Published at 17th of August 2019 9:11 am

Volume 18, Chapter 5: Gathering

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Part 1

Monday, September 13

Having found Maki covered in wounds, Koutarou and Yurika rushed her back to room 106. They had to get her treated as quickly as possible, but there was also something else they had to do. And that was to have an emergency meeting deciding on a plan on how to go ahead.

With Maki's testament, it became apparent that Darkness Rainbow had appeared in Kitsushouharukaze city again. There was no longer any doubt that they were behind the kidnappings. Continuing a vague search in this kind of situation was extremely dangerous. They needed to all gather and decide on a plan.

“...First thing we need to think of is what Darkness Rainbow's objective is”

The meeting began once everyone had gathered by the tea table. Kiriha was the first to start the discussion. Darkness Rainbow had some kind of objective, and the children had been kidnapped for that purpose. That's why if they didn't know what Darkness Rainbow was after, they might inadvertently do something that would create an irreparable situation. They had to keep Darkness Rainbow's objective in mind at all times.

“Hey Yurika, what are those Darkness whatever after?”

Sanae turned to Yurika, she wanted to hear the professional's opinion on this.

“Darkness Rainbow are after the magical power gathered in room 106”

Yurika couldn't treat this as someone else's problem. She fluently answered the question with a serious expression. That was the kind of Yurika that Koutarou hated.

“Yurika-chan, I don't get that part... what are they going to do with the magical power?”

Shizuka asked as she wrapped Maki in bandages. Maki's treatment was mostly over, and her body was covered in bandages. However, her complexion looked good, she would recover shortly.

“Well, Darkness Rainbow wants to freely use magic, that's why they don't get along with the kingdom government who says that magic shouldn't be misused”

The magical kingdom of Folsaria had restricted the use of magic to prevent the mistakes of the past from repeating. However, Darkness Rainbow insisted that magic was one's own power and that restricting it was strange, and got into conflict with the kingdom.

“So, they want to overthrow the nation?”

“In the worst case scenario, yes. Darkness Rainbow aren't thinking about taking over the nation, but they want to eliminate those who restrict magic. Since it's the country doing it, if the conflict intensified, then their objective would be to overthrow the nation”

“More accurately, I think the battle to overthrow the nation has already begun. When I was in Darkness Rainbow, they were already preparing for the decisive battle”

Maki added in on Yurika's explanation. She had been one of the leaders for Darkness Rainbow, so she was well versed in this.

“The reason I aimed for room 106 was to gather more war potential in preparations for our battle with Rainbow Heart, Folsaria's army”

In order to fight against the magical kingdom of Folsaria, Darkness Rainbow started by gathering powerful magical tools. Part of the reason why was because Darkness Rainbow was smaller than Folsaria's Rainbow Heart. If they fought up front, their defeat was inevitable. There, Darkness Rainbow sought to turn the table with the powerful artifacts. This was the same way as terrorists and guerilla trying to turn the tables with new weapons or chemical weapons. They were trying to make up for their fewer numbers with more powerful weapons.

“Since Folsaria knows that too, magicians like me have been getting in the way all this time”

Knowing that if they let this be, a battle would eventually erupt, the Folsaria side couldn't stay quiet. Those who mastered magic in Rainbow Heart were given the title of Rainbow. Currently, there were seven who held that title. Up until now, Rainbow Heart had been sending out those seven to get in the way of Darkness Rainbow. Yurika was one of them, and she had gotten in the way of Darkness Rainbow claiming the magical power in room 106 for over a year.

“So because they desired freedom, Darkness Rainbow ended up becoming an anti-government faction... no wonder they got along so well with our radical faction”

Kiriha wrapped up the discussion. While Darkness Rainbow and the People of the Earth's radical faction had a different process and purpose, they shared the point of being hostile towards the current structure. It wasn't that uncommon to see two factions working together until they destroyed the existing structure in Earth's history.

Kiriha's interpretation had been correct, but it was still missing some important elements. So Maki told the group about what she knew.

“Strictly speaking, the first spark was an internal conflict within Rainbow Heart when discussing if they should try returning to their old home or not. Darkness Rainbow was formed by the people who rebelled against the kingdom's policy. Darkness Rainbow was originally part of Rainbow Heart”

“Such a thing happened... so there are some complex circumstances”

Koutarou was surprised by Maki's words. He had only believed that Darkness Rainbow was a gathering of evil magical girls. But thinking about it calmly, he realized that this wasn't an anime or a manga, there was no way that it would be that simple. It was only proper that both sides had their circumstances and objectives.

“The magical kingdom of Folsaria was made by people who were exiled after making a large mistake several hundreds of years ago. That's why they chose to adhere to their punishment and not try returning”

Folsaria was a kingdom with a king. The reason for that was because they had rebelled against the king in the past, hunting for wealth and power. As a result, they were exiled. As proof of their regret, the Folsarians created a kingdom with a king. For the same reason, they didn't try to return to their true home from their place of exile.

“But those who would go on to form Darkness Rainbow couldn't accept that. They couldn't stand to be confined within the small borders of Folsaria for a sin they didn't commit”

However, after some generations of Folsarians passed, the memory of the sin and punishment weakened within the people, and a huge discussion took place within Folsaria.

At that time, the magical kingdom of Folsaria had a lot of problems. The country was very small, which caused all kinds of problems to appear as the population increased. There was insufficient food and dwellings, and a wide difference in the rich and poor appeared. The polluted area increased and the country was tilting.

That was when a group of people who insisted that they concentrate their magic and return to their true home in order to overcome the crisis. Several generations had already passed, and those who had committed the sin were long gone. The group exclaimed that they should just return to their home and ask for help.

Of course, many agreed with this, especially with the poorest of the population, and before long a second discussion split the country in two.

”But in the end they couldn't change the country's policy. That's why they used their own magic in an attempt to return to their true home”

Instead of resolving the problem themselves, by expanding their influence outwards in search of wealth and authority they would only repeat the same mistakes of the past. That's why the magical kingdom of Folsarian determined that even if they were to try to return to their true home, they would have to resolve all of their problems themselves or they would not be able to redeem themselves from their past sins.

Justice could be found in this conclusion. That's why the emotional Folsaria citizens could calm down and begin working to improve the country with their own strength. With the controversy over, the citizens were implanted with a desire to improve their country.

Thus the rioting was quelled but a portion of people still weren't satisfied. They left Folsaria and began taking independent action under the name of Darkness Rainbow. There was but one goal. To concentrate their magic and return to their true home.

“So that's why Folsaria forbade the private use of magic”

”Yes. At first it was just to stop people from returning. However, because of that Darkness Rainbow became even more extreme and private use of magic was completely prohibited”

“But they went against that”

“Yes, they just couldn't give up”

At first, Darkness Rainbow simply acted to return to their true home. However, with Folsaria forbidding their activities, they armed themselves and continued by force. The confrontation between the two continued to intensify until they were finally at war.

“However, the intensification of the battles weakened their sense of purpose. And many joined for other reasons... just like me...”

In order to make up for their lack of combat potential, Darkness Rainbow began recruiting under the purpose of free use of magic. As a result, their sense of purpose for their original objective to return to their true home was weakened, and the darker side of the organization, to freely use magic to fulfill your own ambitions, was strengthened.

“The current Darkness Rainbow are just the ruins of their past ideal and dreams. They've lost their purpose and taken the wrong path, leaving only a shell of an organization. Our enemy are the seven... no, six, magical girls who represent that organization”

The current Darkness Rainbow had forgotten about their original objective. However, they continued under the purpose of allowing free use of magic. For that sake, they sought to overthrow the Folsarian government.

“You guys have a surprisingly heavy standpoint”

”Sanae-chan... I was recruited on the spot, so I didn't really understand. But that's a really complex standpoint huh...”

”Follow my directions and follow them well”

”Yes, I'll do my best”

Like that, Koutarou and the others began understanding Darkness Rainbow and their goal, and that was a hint at what the magical girls from Darkness Rainbow were doing.

“In that case, then their target is without a doubt the magical power in this room. They're gathering power to overthrow Folsaria after all”

That was the conclusion Koutarou reached. In preparation for their decisive battle, Darkness Rainbow was trying to steal the magical power pooled in room 106. Everything made sense if one imagined that they kidnapped the children as a means to obtain it.

“Koutarou, I think the situation is a little more serious”

”What do you mean?”

“They're using something that stands out like serial kidnapping. They are probably going to challenge Rainbow Heart to the decisive battle after this mission is over”

Kiriha felt that this situation was more serious than Koutarou thought it was. Up until now, the magicians had been keeping low in order not to stand out. They left no clues behind, if possible, erased the memories of those involved and cast a ward to keep people away. Their stance was that 'magicians don't exist'.

However, this time things were different. They had chosen to kidnap several children, something that horribly stood out. This would create a major incident, and a detailed investigation by the police would be performed, making it harder for Darkness Rainbow to act in this town in the future.

The only way they would chose to do something like that was if they were never going to make a move in this city again. In other words, it was likely that the decisive battle with Rainbow Heart was close.

“Looking at it from a strategical level, the even more troublesome part is that the enemy doesn't seem to have taken the outcome here into consideration”

Theia folded her arms with a strict expression. In the eyes of a genius at battle, there was also a different problem.

“They haven't taken the outcome into consideration? You mean they don't need to win against us?”

“That's right. Since there's no strategy that can guarantee victory 100%, any commander usually thinks of the scenario of what to do when they lose. In that case, the serial kidnapping becomes a problem”

”I see! Since they've been doing kidnappings, they can't retry this battle!”

If they raised the entire cities level of alert, they wouldn't be able to fully deceive the locals, even with magic. Even if they erased the memories of the witnesses, if people with memory loss showed up frequently, they would eventually have some kind of suspicion directed their way.

“Yes, in other words, the enemy should be thinking of it like this. There's no need to make any more moves in this city. It doesn't matter if we lose”

This idea derived by Kiriha and Theia would become a very important guideline when deciding on their policy. However, there was still one problem with this way of thinking. Having noticed that, Harumi raised her hand, asking for permission to speak.

“Please wait, Theiamillis-san. Weren't Darkness Rainbow targeting room 106 so they could fight against Rainbow Heart?”

“That's right. They're surely hoping everything goes well here”

”They don't have to steal it?”

“They already have a replacement after all. There's no need to be so persistent with this place”

”A replacement?”

Since it didn't make sense to Harumi, she tilted her head in confusion. There, Clan adjusted her glasses and explained it to her.

“Harumi, the underground's radical faction shared spiritual energy technology with them”

“Ah”

Harumi's eyes opened wide. She had finally understood what Darkness Rainbow was thinking.

“The magicians should have obtained the technology to use spiritual energy, and weaponry made using that. They are most likely planning on using that to make up for their lack of numbers”

Clan shrugged, as if saying that the situation was bad.

“Hey, Theia-chan, I don't really get it but...”

Next, Shizuka raised her hand. She understood what Darkness Rainbow was thinking, but that confused her even more.

“If they think it's fine to lose, why even bother attacking? Can't they just leave us be?”

Shizuka wondered why Darkness Rainbow would attack even though they had gotten what they needed from the radical faction. If they have enough combat potential, there should be no point in attacking room 106.

“Thinking about it normally, it could be a diversion or they're trying to buy time. Kiriha, what do you think?”

“Maybe while Darkness Rainbow attacks room 106, Maya and Elexis scheme in the background?”

“Now that you mention it, Maya and Elexis vanished before the battle underground was settled, Your Highness”

“That's ominous. Those two might do something unpredictable”

Maya and Elexis were ominous existences for Koutarou and the others. While it looked like they were working with the underground radical faction and Darkness Rainbow at first glance, their true goal was uncertain. Elexis was especially ominous, and nobody knew what exactly he was up to. As a result, Koutarou and the others had to constantly worry about something happening in the background, and what Maya and Elexis were doing. Koutarou and the others instinctively fell silent and found themselves asking a question without answer.

“...Nothing will start from thinking about those wicked two. Let's limit ourselves to Darkness Rainbow”

The meeting had fallen silent, so Clan tried to put the discussion around those two on hold for now and return the topic to Darkness Rainbow.

“That sounds convincing considering you're used to be even more wicked”

Koutarou laughed as he poked fun at Clan. In response, she angrily furrowed her brows.

“Bertorion!! Why are you always only mean to me!? Why can't you be kinder to me like you are with all the others!?”

Clan spoke in a strong tone, as if she was about to bite Koutarou. However, Koutarou didn't flinch in front of her, and instead laughed as always.

“That wasn't being mean. I said 'used to be'”

“Ugh... a-ahem, leaving that aside. Back to Darkness Rainbow!”

“Yes, Darkness Rainbow”

“...U-Ugh...”

“By the way, that was being mean”

”I get that!!”

Koutarou's and Clan's casual conversation brought a cheerful tone back to everyone's voices. The stiff atmosphere that had come from discussing Maya and Elexis had been completely blown away. Kiriha seemed the most amused by Koutarou and Clan, but laughing for a moment she returned to her serious expression.

“Now then, if we are to total everything up, Darkness Rainbow is planning on attacking room 106, but don't attach much importance to it. They are hoping to claim the magical power if all goes well, but it is most likely a feint or a ploy to buy time. Therefore, the chances of them running away when the time comes is high. They can't lose talent that would have adverse effects on the decisive battle that is to come from this”

Darkness Rainbow would like to feint their enemy or buy time without any losses. That being the case, the entire operation would be very defensive, and they would be prepared to retreat should the time come.

“Escaping, huh... in an anime or something, there would be a secret base in a mountain, and they would have a secret passage or a helicopter for escape ready”

Listening to Kiriha, Sanae didn't think too much about it and displayed the knowledge she had gotten from watching anime. Normally someone would get angry at her and tell her to take it seriously, but they were going up against a group of magical girls. What Sanae had said wasn't impossible.

“Now that I think about it... Nana-san told me something. A ritual that uses ten children would require a really large indoor space”

Yurika added another condition on the board. When it came to ritual magic, the scale of the spell, the size of the magic circle and the required energy was proportionally related. As a result, if the ten missing children were going to be used as energy, they would need an equally large area.

“So that means that they might be in the mountains like Sanae-sama said. There's no area that wide in the urban area after all”

Ruth formed that conclusion as she brought up the map on her bracelet. The magic circle Maya had used eleven years ago had been the size of a parking lot. Since that was a magic circle for one, the size for ten should be on the level of a gym, even when accounting for improvements in techniques. Occupying a facility like that in town would be difficult, and as such, they should be in a more secluded area.

“Abandoned commercial facilities and unused tunnels in the mountains would be good candidates”

“I met with Crimson at the edge of town, so there's a good chance of that”

Maki had met Crimson at the edge of town as she was chasing after the missing children. Thinking of why Crimson would be there, it was likely that the ritual was going to take place in a facility nearby.

“Alright Ruth. Gather up those candidates”

”As you wish, my princess”

Ruth didn't just use her map data, but also the Blue Knight's unmanned scouts to narrow down the potential candidates of the ritual site. As they waited for the results, Shizuka asked something that had been on her mind this entire time.

“By the way, what kind of ritual is it?”

She was wondering about the ritual itself. It seemed pretty clear that Darkness Rainbow would use a ritual but she had no idea what they would use it for. Shizuka was a complete amateur when it came to magic, and she couldn't even imagine it.

“I believe they will either attack us with it, create weapons or summon demons”

Being an expert, Maki came up with three possible uses. Eleven years ago, Maya had done so to accumulate magic, but it was hard to imagine that Darkness Rainbow would do that with all ten children.

“Are you sure?”

”Yes”

Koutarou made sure with Maki and she responded with a serious nod. Her expression made Koutarou feel sad and restless.

“...That's what I would have done”

Maki had once been part of Darkness Rainbow, that's why she knew how they acted, and could imagine what they'd do. While she hadn't used humans as an energy source, she had used ritual magic herself. Something she regretted now.

Part 2

Koutarou's and the others imagination had been spot on. Darkness Rainbow was trying to use their ritual in the large basement of an abandoned mansion on the edge of the city. Darkness Rainbow had erased the memories of many building owners, and this was one of them.

“...Blue-san, how is it going?”

”It's activating properly. It's rapidly absorbing the life force from the flowers”

After seeing Crimson, who had gone to save Maki, off, Dark Green and Dark Blue continued their work on the magic circle. Just a while ago it had been completed and the two were currently testing it. They left a bouquet in the center of the circle and activated the ritual, and the flowers wilted before them. The life force and spiritual energy was being deprived of them by the spell.

“The spiritual energy capacity is functioning normally, same with the converter. There are no problems”

“That's good. Then we can go ahead as planned”

In a few seconds the bouquet had completely wilted away, turning into dried flowers. The ten children would be drained the same way and be used as an energy source for the ritual.

“It's still too early to be relieved. This is where you come in”

”That's right. I'll do my best”

Why had Crimson and Green taken Blue with them? The answer was in the type of magic that Blue specialized in. She was skilled at summoning magic. Using magical power to bend space-time, summon objects and creatures from afar, or sending them away. The large-scale ritual they were going to cast was actually a summoning spell.

Koutarou and the others were strong. However, they had one obvious weak spot. That was that there were only nine of them. Even if they used their captive Maki as well, that was still just ten. If they attacked more than ten places, they wouldn't be able to cover them all. For that sake, they had to summon ten demons, and that's why they had kidnapped ten children. While Koutarou and the others were dealing with the demons, they could carefreely go and occupy room 106 and its magical power.

“I'll bring the children over. Blue-san, you begin on preparations please”

”I understand. I'll leave the children to you”

The ritual should take about three hours. Since this was a ritual that took a lot of time, various preparations were necessary. Not only did tools need to be prepared, but since they couldn't eat or drink for three hours, they'd need to do so beforehand. Since this took a lot of time and physical strength, it was a difficult role.

“Oh?”

Green was headed towards the corner where the children had been caged, but she stopped halfway there and looked at the passage that lead to the surface.

“What is it?”

”It looks like Crimson is back”

Being specialized in fortune telling, Green wasn't just good at future forecasts, but at information gathering as well. She had cast a surveillance network on the entire building, and she could detect anyone approaching. That surveillance network had caught Crimson.

“But that's strange. She's walking so slowly...”

Eventually Crimson got close enough to not only be sensed, but to be visualized as well. In that moment, Green's expression completely changed.

“Oh no, Crimson is badly hurt!! Blue-san, you come too!!”

”Yes!!”

The two were supposed to continue their ritual spell, but upon learning that Crimson was hurt, they stopped their preparations and headed towards Crimson.

Part 3

Because Crimson had been caught up in an explosion spell, she looked a lot more hurt than she was. As a result, once Blue used the magical power she got from draining the life of the bouquet to heal Crimson, she could move like normal.

“Thanks, Blue. I'd never been able to hold my head up high again if I'd been forced to retire before the operation even began because of my own spell”

“Your own spell!? You mean you used your Explosion spell on yourself!?”

“Crimson what happened? What about Navy-san?”

Crimson had left to save Navy, and now she came back injured and alone. Moreover, she had used her Explosion in a way that it hit her as well. Blue and Green had no idea what had happened.

“...I fought against Maki”

”With Navy-san!? Why!?”

“Maki has been completely brainwashed by those guys. So when I went over to save her, she attacked me. It was a trap”

“Brainwash... that Navy-san was...”

“I've known Maki for a long time, so I want to save her, but... I imagine it would be hard right now”

“Then why did you use Explosion on yourself?”

”Maki wiped out my memory and I used Explosion again at a weird timing. As a result it ended in a draw”

Crimson explained the circumstances to Green and Blue. However, it wasn't the truth. She didn't tell the two that Maki had betrayed Darkness Rainbow out of her own volition. If she did, Maki would be targeted as a traitor, and Crimson wanted to avoid that.

Maki, it seems like I have a surprisingly sentimental side of me...

Crimson was surprised by the fact that she hid the truth. When it came down to it, Maki's feelings of friendship, and her own feelings of wanting to fight again made her hide the facts. In other words, it meant that she wanted to meet with Maki again. However, Crimson didn't notice her own true feelings.

“At any rate, we can consider Maki to be one of the enemy magicians. If needed I will kill her”

“I'll leave that to you, Crimson”

”Green, any corrections to the plan?”

“None. I already anticipated the worst case scenario, with Navy-san being brainwashed, when I made this plan”

“Okay, then I'll return to work”

”Please do”

“...”

Crimson felt relief that the two had reacted like she expected, but she felt a little dissatisfied that neither of them held any sentiment for Maki, and she faintly imagined that this might have been why she left the organization.

Part 4

While Crimson's wounds had been healed, it hadn't restored her stamina or fixed her clothes. After taking a shower and changing clothes, she took a break to have dinner in one of the small rooms. During that time, she thought of Maki. She was happy that she had been able to fight a stronger Maki, but now that it was over she felt somewhat sad. She was now deep in thoughts as to why, but it wasn't going well. As a result, she couldn't even properly remember much of Kiriha and Koutarou whom she had been so fixated on.

As Crimson was in the middle of eating, a voice suddenly came from behind her.

“What, for someone that was hurt you seem awfully energetic”

When she turned around, she saw a girl wearing a darkened orange outfit staring at her. She was Dark Orange. She was a so called modern girl, and had the most innocent personality in Darkness Rainbow. That said, she was the most aggressive amongst them when it came to things she didn't like. Maki had called Orange a kid, and Crimson agreed.

“Orange... and Purple and Yellow too...”

“I'm glad your injuries were light”

”You think you'll be able to participate?”

Behind Orange were girls dressed in purple and yellow outfits respectively. They were Dark Purple and Dark Yellow. Purple's mental age was high and she was Darkness Rainbow's mediator. In contrast to her cute appearance, Yellow was the biggest bonehead in the organization. Once she had decided on something she refused to change her mind.

“If you're all here, that means it's time already?”

According to schedule, the three of them would show up just before the ritual summoning took place. With them appearing it meant that a lot of time had passed when Crimson was deep in thought. However, Purple shook her head.

“There's still a little more time. We came early just in case after we heard that you had been hurt”

However there was still two hours and a half before the ritual would activate. Purple had decided to show up early because she believed they should raise their level of alert since Crimson had fought against Maki. It meant that the ritual site might be found sooner than expected.

“We don't want the enemy interfering with the ritual so we've come”

”You just rest easy, Crim-chan. If the enemy really do show up you'll get your time to shine”

Purple had brought Yellow and Orange with her so the three of them could run interference. Since Maki could report her encounter with Crimson to Rainbow Heart, Purple decided that they should move swiftly to keep the ritual from being ruined.

“Purple, what did Green say?”

”She said around 20%”

Those 20% were the chances of Rainbow Heart appearing in the basement earlier than expected. This was something that Green had forecasted.

“20%... which means I can't stay so carefree”

The figure 20% meant that Rainbow Heart would show up in one out of five of all possible futures. Adding in other accidents, the probability of trouble increased even more. So it's no wonder why Purple had hurried.

“Anyways, leave this to us while you rest up. That is your job for now, Crimson”

“Okay. I'll leave it to you, Purple”

“Good. Then this might be sudden, but we're leaving”

”See you”

“Let's meet later”

The three left Crimson behind in the room.

“So the fighting will start soon... fufu”

Crimson had been lost in thought before the three appeared, but now she was dancing as she thought of her next battle. While she wouldn't deny her sentimental feelings, fighting was everything to her. That's why she couldn't hold hands with Maki. It was unfortunate for Maki that Crimson was a prodigy at fighting.

Part 5

Koutarou and the others adhered to the policy they decided on during their meeting and searched for the kidnapped children. They had two leads to assist in their search. The ritual required a large space, and the place where Maki had run into Crimson.

There were many large buildings that had been constructed during the economic growth bubble in Kitsushouharukaze city, which had been abandoned during the recession after the bubble burst. Two such buildings existed in the outskirts of the city where Maki had encountered Crimson.

The first was a closed down shopping mall. Construction had begun relying on an expressway being built and open to public, but once the bubble burst the plans for the expressway were reconsidered. However since construction on the mall had already begun, plans could not be reconsidered and the mall was opened for business. However, without the expressway the mall was in an inconvenient place, and once the opening hype died down, management failed within a few years. As a result, only the shell of a concrete building built to last a hundred years remained.

The second was a resort hotel. This opened during the economic growth bubble, and the building was already over 50 years old. However, while it had been the largest facility when it opened for business, it was now an ordinary size, and combined with the aging building, the number of guests steadily dropped over the years, and it finally closed down a few years ago.

Both the shopping mall and resort hotel had large spaces which were perfect for ritual magic. However, they didn't have the time to search each place in turn. So Koutarou and the others split into two teams of five.

Yurika and Maki took the lead of one team each. Since this was a magic related incident, it was only natural for these two, well versed in magic, to take the lead. Yurika's team consisted of Harumi, Kiriha, Shizuka and Clan. While Maki had Koutarou, Sanae, Theia and Ruth. The teams had been split up with a good balance in mind.

If there was any problems with this plan it was that there would be no one defending room 106, but since children's' lives were at stake, stopping the ritual was the top priority, moreover, Darkness Rainbow should be waiting for the ritual to complete before they attack. It would also take some time to control the magical power in room 106. So leaving Kiriha's subordinates and unmanned fighters from the Blue Knight was deemed to be good enough. It wouldn't be that hard for Koutarou and the others to get back to room 106 before control of the magical power was seized. Right now, taking a few risks was worth it to save the lives of the children.

Part 6

Tension was high before they departed. The most nervous one amongst them was Yurika. While she had been a leader in a battle before, this was the first time in real command. It was a completely different situation from doing what she had been told like before.

“Sanae-chan, do you think I'll be good enough as the commander?”

Anxious, Yurika asked Sanae, whom she spent a lot of time together with, for her opinion. If possible, she wanted Sanae to object so she could trade places with someone else.

“I'm sure you'll be fine”

However, betraying her hopes, Sanae agreed with Yurika being the leader.

“I don't believe it”

“It'll all work out”

Being bad at explaining, Sanae didn't say why she agreed, but she had a proper reason for it. Sanae had only been able to return to her body because of Yurika's desperate struggles. She had no reason not to trust Yurika. While Yurika was normally useless, she was someone that pulled through when she had to, and Sanae knew that.

“That's so irresponsible”

”You don't have to worry. Harumi and Kiriha are with you for that sake. If you don't get something then you can think of them as me and rely on them”

”Okay, I'll try my best!”

”Yes, very good”

In the end, Yurika decided doing her best at being a leader. Her sense of duty towards combating Darkness Rainbow was strong, even more so with Nana here. Because of that, her resolution came faster than normal.

“...It looks like that side will be fine”

Koutarou had been the one to push for Yurika as leader. He had been a little uneasy but Yurika was awfully reliable in situations like this. If she was surrounded with people that can follow up for her, results should automatically follow.

“Satomi-kun, I'm no Yurika, but... are you fine with us as leaders?”

Unlike Koutarou who seemed satisfied, Maki was somewhat hesitant. She didn't think she was suitable as a leader either, but for a different reason from Yurika's.

“Why do you think that?”

“I am part of your band of knights. My life is in your hands. That's why you should be the one in command, Satomi-kun”

Maki spoke to Koutarou with her hand on her chest. She had absolute faith in him. If he ordered her, she would tear her own heart out of her chest and give it to him.

“If you say your life is mine, I should be allowed to do as I please right? You'll be fine as the leader, Aika-san. We need to hurry”

If Koutarou was the leader, he would constantly need to check with Maki, which would delay everything. Letting Maki and Yurika be leaders would allow them to omit a lot of explanations.

“But I used to be your enemy, Satomi-kun! I'm not suitable to take command in this kind of situation”

Everyone knew that Maki used to be part of Darkness Rainbow. Letting someone that used to be your enemy lead you was something that normally never happened. It would affect the morale of the troops, and there were big problems when it came to reliability. However, Theia who was listening in smiled wryly.

“Maki, if you'll go by that logic, nobody here is worthy of taking command. Or would you rather Harumi and Shizuka do it?”

Out of the nine girls here, only a minority haven't been hostile towards Koutarou. Apart from Harumi and Shizuka, everyone else had more or less been enemies. Therefore, no one but Harumi and Shizuka would be allowed to command. However, it was quite clear that neither of them were suited for it. It was unrealistic.

“That's...”

“It's the other way around, Theia, Aika-san”

However, Koutarou shook his head with a slight wry smile.

“Eh?”

“What do you mean?”

“...Fighting doesn't suit anyone of you. If it wasn't an emergency, I wouldn't want anyone of you being a commander. It'll always be a last resort”

Everyone were the same to Koutarou. But they were in a situation where every second mattered, and knowledge of magic was necessary. As always, Koutarou didn't want to let anyone fight.

“Besides, I believe in Aika-san who prays that my future is a happy one”

On the day that Maki annulled the magical bond with Koutarou, she had said that and decided to walk alongside Koutarou, casting aside her lonely life. Koutarou believed in the words and smile Maki had shown that day. He believed that she would always be on his side.

“...I am always praying, that you, and the many around you will have a happy future...”

Maki knew that many people would be needed for Koutarou to be happy. Starting with Kenji and his classmates, the people in the shopping district and of course their children. In order for humans to live happily they mutually required many people. That's why Maki prayed not just for Koutarou's future, but for many others as well.

“What, then there's no problem at all”

Seeing Maki's reaction, Theia blinked repeatedly. She couldn't understand the reason why Maki was worried.

“Don't say that, Theia. Aika-san hasn't spent a year and a half fooling around with us like you”

“Then it's only a matter of time”

“That's about right”

Based on Koutarou's and Theia's words and behavior, Maki finally realized that the people around her prayed just like her. And because of that she was being accepted.

“Satomi-kun, Theia-san... thank you for believing in me”

She was so happy tears were overflowing, but now was the time to depart for battle. Maki endured those feelings and tightly grasped her cane.

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