Justice of the Hero Killer: The Unyielding Reason of the One Called the Last Boss - Malicious Broadcast

The slanting light of evening fell across the ruins of the old city district. Collapsed slabs of concrete cast long shadows, and at the far end of one such shadow, Inami Rai sat huddled with his arms wrapped around his knees. The wall against his back was cold, and flakes of paint peeling from its cracked surface drifted down whenever the wind blew. His right arm ached. To be precise, it was the Plana Shackle fitted around his right arm. That silver clamp Haitani Yuri had left behind in her final act bit into his skin, sealing away Rai's Gear. He couldn't use his Machina Link. He couldn't connect to machines. For Rai, it was the equivalent of having his eyes gouged out, his ears plugged, his tongue torn away. "……Damn it." His voice was hoarse, squeezed from a dry throat. How long had it been since he'd lost the Hollow Base? He couldn't say for certain. The wound in his stomach was beginning to close, but his right arm still hung heavy as lead, and he couldn't put strength into his fingertips. Far away, he heard the sound of wind rushing through the canyons between buildings. Beyond the ruins, a massive display screen facing the main avenue that separated the old city from the new glowed pale blue in the deepening dusk. Rai lifted his head and stared at that light, unfocused. That was when it happened. The screen's image suddenly switched. A voice he recognized echoed through the city. "Everyone, I apologize for the disturbance. This is Himeno Kanna, head of Apex Public Relations." Rai felt the blood drain from his entire body. On the screen, Himeno Kanna smoothed back her deep purple bob, the gold streak on the left side glittering under the lights. Her honey-colored eyes were narrowed softly, and a perfect smile rested on her lips. She adjusted the position of her ring as if to hide the old scar running across the back of her left hand from the camera's view. He had the illusion that the scent of lilies was drifting through the screen itself. "Today, we are holding an emergency press conference regarding the attack on Ark City by the terrorist organization Vice." Rai stood up. His legs wavered. He braced a hand against the wall, barely managing to support himself. The screen changed. What appeared there was, unmistakably, Rai himself. The abandoned factory. Dread strung up. The mechanical weapon in Rai's hand. The footage from that night, when Rai had passed judgment on the former B-rank hero, was being broadcast. But something was wrong. The footage had been edited. Only the moment when Rai destroyed Dread's Gear activation organ was replayed, over and over, from different angles, zoomed in. Rai's face was not mosaiced. His expression was shown clearly. A face twisted with rage, yet appearing to smile. His hands tearing apart the body of an unresisting man. "This is a record of the atrocities committed by Vice's leader, former A-rank hero Inami Rai." Himeno's voice continued to flow from the screen. "He was originally a pleasure killer who indiscriminately harmed people behind the scenes while posing as a hero. His activity records from his hero days have been confirmed to be entirely fabricated. Today, Apex will release his past criminal history." Rai's face filled the screen in close-up. A red X was superimposed over it. "WANTED — Leader of the indiscriminate terrorist organization Vice — Inami Rai — Dead or Alive" "Citizens, please rest assured. Apex will certainly capture this heinous terrorist and deliver righteous judgment. We will protect your safety." Rai stared at the screen. His fingertips trembled. No. No, no, no. That footage had been cut. What Dread had done, why Rai had judged him — all of it had been erased. The citizens Rai had tried to protect. The corruption he had tried to destroy. All of it had been made to never have existed. People passed beneath the screen. Someone looked up at it and said: "That guy really was a demon after all." "Heroes are all like that behind the scenes." "Hurry up and catch him and execute him. With someone like that around, we can't even let our kids play outside." Rai heard those voices. He heard them clearly. The people he had tried to protect were calling him a demon. Without even knowing the corruption he had tried to destroy. Believing he was trying to take away the everyday lives he had wanted to protect. "……No." The word came out. "……That's not it…… that's not it……!" No one was listening. The screen continued to display his face and the red X, and people walked on past. Rai could only stare at the reality of his own face exposed across the entire city. Something hot surged up from the pit of his stomach. Rai braced a hand against the wall and doubled over. He vomited. Liquid mixed with stomach acid and blood spread across the cracked asphalt. The sour smell stung his nose, and his throat burned with pain. His stomach spasmed again and again. Tears blurred his vision. "……I just wanted to protect people." His hoarse voice was swallowed by the walls of the ruins. No one answered. --- Around that time, a young man stood at the back entrance of the Elcure Center, a rehabilitation facility in the commercial district. Kukuchi Rei had pulled the hood of his black parka low over his face, and with his pale blue eyes he was checking the positions of the facility's surveillance cameras. As always, he chewed gum in his mouth. The habit of snapping his fingers against the air when nervous was surfacing unconsciously even now. "……Well, then." He took a small terminal from his pocket. The screen displayed a floor plan of the Elcure Center and a diagram of its security system. This facility housed Apex's medical high-frequency device. The device, which applied Plana engineering, could identify the resonant frequency of a Plana Shackle attached to a Gear-awakened person's body and non-invasively destroy the metal fitting. It was lent out as rehabilitation equipment for ordinary citizens, but in reality, it was one of the special medical devices managed by Apex. Rei had decided to infiltrate this facility alone, in order to remove the Plana Shackle binding Rai's right arm. "I'm pretty much an idiot too, aren't I." Rei muttered quietly. He had believed Rai was a true hero. A legendary A-rank hero he'd only known from textbooks. That man was now sealed in his right arm, hiding among the rubble. Haitani Yuri's face surfaced in Rei's mind. She had betrayed Rai. Betrayed Vice. And Rei himself had been carried along by her sweet words and leaked information. "……So I have no choice but to do it myself." Rei operated the terminal, feeding a disguised signal for drone analysis into the facility's surveillance system. A few seconds later, the camera feeds entered a loop. He held his hand over the electronic lock at the back entrance and input the decrypted passcode. Click. The door opened. Rei slipped inside without a sound. The corridor was dim, and the smell of disinfectant hung in the air. He moved along the wall, heading for the target room. Along the way, he heard a guard's footsteps. Rei hid in the shadows and held his breath. He waited for the guard to pass, then moved again. "……This is it." He arrived in front of the target room. The door read "High-Frequency Treatment Room." Rei unlocked the electronic lock with his terminal and entered. In the center of the room stood a white medical high-frequency device. Rei approached it without hesitation and began disassembling it. His fingertips moved with precision, unaffected by his tension. The skills he'd cultivated building his own drones were put to use here. "……With this, senpai's arm will—" Rei placed the device's core components into a special case. That was when it happened. An alarm blared through the facility. "Intruder confirmed! Suspicious person in the Elcure Center! I repeat, intruder confirmed!" Rei clicked his tongue. "Shit…… they made me." He clutched the case and leapt out through a window. He broke into a run the moment he landed. Behind him, the guards' shouts and footsteps closed in. And beyond that, he could see the silhouette of an armored vehicle. Apex had mobilized its security forces. The talk about them preparing to capture Vice members had apparently been true. "……Bring it on." Rei pulled two small drones from his pocket. His eyes gleamed with unnatural sharpness in the dim alley. "I'm going to fix senpai's arm. That's all." Rei activated the drones. One laid a smoke screen at the feet of the pursuing guards. The other flew in a straight line toward the windshield of the armored vehicle. "……Blast off." The moment Rei operated the terminal, the drone exploded. A roar. The armored vehicle flipped onto its side. Pushed forward by the blast, Rei ran off toward the old city district. --- Night covered the old city. Rai sat against the wall in a room of a crumbling building. From vomiting so much, his stomach was empty and his throat raw. The taste of blood still lingered in his mouth. When he closed his eyes, images surfaced. The faces of the twelve comrades who had died at the Hollow Base. The burned-out central sector. The assassination unit Deadline led by Scion. Members fleeing in panic. And himself, his right arm sealed, unable to do anything. "……I'm sorry." Rai apologized to no one in particular. There was no reply. Instead, he heard the sound of wind blowing through. And on that wind, he thought he heard voices. "Leader, run." "We believe in your justice." "Please, take care of Vice." The last words of his fallen comrades. Rai opened his eyes. No one was there. Only fragments of half-burned storage media reflected the moonlight, faintly glowing. "……I couldn't protect you." Rai looked at his right arm. The Plana Shackle bit into his skin. With this arm, with his Machina Link, he was supposed to control machines and protect his comrades. Yet now, he had lost even the strength to mourn the dead. "……I couldn't protect anything." Tears spilled over. They wouldn't stop. Rai hugged his knees and wept, killing the sound. He couldn't protect anything. Not his comrades, not justice, not even himself. "……Damn…… damn……!" He slammed his fist against the ground. Blood seeped out. Pain. But even that felt distant. How long had he cried? Suddenly, he heard footsteps. Rai looked up. A blood-soaked young man stood in the entrance. It was Kukuchi Rei. "……Senpai." Rei staggered toward Rai. His parka was torn, his face bore cuts, and his left hand was dyed crimson with blood. Even so, in his right hand he firmly gripped the special case. "……Rei." "This…… is Apex's medical high-frequency device. With this, I can remove the Plana Shackle." Rei opened the case. Inside were silver components and a small control unit. Rei began assembling the device with trembling hands. "I…… wanted to fix your arm, senpai. But I…… I was deceived by Haitani Yuri…… so at least—" Rei's voice was shaking. Rai looked at Rei's hands. Young hands, covered in wounds. "……You went alone?" "Yes. By myself. Because I can't cause you any more trouble, senpai." Rei activated the device. The high-frequency waves sought out the Plana Shackle's resonant frequency. The metal fitting began to tremble faintly. "……Here goes." Rei pressed the device's emitter against Rai's right arm. Hot. The smell of burning skin. Rai gritted his teeth. "……Ngh……!" The Plana Shackle glowed red-hot. Then, with a crack, the metal fitting shattered. Rei quickly removed the fragments and applied emergency treatment to the burned skin. "……Success. Your Gear should work now." Rai slowly opened and closed his right hand. Sensation returned to his fingertips. His Machina Link sensed the machines around him. A broken vending machine. Pipes buried underground. The terminal in Rei's hand. "……It's back." Rai murmured quietly. "Thank you, Rei." Rei smiled, looking like he was about to cry. "……I'm g

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Episode 5

Name: Justice of the Hero Killer: The Unyielding Reason of the One Called the Last Boss
Author: Novelia

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