Chapter 260 - The Hostage Is in My Hands
It seemed the han-gure group had completely lost their will to fight.Whether it was because they were terrified of my unfathomable strength, or because they didn't want to get involved with someone who kept shouting about "Mama" this and that.Probably both, but at any rate, it was certain they were entering a withdrawal mood.
Well, well, looks like that's that.
...Wait, no.Next, I have to come up with a lame excuse for Mano-chan, who's standing there dumbfounded behind me.I spun around on my heel and flashed a smile, saying, "That was just me shouting some brave lines in my local dialect."
At that moment,
Pew!
A sharp shooting sound rang out, and something grazed my cheek.
"...?"
There's no pain. It doesn't have enough power to wound my body. But that light and trajectory, I've seen them many times before.
"Attack magic...?"
I turned around slowly and saw the man who was called the leader, Yuji, extending his right hand toward me.The smoke rising from his palm looked just like a gun muzzle right after firing.
"You use this too, right? Then I'm not holding back either."
"Hoh."
"You use this too, right."From that phrasing, he probably thinks magic is some kind of doping or something.
"How did you manifest that ability?"
I walked toward Yuji with a clack, clack, letting the magic fired in rapid succession hit my body.
"Did you happen to get experience points by fighting a demi-human? Or is someone pulling the strings behind the scenes?"
"Die, die, die, die! Just die already!"
The light bullets fired with pew, pew hit my stomach and vanished as if nothing happened.From this firepower and mild homing ability, it's probably the lowest-grade light attribute spell, Light Ball.
"You're a light attribute user with that face? Doesn't suit you."
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Yuji kept firing wildly, half out of his mind, but it all ended as meaningless fireworks.
"What, already out of ammo?"
"You, what the hell... i-is that also the power of that 'returning to infancy' thing!? If I become a baby, will I get stronger too!?"
"That's right."
"Dammit! I should've been crawling instead of wasting time at the inter-high tournament!"
I can't help but feel like I might have led one young man astray with my bullshit, but I grab him by the collar without worrying about it.
"So, how did you learn magic?"
"...Like I'd tell you."
"Big talk for someone in your position. Well, I'm sure you'll want to talk soon enough."
I took my smartphone out of my pocket and showed him the 'Mano-chan's wedgie bloomers picture' saved in my gallery.
"What about this child porn?"
I grinned at Yuji, who spat out the words.
"It's not just bloomers. There are also photos of her posing in a gravure style with just a bath towel, ones taken of a Chinese dress slit from a fetishistic angle, and others like a no-bra nurse, a no-bra idol, a no-bra policewoman... well, it's packed full of all sorts of questionable photos."
"Aren't most of those last ones no-bra? Just how obsessed are you with a middle school girl's tits? So, what about these obscene images? Don't tell me you're planning to use them as bargaining chips? As much as I love JCs, I'm not rotten enough to sell information for pictures of naked girls."
"You like Jumpiece, don't you?"
"...Huh?"
Jumpiece. A classic shonen manga about aiming to become the Mountain King.Yuji's wagon was stuffed full of Jumpiece merchandise inside.
"And that loud, booming music in the car is Egojail, right?"
Both are nationally popular content, so it's not strange for a young guy like Yuji to be into them.That itself is fine, nothing wrong with it.
"What about Jumpiece and Egojail? Any guy who loves his hometown and his buddies would be into them."
"Yeah, you're right, they're both good content. I like them too."
"You too?"
"Yeah. I've been getting along with this slightly delinquent-looking JK lately. Ever since she started coming in and out of my room, the place got lined with Jumpiece volumes and Egojail CDs."
"Don't tell me you're trying to appeal to my emotions with this?"
"Don't jump to conclusions. What I'm trying to do is a hostage operation."
"?"
I offered a devil's bargain to Yuji, who wore a confused expression.
"--What do you think would happen if I turned myself in with this smartphone?"
"Huh? Why would you do something to screw yourself over..."
"I'd be arrested red-handed, and my house would be searched. And all the Jumpiece and Egojail merchandise scattered around my room would be confiscated."
"--!"
"Finally get it? Yeah. If I get arrested, the media will start bashing Jumpiece and Egojail all at once."
"S-stop it... Those two things are my reason for living. They're my Bible and my hymns...!"
"Of course, I'll testify that I was influenced by them to commit the crime. 'While looking at the heroines in Jumpiece, I got horny and ended up doing lewd things with a girl. While listening to Egojail's tough music, I got big-headed and started thinking, 'Maybe I won't get caught?' I'm not the bad guy, it's the manga and the music's fault.' Something like that."
"Are you even human!?"
"Worst case, they might get serialization cancelled or their activities suspended."
"You're going to take innocent manga artists and singers hostage!? Aren't you more evil than me!?"
As a finishing blow, I dial 110.
"Ah, hello, officer? Actually, I've been—"
"Waaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I'll talk, I'll talk, I'll tell you everything, so please!"
"Good, you understand."
I put my smartphone back in my pocket and returned to the interrogation.
"So, how did you learn magic?"