August 31st 7:27 PM.
A sports car was parked at a certain research facility.
The air-conditioning in the cramped car was blasted to the maximum, but Amai Ao's hands were still sweating.
His sweaty hand was pressing down on his aching stomach.
At first, he had intended to enter the facility. As the building of the abandoned research facility was still left as intended, there were many places to hide the car, and it should be easy to hide from the satellite cameras. But right now, Amai was unable to undo the heavy lock and chain of surrounding the entrance.
The problem was that he couldn't leave this place. Once he moved the car, he may be interrogated. And if he left the car, he would be carrying the basically-naked Last Order around, and it would be even more likely that he would be stopped.
"DAMN IT!"
Amai had made the wrong move, and now he was really regretting it. He should have escaped 'out' of Academy City immediately after Last Order had the virus inserted into her brain. The force opposing Academy City was waiting for him 'outside'. And all he had to do was to follow their instructions and flee overseas. With his expertise on esper development, any country or research facility would have been more than willing to take him in.
But unexpectedly, Last Order had actually escaped after the virus was inserted into her.
At that moment, Amai Ao's 'plan' was ruined.
Last Order's body adjustments were still incomplete, so she couldn't possibly live outside for long. If worst came to worst, Last Order would really die before the virus was activated.
But if that happened, the Sisters all over the world wouldn't be infected by the virus. If that happened, it would mean that the mission had failed. The 'opposing forces' would definitely not forgive that. At that moment, they wouldn't just simply no longer help Amai escape, they may even give the order to kill him.
Amai had to capture and bring Last Order back, and even ironically, he had to protect her life.
But with the current situation, without an incubator with him, he wouldn't be able to fulfill his objective.
For the entire week, Amai had been like an ant in hot water as he went out searching for Last Order. Finally, he managed to find her with that savage Accelerator. It was a good thing that Accelerator had left and he was able to take Last Order away, but he had ended up in this situation.
"..."
Amai Ao turned to look at the front passenger seat.
Last Order, whose body was still undeveloped, was sitting on the seat. She was sweating profusely, and her breathing was weak. One couldn't possibly hear it if they didn't strain their ears.
There were many electrodes stuck on Last Order's face. The wires that extended out from the electrodes were connected to a notepad-sized computer that was placed near her thighs.
The screen was showing Last Order's pulse, temperature, blood pressure, pulse rate and many other values. Those figures and images weren't things that an ordinary person could read, but if someone who understood them were to see them, that person would be shocked. With such values, anyone could stop breathing at any time.
(Why am I so unlucky!? Why at this time...!)
Amai Ao had a reason to escape.
He had been the person in charge of the Radio Noise project. That plan had been based on Tokiwadai's Railgun, but the clones that were created had low level capability, so they couldn't match the Railgun. The plan had been halted, the research center was forced to shut down. Faced with a hefty debt, Amai had managed to meet a savior. It was the Level 6 shift project for Accelerator.
However, even that plan had been nearly terminated completely.
Amai was unable to repay his debts.
There was no other place in Academy City that would keep him. What he had was an overwhelming debt that was enough to buy a submarine. The Radio Noise research group and the Level 6 shift research group weren't different. Both were privatized firms, and had forced him deep into despair. If he wanted to live, he had to abandon his debt and run.
Thus, he had linked up with a mysterious dangerous group. Under such a situation, if he angered them, he would definitely die. Amai Ao wasn't so optimistic that he thought that he could survive being between Academy City and an opposing force.
(Damn it! Damn it! Why must I end up in this situation!)
Amai's hand slammed onto the dashboard of the cramped sports car.
He had finally managed to catch the escaped Last Order today, but unfortunately for him, the alert level went to orange, and then to red, giving him no chance to leave Academy City. And right now, Last Order's condition was a lot worse than he had thought. If this kept up, she could really die before the virus activated.
(Please, I beg of you! Just a little longer! Hang on until the virus activates!)
Amai knew of a few places where he could get Last Order's body adjustments done. But as the alert level had become red, there were checkpoints all over the city. He would be unable to pass through the checkpoints with a naked girl wrapped in a blue towel. Besides, this girl was an artificial clone that didn't have an ID.
He couldn't even pass the next road, let alone get 'out' of Academy City. Right now, Amai Ao could only tremble in the narrow car and leave his fate to the virus which may be unable to activate.
Suddenly, there seemed to be something that flashed across the glass.
"!?"
Amai's eyes instinctively left the dashboard. But it was a crow that was unrelated to Anti-Skill or the researchers. A black crow flew from right to left.
"Ah..."
However, Amai widened his eyes.
There was nobody in front. Looking over, it was an empty street. There shouldn't have been anything that could make Amai feel afraid. From a 3rd person's view, maybe one would think that Amai was seeing an illusion out of fear.
"Ahh..."
But Amai was not looking in front.
He was looking at the rear-view mirror.
On seeing that small mirror that shows the back, Amai's face went pale. His eyeballs continued to move. He was sweating like it was raining, as if there was a layer covering his skin. His fingers continued to tremble.
In the rear view mirror, there was a boy.
The boy was slowly closing in on the yellow sports car, one step at a time.
A corrupted, psychotic, crazy Level 5 esper.
"...UWAAAHH!!"
A strange voice came out from Amai's throat.
In fact, Amai didn't know what Accelerator was doing over here. But no matter what Accelerator was planning, it was dangerous.
Accelerator was closing in on Amai's sports car without hesitation.
Amai stared at Last Order, who was in the passenger seat.
Right now, Last Order was as weak as a snow crystal. He didn't know what Accelerator was trying to do, but if he handed Last Order over to that monster, that wish would be crushed within a second.
He definitely couldn't hand Last Order over to him.
If so, he could only take on that monster.
(The problem is, how?)
He had a pistol in his pocket, but that thing wasn't going to stop that monster. Trying to use a body of flesh to fight that guy was like racing a Lamborghini car or a type-90 Kyu-maru tank in a marathon
If that was the case, he could only run.
Amai gripped onto the car key tightly.
His hand continued to tremble, and even the act of putting the key into the keyhole was tough for him. He grimaced as he couldn't find the keyhole. Chk, the key was finally inserted in.
He twisted the key hard.
The engine roared loudly. As he was too nervous, the brakes failed, and the sports car dashed forward as if it had been kicked in the back.