Part 5
After asking Government Middleman Aika over the phone, she made the following suggestion:
"There's something I'd like to discuss with you too. I would appreciate it if you could visit my apartment."
"You can't discuss it over the phone? But you shouldn't have to worry about the encryption strength of this connection."
"The Anthills are a bit of an embarrassment for us." Aika sounded annoyed. "Between members of Government would be one thing, but I don't want to leave behind any official records that I passed information to Freedom. Do you understand my situation now?"
That was why Kyousuke and Isabelle made their way to Aika's luxury apartment.
Inside a living room large enough for a game of tennis, Swimsuit Girl Aika waited for them while lounging on the five meter white liger she used as a sofa. Perhaps to maintain her pride as a shut-in, she ignored the Delayed Walpurgis going on outside. She wore her swimsuit year-round.
"Welcome home, Onii-chan."
"I told you I'm not going to bother complaining about that stuff anymore."
"If anyone's going to complain, it's me."
"?"
Kyousuke looked confused, so Aika pointed at him again and again while leaning against the wild beast.
Technically, she was pointing at the girl in a red military uniform standing next to him.
"How many times! Do I have to tell you!! This is a shut-in girl's final stronghold!? Why would you so blithely bring another girl here, Onii-chan!? Come to think of it, it was the same thing with Olivia Highland!!"
Isabelle slowly tilted her head in her red hat.
"Then I have the perfect solution: you leave. Point(deadpan). This does not bother me even a small-sized amount."
"Dbhloebgabrmdgrzvebrfehh!?"
Aika was so angry at having her shut-in territory not just invaded but nearly stolen that her limiter broke.
Kyousuke ignored it and tried to get back on track.
"I'll ask you again: What are these Anthills that Lu-san mentioned?"
"Drfdrndrn!! Pant, pant. Wh-why would you mention her…!? And curse that hunk of fat. Where did she even get data on that?"
While Aika's mind nearly stalled, the white liger must have been worried because she got up, raised her head, and licked the swimsuit girl with her giant tongue. But until an evil god arrived from some distant star, it would never look like anything more than the animal grooming the girl.
"Not so much, liger. Your tongue is rough and it hurts… But anyway. You could say the Anthills are Government facilities for mass producing vessels. But it's more sinful than simple education. Studying at school is nothing more than adding knowledge and technique to the base of inborn talent."
"Mass producing…vessels?"
"Government has come a long way in training summoners, but we are chronically lacking when it comes to vessels. The rookies are sent out as Repliglass soldiers and only those who can overcome the baptism of blood sans vessel can gain any power. But what if we found a way to solve that problem?"
"Constructed talent? That would mean…"
Kyousuke glanced over at the military uniform girl standing next to him.
Isabelle said nothing.
Aika shrugged and answered instead.
"A summoner's skill increases with knowledge and technique, but a certain form of talent is everything for vessels. You could call it their talent as a spirit medium. Normally, that's unchangeable and you have to recruit people based on their inborn foundation, but Government has started working on that field."
"Artificially implanting people with spirit medium talent, you mean?" groaned Kyousuke.
A certain pair of twins came to mind. Higan's family had hoped she would be an excellent summoner, but she had ended up living as a vessel due to being born with that talent as a spirit medium. Renge, a Joruri Method, had been artificially created in her place as the ideal summoner those around them had wanted.
Higan's blonde hair and blue eyes had been the result of the various efforts her family had put into removing that talent.
If there were techniques to remove it, could they be converted into techniques to add it in?
"Onii-chan, do you remember the specialty of Maria Heartocean who you protected before?"
"Spiritual damage research."
"This is a problem. I am being medium-sized…no, large-sized left behind here."
"You can think of it as the troubles that get stuck to your soul. We still haven't found a definition for the soul itself, but some researchers are trying to use this to work back to that truth. It's like how we can't observe a black hole itself, but we can search out its identity using the space-time distortions around it. Which means…"
"The unprofitable foundation of her research isn't enough to raise the funding she needs. That's why Maria dragged tons of money from the high officials by demonstrating some effective applied research that's so simple even an idiot can understand its value."
"…"
"The Anthills have two major benefits."
Aika raised her index finger.
"First, they simply increase the number of vessels which strengthens our forces. After all, Government has so many rookie summoners that we have to send them out as Repliglass soldiers when they finish their training and don't have a vessel to pair up with. Just giving all of them a vessel would destroy the current balance between the three major powers."
She raised her middle finger too.
"Second, if we can increase the quality of their spiritual medium talent, they will be able to control the Materials with much greater accuracy. The most they can do now is direct the Material toward a target, but they would then be able to accurately dodge attacks and focus on critical attacks that target the Silhouette weak point. That could lead to upsets beyond the existing three-way deadlock and cost differences."
However, there had to be more than just benefits.
For one, how exactly where they implanting this talent? Since it was linked to their ability to act as a medium for spirits, it had to be more than just drilling a hole in their skull and messing with their brain. It would require remaking them so completely that it could be medically called "changing who they are".
And what would it mean to have extremely high talent as a spirit medium?
Even normal vessels had to wear collars, handcuffs, or other decorative restraints to manage the data port and prevent their body from being taken over by an evil or vengeful spirit. What if they grew even more sensitive to that? What if external measures were no longer enough? It was said some people in the West would have a portion of their stomach or cerebellum removed to lose weight, but when it did not fit their lifestyle, apparently quite a few of the patients would later ask the impossible and beg to be returned to normal. What if something similar was occurring in the field of spirit mediums?
"…"
"Why are you giving me that scary look? Hanyaaan(deadpan)???"
"No reason," said Kyousuke as he shook his head toward the military uniform girl.
Would anything have changed had he known the details from the beginning? What good was it wondering now whether or not he should have saved the researcher?
"Anyway." Kyousuke ended that line of thought and changed his focus. "After the incident at the airport, the Anthill in D Block was attacked. Given the timing, it doesn't seem like they checked into a hotel in between. Unlike the Girl's Backdoor incidents, it's hard to imagine this is a diversion or bait. In fact, they probably tried to spread our focus with the Girl's Backdoors because they knew they were taking such a direct route. We've finally found them. This is the original enemy. This is our enemy. Isabelle, this is your target."
"Hmm. If that algorithm is correct, Onii-chan, then you've figured out a fair bit, haven't you?"
"Hunyuuun(deadpan)? I still don't get it. Not even a small-sized bit."
"A lot is at stake with these Anthills. Illegal and Freedom are in trouble if Government gets as many vessels as they want and Government might find enemies within their own ranks. For example, a skilled recruiter might lose their job if vessels can be mass produced so easily."
Kyousuke then added a "but".
"Whoever this is isn't able to restrain themselves. They know it's risky, but once they saw their target, they took the quickest route there. If they had calmly calculated out what is at stake and decided crushing this project was worth it, they wouldn't act like this. It feels like they're acting on emotion rather than a calculated plan. But I also feel like they're beautifying that emotion and using it to excuse their own lack of restraint. But at the same time, there's none of the intense waves of an incubation period and an actualized period that you see in people with a lust for destruction. They're keeping their cold flame burning at a set level."
"Explain it so I can understand. Make it super-sized…super-sized simple."
"What I'm saying is…"
Shiroyama Kyousuke smoothly answered.
He was finally putting together the algorithm as he viewed the true intent hidden in the forest of distractions.
"This is all about a desire for revenge. Isabelle, you can understand that, can't you?"
Part 6
There was a clinking sound.
A finger in a leather glove had flicked a small piece of metal.
Murasame Kuina, the girl who had made a contract with a demon, pulled an accessory out from the chest of her clothing. Something the size of a coin hung from the thin chain around her neck. The gold-colored cover opened like a pocket watch and she viewed the small photograph inside.
It was not that she felt no guilt.
The pangs of conscience clinging to her soul were not so easily erased.
That was the reason for this ritual.
By reflecting on the smile of someone who had been lost, she could regain control of her feelings. She could make the signal of her emotions entirely flat.
The most important factor when taking revenge was whether or not one could maintain the "initial feeling".
It was more than just the desire for revenge fading and vanishing.
She would have a change of heart.
The flame would burn just as bright, but its color would change far too easily. If she started working up the funding for pure revenge but ended up focusing on the monetary gain, it would not even make for an amusing story.
She could not make excuses for her revenge.
She had to continue holding revenge up as her goal.
"Biondetta."
"Yes, ma'am," gently answered the waitress demon.
That woman was a strange person too. She was Freedom Award 920, Liar Cat. Her greatest characteristic was her intent to "do whatever it takes to help others with their revenge".
"You mentioned it before, but is it true you removed one of your back teeth for that one battle? Can you really keep that up for long?"
"Of course. For one thing, I do not have a single normal tooth left in my mouth. So it would be truly foolish to distract yourself from your revenge by worrying about such trivialities."
The demon showed off her pearly whites with a smile while dumping some pills into her mouth directly from the bottle.
The bare midriff girl gave her a curious look, so Biondetta smiled and said more.
"I can use my Blood-Sign as a sniper rifle, but it isn't actually one. That means it takes some doing to soften the recoil. Of course, my right arm has more artificial bone than real bone, so it isn't that difficult to suppress the impact."
"Then what are those pills for?"
"Due to compatibility issues with the artificial bone, I need to take antibiotics or I will rot from the inside. However, this is still much easier to use than the latest Repliglass."
The conversation would normally have been frightening, but the girl did not particularly care.
She did not know Biondetta very well and was skeptical of a lot of what the woman said, but she wanted to make use of whatever she could.
All that mattered was wiping out the Anthills.
"The information at the site of the attack revealed the locations of a total of four more Anthills. Do you think that's all of them?"
"Either way, we need a proper list to check our answers against. But you knew that, didn't you?"
Biondetta's tail waved back and forth as she spoke and Murasame Kuina briefly thought on those words.
"Won't attacking that place so directly take a lot of work?"
"That just means we have to attack it in a more irregular fashion. We do have the item I gave you."
The waitress demon sounded entirely indifferent.
Her eyes focused on the black glove device on Kuina's left hand.
"Anyway, wouldn't it be best to attack the four other Anthills we know of while we wait for some results there? Isn't it pure torture for you to wait around when you know where your target is, ma'am?"
"…True. I might not be able to wait much longer. I do feel bad making you go along with me, though."
"Don't be ridiculous. I could not feel more fulfilled!!"
Biondetta spread her arms as if rejoicing over her life.
"The single word revenge can refer to so many different things. Some complain and complain but never intend to actually do anything about it. Some use their desire for revenge as an excuse to ignore the boundaries between their public and private lives and then indiscriminately indulge in their desire for money and women. Others lose interest after slaughtering a bunch of unrelated people and never actually reach the target of their revenge. …It's so boring. Oh, it's just so sad how many people let their desire for revenge transform into something so boring!"
The demon's list of complaints was likely also a peek into her past.
That was just how many vengeance-seekers she had lent a helping hand to and just how much blood stained her hands.
"But your desire for revenge is superb… Yes, and you can trust me here because I am a connoisseur of revenge. You do not let it transform into anything else and you do not allow it to fade away into nothingness! You have managed to maintain your initial desire unchanged!!"
"I don't care how insane you are, Biondetta."
"Yes, ma'am."
"I just want to have my revenge. Once we finish drinking this, let's go. I can't bear to wait around. If I know at least one location I can crush, I can't relax until I do it."
"Yes! Ma'am!!"
The two of them drank down the rest of their cups of jasmine tea and place them on the saucers.
Then they forcefully stood from their seats.
They were in C Block.
They were in a Chinese restaurant known as a caiguan.
It was a relatively cheap restaurant and it was more like a set meal shop.
And…
It was the restaurant that Lu Niang Lan used as an Illegal meeting place.
However, there was currently no sign of anyone there except for at the table where the demon and her client had sat.
Part 7
The bell of the intercom rang through the luxury apartment's living room.
Before Aika could pick up the cordless receiver, she heard the front door click unlocked.
Only two people had a spare key and one of them, Shiroyama Kyousuke, was already in the living room.
"Is that Lu-san?"
Kyousuke's comment was right on the money.
It was the modified China dress beauty who stepped into the living room from the long hallway.
"Now there's two girls' scents invading this shut in girl's final stronghold… Auhhh, I'm feeling faint at this loss of territory. How can the world be so cramped and oppressive? Why does it have to crush even the slightest freedom!?"
"…"
Lu Niang Lan did not respond to the swimsuit girl's confused exclamations.
The modified China dress beauty's head was somewhat lowered as she silently entered the room.
However…
"Ah."
Isabelle, who was closest to her, must have tried to say something, but not even Shiroyama Kyousuke could tell what.
With a surprisingly gentle sound, the Perfect Dragon's fist sank halfway into the center of the military girl's flat chest.
Time seemed to stop.
The fist slowly twisted about ninety degrees while embedded in the girl's chest.
Only after a short delay did a great roar of impact burst from the girl. Even if she was small, she was still a 150cm and 40kg mass, and yet she flew straight across the living room and over the open kitchen's counter. Loud destructive sounds came from the back of the kitchen.
"Isabelle!!"
"You old hag, what do you think you're-…!?"
Aika started to yell at Lu Niang Lan, but her voice was drowned out by the white liger's growl of warning. At some point, the sofa beast had gotten up and moved to protect the swimsuit girl.
Kyousuke belatedly caught on.
He did not think this was a detailed fake of Lu Niang Lan, but something was not right. Her expression and movements were smooth, but the dilation of her eyes was unnatural. It was completely ignoring her surroundings and the light sources.
He could only think of one possibility at the moment.
"Tch!! Girl's Backdoor!?"
"Oh, please!! You're telling me this old hag counts as a girl!?"
As she loudly complained, Aika flipped over the snack box on one corner of the glass table. An egg-shaped Incense Grenade rolled out.
Kyousuke was shocked, but…
"This is no time to wait around! Which gives us a better shot: the liger as-is or the gooey Original series!? Whisper (Then again, she might die either way…)"
Aika pulled the pin and rolled the Incense Grenade at her feet.
Lu Niang Lan did not speak a word.
Nor did she make a mad dash to grab the Incense Grenade and throw it out the window before it detonated.
The Perfect Dragon's outline simply vanished into thin air.
"Wha-…!?"
Aika's target should have been standing right in front of her.
In fact, she most likely was still standing there.
Nevertheless, Aika had lost sight of Lu Niang Lan. The woman had utterly hidden her presence. And the Artificial Sacred Ground could not be set up if the target could not be seen with the naked eye when the Incense Grenade detonated.
It did not matter if the target was standing right in front of the summoner.
Aika had not even considered the possibility of that failing, so her thoughts ground to a halt. Lu Niang Lan took advantage of that by reappearing in front of her. Her fists and legs were now well within range of the swimsuit girl.
At the same time, the five meter white liger and Shiroyama Kyousuke, who pulled his Blood-Sign from his back, dashed toward Lu Niang Lan from the left and right.
One of them was a ferocious beast with 300kg of weight behind her claws and fangs. The other was a veteran summoner who could run circles around a summoner in the 600s or 700s without even using a Material.
But…
Even so…
"————"
Lu Niang Lan started by sending a fist toward the leaping white liger's nose as a cross-counter. With a great roar of impact, the five meter beast fell straight down. This exposed her back to Kyousuke, but the Perfect Dragon did not even look back as his Blood-Sign thrust in like a spear. She twisted around and lowered her upper body, but not to dodge it. She allowed it to rest on her hips and then she used her back to knock it upwards.
"!?"
It pulled Kyousuke's arms up along with it, leaving his upper body entirely defenseless.
She made a heavy counterattack much like a roundhouse kick and it mercilessly stabbed into his exposed torso.
The impact sounded like a giant drumbeat and Kyousuke flew across the large living room.
Yes.
He took the exact same course as his vessel Isabelle had earlier.
Loud sounds of destruction sounded once he landed.
"Bh!? Cough!!"
(Dammit, I knew it was coming and even lured her into it, but I still couldn't counteract the full impact!?)
Isabelle had done the same thing. If she had not jumped backwards herself, the impact would likely have wreaked havoc inside her body and caused all of her organs to rupture.
Kyousuke looked around while half buried in the mess that had been a kitchen.
Isabelle had broken through a table and the cabinet door below the sink. He crawled over and slapped her cheek, but she did not respond. She seemed to have a concussion. Even if he used an Incense Grenade, he would not be able to use a Material.
Isabelle and the white liger had both been knocked out of the fight.
Kyousuke and Aika could not use the Summoning Ceremony on their own.
They would have to stop Lu Niang Lan without that.
"…"
Kyousuke awkwardly crawled around the broken kitchen. He knew he had no chance against the Perfect Dragon in hand-to-hand combat. At this range, he was not sure he could win even if he could use an Incense Grenade.
So he did not even think about doing that.
Shiroyama Kyousuke grabbed at the gas range, climbed on top of it, and reached for the gas main behind it. He pulled out the hose and let the gas escape out past the open kitchen's counter and into the living room. He released the city gas that contained a unique odor.
No normal attack could hit Lu Niang Lan. No matter what he tried, he would only end up receiving a cross-counter with twice the force behind it.
But that just meant he needed an attack that could not be dodged.
And that meant an attack that would fill the entire room.
"—————"
Lu Niang Lan was quick to respond.
She did not try to stop Kyousuke or take control of the gas main.
As soon as she detected the odor, she kicked over the pen holder on the glass table, kicked up the stainless steel scissors from the office supplies scattered on the floor, and used a double kick to send the scissors flying forward. The scissors stabbed into the distant floor like a knife-throwing trick.
The slight spark blew everything away.
The Perfect Dragon's plan was as follows: reduce the damage by triggering a smaller explosion before the room fills with gas.
After a bright flash, an explosive noise and shockwave swept across the room.
Only the modified China dress beauty remained standing.
But…
"—————"
After a short delay, water poured down like a sudden burst of rain. It came from the sprinklers on the ceiling.
Lu Niang Lan glanced up but soon looked in a different direction: the kitchen.
Shiroyama Kyousuke slowly got up beyond the open kitchen's counter.
She was most focused on the power cord to an overloaded power strip he held in his hand. The thick power cords for the refrigerator, microwave, rice cooker, and other appliances were plugged into it. And the boy's other hand held a knife to the main cord like it was a hostage's throat.
Kyousuke smiled while soaking wet.
And he did not hesitate.
"Sorry, everyone. Looks like we're all in this together."
He cut through the power cable and threw it to the floor.
A bluish-white flash filled a space large enough to hold a tennis match.
Kyousuke, Aika, Isabelle, the white liger, and Lu Niang Lan.
The electrical current struck all of their hearts equally.
Part 8
"Ugh," groaned Shiroyama Kyousuke on the wet floor.
The sprinklers must have stopped automatically because he was surrounded by silence. The room's breaker must have tripped because none of the appliances seemed to be functioning.
Isabelle was closest, so he checked her pulse first and then dragged his aching body into the living room. He secured Lu Niang Lan. After checking her pulse as she lay sprawled out on the floor, he used an extension cable to tie up her wrists and ankles.
The room was soaked and the breaker had tripped, but he spotted the light of a tablet on the glass table. That was thanks to its waterproof cover and internal battery. It had received a few emails from Government. One of them was about Girl's Backdoor, so Kyousuke grabbed the tablet.
The writing was stiff and formal, but he recognized the sender: Government Award 109, Academia. Her real name was Maria Heartocean. She was the top researcher in the field of spiritual damage and the woman he had been tasked with protecting during that midair battle over the Pacific.
She had seemed like a gentle school doctor then, but she was apparently able to display different personalities in different situations. Although Kyousuke was not sure if the difference was between work and private or between online and real life.
To Official Award 870, Hikikomori.
I am sending you a progress report on the analysis you requested.
I have put off breaking down the black box in the core, so I will begin with what I have discovered through nondestructive tests along the surface of the device.
The Girl's Backdoor behaves much like a device that allows a human target for a vessel's ability to intervene in a Material's mind and take limited control of the Material. The mental capacity of a Material is so much greater than a human's that the vessel can never take complete control, but I estimate a human can take nearly perfect control when the target is another human.
There is still a lot I do not know as to why it only works with young girls, but it may be somehow related to the fact that all Unexplored-class Materials have female forms.
After some clinical trials on recruits within Government, I have revealed a few specific uses and conditions for the Girl's Backdoor.
1: Girl's Backdoor is shaped like a glove and the target is set by wearing it and pointing at the target's face or head.
2: Girl's Backdoor works by inputting data. The target is controlled with tree-style settings that provide a programmed flowchart of what to do when certain things do or do not occur.
3: When inputting the data, the user can move the fingers of the glove to display a keyboard interface in empty air. The flowchart can also be formed as a combination of movements: run, jump, land, etc.
4: When putting together the flowchart, there is no need to start from scratch and mention every little movement of the target's fingers. The user can draw on and use the target's skills and knowledge. For example, telling a chef to cook a meal or telling a safe keeper to open the lock.
5: There are no real risks or dangerous side effects of using Girl's Backdoor.
6: Girl's Backdoor can control up to three people at once. If the user attempts to control a fourth or more, their existing stock will be released in the order at which they were initially controlled.
7: Girl's Backdoor can only control girls and young women between the ages of 10 and 25. The effects continue even if a controlled vessel transforms into a Material.
8: When someone controlled by Girl's Backdoor is released, they lose their memories of being controlled.
9: There are multiple ways for someone controlled by Girl's Backdoor to be released: the user announcing that they are released, the user attempting to control a fourth person, or the controlled person being knocked unconscious.
When Kyousuke saw that knocking someone unconscious would free them from Girl's Backdoor's control, he breathed a small sigh of relief. Tying up Lu Niang Lan had apparently not been necessary. And since she would lose her memories of being controlled, he had a feeling she would make something of a misunderstanding.
However, that relaxed thought was quickly swept away by what Maria Heartocean wrote next.
I will now address some of my thoughts concerning the application of Girl's Backdoor.
Girl's Backdoor can only control three people at once, but I have revealed that it can spread.
That is, not only can Source X directly control three people, but Source X can control A, A can control B, and B can control C. Of course, a new flowchart tree must be written each time, so it is a lot of effort. Without time for that work, this method is only viable for simple commands.
And in this case, only Source X needs to be equipped with a Girl's Backdoor.
The upper limit of three seems to remain. For example, if Source X controls A, B, and C and then tries to control D via C, the original A will be released.
Also, if it goes from A to B and then B to C, if control of B in the middle is lost because she is knocked out, a chain reaction will cause C to also lose consciousness and be released.
Releasing A would also release B and C in that case, so trying to control a fourth person that way would release all of them.
"..........................................…"
Kyousuke slowly looked away from the tablet.
There were still two individuals whose pulse he had yet to check.
One was the white liger.
And the other…
"Ai…ka?"
He received no response.
Why had the enemy spreading Girl's Backdoors around the city come to Toy Dream 35 in the first place? If it was only to crush the vessel mass-production facilities known as Anthills, would they have needed to send Lu Niang Lan to attack Aika's apartment?
And if control could spread from Source X to A and from A to B…
Why had Aika passed out?
Because Lu Niang Lan had attacked her? Because of the electrical current Kyousuke had sent out?
And if it was neither of those…
"…"
Kyousuke hesitantly approached Aika.
The collapsed girl held a smartphone in her hand.
The words "Message Sent" danced across the screen.
"What message?"
Shiroyama Kyousuke's voice was quiet.
"And to who!?"
But it quickly grew to a shout.
Part 9
Murasame Kuina snapped her fingers.
She opened the email and attached file sent to her cellphone.
It easily displayed all of the data that had seemed so impossible to find until now.
In other words…
"There are 41 Anthills in all. Now we have all their locations and detailed information on their defenses."
"Well done, ma'am."
Now that they knew that, there was no need to hold back.
They could dig in like a wild beast in front of a pile of meat.
The girl of revenge spoke to the demon who lived to fulfill that revenge.
"Let's go, Biondetta. Let's destroy them all."
"Yes, ma'am."
With that, the two of them silently walked away from a pile of rubble.
It was another of the Anthills they had already discovered. They had created those pitiable ruins with an unconventional method: blowing up the entire location while the summoner was inside her protective circle and the vessel had become a Material.
They moved from Anthill to Anthill and hatred to hatred. They did not seek a moment's rest as they sought their next target. They were focused on nothing but fulfilling their revenge.