Class 2B's Were Wiped Out Vol 1 - 6 - Epilogue

 

Epilogue

 

A few days after my return from the raging waves, I was in the conference room of the Kunisaki District Court.

 

“Now then, please begin again from the beginning.

 

said a man in a suit sitting in front of me.

 

“…… again. How many do you think?”

 

School teachers, school counselors, police officers, psychiatrists, family court investigators, and the mystery man in front of me who claimed to be a “government official”. I have been asked many times to tell stories about events in the “other world,” and I have done so.

 

However, I do not like to be told the same story over and over again.

 

This is even more so when the person on the other end of the line is a mysterious “government official” who does not even reveal his or her affiliation, let alone his or her name. I no longer have the energy left to even try to maintain a respectful tone.

 

“That’s how serious this is. You understand.”

 

The man in the suit said, lifting his silver-rimmed glasses with his index finger. He seemed young, but strangely I could not tell his age. I could have been told that he was in his twenties, or even that he was over forty. His eyes are sharp, but the rest of him is so ordinary that you wouldn’t even notice him if you passed him on the street. A low-ranking civil servant. That’s my first impression.

 

I am sitting in a pipe chair and Shesty is standing next to me, stubbornly refusing to be seated. Shesty has the same blank expression on his face as usual, and is glaring at me through his silver-rimmed glasses. It seems that the damage from the bone dragon was only temporary, and she has been working as usual since she came to our world.

 

I let out a sigh and answer the silver-rimmed glasses.

 

“Well, …… this doesn’t happen often.”

 

That day, we were released from the game and found ourselves standing in a classroom at night.

 

It was …… a mess from then on. Our disappearance had been reported, and some teachers, including the principal, were still in the school at night.

 

We explained the situation to the teachers ……, but of course they didn’t believe our explanation.

 

We were called in one by one to talk to them. It took the adults a long time to convince us that we weren’t just talking past each other. Meanwhile, police, prosecutors, psychiatrists, psychologists, family court investigators, and others came in turn, asking confusing and overlapping questions. I was subjected to an inordinate number of psychological tests and had brain images taken. Finally, I was put through a lie detector brought out by the police.

 

In the meantime, I learned from the news on my cell phone and TV that mass disappearances of teenagers were taking place on a global scale. In addition to developed countries like Europe, the U.S., and Japan, there have been cases of entire classes going missing in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other countries. In the U.S., a dormitory of a prestigious university that everyone knows the name of has been completely uninhabited.

 

(We weren’t the only ones, I guess.)

 

It seems that the grinning smiley faces have thrown any group of qualified individuals into the game. Behind our game, there were thousands of similar games going on at the same time.

 

(No, I guess they are still going on…)

 

Our game is an irregularity of irregularities. If the conditions of the games were the same, it would take weeks, months or even years to see the “results” in the other games.

 

“We’re the first returned case of a worldwide mass disappearance of teenagers, aren’t we?”

 

Yes, we are. No, not exactly. It seems that a small number of cases are beginning to appear in various countries, just not publicized.

 

“Well, ……, that didn’t make the news.”

 

We are stopping them. There are too many serious things going on.”

 

By “too many serious things,” you mean cheats?

 

The cheats you were given were still available when you returned to your world. It was originally a power to hunt monsters. It would be a big problem if it was abused.

 

But the silver-rimmed glasses shake their heads.

 

“No, I’m not too worried about the power you call ‘cheat’.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Even though it’s a superpower given to me by God, it’s just a toy that’s a little dangerous. There are many people in this world with dangerous talents. The nations of this world are not so weak that they can be shaken by a disturbing factor of <<cheat>>.”

 

“Hmmm……… So these dangerous talents are being monitored, coaxed, bribed, and blackmailed by the state…”

 

“We don’t do anything that blatant. Most people are satisfied if they are guaranteed a certain level of status and money. If they want more than that, they have to fight against the behemoth state. Talented people are also sensitive to profit and loss.

 

“I see. So too much power has been tamed by the state.

 

Not perfectly, I can’t say. But at least they have enough control to maintain the established order.

 

We have to accept that control. Is that what you’re saying?

 

Silver-rimmed glasses smirk at me.

 

“That’s right. You’re really smart. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that you’ve managed to escape from the collective disappearance of the <game>. Even at …….”

 

Silver-rimmed glasses cut off the words. His smile fades and he looks into my eyes for a few seconds, his eyes sharp.

 

“You can’t beat the state. No matter how many necromancers you are, and no matter how many cheaters you have in your 36-man army. You don’t have the numbers or the quality to challenge the order of this world.

 

“That’s right.”

 

There is a possibility that the special forces of the Self-Defense Forces or the police will step in and shoot me dead …… at this very moment. In any case, the media has not been informed about it because of the gag order on the people involved. In other words, we haven’t come back yet. Then let’s pretend that we never came back in the first place. There is room for that kind of thinking.

 

As for the six zombies, Hachisu, Uei, Ikeno, Sakatai, Rolex, and B-boy, their spirits were transferred to the bodies of their own age and s*x prepared by the “government officials” and they returned safely.

 

Masuda, too. He was also resuscitated by pushing his spirit into a prepared corpse. I would like to throw him into jail because of what he has done, but it is impossible to bring him to justice because the incident took place in another world. Well, I’m sure I’ll be facing some charges if I’m put on trial.

 

I think for a moment and then open my mouth.

 

“……, how about we make a deal?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

The edges of his silver-rimmed lips lift. Despite his words, he understands what I’m saying.

 

“I’m sure you guys would have a hard time pretending that the whole class of 2B didn’t come back.”

 

School officials, parents, police, medical personnel, family court officials. It’s going to take a lot to silence everyone who already knows we’re back, no matter how many “government officials” there are.

 

“That’s right. We don’t want to do something like burying promising children in the dark.

 

Especially if they’re returning overseas.

 

This guy just said that cheats can be managed by the state.

 

(Half true, half false, I suppose.)

 

The fact that there are returnees abroad means that other countries may embrace the returnees and use them in some way. It would be a problem if there is no way to counter the returnees when a hostile nation in this country takes advantage of them.

 

We can manage them. But who controls them is the question.

 

“You said the deal ……?　What do you want from us?”

 

“I can’t answer that question unless I know who <<we>> are.”

 

“Do you want that information?　If so, it’s not very wise.

 

“No, I’m kidding. All I want is peace.

 

Peace?

“I want to attend Kunisaki Higashi as a normal high school student without anyone taking advantage of our power.”

 

“That’s …….”

 

Ginrin raised an eyebrow.

 

“I’m going to need you to make an official statement about how this happened.”

 

“…… do you expect us to believe you?”

 

“You did believe us. The media and the public should believe it as well. In any case, when people return to other countries, the story of the game will leak out from somewhere. It would be politically advantageous to get the word out as soon as possible, wouldn’t it?”

 

The silver-rimmed man considers my words for a moment.

 

“……That’s all well and good. But your power is too dangerous to let it go unchecked. The state has a monopoly on violence. Conversely, a nation ceases to be a nation when it no longer has a monopoly on violence. Whether you are underage or not, the state will expose its true nature and try to subjugate you.

 

But you will have to do as I say.

 

“…… Why?”

 

Because that’s what I want.

 

I said, smiling.

 

“You don’t understand enough about necromancy, do you?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Ginrin asked with a scowl.

 

“Yes, I do. I’m talking hypothetically from here on. It’s just a hypothetical, okay?

 

“…… yeah.”

 

Ginrin urges me to go on, not seeing what I’m talking about.

 

I said slowly.

 

“First I’m going to kill you.”

 

With a clunk, the silver-rimmed glasses stand up.

 

I said with a wry smile.

 

“So, I’m just talking hypothetically. Don’t be so scared. I’m going to have to ask you to put that switch-like thing you’ve got in your left hand on the desk.

 

Ginga clicked his tongue annoyingly and put the switch on the desk. The switch looks like a fountain pen.

 

（It’s a signal to the special forces. (It’s a signal to the special forces. When I press the switch, scary men with guns will come rushing into this room.)

 

Scary, scary. Scarier than a bone dragon. He’s my property in this world, but he won’t stand a chance against tanks, helicopters, or even heavily armed infantry.

 

A class of high school students with access to cheats?　To the state authorities, it’s no different than twisting the hand of a baby.

 

That is, of course, if you’re willing to go toe-to-toe with them.

 

“So what?　If you kill me, what will you do with me?

 

“Yes. I’m going to put your spirit back in your corpse.

 

You’re going to put it back?　What’s the point?

 

Don’t you see?　It’s just that you’ll be reborn as my loyal servant. No one will ever know.

 

“Damn!”

 

Gin-rim reaches for the switch. At the same time, I swat the switch off the table. The switch rolls on the floor, and Sheisty picks it up and disassembles it with alchemy.

 

The silver-rimmed man clicks his tongue as he reaches for it.

 

“It’s …… useless to do that. The state is a much more cowardly and shrewd monster than you think. This building is already …… too.”

 

Ginrin was about to say, when there was a knock at the conference room door.

 

“We’re in the middle of it!”

 

Gin-ren exclaimed irritably.

 

I snicker at him and say to the door, “You can come in.

 

You can come in.”

 

The door opens with a clank.

 

“I’ve cleaned up.”

 

Mizuno enters through the door. In Mizuno’s right hand is a drawn sword. The large sword he used when he fought Masuda is not easy to handle, so he has switched to a shorter sword. The blade was covered with a reddish-black liquid.

 

“What the ……!”

 

Ginrin exclaims.

 

“Your men were neutralized by my men. I told them not to kill as many as possible. ……”

 

“You misunderstand. I didn’t kill them. It’s just that even without the cheats, they were professionals, so it wasn’t an easy win.”

 

“…… You’re not telling me you got somebody killed?”

 

“It’s okay. A few people were slightly injured.

 

“Heh. …… It’s quite a violent apparatus we have here. They haven’t noticed, have they?

 

“I have an infoblocade for you, Negoshi-kun.”

 

A nerd-boy cheat, the infoblockade blocks all communication in and out of range. The special forces surrounding this place have been neutralized without being able to inform the outside world of the situation. It was a useless deadly cheat on the other side of the world, but on Earth it would be useful.

 

“But it wouldn’t be good to be out of contact for too long, would it?”

 

“I guess so. Let’s get this over with.”

 

Silver-rimmed teeth gnashed together at the conversation between Mizuno and me.

 

“Do you understand ……?　You sold the country a fight!”

 

“No, I don’t. We were not going to be able to have an equal discussion with you, so we had to remove the obstacles. You were the one who first tried to threaten us with violence, weren’t you?

 

“We are a nation. We are a nation and we have the legitimate right to use violence if necessary. But you have no such right. What we have done is an administrative act based on the law, but what you have done is simply a crime.

 

“Such arbitrary line-drawing is useless when push comes to shove. Those of us who have been caught up in unreasonable games know this well. In the end, it’s all about power.”

 

“I understand your fear, …… but do you think you can keep fighting off the forces your country sends at intervals?　No, there are plenty of ways to eliminate you from society without doing so. You shouldn’t lick the adults in this country too much. ……”

 

“Yeah?　I already have a few offers coming my way. Some from your <we> hostile nations and some from our allies. All of them are on very good terms.”

 

When did this happen?

 

“In this day and age, there’s no such thing as privacy on a personal phone. Messages of invitations are pouring in from all over the place, from all the major countries. <<It makes me wonder about the capabilities of <we> and others.”

I shrugged my shoulders, and Mizuno said.

 

“So, how did you convince him?”

 

“I guess it’s not going to work. To the adults, we’re just a bunch of high school kids who are easy to deal with.

 

“Damn!　……

 

…… do not move without the master’s permission.

 

As Gin-ren tried to escape from the room, Shesti seized him from behind.

 

Ginga glared at me frantically from the floor.

 

Mizuno said with a sigh.

 

“Well ……, I guess we’ll just have to do it then.”

 

“That’s what I mean. Mizuno, give me your knife.

 

Mizuno pulled out a knife from the sheath on his thigh, picked up the blade, and handed it to me.

 

I crouch down in front of the silver frame, which is held down on the floor, checking the weight of the knife.

 

Ginga looked at me with a frightened expression, unable to fix his bent glasses.

 

“No, no ……, I don’t know what’s going to happen to you any more!”

 

“You’re telling me this now?”

 

“You don’t understand!　You don’t know what a state is ……!”

 

Ginrin is so flustered that he doesn’t even have time to formulate his words. This menacing way of speaking is the man’s ground.

 

“C**k-a-doodle-doo chicken! Is it a behemoth?”

 

“Oh, you guys are still good!　But what about your families?　Do you think you can protect 36 of them and their families?

 

“Yes, I do. Yes, I do. In fact, that’s exactly what we need to do. I’d have preferred it that way myself.

 

I bring the knife up to his silver-rimmed neck.

 

“Don’t worry. I’ll kill you, but you’ll be alive again soon. As my loyal servant.”

 

“What is there to be relieved about?

 

He plunges the knife into the silver-rimmed man’s screaming neck in a single thrust.

 

The feel of it rips through flesh and grinds bone.

 

It feels like he’s killed a man.

 

“Master, the blood!”

 

I pull my hand away from the silver edge, which has lost its strength, and Shesti wipes my cheek.

 

In the meantime, I retrieve the spirit of Ginga-rim.

 

I look down at the corpse, poke my temples, and say

 

“…… I’m smart enough to know what I’m doing. It’s safe, right?”