Accelerator arrived at Leaf Street along District 7's Route 39.
He quickly found the family restaurant the guy on the phone had mentioned. It looked like a building in a country undergoing civil war. It had been destroyed to the point that the reinforced concrete had been stripped bare. Kihara's Hound Dogs were lying unconscious on the ground after receiving rough first aid. Not even the bare minimum had been done to hide what had happened.
"…"
It was possible this was not a trap after all.
In that case, that guy was telling the truth when he said he let Last Order escape despite being wrapped up in this disaster himself.
(Tch. I need to find that brat, and soon. Where did she get off to?)
If he was lucky, she would have left some sign behind for him, but he doubted she had been composed enough to be that clever. And even if she had, the rain would probably have washed it away.
(That brat will have used the Sisters' network to escape while following the evidence suppression protocols used during the experiment. That's the same thing she did during the Amai Ao incident on August 31.)
It filled him with disgust to think back on the experiment, but he had no choice because it could help him here.
(She'll choose a path that hides her from satellites and stays off of the security robots' patrol routes.)
The guy on the phone had been searching official places such as Anti-Skill offices, but that was likely the wrong type of place to check. If she was following those evidence suppression protocols, the back alleys would be the most likely.
Accelerator used his shotgun cane to enter a nearby alley. He dragged his weary body along in the pouring rain to walk and walk and walk. He checked each building backdoor he came across. He was looking for traces of an electricity user forcing the lock open.
He found nothing.
This was not the only route and she could be hiding in a building.
He had too few hints.
The more effective her means of fleeing from the enemy, the harder it was for him to search for her.
"God dammit…"
The one thing he knew for sure was that Last Order was somewhere nearby.
If he gave a sign, would Last Order come out? But what sign could he give? Last Order no longer had her cell phone. Without being able to directly communicate with her, his only option was to switch on his electrode and go on a rampage.
But then another method came to Accelerator.
It was such a ridiculous method it had never even occurred to him until now.
He could yell out her name.
Last Order would come out if she heard his voice.
However, walking around calling a child's name would make him look like a father searching for his lost daughter. That was simply too far removed from Accelerator's normal values.
It was completely laughable, but he had no other option.
After a terribly annoyed click of his tongue, he took in a deep breath.
However, he never let out his shout.
Just before he did, he saw something.
Something was floating in a filthy rain puddle on the ground.
It was a torn scrap of cloth about the size of a handkerchief. He looked closer and could tell it came from a men's dress shirt. Accelerator recognized the design of that sleeve. It was the same as the one Last Order wore over her light blue camisole.
A blank appeared in Accelerator's thoughts. His face grew gradually pale.
(This… It can't be… But…)
His cell phone rang as if the caller had been waiting for this moment. Accelerator slowly pulled the phone out of his pocket. The screen displayed an unknown number.
(It can't be him.)
He had no reason to notify Accelerator. He would not do something so obvious, so there was nothing to worry about. Accelerator told himself this was not what he thought it was.
He answered the call.
And a very, very loud voice struck his ear before he even brought the phone up to it.
"How're you doing, Accelerator? Gya ha ha ha ha!!"
A creaking noise came from the phone in his hand.
His fears had been so perfectly on target that he thought a blood vessel in his head would burst.
His pupils thrashed about. The emotions roiling within him seemed to scatter out around him.
"What do you want, Kihara-kuuun?"
"Just having a bit of fun. In both shogi and chess, the game isn't over until you announce your victory. People used to do this all the time. You need to enjoy every second of some annoying shit being crushed before your eyes. Is there any better way to enjoy victory?"
"Announcing your victory? Don't make me fucking laugh."
"You don't have to believe me, but isn't there a scrap of that brat's shirt in front of you? If you don't see it, then keep searching. We left that behind on purpose."
"…"
"Testaments sure are amazing. Sticking a virus in a human's head isn't normal. Ha ha! That brat is trembling like crazy!! Give me your address so I can email you a video!!"
Accelerator's face completely paled.
(Is this why they abducted that brat!?)
Kihara was doing almost the exact same thing Amai Ao had on August 31. He was using a brainwashing machine to directly rewrite Last Order's brain. Accelerator had no idea what commands were being added, but this was not something any normal person could do. This was as profane an act as rubbing a handful of semen into her brain.
"Y'know, you just don't understand. Not killing your enemies is definitely an effective technique. After all, there is such a thing as a living hell. Those who mistakenly believe the most frightening thing in the world is death will be unable to withstand the pressure. My men have shown that well enough. But…" Kihara let out a dry breath. He sounded like a teacher disappointed with his student's incompetence. "I know the truth, so it won't work on me. It's obvious as fuck you're just putting on an act. Here's a lesson for you, you brat. Corpses may be a work of art, but they only have value when the guy's dead. Ending their life is the same as finishing up the face of a sculpture. Your art isn't ready to be displayed in a gallery yet. The hell do you think you're doing randomly chipping away at some stone and leaving it lying around? That's rude to the hunk of flesh."
Accelerator did not respond.
He analyzed his situation.
"So I'll teach you by example. I'll show you just how to make some pretty-looking meat. Try not to lose it when you see what's left of this brat!!"
The laugh that followed seemed as if it would break the speaker.
Accelerator listened to it for a while
Finally, he spoke into the phone.
"So how am I supposed to react to this?"
"What?"
"Should I hold my sides and laugh, you little masochist?"
"C'mon, now. Don't tell me you can't properly assess this situation."
"How about you take this seriously. If you were only doing this to make me suffer, you wouldn't have retrieved that brat. You would've killed her and sent her body to me. What as this about a Testament? Are you stupid? If you were putting on a show, you would use something that's a little more obvious at a glance," said Accelerator with a smile. "The thugs loitering around think they'll gain freedom by sinking into the darkness, but they're completely wrong. The farther you dig down, the more you're bound by the hierarchy of power. Isn't that right, slave dog Kihara-kun."
"I get it, I get it. You're really into the screams of that brat right now."
"How about actually letting me hear one? I'm sick of everything being so dull. I want to know she's alive. If you want, you can cut off her nose and send it to me."
"Is that how you want to do this? Well, order now and you can get an ear as an added bonus."
"Don't try to scare me. You were hired by someone. That brat serves no purpose for your personal research. You were hired by some bastard who has free use of the likes of you. This person didn't come crying to you begging that she was left unscathed, now did they? I'm sure they told you it didn't matter as long her brain and heart were fine. So why are you too scared to lay a finger on her?"
"Fine, fine."
"You're pathetic, Kihara-kuuun. Did you open a delivery company? Were you in such a hurry because you'll get bitched at if you take longer than 30 minutes?"
"I'll kill you."
The call suddenly ended.
The sound of the pouring rain seemed to grow much closer.
Accelerator spun his cell phone around in his hand as he analyzed the conversation.
(Given that bastard's personality, he would've gouged out one of that brat's eyes in front of his phone after I said that. Since he didn't…he's definitely working for someone.)
It had been a dangerous gamble, but he could not handle Kihara without taking some risk.
"And that means…"
Someone with the power to hold Kihara in check was backing this.
Given Hound Dog's equipment, the most likely option was…
(Don't tell me it's Academy City itself.)
Most likely it was the board of directors that governed the city. Nothing had changed since that experiment using the Sisters. In fact, it was possible that experiment was directly connected with this incident.
(I don't know where Kihara is, but that isn't the case with the board of directors. If I look into this, I might find out more about this plan than just Kihara's role. Hm? …Holy shit. This is advancing like crazy. Should things really be going this well?)
Accelerator banged on the wall and smiled.
He snapped his cell phone shut and put it in his pocket.
"Go to fucking hell!! Don't underestimate meeeeeeeeeee!!" he shouted.
He switched on the choker-style electrode on his neck.
His massive calculation ability returned.
Accelerator stood in a narrow back alley and could only see concrete walls in every direction.
But that did not matter.
He knew his absolute coordinates and where his target was located. His eyes rolled in his head. Thanks to his time soaking in the darkness, Accelerator knew in which direction that building was located.
(My enemy is Academy City! The board chairman controls this city!!)
He knew where the windowless building was.
He knew where the shelter of the city's board chairman was.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
Accelerator stuck his hand into a nearby concrete wall. He manipulated the vectors so his arm sank in as easily as if the wall was made of tofu. Accelerator shouted so loud blood came from his throat and he moved his arm complexly around in the wall.
He took control of all of the vectors.
A great roar exploded out.
In that instant, earth's rotation slowed by about 5 minutes for September 30.
His arm took the massive energy of the planet's rotation and used his vector control to transform it into a demonic strike.
The concrete wall he forcibly gouged out was thrown with frightening speed. Accelerator stood in an alley surrounded by buildings, but the several buildings between him and his target were torn through like paper.
His worries about his surroundings and unrelated people had completely evaporated for an instant.
By the time he came to his senses, he had already thrown it.
He was over two kilometers from his target.
That windowless building was the world's strongest shelter which was said to be the fortress of Aleister, the chairman of Academy City's board of directors.
It was said that giant structure would not budge even from the shockwave of a nuclear weapon.
The attack flew with frightening speed.
A tremendous storm of noise exploded out. It did not matter that Accelerator was over two kilometers away. It blew straight through two or three unmanned banks and government office buildings, shot between two buildings on the other side of a street, tore off an electronic billboard attached to the side of a high-rise building, and shot straight toward the target. It could only be called a miracle that no one was injured or killed. He had not given it any thought.
Gray dust blew into the air. His vision was temporarily obstructed.
The dust hung in the air for a while.
Finally, his vision cleared up.
It spread out before him.
"…"
Nothing about the world had changed.
That strike had used the full power of Academy City's strongest esper and had taken the rotational energy of the earth itself, but even that had not been enough to bring down that windowless building.
The result was clear.
The wall remained as large as ever.
"Kwaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!"
Accelerator collapsed to his knees and slammed his fist into a filthy puddle. No matter what he did, he could not reach Aleister. Some unknown technique had been used to disperse the impact and he had no proof Aleister was even really there. The entire building could be a decoy. But it did not matter. None of it mattered anymore.
Last Order had been taken from him.
He could not think of any way the situation could be any worse.
Every single thing he had wanted to protect had been ripped to shreds.
(I'll kill him.)
He thought quietly as he switched off his electrode.
The thought of trying to contact Yomikawa or Yoshikawa had completely disappeared from his mind.
(I'll kill Kihara Amata. I'll fucking kill him. Killing that piece of shit 100 times over wouldn't be enough, but I'll squeeze it all into just once. It all has to start there.)
He unsteadily stood up using his shotgun cane.
His focus turned to the cell phone in his pocket.
Kihara's number was contained within it. Even if it was a decoy number, it was worth looking into. Even if the normal methods would be useless, he just had to investigate using methods other than the normal ones. Accelerator had no future and Last Order's future was being stolen at that very moment, so he had no reason to hold back. The databases in Anti-Skill or Judgment stations would be of no use, so he would break into the hideouts of members of the board of directors until he had full access to the Bank. He did not care about those 12 powerful people in the slightest. He would crush their heads or hearts if he had to.
He was willing to set fire to the city to burn Kihara out and kill him down to the very last cell.
He muttered to himself as he slowly walked through that back alley.
He disappeared into even deeper darkness.