Humanity Salvation Academy Episode 3 'VS. Mirror Deer Garden!' iv

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iv.

　It all happened in an instant, a moment shorter than the blink of an eye.

　Sakurabo looked up. A maddening brilliance poured down. That light was the radiance of expulsion, the glimmer of a deranged star, swirling light... the Mad Star Cluster.

　Amidst the brilliance... Sakura had made her decision. She believed in the words spoken by the Amulet, the Hanka Shii Chugu, and above all, she believed in Houomaru. Now, she would focus her consciousness solely on defeating the enemy before her... the Student Council Secretary, Hachiyo Renjakko.

　Her body moved naturally. The necessary knowledge and power had been granted to her. As if it were not her own body, the flesh encased in armor drove forward.

　The approaching Mad Stars were not frightening in the least. All that was required was to move. Because Sakura knew... the vast archive of knowledge compiled and stored by successive Library Committee Chairs. It was in there. The Mad Star Cluster. The mechanics of that technique, the rhythm of that technique, the principles of that technique. They had all been fully elucidated, fully dismantled, already.

“You’ve been seen through!”

　Jakko opened her pupils wide, continuing to record the scene in detail. The brilliance of the descending Mad Star Cluster. Within it, Sakura’s body blurred like a haze. Jakko continued to record. The glimmer of the Mad Star Cluster passed through Sakura’s blurred body. It was like light piercing the surface of water. Jakko continued to record. The next moment, Sakura’s body vanished. And then, she appeared one step ahead. Jakko continued to record. Sakura approached. One step, then another. Vanishing, appearing, vanishing, appearing. Jakko continued to record. That terrifying, god-like speed. Jakko continued to record. Like a frame-by-frame animation, vanishing, appearing, vanishing, appearing... Sakura was closing in. Jakko continued to record.

　Sakura was already right in front of her.

　Must leave it... the record...
　Must leave it... I...

　At the edge of Jakko’s wide-open pupils, she saw the glimmer of a war hammer like a lightning bolt fall upon Nanzen’s head. And right before her eyes, Sakurabo was drawing back the spear in her hand to its limit.

　I have to leave it...
　The record... I...
　I have to leave it...

　The god-speed spear... was thrust forward.

　I’ll leave it...
　Not for anyone else
　For Nanzen-kun and... for me...

“It’s over now, Hachiyo Ren-san.”

　At Sakura’s chest, the floating Amulet glowed and stated coldly.

“Th-that...”

　Jakko spat out blood along with her murmur.

“No way.”

The shorthand notebook in her hand is pierced by a spear. And beyond that, Jakko's chest is, too.

No.
I have to record it...
I must record it...
Only I can record it...
Nanzen-kun's and mine...

The trajectory leading to expulsion.

Blood began to overflow from that chest.

◆

"Ah, ah... ahhh..."

The war hammer slipped from her hand.
Ho-omaru groaned and collapsed powerlessly to her knees.

"This is... expulsion..."

Staring blankly ahead. The bodies of Nanzen and Jakko were changing. Enveloped in light, crumbling, and turning into pale, ephemeral spheres of light that evoked a sense of fragility.

"Ah..."

The spheres of light flew away. Ho-omaru looked up. She watched as the two spheres gently drew a soft arc, as if nestling against each other, and slowly flew toward the sacred entrance corridor.

The students would return through the entrance corridor just as they had arrived. Every student believed this. What lay beyond that, what awaited them there, or even if the students who had become light still retained their consciousness—no one knew any of that. Simply believing it was their only salvation.

Everyone believed it as if in prayer...

"Ugh... uwaa... ah"

Ho-omaru clutched her head and prostrated herself on the ground. The sensation of swinging the war hammer down on Nanzen, Nanzen's expression at that moment, that scream. They came back to her again and again.

"This is... this is expulsion..."

"Ho-omaru-san..."

Sakura stood by her side. She looked at Ho-omaru, bewildered. Why, Sakura wondered. Why is this person so shaken? She had driven two attacking student council members to expulsion. That was a tremendous achievement. And yet, why on earth...

Ho-omaru groaned.

"I... I don't want this."

“Ho-omaru-san...?”

“I...”

He... strikes the ground.

“I... I didn't want you to be expelled...!”

Tears are overflowing from his eyes.

“I didn't wish for this. I didn't start this for something like this. Something like this... something like this... I...”

He strikes the ground once more.

“I didn't wish for it!”

A single tear fell from his eye, landing with a soft plop.

“Don't mess with me...”

Kyokaen, on her throne, twisted her face, grabbed her temple with her right hand, and gritted her teeth... shouting as if groaning.

“What are you... what on earth are you... I don't get it... You're saying now that you didn't wish for this? That it's not your fault that Nanzen and the others were expelled? Don't mess with me... Don't underestimate me... You really are abnormal... incomprehensible. You're a disgusting person. You're a crazy psycho!”

Kaen stands up. Her eyes are glowing red. A wind blows, causing her crimson hair and uniform to flutter. Along with that, the distortion on her face fades away. And then, she just quietly looks down at Ho-omaru.

Elegance and vulgarity.
Arrogance and sincerity.

Accompanied by the air of a queen, a mixture of contradictory elements. Her finger... points at Ho-omaru.

“Hey. You're the one who started this fight, aren't you... at least...”

At least...

Saying that, Kaen shakes her head and leaps. High. Beautifully. Her voice rings out with dignity.

“At least see it through to the very end, you idiot!”

Illuminated by the soft light of the auditorium, Kaen extends her hands and feet in mid-air. Her crimson eyes widen... In an instant! It was like an explosion. Following the line of her widely spread hands and feet... a massive amount of thorns extended from her back in every direction. They covered the sky at a ferocious speed. A terrifying sight.

The thorns writhe. They gather together. Each one transforms into a tough and powerful whip. They rage wildly. They mow down the existing wall of thorns, gouge the earth, and then bloom into countless beautiful roses.

It is a magnificent performance of destruction and beauty.

At Sakura's chest, her amulet glows, and she shouts something. However, that shout is drowned out, and the storm of thorns swallows the bodies of both Hoohmaru and Sakura.

Once unleashed, it is a technique from which there is no escape. Encounter means destruction. Seeing the enemy means certain death. Renowned as the strongest technique in the history of the Student Council, its name is—

Alegria!

{Continued in V}