“I did it, I finally cut him! Hah, I can’t believe that’s enough to bring a tear to my eye, so pathetic,” Ryou said in disappointment as the left gauntlet broke right in front of him.
“Y-You, lower life form! How dare you damage my exoskeleton!” The enemy yelled angrily after he was read and hurt.
But as he yelled, something suddenly hit him from the back, and he was sent tottering. When he turned behind him, he saw that the twins had taken out high caliber rifles while still on the ground.
“Don’t forget about us now. Although, it is a huge help, to be honest,” Yousuke said.
“It’s about time we finally got used to your movements, don’t you think?” Youko said.
The moment the enemy realized that he’d been hit, the twins pulled their trigger once again.
The enemy clicked his tongue and vanished, and when he appeared next, he was back where he originally was.
His left hand seemed to be aching in pain, though, as he was hugging himself in a manner that hid it.
“I appreciate how attentive you are to the smallest details, you should consider a career in acting, really,” Yoshihisa said.
“You!!” The enemy in the air said.
“Hmph, our family’s eyes have always been good. I could see through your trick right from the start,” Yoshihisa snorted.
The enemy in the air glared hatefully at Yoshihisa through his visor.
Yoshihisa seemed to have felt that, as he looked up and glared back at him with a laugh.
They’ve been insulting each other from the start, and now their glares were locked with each other.
The three students that somehow survived the mysterious high-speed movement watched their exchange from afar.
“Haa, haa, haa… Examiner assistant, can we talk for a sec?” Yousuke said.
“What? Did you come up with a good plan? Or do you finally feel like running?” Ryou said as he caught his breath.
His mental state was in such poor condition that he just had to say that, but the next words Yousuke monotonously said made him regret it a little.
“──────This isn’t an exam, is it?” Yousuke said.
“Huh?” Ryou said.
“What!?” Youko said.
That came out of the blue so suddenly that a wave of agitation washed over Ryou.
And as far answers went, that was plenty.
“Y-Yousuke, what are you saying!?” Youko asked.
“Tell me, does that look like a play to you? If it is a play, then is there some meaning to them glaring at each other and ignoring us?”
───If this were really an exam, surely there would be a meaning behind it, right?
As Youko became speechless, Yousuke shook his head.
“I did think it was strange. You’re an examiner’s assistant from another class, and yet no one cares that you’re fighting with us, not you, not them, not anyone. That and this exam is just too hard! It would be one thing if we were special class students, but we’re just normal class students for crying out loud!” Yousuke said.
“I-If this isn’t an exam, then what is this!? Teacher Doneju said it was an exam!” Youko said.
“I bet she just said that to keep the students from panicking, right, Shinguuji?” Yousuke said.
“…Don’t tell the others,” Ryou said.
Now that they’ve become this suspicious, there was no longer any reason to hide it.
That’s why Ryou indirectly admitted it while making a bitter face.
“S-So those guys are really… terrorists?”
Youko asked in disbelief. When Ryou nodded, she gulped.
The challenging and unyielding expression on her face stiffened, and agitation surfaced on her.
In contrast, Yousuke just nodded calmly.
Despite being twins, their reactions were complete opposites of each other.
“You should go back to everyone and retreat with them. I thought experiencing a hard fight or even losing would be fine, but that’s no longer the case,” Yousuke said quietly.
“Huh?” Youko said.
He didn’t believe they could win against real terrorists in an actual battle.
2 – B had already been driven into a corner. At this rate, it won’t just end in some injuries.
The best case would be them being taken as hostages, but in the worst case was death.
Neither result was agreeable, so they needed to prioritize fleeing with their classmates.
The one most suited for that job was Youko because she was presently the freest of them, who could also break through the enemy forces.
At the very least, that was what Yousuke decided.
“If everyone retreats, the enemy will surely give chase, so someone needs to stop them. We especially need to make sure that that guy, whose attacks only Ryou could see, stays. But there’s no way he could do the job alone, so one of us has to stay behind,” Yousuke said.
“In that case, I’ll stay!” Youko said.
“Your fighting style and position is similar to Shinguuji’s, so I’m the better pick for support. I’m sure you knew that, though,” Yousuke said.
“Ah, that’s…” Youko said.
If the positions were to be divided between vanguard and rear guard, then Ryou and Youko were vanguards, while Yousuke was a rear guard.
If Ryou was going to remain, then Yousuke staying behind too would provide the best balance.
Youko had been benefiting from that same formation since enrollment, so she couldn’t deny it.
But her face made it clear too that she couldn’t accept this result, so the younger Senba had to push one more time.
“What we need to prioritize now is getting everyone else to safety. They’re the ones in most danger right now. Besides, as a public morals officer, I’m sure you’re much more used to moving other people than us. We won’t be able to stop the enemy for long, so be sure to call for reinforcements. We’re counting on you, Nee-chan,” Yousuke said.
When he worded it as though he was asking her a favor, she sighed.
Her younger brother rarely indulged himself, so she has always been weak to his ‘requests’.
“…Fine. Don’t push yourself too hard, okay? Shinguuji, I’m sorry that we’ve just been deciding things on our own. Are you fine with this arrangement?” Youko said.
“Yeah. in fact, we’ll end this before you can even call for reinforcements,” Ryou said with that usual strong-headedness of his.
Youko smiled at that for a moment, but soon, her expression stiffened, and she bolted off.
“…Hey, siscon. You may have sounded pretty convincing just now, but in the end, didn’t you just want to get your big sis away from here?”
“That’s true ‘too’… A situation like this is still too early for her.”
“Heh, I’m just pulling your leg. Just a little tit-for-tat for getting me all riled up earlier,” he joked, but Yousuke’s face remained serious.
There was an anxious expression on Yousuke’s face as he watched his sister run away.
As twins who’ve been together since birth, Yousuke knew all too well just what kind of person she was.
That’s why he could sense how dangerous it was for her to stay here.
But the role he now had to play because of that was indeed heavy.
“But it’s also still too early for me to imitate my older brother. Who knew it would be this hard standing in front of your family?”
Now that he was fighting for a family that he didn’t want to lose no matter what, he couldn’t stop himself from shaking.
Because of that he felt it was still too early for someone like him, who’s been at the back all this time, to step forward.
Of course, he wasn’t about to change his decision or run away either.
“Huh?”
“It’s nothing. I’m sorry about this, but I’ll need you to accompany me. We need to buy time until my sister and everyone else are able to run away.”
As he said that, a weapon with a long gun barrel appeared in his hand.
That was a recoil-less 180mm caliber cannon that was longer than his own height, despite that, he easily wielded it.
At the same time, Independent Floating Physical Shields(Shield Bits) floated up and positioned themselves around him.
“I’ll leave the vanguard to you, Shinguuji.”
“…Dude, if you had that, then you should have taken it out earlier.”
Ryou became sullen in the face of that completely immobile setup.
He knew that him taking the vanguard was the right arrangement, but being told that so matter-of-factly just didn’t sit right with him.
Unfortunately, the situation wasn’t going to wait for them.
“It’s because it actually makes it harder to read the enemy’s movement when I’m completely protected. But enough of that, the enemy’s already noticed my sister leaving, and is glaring at us!”
“Tch, deciding everything on your own and working people like a horse… Don’t tell me you’re an examiner too! Sheesh, I’ll do something about the invisible attacks, but I can’t promise anything else!”
“Okay, let’s go with that! I’ll start with a big one!”
Yousuke nodded, and then set his sights at the enemy sitting in the sky.
And then as though to signal the battle resuming, fire spouted from his cannon.
────An explosive sound resounded from behind her, but Youko continued running without looking back.
She ran so fast it was hard to describe it as simply running.
Her wings may have been destroyed and she couldn’t fly, but with the physical boost from her exoskeleton, and the still functioning anti-gravity system, she could move at a speed that was so fast it didn’t lose out to flying.
“Move!!”
“What!?”
As she maintained that speed, she attacked the enemies attacking her classmates from behind.
In her hand was a real great sword that was bigger than herself.
When she swung down with its great mass, a powerful impact accompanied by an equally earthshaking sound broke the enemy’s formation, then she abandoned the great sword and took out two one-handed swords to wreak havoc within the enemy’s formation.
“Squad one, start shooting!”
“Y-Yes!”
Her classmates were taken aback by her sudden appearance, but they immediately carried out her orders, and rained light bullets on the enemy.
Cries of pain and confusion resounded, but the enemy still started dealing with the situation.
Youko expected as much, and so went on to give her next orders.
“Squad one, keep shooting. Squad two, concentrate your fire, and stop the enemy!”
As the enemy sought to fix their formation amidst the scattering bullets of light, the concentrated shots from squad two descended.
As Youko rendezvoused with 2 – B’s main force, she approached the adult there.
“Squad three, fix your formation! Squad four, take the wounded and withdraw! Teacher, at this rate, it’ll just be our one-sided defeat, please give the order for a temporary retreat!”
“But, Senba-kun!”
Her sudden appearance and request for withdrawal led the examiner to suspect that she might’ve already figured out their situation.
Her eyes also held a different tension that she never showed during their classes.
Because of that the teacher couldn’t immediately respond, but Youko pushed again.
“I’ll watch our back, but I’ll catch up as soon as I can. Please allow everyone to escape first! I’ve also don’t have any experience leading retreat battles even in simulation, so it wouldn’t do for me to lead the retreat.”
Youko also didn’t want the remaining forces here to go to Yousuke.
And while she said would follow immediately afterwards, in truth, she was fully intending on duking it out with the terrorists here.
She entrusted the task of requesting for reinforcements to them, while she herself stayed behind to ensure everyone’s safety, not knowing that doing that was actually putting her younger brother’s considerations to waste.
“Fine! But make sure you catch up with us!”
That was all the examiner said before beginning the retreat with the regrouped 2 – B.
They continued shooting behind them to keep the enemy in check, but it wasn’t possible to stop the enemy completely.
“You’re not going anywhere! Look what I’ve got here!” Youko said as she took out a bazooka with riot suppression gel bullets, then started firing haphazardly.
The gels were highly adhesive and immediately hardened upon coming into contact with the air, so the soldiers that tried to give chase were pasted into the ground in various manner by her.
Tl Note: Some corrections in the previous chapters.
Katana seal to hand seal. Like the ones in naruto.
There was also a line that mentioned that the enemies attacking the rest of the students were wearing full-body simple exoskeleton.
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