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Chapter 13

Tatsuya arrived at Odawara Station about 10 minutes after Minoru and Minami got to the station and on to the Cabinet, heading for Yokosuka.

The clock was 18:00, Friday. There were a lot of incoming and outgoing passengers at the station, so it was difficult to find a psion trail here.

Also, the Eidos, shown by “Elemental Sight,” was still divided in two. Even if you go back through the time stream to the moment of separation, there were still two

different ways Eidos were observed: in one of them, two people got out of the car and got into the Cabinet, while in the other, the two stayed in the car and went further East. Unfortunately, Tatsuya couldn’t distinguish which Eidos was real and which was fake.

“The only thing that is known for sure is that both are heading East.”

Both parts of the information about Minami divided into two, and were moving in the same direction. If you choose which of them to pursue, then the quickest route was to go along the highway that runs along the coastline. That is, along the route of the car in which Minoru and Minami were traveling from the very beginning.

“... I don’t like it, but nothing can be done about it.”

He had a feeling that he was doing exactly what Minoru had planned, but he had no other choice. Tatsuya steered the motorcycle towards the entrance of the highway.

Having successfully completed the manipulation of the Horsehead unit, the “Seven Sages”... in other words, Raymond Clark began working on the following “secret report." For him, since becoming a Parasite, which was considered a useless addition by the Stars, this was a chance to show what he can do. Raymond's face brightened.

The next recipient for his information was the Japanese police. And it wasn’t the SMAT squad chasing the Horsehead. It was one of the police stations of the regional police, which even now is still sometimes called the “Prefecture Police.” More specifically, it was the Odawara police station.

He looked at the text he had just typed on the keyboard and grinned. For real-time communication, Raymond used voice input, but he preferred to type the first message he sent with the keyboard. From this message it seemed to him more like a “secret report,” which was very important for Raymond's so called “hobby.”

“A terrorist on an electric motorcycle was spotted in the vicinity of Odawara station.

There is a fear that he might arrange a battle because of internal differences among

terrorists. He is expected to head towards Kamakura."

“Isn't it too arduous...?”

Raymond muttered, looking at the Japanese text he had written.

“Ok, sending. Anyway, it won’t give us much extra time.”

And immediately afterwards, to dispel his doubts, he pressed the send button.

“So... Tatsuya, will you fight the police from your own country?”

There was a smile on Raymond's face. But it wasn't a smile from a villain, but that of a mischievous child.

There was a suspicious report that caused a stir at the Odawara police station.

The email stated that a terrorist had entered Odawara.

After reading the message, the police first laughed at it, taking it as a stupid joke.

But just in case, they decided to watch the live stream from the cameras next to Odawara station (unlike with a recorded one, it was easier to watch live video). They managed to find the same motorcycle and rider, which was described in the message.

As a result, more than half of the police officers were in favor of taking action.

By itself, a black motorcycle with a fairing (an external motorcycle part which is used to increase streamlining & reduce drag) wasn’t uncommon. The same can be said about the black riding suit. However, the combination of a black motorcycle and a black rider for some reason seemed suspicious to them.

“Chief. I found out the owner of the bike.”

The officer who checked the license plate reported on the intercom. Quickly finding

out the owner meant that at least the license plate wasn’t a fake.

“It is registered to a legal entity in Tokyo. The name of the office is Hanabishi Motorsport.”

“Who is their representative?”

“The registered name is Hanabishi Hyougo. It seems that this is a small auto repair shop of an individual entrepreneur.”

“I see. Thanks.”

In addition to the heads of the criminal investigation and traffic control departments, front-line officers also gathered in front of the chief.

“What do you think?”

“No violations have been observed. At the moment we have no reason to stop him for verification.”

The chief of the Traffic Department answered the question of the chief. After him continued the commander of the detachment of operatives.

“Should we take the police armored cars and follow him? If there really is a shootout between terrorists, then ordinary patrol cars and motorcycles won’t be able to protect officers from danger.”

After the end of the Third World War, the armored vehicles of the Japanese detachment of special-purpose operatives were special armored vehicles of their own (Japanese) production, converted for police business.

“You're right.”

The chief agreed and ordered the assignment of a special purpose unit.

“Target detected!”

Charlie Chan, who had stuck his head out of the helicopter, using special magic to replace binoculars and a night vision device, stuck his head back into the helicopter and shouted it.

Al Wan, sitting on the opposite side, slightly pushed the door open, stuck the upper half of his body out, and prepared to fire the assault rifle that he took from the Self-Defense Forces in their earlier encounter .

“Bart, take us down lower and get closer!”

Al Wan ordered, shouting over the wind.

The machine gun was taken during battle, so there were no extra magazines. This machine gun wasn’t the only means of attack, but from the point of view of preventing the enemy's counterattack, it was more reliable.

“Understood!”

Bart Lee shouted just as loudly, and directed the helicopter into a decline.

Al Wan caught sight of a black-clad motorcyclist.

About 10 minutes after departure from Odawara Station, when Tatsuya had already traveled about 20 kilometers, he heard the sound of an approaching helicopter in the East.

Intuitively feeling the gaze that was clearly directed at him, he directed “Elemental Sight” in that direction.

It was a news company helicopter whose course ran through Kamakura from the border between the cities of Yamato and Ayase. And there were combat magicians on board...

He read this information at about the same time as he felt the muzzle of a machine gun pointed at him.

Tatsuya lowered himself under the fairing, lifted the front wheel high and aimed the motorcycle at the approaching helicopter.

There was no sound of gunfire. Obviously, a high-end silencer was used.

Released from the assault rifle, small-caliber bullets flew in different directions, hitting the fairing of “Wingless” the electric motorcycle. Fortunately, there were no other vehicles within range of the bullets that ricocheted.

At this rate, Wingless would inevitably fall, since it was in an unstable position with the wheel pulled up, so Tatsuya's magic lifted it into the air.

The next shot flew under the motorcycle and hit the road, breaking through the road's surface.

Continuing to gain altitude with “Wingless," Tatsuya hit the helicopter with both wheels.

A dent was formed on the wall of the helicopter, and was strongly shaken.

The stolen helicopter lost its balance and began to fall rapidly, but managed to level out just before the collision with the ground.

Then it began to take off again.

Before he was attacked by a squad of assassins sitting inside the helicopter, consisting of combat magicians, Tatsuya activated magic, while flying away from them with all his might.

The helicopter turned into a giant fireball.

The wreckage didn’t scatter like an explosion.

Because the helicopter was turned into dust by “Mist dispersion" - the decomposition magic of Tatsuya.

The fireball was formed because the flammable substances present in the helicopter's hull caught fire, and the other combustible substances were set on fire by a chain reaction. In this case, the combustion process was relatively slow. Consequently, such a fireball gave a very weak blast wave, and thanks to the height at which the combustion occurred, the road wasn’t damaged at all.

However, for the surrounding people, such a fireball in the cloudy sky close to sunset was quite a shocking sight. It wasn’t yet 7 pm. Not only 7 pm, but 7 pm on a weekday. On this highway at that time a lot of cars were moving in both directions.

The very first shooting had already brought the traffic to a standstill, and the sudden fireball caused panic among the drivers.

People abandoned their cars and ran along this suspension road. But precisely because of this there are almost no people left.

Tatsuya's flying motorcycle landed on the road.

Eight human silhouettes flew out of the fireball.

Four of them were burned corpses, and four more were magicians who survived the flames.

Tatsuya stopped Wingless and jumped off the seat. His opponents could have had other means of attack by long distance. Instead of taking the risk, and continuing to ride a motorcycle, and exposing his back to the opponent, he decided to finish them off right now, even though it would take some time.

All four magicians had the appearance of 35 to 45 years old.

Three men, and one woman.

Tatsuya didn’t read their personal qualities recorded in their Eidos.

He only read the information about the sequences of magic that these magicians tried to construct, as well as information about the structure of the bodies of these four.

He didn’t use the suit's built-in CAD with full mental control, but pulled out a specialized pistol-shaped CAD from his belt holster and directed it at the magician holding an assault rifle in his hands.

All four magicians began preparing to activate their magic.

Ignoring this, Tatsuya pulled the trigger on his CAD.

His favorite CAD “Trident" launched the activation sequence of his three-step decomposition magic “Trident".

The reading and then construction of the magic sequence was performed instantly.

The time spent was approximately equal to the time of work of the CAD itself.

Tatsuya simultaneously activated four three-step decomposition magics.

4 x 3 magical processes were performed simultaneously.

Four combat magicians...

Their external and internal data fortification interfering with the phenomenon was scattered...

The data reinforcement armor protecting the physical body was dispersed...

And the bodies themselves were decomposed to the level of chemical elements.

Small flames lit and immediately disappeared.

This effect arose from the ignition of flammable substances present in the composition of the human body.

This phenomenon, which looks like the “burning of the human body"was actually

“erasing the human body."

Three-step decomposition magic, “Trident".

Three men, and one woman.

For Tatsuya's magic... that is, for Tatsuya himself, there was no difference between men and women.

The four magicians who survived the fire instantly disappeared from existence, while the other four ended their lives in the form of burnt corpses.

Only two members of the Horsehead squad from the American Illegal MAP caused heavy damage to the army counterintelligence unit. Eight of these soldiers didn’t last three minutes against Tatsuya by himself.

In less than three minutes, they were completely destroyed by Tatsuya.

An armored car was approaching from the West, sirens blaring. It was a special transport of the special operations unit, and it was moving, pushing through cars left by panicked people.

It was followed by a second one.

Tatsuya returned the CAD to his holster and ran to his motorcycle.

He started the engine, and the motorcycle instantly sped up.

Under current circumstances, Tatsuya couldn’t waste time talking to the police.

Fearing consequences in the distant future, he also couldn’t afford to decompose the police cars with magic. The license plate of this motorcycle was duly registered with law enforcement. The registration data also contained information that could in one way or another indirectly lead to Tatsuya.

With the power of thought, he activated the suit's built-in CAD.

Having activated the magic of “Decomposition," he released it in front of him.

Surveillance cameras installed on the highway, as well as on the public road 800

meters ahead, were disconnected from the wires, and they ceased to function.

He then activated the magic of flight.

Tatsuya jumped with his motorcycle and descended onto the public road, which runs under an overhanging highway.

Then he flipped one of the switches on the console mounted in the middle of the steering wheel.

The appearance of the motorcycle changed.

The color of the fairing changed from black to dark blue. The inscription on the license plate was rewritten to another.

The traffic on this detour decreased after the construction of the high-speed elevated highway, but even now here on the highway there were calmly traveling cars that Tatsuya deftly drove around. He sped up the bike and headed further East.

After a while, he returned to the main highway and continued the pursuit.

The individual Cabinet arrived in Yokosuka. As Minoru stepped onto the platform, he could barely contain the urge to check Tatsuya's current location.

If he directs his, “Elemental Sight” at Tatsuya from here, then Kaso Tonkou will most likely be destroyed. The escape isn’t over yet. You can't be distracted until the very end.

Minami came out of the Cabinet. Her downcast gaze rose and headed North, then dropped back down to the floor. Her attention wasn’t directed towards Tatsuya who was pursuing them. In the direction Minami looked, the city of Tofu was located, and there Miyuki should have already returned home to the apartment in her high-rise

building.

Minoru felt it was better not to ask what Minami was thinking. It was so obvious that she remained attached to her former life where she spent day after day with Tatsuya and Miyuki.

...Can I just take her away like this?

Such doubts developed in Minoru.

...Isn't it too late for me to think about this?

He mentally ridiculed himself. However, he couldn’t help thinking about it.

Minami didn’t need to escape from Japan.

There is no guarantee that the USNA Army will treat Minami politely.

If she leaves Japan, her only friend would be Minoru.

The USNA Army may try to take Minami hostage to control Minoru.

And then they may even try to use her to kill Tatsuya.

Minoru couldn't help thinking that it would be better for Minami if he ignored his feelings and they parted here.

“Minami-san...”

“Yes?”

Minami responded to Minoru's voice, without raising her head and not meeting his eyes.

...Are you staying here?

...Let's say goodbye here.

He was close to saying one of those phrases.

“...Shall we go?”

But in the end he didn’t offer to leave.

The word he uttered meant a request to go with him.

“...Yes.”

Minami agreed.

Minoru went, and Minami followed him, keeping some distance.

...Everything is good.

...Because she agreed.

Minoru convinced himself with such thoughts.

And he once again vowed to himself that he would protect Minami.

Minoru led Minami who was behind him, and they went to the Yokosuka military port.

Tatsuya saw the car he was chasing with the naked eye after about 15 minutes had passed after the battle with the Horsehead squad, and he had already driven into Kamakura.

It happened 10 minutes later than Tatsuya expected. The time he loss due to the descent from the highway in order to shake off the police cars pursuing him took longer than he spent repelling the attack of the Horsehead squad.

“Something is wrong here..."

Now that he wasn’t only observing the target through the information dimension, but also saw her physically, he could clearly sense the discrepancy that wasn’t visible from Odawara.

Minoru and Minami, who were riding in this car, didn’t have a temporary depth.

They only had about one and a half hours of history. In other words, they were copies made about an hour and a half ago.

“I see... If the double was made in the last 24 hours, then you can determine that it is a double, if you go back through the history of Eidos?"

With the self-reproaching thought of “thinking too late,” Tatsuya kept this discovery in his memory.

But he could have made this discovery around Lake Saiko, when he caught up with Kudou Soushi, playing the role of bait. However, there was no point in punishing himself for what had already happened.

This time he was beautifully deceived. It was necessary to remember this in order to not run into this problem again.

But this time, Tatsuya didn’t stop pursuing the car like he did with Soushi, because he decided to try to extract information about the real object from the copied Eidos.

And in order to read information more reliably, he had to stop the car and touch the

“someone or something” to which the copy of Eidos was attached.

Stopping the car in a crude way, such as removing the wheels or destroying the engine, could cause an accident, so this method was undesirable. It would have been better if the vehicle's security system had issued a stop command due to a malfunction that would not lead to an accident.

After considering the options of what can be broken, Tatsuya decided to disconnect the wires of the computer controlling the crash mitigation system.

Carefully aiming, he activated decomposition magic. The computer controlling the

airbags, seat tilt angle, and emergency brakes was disconnected from the system.

As Tatsuya planned, the car slowed down and stopped at the curb.

After passing by the car, Tatsuya parked the motorcycle in front of it, went to the front passenger seat and pulled the door handle. The door was locked, so he destroyed the locking mechanism with magic. Opening the door, he put his left hand on the head of a gynoid (the android in the form of a woman) sitting in the passenger seat.

On the gynoid there was a copy of Minami's Eidos.

Tatsuya went back through the history of the Eidos to the time this copy was made.

And this time he went even further, in search of the original Eidos, which became the source for copying.

Something like that could be done because the Eidos used for masking the gynoid was reproduced by copying information from the original. At the time of the copying process, the copy is always in contact with the source, so if you go back to this point, you can stumble upon the original Eidos.

However, with clothes or accessories that the person used, it doesn’t work. But with parts of the body, such as hair or bodily fluids, this is quite possible. If the hideout in the Sea of Trees wasn’t burned by the fire magic of Fujibayashi Nagamasa, Tatsuya could have searched for Minami's hair there, and determined her location much earlier.

It was Minami, though. She must have done a thorough cleaning in the hideout, leaving no dust or hair behind. Just as she did in the hospital ward, when she was ready for discharge.

But that wasn't what he needed to think about now.

For the first time since the abduction of Minami, Tatsuya came into contact with her real Eidos, unaffected by “Parade" and “Kimon Tonkou." Now Tatsuya won’t lose sight of her, if he doesn’t deliberately look away from her. No matter how Minoru

disguises her, he won’t be able to fake the information obtained as a result of a search in records about the past.

“Hmm?”

Tatsuya had a short chuckle.

The copies of Eidos from Minoru and Minami, attached to the androids, suddenly disappeared.

Perhaps Minoru noticed Tatsuya's touch and canceled his magic.

Or the condition “cancel if someone touches" was imposed on the magic in advance.

But whatever it was, the result was the same... or rather, two.

First, Tatsuya lost track of Minoru.

Secondly, Tatsuya directed his “sight” at Minami so that he would not lose sight of her anymore.

The first will be true until they come in contact again.

The second will be true until he himself wishes for the opposite.

But this result was satisfactory.

Now he knew the current location of Minami.

“Yokosuka military port?"

Minami was currently near the entrance to the military port of Yokosuka.

Minoru should be there too.

In order to finally settle this matter, Tatsuya decided to fly to Yokosuka using the flight function of the “Freed Suit.”

“...What the?"

But he couldn’t fly.

Because at this moment Tatsuya was prevented in a completely unexpected way.

From the Cabinet transportation station to the entrance of the military port in Yokosuka, it was about 450 meters along the road. Such a distance, according to average calculations, can be covered in about 6 minutes. Minoru and Minami took 10

minutes to travel this route.

The slow pace was a sign of their doubt. Both Minoru and Minami were hesitant.

They were both confused, wondering whether it was possible to continue to move on without changing anything.

… Is it possible to remain silent without telling this to Minami?

That was the question Minoru asked.

... Can I continue to remain silent without telling Minoru this?

That was the question Minami asked.

Each of them felt guilty about deceiving the other.

Minoru didn’t mention that he assumes that the USNA Army may try to use Minami as a hostage.

Minami didn’t say that she was provoked by Yakumo by claiming that “following Minoru is for the good of Miyuki."

While they were walking, they wanted to admit it several times, but they couldn’t

speak.

Without confessing to each other, they reached the main gate of the military port of Yokosuka.

At the gate, in addition to the soldiers of the Self-Defense Forces, stood an officer of the USNA Navy.

More precisely, it was a young man dressed in a military uniform of a Junior officer.

- Hello, Minoru. I came to pick you up.

- Raymond. But you...?

The man who came to pick them up was one of the Parasites, Raymond Clark.