The ground is cold. The pain of scrap shards stabbing into my knees feels distant now. "[crying]Okarun..." The tears wouldn't stop. I kept crying, killing my voice. I slammed my large, male hands against the ground. Thud! Thud! My palms split open, blood seeping out. But I couldn't feel the pain. The ache deep in my chest hurt far worse. (If only I had done things right.) (If only I had put it into words properly.) "[crying]I just wanted to protect Okarun..." That was when it happened. —This power isn't meant to make you look strong. A voice echoed in the back of my mind. Gentle, yet just a little stern. My grandmother's voice. It was the voice of Ayase Seiko. —The desire to protect someone... that's the source. Momo's tears stopped. I lifted my head. In the darkness, I stared at my own large hands. (I wanted to protect him.) Even when I yelled at Okarun, it was all because I was desperate to protect him. (That even in a man's body, I could still fight properly.) (That I could protect Okarun. I wanted to prove it.) I was frantic. Frantic, running in circles, and I ruined everything. "[serious]...I'm an idiot." Momo slowly stood up. Pain shot through my knees. But I didn't care. "[serious]Man or woman, none of that matters." Strength returned to my voice. "[excited]I am Ayase Momo! I'll fight as myself!" In that instant, the inside of my body grew hot. The spiritual power that had been misaligned until now settled perfectly into the contours of my body. It wasn't anger. It wasn't impatience. Just a single will—the desire to protect Okarun—and with that alone, the spiritual power began to obey Momo. A strong light returned to Momo's tear-soaked eyes. "[excited]This is it... this is my power!" Momo thrust both hands toward the wall of scrap directly ahead. "[excited]I wanted to protect Okarun! That's the only truth!!" Full release. —BOOOOOOOOOOM!!! The wall of scrap within a ten-meter radius blew outward as if exploding. Broken TVs, refrigerator doors, countless plastic dolls—all of it, pulverized in an instant. The shockwave reverberated through the entire labyrinth. "[surprised]Whoa!" The recoil sent Momo falling flat on my backside. And then, onto Momo's face— Smack. A flying plastic doll collided with it. "[angry]Ow... what the hell is this!?" Momo grabbed the doll and hurled it away. Behind me, the collapsed mountain of scrap crumbled with a clatter, and another doll fell onto Momo's head. Thwack. "[angry]Seriously! Why does this keep happening to me!" The moving awakening scene was ruined in an instant. Even so, Momo stands up. There's a mark on my face from where the doll hit, but I don't care at all. My eyes were already fixed only on what lay ahead. "[surprised]...What was that just now?" A different section. Jiji, twintails swaying, lifted my head in the darkness. A roaring sound had echoed from far away. "[serious]Momo's voice... that was Momo's voice." Jiji stands up. "[excited]She made a breakthrough! Aira, Shiratori, did you hear that!?" "[serious]Yes... the walls shook." Aira, with a handsome guy's face, touched the scrap wall with a long hand. A faint vibration had traveled through it. "[cold]...Momo-chan broke through, didn't she." Shiratori said it quietly. Then, I looked over the three of us. "[cold]Jiji's communication skills. Aira's charisma. My flexibility." "[surprised]Huh?" "[cold]Use all of it. We can break it from the inside." Shiratori's voice was cold as always. But with that one line, determination surfaced on Jiji and Aira's faces. "[excited]...Not bad, Shiratori!" Jiji grinned. "[excited]Don't underestimate a gyaru's body! With this figure, I can slip right into tight spaces!" Jiji slid my body into a gap in the scrap. —However. "[scared]Ah, crap—wait, I'm a little stuck—" The gyaru physique was magnificently wedged. "[laughing]What are you doing, Jiji-kun?" Aira laughed while pushing Jiji's back. "[angry]Don't laugh, push! Ngh... damn it, if this doesn't work I'll kick it down!" Jiji and Aira pushed and shoved, inching forward bit by bit. Meanwhile, Shiratori alone slipped gracefully through a narrow gap and waited beyond the wall. "[cold]...Hurry up." "[angry]You're the only one taking it easy!" The three of them broke through the wall, each using their own strengths. Jiji shook the scrap with a gyaru's loud voice, inducing collapse. Aira pushed up the ceiling beams with a handsome guy's long arms. Shiratori accurately kicked through the wall's weak points with a woman's supple body. —Crash, clatter, clatter!!! With a roar, the wall came crumbling down. And then. "Waaaaaah!!!" "Kyaaaaaah!!!" The three tumbled out from the collapsed mountain of scrap. "[surprised]Wha—!?" Momo's eyes went wide. Jiji's blonde twintails were covered in dust, Aira had a scratch on that handsome face, and Shiratori alone was calmly brushing off my hair. "[angry]Ouch ouch... what the hell, you were already here!" "[gentle]Momo-chan, are you okay...?" "[surprised]Y-you guys... how did you find this place..." That was the moment. From above the labyrinth, a roaring sound echoed. —Rumble rumble rumble rumble!!! Everyone looked up. Someone was sprinting vertically up the mountain of scrap near the ceiling. Turbo Granny's acceleration. In a feminized body, with low G acceleration—kicking off walls, kicking off footholds, heading straight for the top. And then. "[excited]Momo-chaaaaan!!" Okarun leaped down from the summit of the scrap mountain. "[scared]Y-you idiot! That's danger—" Momo shouted. At the moment of landing, Okarun's center of gravity shifted. "[scared]Ah—" Okarun stumbled. Momo instinctively stretched out both arms. —Thud. A soft impact. Okarun settled perfectly into Momo's arms. A moment of silence. Their eyes met, up close. Momo's heart thumped hard. (T-too close...!) Okarun's face turned red before my eyes. "[angry]Wha, wha, wha—" Momo hurriedly let go of Okarun. No, I tried to let go, but the strength wouldn't leave my arms properly, and it ended up looking like an embrace. "[angry]Why did you charge in alone! That's dangerous, you idiot!!" Shouting, I finally released Okarun. Okarun, with small girl's hands, gripped the hem of my own uniform tightly. "[whispers]...Because Momo-chan broke through the labyrinth for us." "[surprised]Huh?" "[serious]The ceiling got thinner... so I figured even Turbo Granny could break through." Okarun said it in a rush, looking down. "[whispers]You said I should go alone... but I also said too much... so—" "[crying]...You idiot." Momo's voice trembled. I'm not angry. I was worried. Worried, so worried I couldn't stand it. But even now, there's a part of me that can only turn that feeling into "anger." (Why can't I just be honest...!) Momo felt like crying at my own clumsiness. "[laughing]Ooh~, you two are flirting~" Jiji said it with a smirk. "[angry]We are not flirting!!" "[gentle]Fufu, both of your faces are bright red." Aira compared their two faces and smiled. "[cold]...More importantly, how many hours do you think we have left until the time limit?" With Shiratori's one line, everyone came back to their senses. That's right. This was no time for flirting. "[serious]...Let's see, it's roughly Friday dawn right now." Jiji's face turned serious. Shiratori took out a smartphone. The light from the screen illuminated all five faces in the darkness. "[cold]Friday, 4:12 AM. We received the curse around midnight last Friday, so—" "[serious]That means we have less than twenty hours left." At Aira's words, everyone's expressions tightened. Momo spread out the map I'd gotten from the old man Kuramae. A scrap of paper, dirty and tattered. But still readable. "[serious]This is where we are now. And this is the abandoned refrigerator where Pretty Marin is sleeping." Momo's finger traced across the map. "[serious]The distance is about two hundred meters." "[surprised]Two hundred!? That's quite a bit..." "[cold]The distance isn't the problem. It's that." Shiratori pointed ahead down the passage. There— Rustle rustle rustle rustle... Countless black shadows were squirming. Scrap Bugs. Ten to thirty centimeters in body length. An appearance like black beetles. Their wings of plastic shards made a dry rustling sound. "[scared]There's gotta be two hundred of them... here." Jiji's voice was strained. "[serious]A frontal assault... might be a bit too tough." Aira analyzed it calmly. That was when it happened. "[cold]...You all have your smartphones, right." Shiratori said it quietly. "[surprised]Huh? Yeah, we do... what about it?" "[cold]Flashlights. Maximum brightness. Five of them, all turned on at once." "[surprised]............Huh?" Jiji froze with my mouth open. "[serious]The Scrap Bugs' weakness is light. If we hit them with a strong light, we should be able to scatter the swarm." "[cold]The plan doesn't end there. We combine Momo's spiritual power with this light." Shiratori readied my own smartphone. "[cold]They'll hate the light and cluster up. Then we blast them away with spiritual power." Five smartphones lined up on everyone's palms. "[laughing]...Pretty plain, as far as plans go." Jiji laughed weakly. "[serious]But we've got no choice but to do it." Momo turned on my smartphone. "[excited]Here we go! Five, four, three—" Everyone held their breath. "[excited]Two, one—now!!" Flash!!! The five smartphones simultaneously released light at maximum brightness. The swarm of Scrap Bugs stirred. —Click-click-click-click!!! The black beetles all retreated at once, hating the light. "[excited]Nowaaaaaah!!!" Momo's spiritual power concentrated on a single point. There was no more misalignment. Will and power became one. —BOOOOOOOOOOM!!! A path of light opened up in a straight line. "[excited]Run!!" The five of them sprinted down the path of light at full speed. Just a little further to the abandoned refrigerator. Just before it, they could see the swarm clustered even more densely. It wasn't over yet. But— "[excited]If we have no choice but to go, then we all go together!" Momo shouted. There was no more hesitation in that voice. Beyond the night sky, the eastern horizon had begun to faintly whiten. The time limit was ticking closer, moment by moment. Even so, the five of them did not stop running.