外伝：俺たちは自由にやる！！ (Part6)
「So, what now?」
In response to the question, Yuki stepped forward.
「Of course, we charge and win! We'll take any fight that comes our way!」
「Well, we have to ask for the exit anyway.」
「I see. That makes sense.」
As if agreeing with Yuki, Taiki, the long-haired boy, and Akira, the curly-haired boy, stood beside him. Tanaka, the ordinary boy, stood behind the three with an expression that said, 'whatever happens, happens.'
「No, I think *we* started the fight, didn't we? Or rather, so it really comes to this, huh?!」
As if Tanaka's shout was the signal, the group of anomalies began to rush towards the boys.
And the boys, too, rushed towards the anomalies.
「Charge!!!」
Yuki clenched his fists and headed towards the anomalies.
「Whoa-sha!!!」
Taiki, the long-haired boy, deployed a mechanical arm from somewhere, holding something like a gun, and followed Yuki.
「...Enemy details unknown. An assault rifle seems appropriate for their size.」
Akira, the curly-haired boy, shouldered an M4A1 Carbine assault rifle from somewhere and charged.
「...I'm so over this.」
Tanaka, the ordinary boy, was getting a headache from the massacre that was about to unfold.
By the way, the group of anomalies halted for a moment upon seeing the boys' armaments.
It was then that...
Thump-thump-thump...
ZING!!!
Charge!!!
Such sounds swallowed up the group of anomalies.
And the boys were about to meet a man, a soldier, and a woman.
After blowing off the gymnasium doors.
「Huh?」
「What?」
The man and the soldier were struggling to comprehend the situation.
The woman was still naked, her limbs secured to the floor by blades, unable to move.
In such a situation, a leisurely voice echoed.
「Alright, we won.」
「I wonder if it recorded. Oh, it did, it did.」
「Doesn't a psychic phenomenon like this usually not show up on camera?」
「That's the result of my research.」
「...I'm not saying anything anymore.」
Yuki was making a victory pose, Taiki was checking if the recording was successful, and Tanaka was interjecting about the recording, looking exasperated.
However, the man and the soldier, witnessing this situation, found it utterly incomprehensible.
But, oblivious to their confusion, the situation progressed.
Tat-tat-tat-bang.
A gunshot echoed.
「Guh!?」
The soldier quickly recoiled, but his judgment was slow, and he took several bullets. Although his body was already a corpse, if the functions that allowed him to move were damaged, he would become immobile. That's how zombies are. The head that moves the body is forcibly supplemented by magic or sorcery, allowing the body to move. Therefore, the act of shooting through the head in some 'bio-hazard' game was also correct in this situation. The soldier had also heard about this weakness from the man and had dodged upon hearing the sound of the enemy's firearm.
But for Akira, that brief opening was enough.
With movements reminiscent of a seasoned soldier, without a word, without a sound, Akira appeared before the soldier.
「Damn it!」
He tried to aim his gun immediately, but the gun was instantly kicked away. Just as the soldier had done to the woman, no, even more precisely, his mobility was decisively neutralized, and he was secured by blades, all his armaments removed. Watching Akira calmly perform these actions with an expression devoid of emotion, the soldier was terrified. This was because he instinctively understood that Akira was someone who had lived through battlefields. Having survived more brutal battlefields than himself, he was even more broken than the soldier himself. Why was one of the world's foremost soldiers in such a peace-addled island nation, he wondered...
「Disarmament successful. Taiki, the woman over there is captured and naked. She's severely injured. Heal her.」
「Alrighty.」
Taiki, the long-haired boy, leisurely approached the woman and peered into her face.
「Are you alive?」
「W-who are you?」
「Hm, just came for a test of courage. And, I suppose I'll quickly treat you.」
「D-don't worry about me. Hurry, run.」
She couldn't understand what was happening around her. Therefore, she could only think that Taiki was one of the sacrifices the man had mentioned, and her plea to 'run' was likely her last act of kindness. Since she couldn't be saved, she wanted at least him to escape.
But Taiki paid no mind to such things, quickly pulled out a knife, and upon uttering certain words, her body was enveloped in light.
「What is happening!?」
The man could only stare in astonishment at the current situation. Just when he thought the three boys who were to be sacrificed had suddenly entered, the last boy, who appeared from somewhere, for some reason carried a gun and fired it, subduing the soldier in an instant