kscans

Chapter 134 - Frivolous and Vulgar Malice

"Warabi mochi, you know. Just looking at it is insanely refreshing, don’t you think?"

"Totally. I don’t normally care for it, but in the summer, I just can’t help buying it at the supermarket."

"I get it. You mean the stuff in the blue tray, right?"

"Yeah, that’s the one."

After leaving Daimon’s shop, Satou-kun and his group were taking an early snack break at a tea house recommended by Suzuki. Its specialties were Japanese-style sweets and tea, and just as Suzuki claimed, they were ridiculously delicious.

"When something is transparent and its container is blue, it creates a strong impression of coolness, doesn’t it."

"And it’s amazing when you eat it chilled."

You stick it in the back of the fridge. Then you nibble on it after a bath, and once you’ve had a certain amount, you’re satisfied.

"In terms of refreshing coolness, I think shiratama is quite something too."

As she said this, Suzuki ordered a chilled shiratama zenzai. I got the warabi mochi, which was generously drizzled with kuromitsu syrup. Meanwhile, Hikaru had the dango set, and Takahashi had matcha cake. Every single one looked delicious, and just ordering one dish wasn’t nearly enough.

"By the way, Hikaru. What did you think of Daimon’s place?"

"It was wonderful. It completely changed my perception of summoning magic."

"Well, that old guy is an exception. He’s an exceptionally skilled and completely unhinged summoning mage."

After all, his future dream was to form contracts with all seventy-two demons. That’s how crazy he was. Not only was he still chasing that dream in his fifties, but the fact that he was seriously aiming to succeed Solomon was just nuts. Sure, Solomon is the idol of all summoning mages, but that bar is set way too high.

"But that Rampage Summoning technique seemed like it could be useful, right?"

"Yes. I’ve only heard the explanation, but I think I could manage it if I study."

"It really is a good card to have up your sleeve."

For how easy it is to learn, it has a disproportionately high damage output. I think it’s perfect for someone like Hikaru, who lacks a single powerful finishing move.

"I agree. But... um, the wraiths he summoned..."

"They may be evil spirits, but they are still human souls. I can see why that would bother you, Hikaru."

But there’s no problem. They don’t get annihilated just because they’re used as bullets. The technique only uses the negative energy produced by the wraiths for destructive power, it doesn’t harm them. In fact, you could even call it a good deed, since they exhaust their power, become unable to remain in this world, and get flung back to the afterlife.

"There are so many more people now than in the old days, so Hell’s escort service is perpetually short-staffed."

They should be grateful for someone who forcibly sends spirits to the other side. Plus, if the evil spirit is a living ghost, there’s the added benefit that the heart of the person it originated from feels refreshed.

"I see... In that case, maybe I’ll try studying it."

"Is that so. Then I’ll make you a textbook you can use."

"Thank you very much."

"Don’t mention it."

"By the way, do the three of you use summoning magic? Takahashi-san, you used it before during the training exercise in Hell."

He must be talking about the time she summoned me from paradise to Hell.

"Yeah, to a certain extent. Not the same crazy stuff as that old man Daimon, though."

"It’s a standard form of summoning. No matter how you slice it, increasing your number of soldiers is a powerful strategy."

"Though Satou slaughtered every last one of the guys I had contracts with."

"And I went through a lot of trouble to gather them."

That’s right. You two threw them at me without a moment’s hesitation in the final battle. I didn’t have the luxury of thinking about it at the time, but...

"There’s nothing better than ruining something someone else worked so hard to build. Buheheheheh."

"Satou-san, you sound like a villain."

"No, they’re the villains."

Whatever I might feel inside, objectively speaking, I’m an ally of justice. Our hero is a hero.

"Well, putting that aside... I used summoning magic too. Mostly inorganic summoning, though."

I wasn’t as strong back then as I am now. I wanted as many cards in my hand as possible, so summoning magic was definitely in my deck.

"You didn’t use living creatures?"

"It’s not that I never used them at all... but I didn’t use them much."

For Takahashi and Suzuki, who belonged to organizations, the number of soldiers was important. However, while I was affiliated with the Mutual Aid Society, I had no particular attachment or sense of belonging, so I was effectively a free agent. It was easier for me to prioritize mobility over increasing my forces.

"..."
"..."

"? Wh, what’s wrong?"

"...A bad memory just resurfaced."

"...Same here."

"...What did you do?"

"Who knows?"

I have far too many potential incidents to choose from. But if we limit it to just summoning magic, I might be able to narrow it down a bit.

"How can you look so cool and collected after pulling a bioterrorist attack and then following it up with such a malicious combo, you bastard...!"

"B, bioterrorism!?"

Bioterrorism... ah, right, that.

"...At the time, Takahashi-kun and I belonged to separate organizations called the True World and the Chaos Army. We were hostile to Satou-kun."

"Back then, those two organizations were the two major powers in Japan. They were throwing their weight around quite a bit."

"Do you understand what that means?"

"Eh? Ummm..."

"Having a large scale means having a large target."

"For me and Chika-san, who were light on our feet, it was like a bonus game."

When you’re fighting a giant, the standard strategy is to chip away at the extremities. It’s no different for an organization. We didn’t even have to look for them, their bases were everywhere.

"The first time he raided us after we became clear enemies, this guy pulled that detestable bioterrorism stunt."

"...The first target was the True World, the organization I belonged to."

Ahh, this warabi mochi is so good. A refi... no, I’ll order something else. First, I’ll try one of everything everyone else ordered, and then I’ll move on to the other items.

"He launched a solo assault on our base without any warning. Satou-kun wasn’t as strong as he is now, but his name was starting to get around as a formidable fighter, so we went into full mobilization. Reinforcements came not only from within the base but from other locations as well, and he was surrounded in no time. ...We should have realized it then. Why Satou-kun was fighting evasively, never landing a decisive blow."

Right. But am I really the one at fault here? I want you to think about it carefully. I’m not the bad guy, am I? The clueless enemy is.

"Once a crowd had gathered, Satou-kun activated his summoning magic. He rained down a massive number of surströmming cans that were on the verge of bursting."

"Su, surströmming cans..."

"From the look on your face, you know what it is. That’s right, the canned surströmming said to be the smelliest food in the world."

"And what’s worse, this idiot had magically enhanced the 'stench' of the cans."

"Satou-kun, being on the attacking side, had naturally taken countermeasures, but we hadn’t... it was a hellscape of shrieks and screams."

"Ugh."

Hikaru covered his mouth. He must have imagined the scene.

"Some had wards that would automatically activate in response to killing intent or attacks that would cause heavy damage, but it was useless."

My goal wasn’t to kill them, and it wasn’t an attack. It was just a bad smell, after all.

"Unable to respond properly, every single one of them was instantly beaten down and neutralized."

"And then, right after that, he went for the Chaos Army... But the truly awful part starts from here."

"Th, there’s more?"

"I just said they were neutralized, right? That’s right, they were all knocked unconscious. Not killed. Why do you think that was?"

"...I, I don’t know. No, I don’t want to know."

"You’re honest. Yes, that’s the correct response. There were two reasons. The first was to avoid putting them on excessive alert by killing them."

"And the other was for a different kind of harassment."

"A, a different kind?"

How nostalgic... I wonder if their "works" are still in circulation.

"I said it earlier, right? That I 'mostly' used inorganic summoning."

"There are exceptions. Do you know what a doppelgänger is?"

"Y, yes."

"After knocking out the members of both organizations, Satou-kun collected genetic information, hair and blood, from the good-looking men and women."

"Then he fed it to his tamed doppelgängers to make them transform."

"You don’t mean, to incite infighting!?"

"That would have been a hundred times better," they said, as if spitting the words out.

"Unbelievably, this guy sent the transformed doppelgängers to a company that produces adult films."

"...To get them hired as actors, of course."

"And he limited it to some pretty deep and hardcore genres, at that."

"He made them say they’d do anything in their interviews and had them do literally 'anything'."

Hikaru stared at me with a look that said, "Is this guy for real?"

"They were trying to sacrifice an innocent high school girl for their own stupid ambitions, you know."

Besides, no matter which ideology won, Chika-san wouldn’t have been the only victim. Countless innocent people living in the Surface World would have been sacrificed too. If you think about it, they were lucky it ended there. They tried to kill us but didn’t get killed themselves, so if anything, we’re the ones who lost out. ...Actually, sorry, I lied. That pandemonium was so damn funny that I definitely came out ahead.

"It takes time for the works to be released to the public. There was a time lag, but that period was hell."

"We hadn’t detected any such movements on our end, or rather, we hadn’t even imagined it."

"One day, cards were suddenly distributed indiscriminately throughout the Supernatural World’s communities. When you accessed the URL written on them..."

"There were hundreds of such videos. A considerable number of members fled the organizations."

"Most of those who fled changed their faces, changed their names, and disappeared into the shadows to avoid ever being noticed again."

"I wonder if they’re doing well."

"Do you know what this guy’s nickname was back then? The Loki of Shinjuku."

"He instantly shot to stardom in the Supernatural World as the absolute worst trickster who spread malice just for the fun of it."

"He was also called Mr. Wakku Wakku, since he took such glee in creating cycles of suffering."

I don’t get it.

"What’s with that tone. You make it sound like I’m the bad guy."

I didn’t even pocket a single cent of the pay. I used it all for charitable activities. I donated to an NPO, and I took the kids from the children’s home where my senpai from school works out for meals.

"Are you two sane, treating me, Satou-kun, the creator of everyone’s smiles, like a villain?"

"P, pure evil..."
"..."

I fail to comprehend.