reached out to take the thin list from his hand.
Clearly, they had worked very hard to filter out useful information.
And when Emiya took the intelligence, the first thing he saw was the name hanging at the very top.
"Nanami Kento..."
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting