The students are about to go out to search for the tamer As I expected, that President is clever. To reach the truth without having any prior knowledge of the situation. The only miscalculation she has made is about the location of the culprit. This is the case of a bug hiding on a lion. Momo sniffs each individual carefully before her gaze lands on a single person.
“Is ‘that’ who we’re looking for?”
Momo nods. Ichinose-san’s eyes open wide upon realizing who it is.
“Are, are you sure there isn’t any mistake?”
“It’s impossible for Momo to be wrong. Right?”
Momo nods again, this time with confidence. So this person is the monster tamer
Momo is staring at the sports girl from the shopping mall.
Her name is oh, the word “Katsuragi” is printed on her jersey. That’s her right? So she’s Katsuragi. It is kind of unexpected. She doesn’t look like the type of person that would command monsters to attack other humans. Or was she acting all along? There’s a saying telling us not to judge a book by its cover and all that.
Now then, how should we act? Since we know who the monster tamer is, we could just send a mail to Nishino-kun and Rikka-chan, after which we would retreat. Although I’ve told Ichinose-san about meeting up with them, simply mailing them should do the trick. It should be enough as long as the information is passed on to them. Whether they choose to believe or not is up to them to decide, and there isn’t any reason to go so far for them in the first place.
Yup, that’s right. Now that I think about it, why am I trying so hard to help others? It’s a request from Ichinose-san, isn’t it? It’s true that she’s a party member and she has saved me once, so until I pay her back arriving at this point, I stop. Until I pay her back? But what will I do after I pay her back?
An exceedingly ugly and terrible thought crosses my mind. Really, I shouldn’t be thinking about these sorts of things “Kudou-san.”
“Offu ”
Oh shoot. A strange sound came out.
“ What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing Rather than that, what is it?”
I glance at Ichinose-san from the side. I see determination in her eyes.
“This is just a speculation but if I were to snipe her from here, will it solve the problem?” “ That, that’s ”
I stutter in response to her suggestion. Indeed, while it’s pretty extreme, if we get rid of the girl right here right now, everything will be solved. But to think Ichinose-san will bring it up herself “Can you do it?”
“ I will.”
Having said that, Ichinose-san positions her gun.
“Right now right here, if I fin finish her off, it will bring everything to an end. From this distance, I won’t miss either so I, I will-” “Kill her? Ichinose-san, are you able to do it?”
Hearing my blunt usage of the word “kill”, Ichinose-san falters momentarily.
“ I can. I was the one who brought this up. I will take responsibility for what I have said.” “Even so ”
To a certain degree, she realizes the fact that we’re being dragged into this mess. That is why she is asserting that she should be the one to dirty her hands. However “Rejected. I will not permit you.”
“Why?”
“There are two reasons. First and foremost, if Ichinose-san pulls the trigger, regardless of whether or not the target dies, our existence might be revealed to the students here.” Even though Ichinose-san’s “Cognitive Impediment” and “Sniping” are powerful, they are not all-encompassing. Because of the scope, it’s possible to notice her line of sight even with concealment skills activated.
Another demerit is that once her opponent recognizes her, the effects of the skills gradually decrease. We can’t risk being exposed in front of all these people. I mean, a former-classmate wielding a gun while being accompanied by an unknown man who can control a shape-shifting slime and a dog with the ability to manipulate shadows? If things go wrong, we might be accused of being the monster tamers. Even escaping will be difficult at that point.
“Second, we can’t guarantee the death of our enemy as of now.”
“ And what do you mean by that?”
“I didn’t realize until I took a good look at her, but I sense an unpleasant feeling coming from her. More specifically, it’s coming from her shadows.” “That means ”
With that, Ichinose-san seems to have also noticed.
“Yes, the dark wolf should be hiding within her shadow.”
No, there might even be other monsters lurking around in her shadow. After such a disturbance, it’s unlikely for her to enter her opponent’s headquarters defenseless. It won’t be weird for her to have some guards nearby. From that perspective, the dark wolf ability to cut off the presence of those in the shadows is very useful. She might also have slimes which have mimicking skills like Aka. In other words, in the worst scenario, a battle might erupt the moment we attack.
“It is as you have said, Kudou-san. Sorry for being so thoughtless.”
“It’s fine. For now, we should continue to observe her behaviors. A perfect opportunity to shoot might arise.” Nodding, Ichinose-san lowers her gun. Immediately afterwards, Katsuragi draws herself near Nishino-kun and Rikka-chan. From an ignorant bystander’s perspective, they would seem like they are having a casual conversation. However, it was completely different from our angle.
“ ! Ricchan!”
“Y-you can’t! Please hold back!”
“But!”
“We can’t be negligent and have our identities revealed. We should send a ‘Mail’. As long as she moves away from the girl, we can protect her at the very least.” “”Y-yes.”
Ichinose-san hurriedly shoots a mail to Rikka-chan. Almost simultaneously, Rikka-chan shows a reaction.
“No, I thought I heard something just now. It said ‘You’ve received a mail’.”
Fortunately, she received the mail. With this, Rikka-chan should move away from the monster tamer. This will do.
Just when I am entertaining such thoughts- I feel a shiver run across my body. “Detect Danger” activates.
What an awful timing. Soon after we sent the mail, Katsuragi’s, the monster tamer’s, shadow moves. Nishino-kun isn’t aware of this. Neither is Rikka-chan. Not to mention the other students. We are the only ones conscious of this fact. Is she planning on starting a rampage here? Impossible. What is she thinking? No, this isn’t the time to get distracted.
“-Kudou-san!”
Ichinose-san has already positioned her gun. Stop! If you fire, our position would be exposed! We should just abandon her-No, shit!
“Fire!”
I was shouting when I noticed. Ichinose-san pulls the trigger without hesitation. The sound of gunshot is heard throughout. The bullet that was fired travels straight towards the eyebrows of the monster tamer and is absorbed. Afterwards, she falls to the ground.
Silence. And then screams.
In the midst of chaos, we do not look away from the monster tamer who has fallen down. Just now did it miss? It looked like the bullet was sucked in. When I observe closely, I see that a small “darkness” has appeared on her forehead.
Is that the dark wolf’s ability?
“That hurt ”
Words leak out of her mouth.
-Incoming!
The next moment, “darkness” spreads.
CH 79
“Move away Rikka!”
Nishino-kun screams so. Reflexively, Rikka-chan jumps backward. Immediately, the “darkness” swallows up her previous location. That was really close. The “darkness” slowly envelops the cafeteria. Looking back, the students also stare at the “darkness” with expressions of disbelief.
“W-why is this happening ”
The perpetrator. The girl – No, the monster tamer who has been collapsed at the center wakes up. There isn’t any wound on her forehead. The bullet, however, is spit out and falls onto her hand. She looks at the bullet with interest.