Part 17
(November 10 – Oahu – Smoking Area within Coral Street Shopping Mall – From security camera footage)
The magician's lips stiffened slightly.
She had looked down on those pawns as nothing more than normal people and had planned to dispose of them along with the hostages, so when those people she clearly saw as small fries charged in with their handguns, she grinned.
"You fools. This only hastens my plans!!"
The magician snapped her fingers. The hostages—the young children who had been standing stock still until then—began to move. With the bags hanging from their shoulders, they turned the machine pistols in their hands toward their family members.
Gunshots rang out.
However, a tragedy did not occur there.
Just before the guns were fired, the shopping mall ceiling collapsed. The one who had brought the shutter of rubble down was Accelerator. And he did not stop there. He manipulated the vector of his momentum to give himself superhuman speed and kicked the bags hanging from their shoulders, sending them flying far away.
A few of the children made a motion as if they were trying to rub their side with their upper arm, but they did not make it in time.
The explosives detonated, emitting a great roar and explosive flames, but they were far enough away that it only shook the building.
"…So you had them set up to spread the damage as far as possible with the guns and then blow up when they died. We took some samples to look into how you do things, you fucker."
The magician was already headed for the exit.
However, Kamijou and Hamazura came running in through the two passageways connecting to the rest of the floor.
"(Not good.)"
She had a bad feeling.
However, it was not due to who was there.
"(I still don't know where Birdway is. Even if I manage to escape amid the confusion here, this could get truly bad if she's lying in wait for me up ahead…!)"
As she backed into a corner of the smoking area, the magician felt sweat dripping along the edge of her nose.
Of course, she was not about to let herself get taken out there.
The magician saw the normal people unhesitatingly aiming their guns at her and preparing to pull the trigger, but that was when the situation changed suddenly.
The cause of this change was a single explosive thrown in from outside the camera frame.
Part 18
(November 10 – Critical Error)
An unknown cause is placing a heavy burden on the FCE.
Self-diagnosing…output of report complete.
The FCE is beginning its reboot sequence.
Part 19
(November 10 – Oahu – Coral Street Shopping Mall – In front of a coin locker – From security camera footage)
Kamijou Touma and Accelerator had jumped into the same area next to the smoking area. Together, they had pushed the hostage children into that area.
"What happened to Hamazura!?" asked Kamijou.
"He jumped out the other exit. He's with the parents. More importantly, what the hell was that? What idiot intervened!?"
The sound of scraping metal could be heard beyond the black smoke.
Kamijou tried to peer out through the smoke, but Accelerator grabbed him by the nape of the neck.
Immediately afterwards, gunfire rang out.
It was not the sound of a handgun being fired. The explosive noise was deeper and continuous. It was most likely from an assault rifle or something like that.
Which meant…
"This isn't the occult…" Accelerator muttered. "Then this is a job for me. You take those kids and get out of here."
"Hey…!"
"I have no intention of getting into a firefight with those kids still here. And your power can release them, right?"
It was true that one of the children Kamijou had pushed to safety was acting differently from before. She was staring in confusion as if she could not understand what was going on. That was most likely due to Kamijou's right hand having touched her.
Accelerator spoke without turning around.
"I'm best suited for this kind of battlefield, so you hurry up and get out of here."
"…I'll repay you for this later. Don't let yourself get taken out easily."
Having said that, Kamijou lightly tapped the heads of each of the hostages who were still trying to attack according to the magician's orders. That was all it took to bring the children back to their senses. Taking them with him, Kamijou started leaving the coin locker and the attackers from the other side of the smoke tried to chase after him.
However, Accelerator stepped into their path as if challenging them.
"It may be a little unfair, but we want to make sure we use the right person for the right job."
Part 20
(November 10 – Oahu – Coral Street Shopping Mall – Eastern Side of the First Floor – From the camera in a tourist's smartphone)
The explosions and gunfire caused a great panic within the shopping mall. No one was stupid enough to try to catch a glimpse of what was going on. The people sensed a crisis and all tried to get out of the exits at the same time. However, there were simply too many people, so the flow of people got caught near the exits, packing everyone in together.
Mark, one of the men in black suits, asked Birdway a question.
"Do you think it is going well?"
"As the gunfire is not ending, the battle must be continuing. Well, that magician has been getting other people involved while taking it easy on her end of things. It really made me want to take the fight to her. Not getting direct progress reports from the people there is a pain, though. I didn't realize how thankful I was for cell phones," she said lightly. "The main reason I wanted to win over the normal people was to get a good idea of where the magician was, but I never expected her to be in the same shopping mall. Luckily, it looks like the multi-sided attack was fairly effective, making this easier."
"But even if you have people posted at all the nearby exits, there is still a chance that she can slip by in the confusion."
"I can just follow the flow of magic power. That way, she can't mix in with the normal people."
"And if she does not refine any magic power?"
"Unthinkable. This is not a safe zone for her. When a surprise attack could come at any time, she will put up her defenses so she can deal with one. Even if she knows purifying magic power is dangerous, she will be even more afraid of not having any."
Assuming the current magician specialized in controlling people, Birdway reasoned that she would unhesitatingly flee when attacked head on.
As such, Birdway was waiting at one of the exits for someone who might be the magician to show up.
"Hm?"
Birdway frowned upon catching a glimpse of a figure within the crowd.
"What is someone as famous as that doing here?"