Instant Death - Book 4: Chapter 5: If that's what's going on, then I'm not sure I even needed to be here…

Tanslator: Graze, Editor: Graze

“Just you wait. I’m coming for you right now.” (Yogiri)

Yogiri cast a look up into the sky with an unusually grim expression on his face.

Tomochika, still embraced in Yogiri’s arms, felt a slight chill run down her spine.

It was a premonition. A vague, instinctive sense of danger that the world as she knew it was coming to an end.

“Is this turning into a horror story now!?” (Tomochika)

Tomochika shouted, disguising her uneasiness with a joke.

“Huh?” (Yogiri)

Confused by her joke, Yogiri’s expression quickly reverted back to normal.

“Well, what you said sounded like something straight out of an urban legend.” (Tomochika)

“Oh, like the ones where you suddenly get a menacing phone call from a random number.” (Yogiri)

“Anyway, thanks for the save but… Just how long do you plan on hugging me?” (Tomochika)

There weren’t that many people around, but a small crowd was starting to gather due to the commotion.

She didn’t think it was unpleasant, but getting held close like that for such a long time was getting somewhat embarrassing.

“Well, they still might attack again.” (Yogiri)

Tomochika followed Yogiri’s line of sight up into the sky.

“Is that what you’re talking about?” (Tomochika)

Something that had been hovering up in the air was crashing down to the ground. She assumed that it had been stricken down with Yogiri’s power.

It was a small machine equipped with several propellers that allowed it to take flight.

『Isn’t that a drone?』 (Mokomoko)

“A drone! How could something like that be here?” (Tomochika)

『It isn’t that out of place. I imagine that products from Earth could end up here in largely the same way we did.』 (Mokomoko)

“Somebody was using it to watch us.” (Yogiri)

“What? How do you know that? Did you feel the usual killing intent stuff from the operator of the drone?” (Tomochika)

After all, no matter where it’s coming from, when somebody targets Yogiri with killing intent, he’s able to notice it with his ability.

“It didn’t have anything to do with that, it was more like, uh… I guess I just knew it was watching me… or something? It’s just this sense that I get when I’m being watched, but I didn’t notice it until we got to this specific part of the city.” (Yogiri)

During his prior outings, Yogiri had been feeling like he was being watched from every direction because there were surveillance cameras installed all throughout the city. However, all of the cameras in this section of the city had been destroyed because of the recent battle, so he was able to notice the drone watching him from the sky.

“So, what now? Isn’t it pointless now that the drone is broken?” (Tomochika)

『Fuhahaha! Whoever it is, they’ve definitely been caught off-guard! Nobody can match me when it comes to electronic warfare! I’ve already located the transmission source of the radio waves!』 (Mokomoko)

Full of herself, Mokomoko proudly boasted about her skills.

“Oh… So you’re crazy because you’ve been constantly exposing yourself to radio waves. It’s such a shame…” (Tomochika)

『You idiot! Each and every one of us is constantly being exposed to radio waves! I just gave it a go because the youngster asked me to yesterday! It’s a little trick called transmitter hunting.』 (Mokomoko)

“I see… If that’s what’s going on, then I’m not sure I even needed to be here…” (Tomochika)

Yogiri had told her that she had been brought along in order to locate where the attack was coming from, but it was really difficult to track down a sniper lying prone on their stomach on some faraway rooftop.

『What are you going on about? We couldn’t afford to just leave you behind on this one. If it wasn’t for my Radio Wave Transmission Detection Technique, we would’ve had no other option than to rely on your eyesight to get the job done.』 (Mokomoko)

“We didn’t mean to deceive you or anything, Dannoura-san. I just thought that you might start looking around restlessly if I told you about the security cameras.” (Yogiri)

“Ah. Yeah, that definitely…” (Tomochika)

After considering everything, it made sense to her. Whoever was targeting Yogiri might have sensed that something was amiss if she had been acting too suspiciously.

“That’s fine then. Still, what are you gonna do now? Are you gonna kill the person that was watching you?” (Tomochika)

“I could, but in this case, they were just watching, so killing them would be a bit over the top, wouldn’t it?” (Yogiri)

Yogiri scratched his head.

There seemed to be some sort of connection between the drone and the sniper.

But, he couldn’t say that for certain. Yogiri wasn’t looking to kill someone when there was a risk that he was making a false accusation.

“That’s why I told the drone that I was going to go to them. I’ll give them a chance to explain themselves and then decide from there.” (Yogiri)

With Mokomoko taking the lead, Yogiri and Tomochika started off to the source of radio transmissions.

＊＊＊＊＊

Miyanaga Ryōsuke was trembling with fear.

Before he had gotten involved with this request to assassinate Yogiri, everything had always been simple.

He had grown overconfident. After all, nobody had ever gotten close to besting him. With just the slightest amount of effort, a lone boy should’ve been killed easily.

But now, Ryōsuke had come to understand Yogiri.

Of course, he certainly couldn’t say that he understood everything about him. Rather, he understood that he’d never be able to beat such a ridiculous monster.

After all, confronting him would mean certain death. In fact, you were in danger if he so much as knew about your existence.

“What’s going on? What he said… Is he saying that he’s already found out about me!? No… If that was true, he’d have killed me a long time ago… Which means that I should still have time.” (Ryōsuke)

He attempted to convince himself with wishful thinking, but he knew he was wasting his time. The drone had been broken, and it only made sense to think that Yogiri’s ability was the reason why. It was all the proof he needed to conclude that the boy had already found out the location of the flower shop.

He couldn’t understand how this had happened. No matter how much he thought about it, nothing made any sense. His thinking ground to a halt as he began to panic.

“Dammit! Calm yourself!” (Ryōsuke)

He stopped himself and used his ability. He thought about what he needed to imitate from Earth and ultimately settled on a small pill. The pill, a mild sedative, materialized in his hand.

This was the handiwork of Ryōsuke’s ability, Imitation. The power to recreate anything from his original world. It had a size limit, and it couldn’t make living things, but outside of that, his options were endless.

Ryōsuke immediately swallowed the medicine. It wasn’t going to work right away, but knowing he had taken it was enough to bring him peace of mind. He recovered a bit of his composure.

“Based on what he said, I can conclude that he’s found out where I’m at and he’s heading here in person.” (Ryōsuke)

In which case, Ryōsuke concluded that he just had to leave the city. He felt like the boy wasn’t very likely to chase after him if he managed to get across the border. After all, the boy was a Sage Candidate, someone that had an obligation to stay within the royal capital.

His organization… His talented personnel… All of his materials and equipment… He had a lot of reasons to want to stay in the city, but none of it was worth the risk. His life came first. After all, he would always be able to rebuild everything all over again.

“Those two… Where are they now?” (Ryōsuke)

Ryōsuke turned his attention back to the monitors.

He couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t endure the fear that came from knowing nothing. The fear of being tracked down.

Yogiri and his companion were clearly shown on the monitors.

They had already gotten out of the destroyed section of the city and were once again in sight of the security cameras installed throughout the town.

Ryōsuke watched the two of them for just an instant before one of the cameras suddenly lost connection. And then another one did the same.

The expression 『NO SIGNAL』 was rapidly popping up on the monitors. When he changed the active camera to a new one, the same phenomenon took place immediately. Yogiri was moving toward the flower shop, disabling every camera in his path.

Fighting back was absolutely out of the question. He had no other option but to think about how to escape, and he had no time to sit back and think about it.

There were two general strategies he could use. He could either leave quietly and cautiously, or he could forget stealth and just make a break for it.

Ryōsuke ultimately decided on the latter.

If Yogiri really already knew Ryōsuke’s location, there was a high probability that he would get caught if he tried to quietly slink away from the flower shop.

Which meant that he had no other choice but to take a risk. Even if he was seen in the middle of the escape, it should only take him an instant to get out of the city.

Ryōsuke walked out onto his balcony. He didn’t prepare a single piece of luggage other than some pieces of his best protective equipment. He felt like it was better to travel as light as possible.

He climbed up a ladder that went from his balcony to the roof. There, he had built a hangar that stored a small airplane.

It was a small VTOL aircraft. He had prepared it for the sake of escaping the shop should the worst-case scenario come to pass.

He got inside the plane and a hatch on the ceiling of the hangar began to open.

After the opening was large enough, the plane took to the air.

He began to transition to a level flight after gaining some altitude. He just needed to get to the point where he could take full control of the plane’s positioning. After that, it would only take an instant for him to cross the national border.

“Falcon Vortex Slash!” (???)

For a moment, he thought he could hear someone yelling out some sort of phrase. Right afterward, his plane shook violently and he started to lose control.

One of the wings had taken a lot of damage. A large cut had been torn through the center of it. Ryōsuke immediately determined that sustaining the flight was no longer an option and pulled the emergency escape.

His seat exploded out from below, smashing him through the canopy of the cockpit. As he flew through the air, he saw a girl standing on the roof of a nearby building.

A samurai.

The girl was donned in a samurai costume with a Japanese katana in hand. She was talking with somebody on some kind of smartphone.

His parachute opened, slowing his fall. And with it, Ryōsuke began to panic all over again.

Leisurely falling from the sky was far too conspicuous, and he didn’t feel like he could afford to waste any time when Yogiri could show up at any moment.

He decided to unfasten his harness and fall to the ground. If he utilized the power of his equipment that allowed him to transcend the limits of humanity, dropping down to the ground from a height like this wouldn’t be a problem.

However…

“Dannōra-Style Izuna Drop!” (???)

As he fell, a young girl shouted out a phrase as she latched onto him in the air.

He attempted to release himself from her stranglehold, but his resistance was met with harsh, disorienting pain as she crushed his windpipe and drove her knee into his crotch.

His mind couldn’t keep up with what was happening.

Ryōsuke had equipped himself with several items worth far more than their own weight in gold. These items applied defensive barriers, enchantments, and resistances to his body. The fact that her attacks had managed to break through all of them defied his every expectation.

As the two of them smashed into the ground, he felt yet another vicious surge of pain as his neck buckled from the impact.

The girl ensured that Ryōsuke had taken the full force of the impact to the crown of his head. The move had been skillfully performed to output as much damage as possible.

An average human would have died. Ryōsuke had only managed to survive thanks to his top-tier equipment and all of the various amounts of doping he had done for the sake of surpassing his limits.

“Well… Are you trying to kill him now?” (???)

As Ryōsuke faded in and out of consciousness, he just barely heard a voice.

A familiar voice. One that he absolutely didn’t want to be hearing.

“Mokomoko-san told me to do it!” (???)

“Well, it doesn’t seem like he’s dead, so it’s fine I guess.” (???)

Ryōsuke painfully, hopelessly lifted his head.

Takatō Yogiri was standing right in front of him.