Terminal Impatience
There_Are_Other_Wanderers_Than_These
To one of Kumagawa's Skill Out safehouses' was where both himself and Touma were headed after having left the Railroad Cafe. Now the cafe is back in District 7 while the safehouse is in District 19, 4 entire separate districts separating the two. At first, this was the primary concern for Touma as he had imagined that they would have to walk the entire distance but those worries were cast aside as they boarded a high-speed train 'borrowed' from one of the members of the Board of Directors that governs many aspects of the city in the background.
At the moment, the two sit across from each other and talk to pass the time.
"You said it was high-speed but isn't this going pretty...slow?"
Kumagawa's expression darkens with rage at his complaints.
[You can walk if you want, you damn ingrate.]
Touma by now has managed to have gotten at least somewhat used to his mood swings so the hostility that would set most people off was just lightly brushed off.
"I'm just saying the thing is moving slower than the speed limit."
As he had figured, Kumagawa's mood did a total 1620 from where it had been. What had been anger and scrunched up facial features had changed immediately to abashed shyness as the Minus tuns away in embarrassment while he pouts.
[Well, apparently this was one of those Director dude's trains. It ahhh kinda got broke a little bit.]
"As in someone in the Board of Directors?"
[Yeah.]
"...Are you insane? You're directly going up against the city at this point."
[Considering they had sent people to assassinate me on a few occasions now, I'd say that time has well come and gone. Plus, this was taken from him by the Skill Out guys long before I even knew about them. The guy is always riding a subway whirling around under the city but sometimes he has to transfer trains in order to keep one maintained while he takes the fresher one. Skill Out tried to figure out when that happened so they could sabotage the train and take him hostage. Thing about it was that the information they got was set up by that Director to be just a red herring. How the hell he keeps the train running if he doesn't ever stop it is beyond me. Maybe he jumps into another one while it's moving or something. I dunno. At any rate, this train was the one they thought he was on and once they had gone through it, they realized it was a trap.]
"Did Anti-Skill come to arrest the lot of them? Oh, that wouldn't make sense since Skill Out kept the train."
[It was a bomb. They just managed to find it before it blew and happened to be lucky enough to have people that could disarm it there.]
"So how did it break then?"
[Already broken. Which was why it was easily disposable I guess. Or that was purposely done. Yet again, I don't know. Don't care. As long as it makes the journey a little easier, I'm cool with it. We may be going slow but we are at least going in a straight line so we'll get there faster at this speed than if we were to use a car on the topside.]
"Well, alright. Let's see...how long do we have?"
[Like 10 minutes or so.]
"Huh. Oh. Where did you even come from? I guess I'd want to know why you're here too but you don't want to tell me do you?"
[I'll tell you. To an extent. Not because of anything like trust but it's not really something a regular guy can just take in all in one go. At least not without some snacks and a working toilet nearby. Don't know why that wasn't a priority in restoring the damn thing but whatever.]
Touma raises an eyebrow but otherwise remains silent.
[I come from….another world. Yeah, that'll probably be an easier pill to swallow there.]
"So like a parallel universe or something?"
[Basically. In my world everyone was separated into one category or another. There were Normals, Specials, Abnormals, Minuses, and Not Equals. There was some other group but I can't really remember them too well. Stuck their tongues out and liked making puns I think but that's all I remember. Hadn't done too much that time other than All Fiction a buddy of mine as a prank. Pretty funny actually. Hehehe. Anyway, the reason why I came here was because someone I know is here as well. She's an enemy I have to beat no matter what.]
His usual ambiguous smile was dyed in the colors of fond nostalgia and despondency.
"An enemy?"
[I guess it'd be more accurate to say that it's her state of mind that is my enemy but it's just as well to say that the main focus is on her. Ah, suppose it's only fair to tell you since you'll probably be involved one way or another so listen up a bit, please and thank you.]
Touma was about to ask what he was talking about when he saw the expression on Kumagawa's face change yet again. This time, he could tell there was none of the fool he had been speaking to moments ago in front of him. This was now someone that had steeled their will to do anything it takes to get what he wants.
"If it comes down to it, I'll destroy this universe just to stall her plans. I'd sooner kill every last person on this planet personally than to see her do what she wants. That's the best case scenario here. If she isn't stopped, the damage won't be limited to just this world. It won't be anything as melodramatic as all of existence but at the very least, all possibility of this universe will be erased. No past or future will exist. Any universe that has any sort of reference to this world as a story or video game or anything will get erased as well. Although, that's just speculation on my part but this universe in particular will get destroyed if she has her way."
"...Why tell me all that?"
"I may not like you but I've come to tolerate you to a degree after the short time we've bullshitted around together. Since you're the same type of guy that doesn't ever quite have things go as they'd like, which also happens to relate to my hate of unfairness, I just wanted to let you know that the chance that I'll just impale you with screws whenever your back is turned is always there."
Touma's face remains as blank a canvas as Kumagawa's until a smile creeps in with a small chuckle following after. Kumagawa has never been the sort to be left out of a joke so he just begins to silently fume as he waits for an explanation.
"I think...I kinda get you."
"The hell do you mean by that?"
"You're just such an honest liar. As contradictive as it is, that's the only way to put my perspective of you into words."
The anger dissolves, slowly, but Kumagawa's silence returns at it's previous capacity.
"You're always the first to cheat when it comes to people better than you but when you see someone weak like me struggling, you can't help but to cut me some slack. You may not like my personality or what I do but that doesn't stop you from relating to my problems one way or another. Which is why you only went full force on me, back on that overpass, and not on Birdway. You thought I could maybe pose some kind of threat or at least your powers might not work on me as well. Either way, you just wanted to see me crushed in as efficient a way as possible. Birdway wasn't really a part of that."
"You think so? Is she not important to you then?"
"Of course she is. But if you really wanted to use her to get at me, then you would have started hitting her with those screws from the beginning. I don't know how it's done but you got me with them faster than I could blink. Why not do the same to her?"
"...Because it's hard to do when there's other things going on. You're slightly above regular in terms of movement speed, so it's easier to get you while I'm stationary, but people with powers like Tweety can easily screw up my focus. It may not seem that way from the way I act but the damage does mess with that. I have will enough to use those sort of fatal injuries to give me the psychological edge over enemies. That doesn't mean that I can perform at full power when I do. Besides, I screwed those arms and legs pretty good, didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did. Was that not because of me escaping from your screws? It seemed to me like you were just trying to force her to give up the fight before I started trying to tear my arm out of there. When you pinned her, although this is hindsight talking, you seemed to have totally switched gears from her to me. Or am I wrong yet?"
Kumagawa crosses his arms as he frowns quietly.
"Maybe you are. Maybe you're not. Maybe go fuck yourself. What does that have to do with me betraying you later on?"
"I'm saying that given all that, everything will be fine if we stop her before any of that happens."
[Wh-wait. What?]
The confusion had apparently shocked himself out of the seriousness he had showed just now. Though it didn't help that even Touma seemed confused by the reaction.
"Well this is something that'll have a huge effect on this world right? So why wouldn't I help you stop her?"
[But...I just said that-]
"Yeah, I know. Which is why I'm saying that we should stop her before then. I don't know if I could beat you when you're that serious but I doubt you'll be alright with killing them all. No matter what kind of resolve you have, those are still people you're killing. That power of yours makes it convenient for you to cause fatal damage to people without any casualties from your fights but the memory of their deaths would still be there if you made that damage permanent right? There's no way you could live with yourself after that even if you do beat her in the end. You're not that much of a bastard."
"...Hahaha."
The hollow laughter echoes through the empty car.
[Alright. Tell me then, Touma-sensei, since you understand me so much, what if I've already done that to another universe already?]
Touma wanted to reject that question but the tone had just gotten darker than the one before. He could physically see the space around Kumagawa become distorted as whatever is boiling up within that Minus starts infecting and rotting the rest of the air in the train car. This wasn't something he could ignore.
"Have you...really?"
[Yeah. In order to travel universes, I had to erase all trace of me from my own universe. I had thought that All Fiction was a fairly limited power until then. Even when I make something into nothing like someone's death, it doesn't effect the fact that person had died at all. They still remember it even if the event no longer exists. When I erased my existence from there, I hadn't thought that it would extend beyond me at all. I had managed to erase every possible iteration of my original universe. By doing that, I have managed to surpass any serial killer in murdering an infinite count of lives as I had erased any similar universes that had me in it from existence. Doing the same to a universe that isn't even mine wouldn't even be a problem at all.]
The two stay quiet as they gauge the thoughts in each others eyes from across the aisle. Eventually Touma speaks up, albeit slowly as though he was handling a bomb waiting to be set off.
"Then that's even more reason to keep it from happening. You regret doing that right? You wouldn't speak like this about something you didn't care about at all. Considering that you include my universe into that, I doubt you really want to do that here as well."
[...You doubt my resolve to stop her?]
Touma shakes his head as he looks down before replying.
"It's not that. It's just...you have it in you to kill but not to let someone die. I won't pretend to understand what you're going through because I honestly can't see a situation that I could be in that would make me feel that way but regardless, you are in that situation. I can't stop that but at the very least I can help you save that person from herself so you won't have to corner yourself into that bad ending to end all bad ends."
[It's not as though I won't feel any sort of regret over it. The fact that I had killed off all the people I cared about is killing me. But if that's what it takes to stop her then that's fine. Or at least that's what I'll say since there's no way to make it 'fine'. My personal feelings don't matter when it comes to that. Heh. By now you should know that I'm exactly that kind of stubborn, irredeemable bastard that I had warned you about before.]
Touma, seeing that there is no reaching any sort of a middle ground, gives up on convincing him.
"...I see."
"But."
It was at this moment that Touma lifted his head. Kumagawa's fists were tightly clenched as he spoke his mind.
"But...that's only in the case that I fail to stop her. I won't let my usual misfortune get in the way of that. Just keep what I said in mind."
"…Right. Hm? Wait, why would the damage have traveled so far when you just used All Fiction on yourself?"
"I told you. I made every universe that I had been born in into nothing. I erased every possibility of my existence so I could escape the bounds of my world. How it let me get here though...I guess things just sort of auto-corrected from there. I was still existing after all, it was just that I had no real origin so I was just put somewhere else. I'm not really smart enough to understand this kind of complexity."
"Well, that kinda explains some other things but..."
Touma was hesitant over his next words but Kumagawa wasn't in a mood to be patient about things.
"What? You going to tell me off about erasing all those worlds? I can just use Non Fiction to bring them back. Ah, but maybe that's what has you pissed. You dislike my apathy in using my Skills."
"I am but it's not really that."
"Then spit it out already. We may have some time but I don't feel like hearing you hum and haw over whatever the hell you're thinking about."
"Well...so when you All Fiction somebody's death, let's say, do they just have no memory of dyeing?"
Kumagawa crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow.
"No, they remember. What are you getting at?"
"If that's true, then that means that the world doesn't correct itself to fit with the events you make into nothing. So wouldn't those possibilities still exist even without you?"
"Yeah, maybe if it was only my existence that was made into nothing but-"
He had initially been scoffing Touma's questions off but now something fundamentally wrong looms over the horizon.
"..."
"So, you could have just done that and not make all those possible worlds not exist right?"
"..."
"You...never thought of that, have you?"
[FUCK!]
Kumagawa leaps up and screams a stream of curses as he rages over his oversight. He stomps up and down the car until he runs out of steam and collapses back in his spot on the bench.
[...Goddamn it. So I was just angsting over nothing? How melodramatic is that? I guess it's fine since I can still use Non Fiction but I really am just too dumb.]
"...It happens?"
[It happens? Erasing an infinite number of worlds because I was too stupid to see a far better way happens? You don't actually believe that.]
"I don't but it still happened regardless. I don't like it at all but if you really can just undo even the things you have made into nothing then it's...not really fine but I can't say much at this point."
[Stop. I get that you're sort of trying to make me feel better but that's an impossible task to try on a guy that just digs past rock bottom. Just let me despair in peace for long enough to let that mistake become apart of my life so I can laugh it off later. Haaa. I'm dumb.]
As odd as it was to say about something like this, Touma was glad Kumagawa felt remorse over it. He was worried that devil-may-care attitude of Kumagawa's had become a form of cancer for all the motivations he had spring into his head. Well he wasn't really to know how true that was but that relief was still justified when it came to why he was here. If his coming to Academy City and getting this involved with Touma's life really all was just a way for him to kill time, he wouldn't know what he could do about it. The fact that he shows such determination in saving this girl that he cares for as well as regret over the lives he had erased gives Touma a sliver of hope that they might not have to reach such a grim scenario.
These sort of touching thoughts are immediately interrupted by Kumagawa making some random noises followed by him speaking in a deep falsetto.
[Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Magician Arcana.]
"...Sorry but I'm not fond of shooting myself in the head and I doubt I can fall into inter-dimensional televisions with this hand of mine. I'll pass on summoning anything, thanks."
Kumagawa excitedly shoots up from his seat as he speaks so lightly that you'd think the previous conversation hadn't ever happened. He may have gotten somewhat used to it but Touma was feeling a hell of a migraine coming on from the whiplash of Kumagawa's mood swings.
[HOLY SHIT, YOU'VE PLAYED PURSE OWNER 3 AND 4!? Well, that's still pretty damn scrubbish when it shows you haven't played 1 or 2, but then again neither have I!]
"Puse- oh. Heh, that's actually kind of funny. But no, not really. I just know about them from the few times I hung out at Tsuchimikado's place to study with him. Not that anyone could say 'we' were studying. He'd just mess around on his PSVVR while I suffered by myself. Which is why I know since he'd just tell me about the game as he plays."
[Whaaaat's a PSVVR?]
"Hm? You don't have that back in your universe? Ah, suppose not. That was a joint project between Sony and Academy City to make portable VR sets."
[Eh? Ain't they already portable when you got a phone?]
"Sure but the selling point is it has the city's technology behind it so I guess it'd be few years ahead of anything outside of here."
[Cool. Noted under important and will bother Enshuu-chan about it later. Let's wrap this up though, we're about to stop in a minute.]
Just as he says, the train stops at a decrepit maintenance station. The lighting was minimal, anything that had metal was rusted beyond belief, and there were cobwebs all over the place. As they disembark, Touma can't help but get chills at the general eeriness of the place. Kumagawa sees this and jumps at the rip opportunity to attack his unease.
[Really? With that right hand, you're really afraid something is going to spook you in here?]
"It wouldn't be the first time. You aren't at least a bit on edge? This would be exactly the sort of spot someone could ambush us in."
[I ain't afraid of no ghost.]
"I see. Well, I guess I'll just be the one to be paranoid since it's worked out for me so far."
[Coolio. I call lookout duty for any qt 3.14 ghost girls.]
Touma laughs as he gingerly puts a foot on the stairs leading from the train to the platform.
"Sure. Do what you want, Ray."
[Stop.]
He does so since he figured he was right about what he said earlier but nothing around him struck his senses as out of the ordinary.
"Uh, what is it?"
[...Have you seen Ghostbusters?]
Kumagawa's voice was still as light as it had been but Touma could feel that there was something underneath it that he couldn't put his finger on. He turns around to look at his face but sees nothing there either. Though, there was something amiss. Something he wasn't seeing there.
"...No, I guess not."
[Why did you call me Ray then?]
"Hmm. I don't really know. Guess it must have been a name that I just sort of picked up from somewhere."
[I could believe that. That is if you had used any other name than Ray.]
That's when Touma finally noticed. It was always there so he hadn't realized right away but Kumagawa was no longer smiling.
"What are you trying to say?"
He doesn't respond. Kumagawa brushes past Touma and hand scratches at the back of his head rapidly, as though he had lice eating away at his skull, while mumbling things to himself. Other than the odd swear, there was no telling what it was he was saying as he was pacing across the platform. Touma walks down the stairs, forgoing his previous caution in favor of the situation, and turns Kumagawa to him.
"Hey, what's going on?"
The agitated Minus's next words come at a machine gun's pace.
[...I might have fucked up. No, life is definitely shitting down my throat right now. Or it may be more accurate to say that it's ass is slowly inching over my head and my dumbass is only just now realizing that some shadow is falling over me. Yep. She must be roaring her face off with glee at my dumbassery.]
"Calm down. Just explain what's happening."
Kumagawa breathes deeply to do just that before he answers.
[It's...her Terminals.]
"Terminals?"
[Yeah. Guess it's pointless to avoid using her name at this point but the girl I was talking about is named Najimi Ajimu, or Anshin'in-san as she likes to be called. She's someone with immense power that she can share with others. Some of these chosen ones, so to speak since I have no better term, are chosen to be Terminals. They have Skills taken from her personal repertoire, which changes them into Not Equals. They're her eyes, ears, basically her whole assortment of artificial manipulating and observing organs. They…have a certain effect on reality.]
"Such as?"
[It was why I was so hesitant on telling you before but uh…my world is a manga in many of the universes out there.]
"Okaaaaay. What does that-"
[Getting to it. The manga was basically just a giant play on nearly every cliche the medium as to offer. The 4th wall would get abused like any cute girl in a Rance game. Please don't say anything about that.]
"I...was? I somehow had something for it but I lost it once you interrupted my train of thought. Never played the game though."
[That's what I'm talking about. Shit! Do you know what the 4th wall is?]
"It's the invisible, imagined wall that separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this 'wall', the convention assumes, the actors act as if they cannot. Why do I know that?"
[Fuckfuckfuckfuck!]
"This is freaking me out too but that isn't going to help it any."
[Don't worry about me. The theatrics are my way of coping. The point is, since these Terminals are existences that are close to mine and Anshin'in's when it comes to those cliches, they can warp the rest of the reality they are in just by their presence.]
"So, does that mean that...we're in a story then?"
[Yes, no, and maybe. Infinite universes means infinite possibilities. There are universes where your world and mine just exist as manga or whatever so it'd be feasible that this all could be a crossover of a sort.]
Touma crosses his arms as he forces himself to accept this new version of reality that presented itself.
"This is...so weird. I don't even know why I'm so easily accepting all this. Though that's probably just another aspect of their influence then. Are you sure it's not an original work or something?"
[Come on, who would begin a story with as many convoluted aspects as this should have without explaining any of what the hell is going on?]
"You never know. It could be that the author just wanted to let things get revealed as things progress."
[Which would mean that it's a crossover. The guy probably thinks that only fans of the series...serieses?...fuck it, only fans of either of the source materials would get interested in this. He's probably some newbie that doesn't really think too hard on these things.]
"What makes you think it's a guy writing this?"
His further questioning only serves to aggravate Kumagawa more.
[Because, Urchin-cunt, there's no damn way a girl would- no there would be freaks like that I guess. I still doubt that it's a girl...not sure how I feel about the other implications but look, why do you keep sidetracking me, bastard!?]
"I'm just trying to get as much information as I can since you probably won't give it to me if I don't ask about it!"
Kumagawa's hands slap against his face as he rubs it around furiously before dropping them at his sides.
[That would happen in any other situation but now there's far too much at risk to do that. You're here so I have to add you into my arsenal of stuff in order to beat those guys. I'll tell you about what you want to know but I'll immediately reject retarded stuff like what you were just talking about just now. Anything regarding what the Terminals can do is free game.]
"What about that Anshin'in girl?"
[We won't need to worry about her.]
"Why? Isn't-"
[She knows where we are if they do. If she really wanted to get personally involved, then she would. Let's just leave it at that before either of us jinx that only bit of hope we have right now. Honestly, I don't know why she hasn't showed herself. Anshin'in-san should've come by already to laugh at me. Kinda makes me feel a bit hurt.]
"Oi! Didn't you just get done talking about jinxes!? Stop setting off flags for dead ends!"
[Right. Right. Right. Guess I get a bit excitable when it comes to her. Those Terminals were probably sent to try kicking me out of your world and I don't know if I'll be able to make that infinity to one shot again of finding her again. That and this'll put us off track a bit when it comes to that friend of yours.]
He had already figured as much when it came to the first comment but the second one threw Touma for a loop.
"...Huh?"
[By the fact that they're having this much of an effect on reality, the Terminal's are either very close to us or there's a metric fuckton of them. Either way, there likely won't be any getting around them now. That's going to make settling the matter with Tsuchimikado difficult as hell from here on out.]
"It's rude to ask but you actually care about that?"
[Hey. I get why you bring that up but I'm honestly not about letting people get bogged down in misfortune. If I just start allowing people to be unlucky then they might threaten my position as the unluckiest. Can't have that.]
The way it was said irked him but it wasn't like he couldn't understand where he was coming from. Touma was beginning to come to empathize with Kumagawa's mind set, as twisted as it is. But this is no time for such conscious reflection.
"Alright. How many of those guys can we expect? What will they be like? Powers?"
[No idea on any of that. With the amount of Skills she has, she could give every human being on the planet a Skill and still have plenty left over.]
"...I'm afraid to ask but-"
[Twelve quadrillion, eight hundred fifty-eight trillion, fifty-one billion, nine hundred sixty-seven million, six hundred thirty-three thousand, eight hundred sixty-two.]
"I uh huh?"
[You heard me.]
"...I've never even heard of a number so ridiculous as that."
[Likely never will. But that's the kind of threat we're facing. I have no idea of anything regarding them other than they're in GREMLIN too. As to how many there are or whether she got them to do that, still don't know.]
"Then it'd be safe to assume they're also amongst the residents of Academy City. Damn it. This is-"
[Some absolutely abysmal luck we have to get this dumped on us. I agree. Should've known that nothing good would come of two misfortunate bastards like us coming together.]
The smile returns a bit at this. By 'a bit' is really meant as 'with a vengeance'. He turns and briskly walks over to the stairs leading up to the surface.
"Do you have a plan?"
[Do I ever? Nah. I'm not the type for complicated stuff like that. I just walk into these situations blind and let come what may.]
"That...doesn't really work for Kamijou-san, you know?"
[Sounds like a personal problem. Do what you want, I'm going up to see if the welcoming party is ready for us.]
Touma stops there and watches Kumagawa disappear through a hallway as he considers his options.
He could try to go further down the way and head up from there so he could get back to trying to help Tsuchimikado. He could wait until they finished up there. He could call Misaki...or not since he doesn't have her number.
Though the options existed, there wasn't much of a choice to begin with.
Even if there were better paths to take, he wouldn't have a choice. Kumagawa told him that he was going to save Tsuchimikado from his misfortune. Despite the fact that he had no real reason to do so. Despite having to deal with an existence like Anshin'in. Despite going up to take those Skill users that held fragments of that measurable, though insane, power. He still said he would. Now that he thought on it, it was likely that Kumagawa was trying to push Touma on to go after Tsuchimikado while he kept the Terminals busy.
There was only one thing left to be said on Kamijou Touma's part.
"It's never simple when it comes to these situations but I can't remember a time when it was this bad. Such misfortune."
Kumagawa crouches near the entrance to the inside of the warehouse. It was the same one that he had Hamazura and the others stay in during the events surrounding Fraulein Kreutune. There should have been his Skill Out guards around but there was no one other than an unknown group of people in the middle of the interior of the large storage bay.
There was 5 of them in total. One boy was too normal looking to care about. There was a girl dressed up like a ninja. Another guy had pistols at his sides and wore a cowboy hat. The next one he saw looked like a serial killer that escaped the mental asylum or something. Then there was a guy in the middle of the room.
The boy looked reminiscent of Kakine Teikoku with some underlying differences between them. This stranger had black hair combed over to the left in a fashionable manner, a gray jacket, jeans, and sneakers. He looked like some kind of celebrity but it's not like Kumagawa would've know about that at all. Though even if he did, he suspected that he'd still feel the same way about him.
[I bet that cock thinks he's such hot shit just because Anshin'in-san gave him a bit of attention. Probably thinks that she's some kind of goddess meant to be worshiped or something. Just look at this guy. Oh! I'm sooooo coooooool because I'm popular and handsome! Gonna give him a taste of what it's like to be on my side of things. Put that stupid mid-boss in his place. Fuck that kid.]
The bloodlust being generated just then was racing up towards the level of what Marian's Dainsleaf. But it would be an exaggeration to say it could cause the heart to stop. Maybe some serious heart burn but that was neither here nor there. Just as sudden as it was to ire, the anger is snuffed out as Kumagawa bolts out into the open and waves over amicably.
[Heeeeeey! Yoooooou! Guuuuuuuuys!]
They all turn to him expectantly. The only to speak is the leader.
"Hmph. So you finally showed yourself, eh?"
[Yup, yup, yup! I figured that you guys were waiting so patiently so I didn't want to disappoint you by not coming. I'd rather be anywhere else than with you background characters since you'll just rub your irrelevancy off on me!]
This would be the point where they all faint. Or at least it would be all but the mid-boss guy.
They all stay standing.
"Oh? Is that so?"
He didn't expect too much from that plan. Not Equals have been proven to be resistant to Kumagawa's mental attacks.
[So, what now then? Will Anshin'in-san come out?]
The other Not Equals laugh at his question like it should be obvious.
"Huh? Why would she bother to come out for a loser like you?"
[OHHHHHH.]
Kumagawa's right fist claps against his left palm.
[You must be thinking that I'm talking to you because I'm looking at you but, well this is a bit embarrassing, I'm talking to your boss over there."
He turns deliberately and looks at the dull looking boy that he had noticed first sitting on a crate about 15 feet from them.
This one was a total opposite from the one in front of Kumagawa. He wore a bland school uniform that anyone could be seen wearing around the city and had a forgetful face to match. There was absolutely nothing that could separate this one from the throngs of students in the city.
"That's pretty impressive. Anshin'in said that you'd be able to pick me out but how did you figure that one, senpai?"
The way the boy called Kumagawa his senpai was filled with nothing but sarcasm, provocation, and hollowness. Of course, Kumagawa cares little about that as he moves closer.
"If I couldn't smell a boss switcheroo from a mile away, I'd be long dead by now. Keep that senpai bit by the way. Makes me sound important and cool. So what noise do I make to get your attention?"
"Huh?"
"What's your name?"
The boy laughs.
"I guess it doesn't really matter since you'll be taken out of this crossover within the next thousand words or so but it's Genjitsu Sei. But you can just call me Sei."
Kumagawa's eyes twitch a bit.
"Oho. You seem really confident for some mid-boss."
"How could I not when Anshin'in-san chose me to kill you, senpai?"
"You sure she meant 'kill' kill? Cause maybe she didn't tell you but-"
"She told us about all your Skills. From the moment you stood in here, you forfeited those. Sorry but your Minuses are nothing against my Minus."
Another twitch of the eye.
"Riiight. I can't acknowledge you as a Minus but guess I'll bite."
He suddenly claps his hands to the sides of his face in mock horror.
"OOOOOOOOOH NOOOOOOOO! WHAT DID YOU DOOOOOOOO!?"
"Haha. Yeah, that character trait of yours to laugh in the face of impossible odds is pretty funny but as you say so often...or maybe you don't anymore, either way this isn't Jump. You can't abuse cliches to get out of this one."
Several twitches this time.
"Hm. So. What the hell is it? I really have little time to play right now."
Again, Sei laughs much to Kumagawa's chagrin.
"You should have caught onto the hint by now. Well, you're probably too stuck on that inferiority complex that was written into your character to notice by now but maybe my pointing that much out will help."
Kumagawa had reached his boiling point and was about to materialize his screws when he got a chill down his spine.
"Oh? Do you see now, senpai?"
"...You...took away the brackets."
"It's something of a side effect of the power but yes, you are no longer able to hide behind that 'cool' act of yours."
Kumagawa inhales. Then exhales. With that, he discarded his smile and gives Sei nothing but the truth that lays behind the mask he wears.
"Cool. Then I can just tear your face apart with my screws since…."
"Clint."
With that utterance, the cowboy tears a single revolver from it's holster at breakneck speeds. On seeing it, Kumagawa found himself completely frozen in place. It was as though an unnatural force held him in place.
"Soooo, going to finish that sentence, senpai?"
"...What the hell kind of cheat power did she give you?"
Sei's grin slowly widens in delight.
"She gifted unto me 105 of her Skills to give to whoever I want. Everyone here has multiple Skills. All of them were given for the purpose of killing you off for good. I was able to combine two of her Skills, Eternal Eternal Life and Life Zero, to make a Skill of my very own. Infinite Emptiness. This Skill allows me to nullify anything outside of the norm within my presence. To top it off, I was also given Exception Please to allow for the Skills I had given everyone to work even in my presence. That's why I can say that your Skills and ability to cheat the narrative are useless before me. Even that inexplicable level of speed you have is gone. A loser like you ought to understand when you're out-"
"No. I'm done letting this happen."
Sei, for the first time since the conversation started, became confused.
"Oh, what do mean?"
"What do I mean, huh? You did take away my capability to outright lie to people so why not tell you. You, as in everyone present, is an absolute fucking nobody. No one cares about you at all."
"Really, then why had Anshin'in given me those Skills? You may be angry over being passed over by Anshin'in but you have to face the facts. We are her chosen ones here-"
Once more, Sei is interrupted. This time it was Kumagawa's raucous laughter that did it.
"...What?"
"You know she's probably laughing at you dumb bastards from wherever she is right? Chosen ones? Skills? Do you actually believe that any of that crap makes you 'special'? Do you think that she even gives damn about being 'special'? You idiots are about as 'special' as anyone else in this world."
"That's just idiotic. We each have power enough to take on the elite of this series and yet you say we aren't special at all?"
"Of course not! I don't know how long you lot have been here but I haven't been able to throw a screw in any direction without hitting someone with 'special' powers since I got here! Don't you get it? If everyone here is 'special', then isn't that what's 'normal' from that point on?"
"That's not-"
"Oh? Are you some 'special' sort of 'special' then? Do you realize how retarded that sounds? Geeze, did she really just send you all after me so she could watch a comedy act?"
Sei's shoulders move up and down as though he had laughed but no sound comes from his direction.
"Well, it's not like your opinion really matters here-"
"It's fact. 100% truth."
"But I've had enough of playing with you. Tabe, get over here."
The one with the appearance of a rabid killer, Tabe, waddles over with his enlarged gut swaying here and there. The front of his white, tank-top was dirtied with filth and caked on blood. His maw was covered with the same material. The eyes of this man were completely vacant of any sentience. The aura of Tabe was one that any regular person would run from immediately.
To say the least, Kumagawa wasn't impressed.
"Tabe? Are you- Tabe!? You couldn't come up with something cleverer than that when you brainwashed that poor bastard!? His name is literally just 'eat' in Japanese! That'd be like naming some western super-villain, Murder Dude just because he kills people!"
"So you noticed?"
Kumagawa's exasperated eyes narrow.
"Yes, jackass, I noticed that he was brainwashed by Brain Break. Did she really just give you all Skills that I've already seen before? Is she just trying to break my will by frustrating it out of me? Because it's working pretty damn well, I gotta say."
"He's the only one here that will be killing you. The other three are just backup in case you decide to take the hard way out."
"And you? Just here to gloat and blow out your pointlessly enormous ego?"
"No, my function is to lead this group and neutralize your Skills as well as the abilities of any that would come to your rescue. Tabe was given 12 of the 105 Skills to suit his purpose."
Sei raises his arms from his sides as he delivers the list of Skills that would be Kumagawa's unmaking.
"Left Legs: Vanish from memories skill, I Banish: Annihilation skill, Grap Empty: Distort space skill, Dark Hole: Control black hole skill, Eat Sweet: Eat anything skill, Fighting Fang: Lengthen fangs skill, Inside Hormone: Manipulate intestines skill, Big Mouth: Turn body into a mouth skill, Swallow Drunker: Swallow whole skill, and Big Meats: Muscle enlargement skill. Tabe's purpose is to completely devour your existence until there's none of it left for you to All Fiction from."
"Wow. I get it. Tabe. Because he's going to go Hannibal Lecter on me. Didn't see that one coming at all. Although, I counted 11 there. I might be bad at math but I can at least count til 20."
"The 12th Skill isn't one that needs to be told to you."
"So it's not one meant for me then? I'm a gambling man so I'll hazard a guess as to it being Beautiful Last Scene, the self-destruct Skill. It only makes sense considering how volatile those Skills are in combination with his lack of reason."
"Of course. Minuses like us can't rely on luck to help us."
"True. But an actual Minus wouldn't go so far to assure their safety, you shitty fake."
Throughout the conversation, Sei had been the very model of composure. All of Kumagawa's casually flung insults washed over him like it was nothing. From that last one, however, Kumagawa observes the slightest of twitches from the right eye.
"Ha. I see. The experience you've had as a powerful Minus Skill holder, as much as I hate to admit you are at all, has made you grow in the arrogance of believing that you are some expert on Minuses. Sorry to say but my ability as a Minus has warped Anshin'in's Skills into a Minus that can trump your own. You won't even be able to 'lose' in the way your character dictates."
"...That's what really pisses me off about you and your kind. I'm sure the rest of you are the same way despite being so obediently quiet so listen in too if you want to actually evolve beyond the walking cliché right in front of me."
"Cliche? What-"
"Quiet."
Such a short, simple phrase was all it took to freeze the blood of everyone in the room. If he had been speaking with his 'cool' act in place, the effect wouldn't have been anywhere near the level it is now. But without that mask to keep the negativity at bay, it becomes an overwhelming force that cannot be ignored lightly.
"You sit there talking about arrogance and being chosen but you really have no goddamn clue whatsoever of what you're talking about. I'll use Anshin'in-san as an example since you really have the wrong idea of her. She's someone with a ridiculous count of Skills and an age to match that. But not even she thinks that makes her special! She sneers at people that think they have those sorts of protagonist-like qualities! She doesn't differentiate between good and evil or success and failure! Existence itself is just one big pointless joke to her! You idiots dress up in your silly little cosplays and get high of the meager amount of Skills she lent you but you know she's just laughing at your dumb asses right!?"
The cowboy to Kumagawa's left finally speaks up.
"W-what's wrong with the way we look?"
"The fact that you stuttered tells me you know exactly why but I can spell it out for you. What purpose does that giant hat serve in an urban jungle like this? How about that duster? Hm? Can you tell me that, 'Clint'?"
"Well...the hat keeps the shade out of my eyes and-"
"Wear a baseball cap then. And change your name to something not reminiscent of a western movie star. You're Japanese for God's sake."
"B-but that's-"
"Not cool enough? Or is it because it's not thematic with the gun Skills you have? Yeah, I know you have some of those Skills. You people are all dressed to match your Skills. The girl over there has some ninja Skills, popular douchebag probably has some protagonist Skills, and the mid-boss is fashionably suited for his mediocre protagonist Skills. If Anshin'in-san had any compassion for me, she would have given one of you that useless Skill to increase the number of navels you have. That at least would have gotten a laugh out of me."
"You think that means anything!?"
The others flinch at Sei's sudden outburst.
"How am I not special!? Such a powerful being chose me! Anshin'in was the one to give me these Skills and from there I passed them on to the others here! I have single-handily made it so us five can stand toe to toe with the likes of even Saints and Level 5s in this series! Hell, not even plot armor can save them! Stop acting so superior just to cover up the fact that you've lost those brackets that you hide behind!"
Kumagawa looks around to the others present in mock surprise and excitement as he begins to cry out with enough sarcasm saturating the air to choke a man.
"Oh my. Oh my, oh my, oh my. Hey! Hey everyone! THIS GUY IS BREAKING THE 4TH WALL! THE MID-BOSS IS BREAKING THE 4TH FUCKING WALL OVER HERE! HE JUST TALKED ABOUT MY BRACKETS AND PLOT ARMOR! HOW META!"
He waits for a reaction but there was none other than confusion.
"Well would you look at that. Nobody gives a shit. That's your hypocrisy acting up again, I suppose. Just because Anshin'in-san does it, it doesn't that you'll suddenly be any less irrelevant than what you are right now. I seriously hate people like you. You sit there and get so much of an ego trip once you have even a little bit of power. I bet you're one of those that looks down on the rest of humanity and says some crap like, 'Kuhuhu...humans are so interesting'. Don't you realize that even if you weren't human, you'd still have the mentality of one by showing such enjoyment at other's misfortunes!? Do you really think that Anshin'in-san actually thinks that way!? She doesn't sneer at everyone because she's strong, she does it because of idiots like you that put so much importance on that power!"
"...I've had enough. Even with the Skills she gave me to neutralize your psychological attacks, it wasn't anywhere near the level needed to take you on. Everyone, cover Kumagawa. Make sure he doesn't run or try anything. Tabe. Serve your purp-"
Before he could say anything, a blur lept from behind the crates to Sei's right and held him back with something glinting in the light that crept in from the ceiling at his throat. He had waited quite a while but Kamijou Touma had finally arrived to back Kumagawa up.
Although, Kumagawa didn't appear to be very grateful.
"What are you doing? You should have just gone on to save that friend of yours."
"Save it for later! You said you were going to help me save him so I'm holding you to that word no matter what!"
Whatever he held is pressed closer to Sei's skin.
"Hey! Tell your guys to let him go!"
"...This isn't normal at all."
"MOVE HEDGEHOG!"
Touma flashes a look to his side just in time as the ninja comes in low with a katana in hand. He pushes Sei over at her charging form while throwing himself out the way. But the ninja wasn't the only one looking to capture this new challenger. Clint raises another gun from his holster as he points it over at Touma.
"Freeze Your Neck!"
The Skill being used was a gun Skill that could freeze the opponent by having a gun pointed at them. But with Sei's power in place, there shouldn't have been any extraordinary way of protecting oneself against such a Skill.
That's how Sei thought it would happen.
By reflex alone, he whips his right hand in the gunslinger's direction and a sound of something shattering echoes through the warehouse. Sei, now a distance away, was shocked beyond belief.
"What? How? How could he still use that power!? Powers aren't normal to begin with!"
"Guess I'll have to explain again since you're too dense by far to listen.]
Despite the other gun that was still pointed at him, Kumagawa begins to walk over to Sei and the ninja.
[I told you that everyone here has special powers right? Or at least a good portion of the people do. These powers used to be hidden from the public eye but recently the world has become increasingly aware of them. Doesn't such an acceptance of the unknown by society make those special powers normal, Normal-sensei?]
"He's free somehow! All of you! Kill him now!"
Ninja girl crouches lower than she ever had with her blade held along her side. Clint had put his revolvers back into the holsters and kept his hands at the ready. The popular guy hadn't really moved but the aura he put out was serious enough to expect that the slightest movement would leave plenty of carnage in his wake.
But this all paled in comparison to Tabe's Skills being simultaneously activated.
The intestines writhed inside of him as the changed shape and grew in size. Tears streamed down his face as the face itself disappeared behind the ever growing jaws and teeth. Muscles tense and pulsate as they become stronger and bigger. By the end of his transformation, there was nothing but an enormous mouth, gaping and slobbering with drool.
Screws pinned all of them to the floor regardless.
[Really now? You knew I had managed to get free of that crap but you still decided to try to get them to attack me anyway? You're stubborn but even I have to say that was pretty stupid of you.]
Tabe's monstrous form had broken out of the screws and began to lurch over to Kumagawa at impossible speeds using the jaw muscles alone.
[All-]
"Brain Break."
Before he could reach his meal, Tabe had inexplicably exploded.
[Well that's not very nice of you. Do you not have confidence in your teammates?]
"No. I don't."
As soon as he had spit these words out from his mouth, the remaining Terminals had turned toward their leader as he raised an open hand. They paled but immediately began to turn their powers toward him but it was too late. He had been prepared to do this from the moment Touma had managed to negate his Skill.
"Know How Vacuum."
Various strings of kanji fly from the bodies of the others and become sucked into the palm of his hand. He holds that mass of black letters closed up in his hand as he looks over to the ones he had betrayed. They all looked so weak now that they see he holds the Skills he had lent them in his hand. Their eyes hold the desire of an addict on a withdrawal being shown their poison of choice right in front of them. It's to be expected after all. These people all had been given a way to abuse the loopholes to get away from the cruelty of reality.
"...I have no sympathy for those that don't understand how things work."
Sei's hand closes as he takes the Skills back into himself, the willpower of the others being taken along with them.
"Idiots. If someone shows up on your front door and says they'll give you whatever power you want, are you really expecting that generosity to last? The only way you could have escaped the absorb Skills Skill was to make at least one of the Skills I lent you yours somehow. I had hoped one of you could do it at least but-"
He stoops over to pick up a piece of the gore from Tabe's untimely demise.
"That was too much to expect from you all I guess."
The hand crushes down on the flesh, destroying it, as the Skills become absorbed.
"Haha. You were wrong. Betraying your friends to give yourself a modicum of a chance at victory can only be pathetic enough to qualify as something a Minus would do. The only difference between when you or I do it is the fact that there is no longer any chance of failure for me."
[Nah. The difference is that I look cool doing it. You just look like some kid living out his chunni fantasies.]
"And that's not what you do? Regardless, you may have your Skills back and the Imagine Breaker on your side but it's only a matter of time before I can adjust myself to ignore those fallacies you had presented to mess with Infinite Emptiness. Considering that, you should just surrender."
[Why would I do that?]
"Does that main character to the left of you have much time? I had another Terminal eavesdrop on you back in the cafe, so I already know the two of you are in a race to stop Tsuchimikado Motoharu from enacting his revenge. If you surrender yourself now, he'll have time to save him. Or if the main character in question abandons you, that'd be fine as well."
Touma and Kumagawa look at each other.
[What do you think, shitty deflated pin-cushion?]
"I ran out here to help you so what do you think, shitty fake hedgehog?"
[Huh!? Who're you calling- oh, my hair really is still spiked. That's a pretty good comeback actually! Though if I was asking for one of those, I'd just ask your mother to spit.]
"...What are you, five?"
[That was how deep I was in your mom last night.]
As the two joked, Sei seethed.
"Are you two serious!? I have taken back all of the Skills that were being used by these assholes against you earlier! I could destroy this damn city in a minute!"
[Yeah, yeah. Should you do that, I'll take a picture and frame it on the fridge for you.]
The threat wasn't so easily brushed off by Touma.
"I live here you know."
[Well, I just have no intention of taking this retard seriously. Setting aside your lack of faith in this city's residents, I'll have to bust out one of my techniques. You should feel honored, Normal-sensei. This was a move that forced Medaka-chan to use up one of her specialized Kurokami Phantoms way back when.]
Kumagawa suddenly crouches into a runner's position
"So get ready because I'm done playing with you too."
Every Skill Sei had in him was being used at once, an aura of distorted reality expanding from him. But the attack came much quicker than he could expect.
[SURPRISE BACKHAND!]
Other than Kumagawa's inscrutable speed being behind it, there was nothing special at all about the backhanded slap that ran across Sei's face. It hit hard enough to send him flying.
[LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!]
Before he could react himself, Touma found himself alone in that warehouse.
"GODDAMNIT! YOU COULD AT LEAST WAIT FOR ME BASTARD!"
And just like that, Genjitsu Sei had failed completely to get Kumagawa to fight him seriously, let alone kill him. He lay there on his back with a vacant stare pointed at the ceiling until a shadow falling over him forces him away from whatever inward grievances he had.
"...Are you going to take them back?"
The ninja girl was standing over him but the expression and look in her eyes was nothing like what she had earlier. Her gaze had a mischievous air about it.
"Hmm. No, I'll let you keep those Skills for now. I expected for him to mock you and run, honestly."
His fists clench till the white of his knuckles showed.
"Why didn't you tell me then, Anshin'in? Why did you bother sending me at him?"
"Why? Just look at that attitude of yours. He was absolutely right in every point he threw at you. There's no way you could have taken a fool like him on when you so leisurely gave him the time to draw out the information, which you freely gave I'll add, and then give him ample opportunity to use that ammo to mess with your head. If you can't kill him on your own, using your own ability and planning, then there's no sense in not doing it myself. I didn't pull you from your world and into this one so you could gloat over empty triumphs before you even get them. Remember that before you do what you want."
Sei says nothing.
"Well it's not like you were expecting to get him with all of that here anyway, right?"
"...No. Kyouko is going to be the one to do that. He's strong against my kind, yes, but with her, he won't be able to do a thing."
"Oh? You're still trying that method? Alright. Can't say I have much faith in that plan with your sister but if that's what you want to do then that's what you want to do. Oh my what'll I do if you lose again, I wonder?"
"I know you have the others in the city but I doubt any of them can hold a candle to what I've been able to build Kyouko into. With me acting as support, we're invincible. She could even beat you in this crossover story, you know."
The cheery look on Ajimu's borrowed face darkens.
"Is that so? Would you like to make a trade then to help you along with that?"
"To make things more interesting for you, you mean. What are you proposing?"
"That Kyouko-oneesan of yours is still ah inexperienced with her Skills. Especially when it comes to using them on people. I even gave her Mosquito Gate to help with that but whatever. I have a Skill to create vampires called, Rad Vlad. I'll give that to you in return for those Skills you passed out to the others here."
"Vampires? I thought they existed here. Granted they haven't appeared since the second volume of the first part of the series."
"That's right, I forgot you were a fan of the other side of this shitty crossover! Hows it going with winning that girl's-"
"I'll stop your teasing there. That's my business. Just tell me how that Skill will help me here."
She pouts as she plops down beside him, crosslegged.
"You're no fun at all. Fine. Vampires are part of the lore, yes, but they've never actually appeared so that Skill created from the 34 out of 52 Skills you lent to her can be used on them just fine. By the way, don't you think that's a tad overkill?"
"I don't want to hear that from you but...I'll take you up on that offer."
He sits up and extends his right hand over to her, as though offering a handshake. Ajimu's grin widens as her eyes narrow. When she clasps onto that hand, Sei convulses as various kanji race up along his arm and into her fingertips. Once it was finished, he holds onto the hand as though cradling an injury.
"Is it like that for everyone?"
"I could use my other Skill. That one is far gentler. It would need you to have a Skill first for it to work. That and for me to actually give a damn about the comfort of minor original characters like you. I wish I could use someone like Accelerator but it seems Eddy has done something about preventing Skills from being used by his favorites directly."
"I thought the former number 2 used All Fiction not too long ago?"
"He managed to get the proper way of thought to use it directly but in the end, it was only through the pea that he found in Kumagawa's head that he was able to do it. If all he did was copy everything over to himself and throw that pitiful thing away, he wouldn't be able to use All Fiction or any other Skill for that matter. Whatever that NEET did to them, I doubt Level 5s at least can use Skills at all. But that has nothing to do with the task I gave you. So hurry along and take care not to let that loser know about the vampires you create. He'll just make an utter ruin of your meticulous planning without you being aware of it. He's done it to better men than you, trust me. Don't lose too fast now!"
The strings holding Ajimu's puppet were cut with that final insult. Sei's stern expression holds even as he stands and leaves the warehouse to continue on the broken path he was building for himself.
Hi again! Don't have real life stuff to whine about here so let's move on to the stuff people really care about! I wanted to have Touma start getting involved with Kumagawa's reasons for being in the Index universe. Honesty he probably cares a lot more about Kumagawa erasing all those universes but he just hasn't got the time for that right now. Also it would be just like Kumagawa to have that kind of oversight. The other OCs aren't going to make a return but Sei will have a recurring role in the story. At least up until just before the World Rejector arc starts. Hopefully I did his character up right. I wanted him to be that sort of guy who was seriously arrogant as hell. He's going to be quite the evil, manipulating bastard later on. And not in the endearing way like with Kumagawa or Tsuchimikado. He'll get his comeuppance though. The next update will have our guys getting over to Tsuchimikado and the Rensa fight. Maybe it'll end the arc. Don't know yet because I haven't started. Hopefully it'll be out soon but we'll see.