Part 13
(November 10 – Oahu – Beachside – From a camera along the main road to enforce the speed limit)
The attacker moved his trembling hand and lowered the gun.
The president had not actually done anything to him or taken out an even more powerful weapon.
He had only spoken.
His words had held enough power to cause the attacker's eyes to open wide and to rob him of his will to fight.
"What…?"
"I'll say it again. If you're going to bet on a one percent chance, why don't we try to save that girl from those bastards rather than just doing what they say?"
"You're lying. You're just saying whatever you can to get out of this alive."
"We have a chance." The president's words destroyed the attacker's doubts. "I already encountered them back on the mainland. There is something a bit different between you and the ones I encountered before."
The true attacker had already made it within the White House, the Senate, the House, the military, and other agencies.
"It's your eyes," said the president. "The suspicious ones…well, I'm not quite sure how to put it, but they have a look in their eyes that isn't right. That was how I noticed it. I noticed their gazes while I was putting together the basics of the Emergency Financial Protection Bill."
"Their gazes?"
"The secret service, my secondary secretary, the reporters at press conferences…even the cleaning lady. It wasn't just one or two people. They did not fall under any one profession, race, age, ideology, or religion. The only common feature was the look in their eyes. No individual person looked at me for long, but it felt like someone was watching me at all times. It gradually increased until they were the majority. The White House was overflowing with those creepy people."
The president was not familiar with the details of the occult, so he did not know if a large number of enemies had been created or if the person being controlled was swapped out depending on the situation. What he did know was that the number of people with a dangerous element was increasing.
It was highly likely that anyone who had been taken even for an instant would once more become dangerous. It did not matter if any of those people were even the type to do bad things.
"…Was it a spiritless look with no readable expression?"
"Mister, was your niece like that?"
"It looked like she was in some kind of a daze."
Roberto Katze sighed when he heard that.
"Things got to be a pain, so I contacted some people outside the White House to investigate the situation and deal with it if necessary. However, that was how I found out the suspicious people were not just in the White House. They were hiding within the NSA and CIA and the number of people taking 'dangerous' actions grew each day. And they have been accessing classified information on the trigger using a government network," the president explained. "I don't know what kind of technology the person behind this is using, but he or she can control people. And this person can likely gather information through the eyes of the ones being controlled."
His investigation using the Imperial Package had revealed that even missile lab researchers and nuclear submarine crew members had tried to access information on the trigger. People in special environments like that would not be able to use things like cell phones, but they had to have some means of getting any uncovered information back to the person controlling them. That led the president to believe the person was directly linked to the people's senses rather than using some kind of communication device.
"That is where our chance lies," said Roberto. "If you were being completely controlled, you could not hide anything from the person controlling you. However, you are different. Since you are a normal person being controlled via a hostage, the person behind this has no way to gather information from you. We can use this to get past this person's defenses and possibly get in a surprise attack."
Part 14
(November 10 – Oahu – Green Café Iwamaki – From the camera in the tablet terminal installed on the table)
"And that's how it will pan out if all goes well."
Kamijou listened to Birdway speak over the phone.
They too were planning to counterattack using the normal people who were forced to fight, but…
"Since that man was able to attack me so easily, the magician ordering him around must have a means of detecting our location. This might also mean that she knows when her attackers fail and, therefore, when the hostages are no longer needed. …Thanks to this possibility, the monster with me has been in a very bad mood. He really is a hero."
"What? …Anyway, this person uses magic to control the people around her, right? So wouldn't she have lookouts posted?"
"I would have noticed them. I can detect traces of the spell," cut in Birdway. "And over what range do you think she has lookouts posted? How did she know I had come to the shopping mall? Or are you trying to say she has lookouts posted all across the Hawaiian Islands?"
"…Could she be using an information network other than her natural magic?"
"I would say she at least has a means that either covers all of Oahu or that can scan all of the Hawaiian Islands. It also has to be something that can slip past my magic side way of doing things…"
"A surveillance network using something other than magic…? So a science side means?"
Kamijou looked up at the corner of the building's ceiling.
"…Like cameras…?"
"At any rate, we need to come up with a countermeasure."
Birdway gave a few instructions.
Kamijou frowned.
"Will that really be okay?"
"I'm the one that wants your opinion. After all, this is more of a science side issue," Birdway replied.
No matter what the situation was, they had no choice but to head forward.
That was how it felt to Kamijou.
"…And can we really get those people wrapped up in this?" Kamijou asked carefully. "Even if they pointed guns at us, they're just normal people who have had hostages taken. Can they really withstand a magician battle?"
"If we are going to bring Gremlin out of hiding here, we must take out this magician that can control people. And given how easily I was attacked, it's safe to assume they already know what we look like to a certain extent. That means our best chance is to get the help of people who are in the enemy's blind spot," said Birdway. "Also, the hostages will be killed if we do nothing. To keep her identity a secret, the magician who used the hostages as a threat will likely eliminate the hostages in the end. In fact, she could kill two birds with one stone by giving the hostages weapons and telling them to kill their parents."
"God dammit," Kamijou cursed.
As they listened over speakerphone, Hamazura's expression grew grim and Kuroyoru Umidori simply looked bored.
"…What are we supposed to do?"
"Before the battle begins, I want you to find as many of the normal people fighting for the sake of a hostage as you can. The more people on our side, the better. Also, if we know how many such people there are, we will know how many hostages we have to save."
"But how?" Kamijou frowned. "Unlike you, I can't detect magic or magic power."
"There's no need to worry about that," Birdway readily responded. "I was attacked. We can assume they know who is in the 'Kamijou Party' to a certain extent. Also, they know you are alive due to Radiosonde Castle and we have already seen a countermeasure put together especially for you. …At the very least, we know the enemy will be closing in on you."
Just as a chill ran down Kamijou Touma's back, he heard a scream.
The front door was kicked down and a large man holding a handgun entered and stared directly at him.
Kamijou jumped to the ground, bringing Kuroyoru's small form with him. Slower to react, Hamazura frantically climbed over a thirty-centimeter-thick partition. The very next instant, repeated high-pitched gunshots rang out.
Part 15
(November 10 – Oahu – Smoking Area within Coral Street Shopping Mall – From the camera in the magician's cell phone)
Ten minutes had passed since the magician had heard the gunshots.
However, she had received no calls and the poor berserkers worried about their children had not returned.
"(…Were they shot by police officers who happened to be present?)" wondered the magician.
She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and spoke while operating it with her thumb.
She spoke to the unmoving hostages.
Those four children were being controlled by the magician and each of them was at or just under the age of ten.
"Okay, everyone, listen to what I have to say," she said with the tone of a guide on a school trip. She then unzipped her bag and pulled out 9mm machine pistols. "The adults walking around outside are very dangerous, but you will be safe as long as you have these warning buzzers. The scary adults will run away if they hear the noise from these buzzers. If the adults find you, just point your buzzer at them and set it off. Do you understand?"
She then reached for a shopping bag filled with clay-like explosives. She attached the medical electrodes extending from the bags to the children's wrists as she continued speaking with a big smile on her face.
"And these are your GPS devices. With them, I can tell where you are so even if the dangerous adults capture you, I will come to rescue you if you press the secret button to let me know. So make absolutely sure that you never take off your GPS device!"
She was using the same method she had in her attempt to make Edward Torke attack the Oahu hotel.
She was controlling them by creating a deviation in their knowledge.
From a third party's point of view, she was telling them to do absolutely unthinkable things, but none of the children there were aware of it. The children looked at the guns and explosives with unambitious eyes.
The magician secretly smiled.
At the very least, Leivinia Birdway was in the same shopping mall.
Even if she only needed to get safely and surely farther away from her, the magician wanted to create a great confusion she could escape in.
The current problem was their locations.
The shopping mall had seven exits and the magician had a chance of being spotted even amid the confusion if she accidentally headed toward Birdway.
To prevent that, she had to contact her collaborator and learn where the enemy was currently located.
However…
"…?"
The magician frowned as she put the cell phone to her ear.
She looked back at the small screen and looked confused.
"No signal?"
Immediately afterwards, men holding handguns burst through one of the smoking area's windows.
They were the poor men who she had used hostages to control.
Part 16
(November 10 – Oahu – Coral Street Shopping Mall – Near the East Entrance – From a CCD camera in a tourist's notebook computer)
Misaka Mikoto and Misaka Worst rushed through the large shopping mall.
Bluish-white sparks intermittently shot from their bangs. Because they had guessed that the enemy was monitoring their movements through the cameras, they were jamming the wireless signals.
"Dahh! I can't stand this… We finally get a call from them and it's just asking us to be human jammers. And to rescue the family of a man who attacked them with a gun but was repelled by a cyborg's power? …That idiot sure is calm about all this. We came all the way to Hawaii, so can't we do something a little more exciting?" complained Mikoto.
"Hmm? Since you were just staring blankly over at that swimsuit shop, how about you take your own advice to heart? Maybe go for a slingshot. Or how about a micro bikini? Or a Brazilian swimsuit? Misaka hears there is a kind with an I-front and an O-back."
"Gwaaaaahhhhhhh!! Does this country have some rule that says the less cloth used, the better!?"
"But if Misaka wore a slingshot, it would be rather tricky because her breasts would make a bridge-like gap between her body and the cloth. But for you, Onee-tama, it would be no different from gluing bandages around your body…"
"If you say one more word, I'll unleash a never-before-seen Rail-Shotgun on you!!"
"…Misaka doesn't feel too threatened when you say that while holding a shopping bag from Cupid Arrow."
"Bpfh!!"
"And Misaka isn't going to respond to that over-the-top reaction either. Misaka is a bit worried about a certain someone's choker-style electrode. But on the other hand, a malfunction would be quite interesting indeed, so she needs to focus on going all out with her jamming!"