外伝：俺たちは自由にやる！！ (Part8)
"Impossible. How can you block my spell?! You scientists shouldn't understand anything about what we deal with."
The man said.
Indeed, as the man said, ghosts and supernatural phenomena have never been scientifically proven. However, that's just on the surface. It wouldn't be strange for an individual to have scientifically elucidated them. In fact, the embodiment of that was the boy named Takaya, standing before the man and the woman. The eldest son of the Hishou couple, who were called geniuses. Hishou Takaya. A genius who soared like a hawk, like an arrow.
"No, I can block it. And who cares?"
"..."
The man and the woman fell silent.
Certainly, whether one understands or has elucidated something, it's meaningless if they can't defend against it. But Takaya was actually defending against it. Before facts, words are meaningless. What was happening was the truth.
And the astonishing reality wasn't just that.
"Don't play dumb!! Hurry up and summon this 'Orochi' or whatever it is!! This kid is a frontline soldier just like me!! If you don't act fast, you'll die!!"
Yes, there was also a boy named Shin, who had instantly subdued the soldier the man relied on.
The man finally realized he was in a very dangerous situation from the soldier's words. Then, he thought. How could he safely summon the Yamata no Orochi? Against a genius and a seasoned soldier...
If they were just a genius and just a soldier, there would have been no problem. He could restrict all their actions, and he knew all their techniques, so he could have handled it. But the two boys before him were monsters beyond his comprehension. The soldier had said that, but he was still pinned to the ground, unable to move. The man could only imagine being struck down by those two boys—the incomprehensible genius and the seasoned soldier—the moment he turned his back.
"Ugh."
The man felt irritated that the gazes of the two boys, younger than himself, only made him break out in a cold sweat, and then he remembered the other two. Indeed, his sorcery wouldn't work on the two geniuses and seasoned soldiers, but it might work on those two *ordinary* boys, he thought.
The man immediately took action. He threw talismans, knowing they wouldn't work on the genius and seasoned soldier, and as expected, they were easily blocked by a wall of light and shot down by gunfire. While astonished by the abnormality of talismans being nullified by gunfire, he aimed at the two ordinary boys inside the wall of light...
"Oh?"
"Whoa?! Too cliché, 'hands everywhere'..."
"Ah, I'll help now—"
Shin and Nari were dragged into the floor by countless hands. The woman also noticed instantly and reached out, but it was too late.
"Don't move!! If you move, I don't know what will happen to your comrades I dragged into the other world!!"
The man immediately shouted that, trying to seal the movements of the two greatest threats. Takaya and Kazuma tried to move, driven by anger, but the woman stopped them.
"Wait, listen to me!! Your friends' lives are really on the line!! I understand how you feel, but hold back for now!!"
The man felt relieved by her words. He thought that if they had moved in anger like that, he would have had no chance of winning.
However, her prediction was wrong. A sacrifice of 666 was no longer possible, but if he couldn't get close to it and bury these two monsters, the man's life would be forfeit. In other words, the two ordinary boys who had already been taken had no chance of survival. All that remained was to buy time and summon the Yamata no Orochi. He thought that if he did that, he could break through this situation.
But reality didn't work that way. No, the man hadn't understood anything. Why hadn't he questioned why the boys accompanying the genius and the seasoned soldier were so easily captured?
As if to demonstrate this, Takaya and Kazuma sat down on the spot and calmly began inspecting their equipment. They weren't flustered at all. Nor were they showing any anger. In fact, the man and the woman were mistaken in thinking they were about to move in anger. From their perspective, if they ended this commotion without the two, there would be complaints—or, to be precise, Shin would complain—so they decided to sit and wait. And to pass the time, they cleaned their weapons.
"You bastards!! How can you just sit there like that?!"
The man couldn't understand why they had calmly sat down and started cleaning their weapons. So, he desperately shouted, trying to comprehend. But the words returned to him were not something he could understand.
"Huh? We're just waiting for Shin and Nari to come back."
"Yeah. If we finish this by ourselves, Shin will get mad."
"Huh? Do those two also have some special power!?"
It wasn't the man who reacted to those words, but the woman. The man, unable to maintain his composure in the face of their nonchalance, was no longer capable of much speculation.
However, her speculation was easily overturned.
"No, those guys are just ordinary and average."
"Right. Too ordinary. And too average."
"Huh? Huh? Then, how can they survive and return from this monster's nest...?"
Even though it was her allies speaking, she couldn't understand the meaning, as it went too far beyond her comprehension. Ordinary and average boys couldn't possibly survive and get out. Yet, why were they... she thought.
Seeing her confusion, the two finally seemed to realize, and they clapped their hands, saying, "Ah."
"Sorry, sorry. We thought that was normal."
"No, it's precisely *because* they're normal."
"Right. They're ordinary and average, so they'll be fine."
"Wh-what do you mean?"
She could only ask now. She decided to stop thinking and just hear the conclusion from the two. The man, likewise, listened to their answer while preparing to summon the Yamata no Orochi.
"Ordinary people live out their natural lifespan."
"Average guys are average and ordinary, no matter what."
"???"
"In other words, Shin won't die until he lives out his natural lifespan."
"Nari will exert average power wherever he is. Well, since his average until now has been high, it's impossible for him to die here."
"I-I don't understand what you mean. They're caught up in this situation, so how can they be ordinary people?! They're already victims!! What do you mean by average?! If they were average, they'd already be dead!! Average people wouldn't know sorcery!!"
What she was saying was correct. However, there was another meaning.
"That's true. But who decides if someone is 'ordinary' or a 'victim'?"
"Huh?"
"Well, if it's the average of *this* Earth, they probably wouldn't know sorcery. But what if they've already traveled through various worlds?"
"Eh?"
She was now on the verge of complete confusion. She couldn't understand what they were saying. Even though they were supposedly speaking the same Japanese...
If one were to take their words at face value: The boy named Shin possessed the characteristic of being ordinary no matter where he was, and could live out the life an ordinary person would lead. Without major injuries, without major problems, simply quarreling with someone, making friends, and peacefully ending his life. The boy named Nari, in response to his current location, would exert an average power that could be considered utterly ordinary for that place. For example, if he went to a place where sorcery was common, he would become the average there and be able to learn sorcery. What nonsense. He still found the genius and the seasoned soldier more believable. And now, he was in a situation where he had to accept such absurdity.
"Phew, we're back. Man, I didn't expect to run a marathon inside the school."
"No more. It was gross, and bloody, what am I supposed to tell Mom when I do laundry?"