There Was No Secret Evil-Fighting Organization (srsly?!), So I Made One MYSELF!
世界の闇と戦う秘密結社が無いから作った（半ギレ）

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Chapter 5: Rewriting Fate

Volume 6: Assailant from the Future

          Although he was a crucial source of support for the organization, he had never had an opportunity to stand in the spotlight during our events. Due to the experience he had from his prior job, the possibility of him seeing through our setups was high, so we were kind of intentionally keeping him at a distance. At the end of the day, he was only a helper and not a full member. After all, he didn’t have a superpower.

          This time, however, we were starting the Assailant from the Future event with him. We chose a night when he had stayed behind to lock up the dojo before heading home. The collar of his gray, well-worn long coat was turned up to keep out the cold winter wind as he plodded down a side street with his back hunched over. He looked like a bear that had wandered down a mountain and gotten lost in the city.

          Suddenly, a ditch cover several meters in front of him went flying and a black monster with an indeterminate form jumped out. It was a World Shadow! The assailant exploded in size, squirming in a fear-inducing way and looming up to crush Kuma-san to death.

          “Hmph!”

          The instant it struck, however, Kuma-san threw a straight punch that completely blew the World Shadow apart. The boom created by the supersonic punch reverberated in the alleyway like a gunshot and generated an abrupt gust of wind that rattled windows and kicked up dust. It nearly equaled a punch from Oyabun in his prime.

          Of course, there was a gimmick behind the uncannily powerful punch: Kuma-san always kept a gauntlet-type PSI drive set with diluted telekinetic fuel on his person. The instant he saw the World Shadow, he had immediately thrust his right hand into his coat and equipped the gauntlet, assumed a stance, punched out, and destroyed the World Shadow. The entire encounter had lasted less than three seconds.

          I bet he practiced how to put on the gauntlet a billion times simulating such an encounter inside his mind! Otherwise, there’s no way he could win that fight so quickly, even considering how vigilant he always is. I knew it, even Kuma-san loves these “effortlessly dealing with something extraordinary intruding into an ordinary day” situations! It was an instant K.O.!

          Not that it matters.There’s more where that came from.

          World Shadows began oozing out from everything within view. The shrubbery. The shadow of signs. Rain gutters. Roofs. It was as if the entire street itself was turning into one giant World Shadow.

          “Nuaaaaaahhhh!” Kuma-san unleashed a barrage of sharp jabs that blew three World Shadows away. However, doing so left his gauntlet, which only had four charges, entirely out of fuel. He finished off by jabbing his hand into the body of the last World Shadow and gouging out its stone core. As a token resistance, the monster reached out with its tentacles to choke him, but he obliterated it by slamming it against a wall.

          Kuma-san was putting up such a good fight it almost seemed like he actually had a superpower. Unfortunately, however, I needed him to be overwhelmed by sheer numbers and to need help. Consequently, reinforcements continued showing up.

          I’m really sorry, but this is a setup that you’re not supposed to get out of by yourself.

          Before long, Kuma-san was choking from lack of air and his steps turned unsteady, but I continued sending Shadows at him. They crawled toward him from every which way, not allowing him a moment of respite.

          I had heard that Baba was using my bones to develop World Shadows that could move by themselves, but I was still controlling everything manually at the moment. I really wanted to make the situation seem more desperate with a hundred World Shadows attacking all at once, but my mind did not have the processing power to control so many at the same time. To avoid overtaxing myself, I had to send them in waves of three or four.

          “This can’t be happening! Just how many of them are there?!”

          Even so, what I was doing was more than enough to evoke despair in Kuma-san. Cold sweat soaked his back as he found himself entirely surrounded, having nothing to rely on but his bare fists.

          If he had managed to ask Shige-jii for aid, the old man could have rescued him using teleportation. However, the World Shadow that had tried to choke Kuma-san near the start of the fight had also lifted his smartphone and threw it under some bushes. And I was not giving him the time to pick it up.

          Shouting for help from passersby was not a good idea either. Supposedly, World Shadows could go berserk feeding on fear from humans, and the large majority of people would feel fear laying eyes on these black monsters of indeterminate form. If Kuma-san called for help, depending on who came, the World Shadows just might turn berserk and start going on a rampage. In the first place, an average person would only get in his way in this situation.

          In other words, Kuma-san was now backed into a corner.

          “Looks like you need a hand!”

          Suddenly, a pretty girl from the future made her entrance! She stood on top of a nearby roof with her arms on her waist and her black hair and sailor uniform fluttering in the night breeze. Streetlights lit her up from behind, making it impossible to see her face.

          “No, lass! You must run away!” Kuma-san shouted, assuming that the girl was an ordinary person who was getting involved without knowing better.

          However, the mysterious interloper ran down the wall at a ridiculous speed and dispatched all of the World Shadows with a gleaming dagger. Strangely, it was as if she was moving in fast forward.

          What’s with that new move?! When did Shiori learn how to fast-forward time?! But come to think of it, I learned how to resist space-related attacks through training, and Shouta-kun and Touka-chan are also developing their superpowers day by day. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Shiori can also discover new abilities. And she waited for when she got selected as the main character of an event to reveal this new ability! That’s so adorable!

          “Are you hurt?”

          Only after Shiori finished off the World Shadows and turned back to talk to Kuma-san did he recognize her face.

          He thanked her with a grimace. “That was some pretty convenient timing. Were you waiting for me to be backed to the wall?”

          Of course that’s what Kuma-san would suspect. That’s exactly what happened, but no.

          Shiori gave him an enigmatic smile while spinning her knife in circles. “It’d be more correct to say I knew about it in advance. In the original timeline, you became the first casualty of the World Shadows’ rampage tonight, Kuma-san. That was what pushed Dad over the edge and made him fall into darkness. I’m glad I made it in time. Phew.”

          “What…are you saying?” Kuma-san took a better look at the girl two heads shorter than himself.

          The reason why he had mistaken her for Shiori was probably because of Shiori’s usual clothing choices. However, this person’s tone was different, as was her voice. The length of her hair was different too. And although her face bore a striking resemblance to Shiori, it too was different. Her overall vibe seemed much younger.

          “Who…are you?” Kuma-san asked, now on his guard.

          Shiori plucked the hems of her skirt and bowed, admitting a shocking truth. “I am Sago Rin, daughter of Sago Kinemitsu and Sago Shiori. I have come from the future to stop the end of the world.”

Introducing the main character of this arc!

Name: Sago Rin

Age: ???

Description: She’s cute!

That’s all!

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Footnotes

Wow, such empty.