Chapter 35: Grabbing a Bento
It took Hikigaya approximately three minutes to cross the Pacific Ocean. To be honest, this was slightly slower than it took him to cross the street in his previous life.
The realm referred to as 'Godspeed' in this world involves the speed of light and electricity, and Hikigaya possessed both.
However, these two speeds clearly had differences.
Especially over long distances.
Simply put, due to the Eye of Horus, Hikigaya could fully master the speed of electricity, but if he were to cross the ocean at the speed of light, he would likely either accidentally circle the globe several times or crash into a mountain if he wasn't careful...
It wasn't that the Eye of Horus was lacking, but to truly achieve Godspeed, one must momentarily change the very essence of their body. Otherwise, it's just 'near-Godspeed'. And when Hikigaya turns himself into light... he can't turn a corner, which makes long-distance travel very troublesome.
He was not a god after all; it was impossible for him to fully master that speed in a short amount of time.
However, when he crossed the vast Central American plains again, he abandoned Godspeed. The reason was simple: a girl who had to start shaking whenever she turned into a bird strongly requested to travel together and chat, and since she had just transformed once, she couldn't do it again for a short time.
Hikigaya was also happy to slow down deliberately, just to make those so-called American dignitaries feel more anxious.
The connection between people might truly be fate. In any case, Hikigaya and Anne chatted very pleasantly.
Although she was engrossed in the role-playing game of a male hero, this God Slayer did not confuse the game with reality, especially when she learned that Hikigaya's family had once been attacked.
To be precise, she greatly admired Hikigaya for the restraint he showed in the scale of his revenge.
"Hachiman, you really are a rare good person," she even said.
Hikigaya objected to this: "Even if we are partners, you are still a girl. Please don't just hand out rejection cards casually, okay?"
In response, Anne burst into hearty laughter.
By the way, because there were no outsiders, she didn't use that weird male tenor voice, as Hikigaya sincerely found that voice quite eerie.
It was clear that Anne was someone easy to talk to.
Throughout the journey, Hikigaya wiped out several more weapon-group strongholds. Anne did not interfere; on the contrary, she even showed off one of her magical bullets and discussed with Hikigaya whether the sun was ultimately more powerful than the moon.
Although Hikigaya pointed out, "I shoot nine times a day, and you only shoot six a month. Do we even need to compare?" Unfortunately, Anne said she could chug ninety bottles a day, so the argument died down.
Hikigaya figured she was so good at changing the subject that this debate would probably never conclude.
Along the way, Hikigaya took a call from Komachi, who boasted about how much better she had become at studying recently.
However, Hikigaya knew this was actually because she had several senpai helping her with tutoring.
So, fortunately, there was a chat partner who constantly derailed the conversation along the way, otherwise Hikigaya probably wouldn't have had the patience to give Washington any more chances to lament how difficult life is.
Yet, even so, this time was not long.
Because even when these two God Slayers were not moving at Godspeed, their pace was much faster than ordinary human transportation.
When Washington finally captured the silhouettes of the two God Slayers via satellite again, they realized that these two monsters would reach Washington D.C. at most by that same evening.
No one believed Hikigaya was coming to the White House to give them an award.
In the face of life and death, they decided to discard the integrity they were already planning to abandon.
Before crossing over, some people said that since the advent of the nuclear bomb, the world had been at peace.
Some jokingly said that since the advent of the nuclear bomb, Pakistan and India spoke louder, and South Korea made more movies.
In short, the nuclear bomb was incredibly formidable.
In any case, Hikigaya had thought so for a long time; the climax of a movie generally relied on a nuclear bomb.
In this world, America was still the number one nuclear power, so strong that it even worried about its enemies not having enough money to dispose of their stockpiles.
And now, it seemed to have found an opportunity to dispose of its own stockpile.
These politicians were quick to act when facing a personal crisis. Within an hour after the satellite acquired Hikigaya and Anne's location, the complicated procedures were all approved. A strategic nuclear submarine entered the Gulf of Mexico and launched a submarine-launched intercontinental nuclear missile carrying a super-hypersonic warhead.
By the time it finally appeared in the sky directly above Hikigaya and Anne, the two were already approaching Missouri.
Hikigaya spotted it earlier than Anne.
How should one put it? Given the nature of the "old man from America," this was both within and outside his expectations.
This was a country that could be more ruthless than anyone when it got tough, and more sensitive than anyone when it got dramatic.
It seemed that this time, it chose to be ruthless.
In the movies, the "old man from America" could nuke its own soil at the slightest provocation because the audience liked it, but doing so in reality was not easy. Never mind nuking themselves; nuking others was tough. At any time, the finger pressing the button was always ready to be withdrawn.
After all, there are many ways to kill, but for now, there is only one Earth.
Anne sighed, then drew her revolver.
Perhaps for her, there was nothing one magical bullet couldn't solve, and if there was, then six... Oh, my bad, she only had five shots left this month.
Hikigaya stopped her, his hand pressing down on Anne's arm.
"Don't bother," he said. "I haven't eaten today."
For Hikigaya, who could launch nine suns a day... things like nuclear bombs truly needed neither dodging nor intercepting.
How did that saying go? Hmm, whether it's nuclear fission or nuclear fusion, the highest state is the phenomenon of life itself...
"This will be the last time," he said to Anne before leaving. "Next, I'm going to do something excessive. If you're my friend, you can't complain about me, okay?"
"They wanted to attack even me," Anne expressed her thoughts concisely.
May God bless America.
Of course, one must also hope that God wasn't the one Hikigaya had met in ancient Egypt.
Then Hikigaya left.
He walked straight up into the sky.
The bento box named "nuclear bomb" was opened by him mid-air just like that.
When the intense light swallowed the firmament, Anne closed her eyes.
The power-holders in Washington held their breath while watching the utterly white screen.
And Best, who had been dragged back to the White House by the politicians to watch the television with them, was so angry that he chugged the glass of whiskey in front of him, first shouting into the air: "God! Please take these idiots! And leave America!"
Then he drank too fiercely, choked terribly, and couldn't catch his breath for a long time.
When he finally recovered, he saw the foolish expressions of everyone in the room and the figure on the screen who seemed to be letting out a satisfied burp.
After seeing clearly, Best was stunned too...
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting