You’re Right, They’ll Expel Me if I Run into the Store with a Weapon!! - Chapter 31: Time to Start Cleaning

“We don’t have time. I will now explain the overview of the operation. As soon as the explanation is over, please head out immediately.”

A man standing on the podium began explaining the operation.

“This operation involves infiltrating and taking control of the research facility of the organization WDC (Weapons Development Company).”

Organization WDC is a shadow organization that develops and sells illegal weapons that are highly dangerous in warfare and have a severe negative impact on the environment.

Among the illegal weapons produced, there are also biological weapons, such as bacteria, being made and sold.

“The reason for accelerating the execution of the operation is that, five days ago, we obtained information that WDC has been collecting children with combat abilities. Likely, WDC is once again…”

◆

Before I knew it, the sky had turned orange.

It was 5:30 PM.

Picking up a taxi from the airport at random…

“Excuse me, are there any interesting places in this country?”

“Sorry, are there any fun places in this country?”

“How about Whale City? There’s one of the largest shopping malls in the country here.”

“Whale City might be a good option. It has one of the largest shopping malls in the country.”

I managed to converse with the driver using the conversation support device I borrowed from Amakusa-sensei.

(Maybe I’ll go sightseeing. I have quite a bit of money, after all.)

The black wallet handed to me was stuffed with dozens of crisp bills. All thanks to Amakusa-sensei.

“We’ve arrived!”

I arrived at my destination while I was asleep.

“Thank you.”

I paid the taxi fare and stepped outside.

Surrounding me were clusters of skyscrapers. Car horns blared, and people moved quickly. It was truly a metropolis.

(So, this is the large shopping mall.)

Standing before me was a large building, its surface covered with aged tiles.

(Let’s take a look around.)

Curiosity piqued, and I entered the building.

People as far as the eye could see. I was in an overly spacious entrance hall, with floors of white marble that looked like mirrors, a ceiling that stretched up to an atrium, and the ceaseless sound of people’s voices filling the space.

Touching an air, I had never felt before, I wandered around.

“Shiori-chan, are you okay?”

“It wasn’t a pleasant conversation, but I’m fine.”

I was upset. The reason, of course, was that I had heard in detail about the project WDC was trying to initiate.

“Even so, it was worse than what the principal had mentioned.”

“The reason for accelerating the execution of the operation was understandable.”

Saying this, I changed into my combat uniform, inserted my familiar pistol into its holster, and slid spare magazines into my pouch.

“There’s a message for you, Shiori-chan. ‘Do your best!'”

I immediately knew who the message was from. But that person wasn’t here.

“Where’s Hiroki?”

“If it’s Shiori-chan, you should know.”

Smiling, she replied as if reading my mind.

Yes, I understand. Asking was pointless, even I could realize that.

“We should head to the car soon.”

“Yes, don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Understood.”

Shiori parted from Amakusa-sensei and walked down the long corridor towards the meeting point.

“Hey! Yo Shiori! Long time no see!”

On the way, a blonde girl with a foreign appearance called out.

“Meryl.”

The girl called Meryl matched her pace with Shiori and started walking alongside her.

“Yeah! Ugh, it was such a hassle!”

In her still-not-fluent Japanese, Meryl conveyed her feelings about the recent meeting.

“The WDC mission was a hassle?”

“No, no! The hassle was kicking that guy out!”

“Ah, you’re sympathizing with me?”

“NO! It’s really how I feel!”

Walking beside Shiori, Meryl boldly expressed her feelings.

“But! There’s something I’m curious about! What do you mean by ‘no abilities’?”

With a question mark flashing above her head, Meryl threw her question at Shiori.

“What do you think?”

“Hmm? The power of the sixth rank is real! But! Amakusa was smiling subtly!”

“You doubted because of Amakusa-sensei’s expression?”

“And intuition!”

Narrowing her eyes and puffing out her chest, she confidently voiced her thoughts.

“Then, we should just verify it during the mission.”

“Verify? Is that boy coming?”

“The answer to that will be clear soon enough.”

◆

The boy was…

“Singing fluently in German with headphones on, ‘Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir! Gar schöne Spiele spiel ich mit dir;’”

Ogino Hiroki was in a record shop on the sixth floor of a building.

He was listening to his favorite song through demo headphones, but unknowingly, he had started singing along.

The name of the song was “Der Erlkönig,” a famous song composed by Schubert.

Hiroki loved to sing historically famous Western music, such as majestic and joyful songs, to the extent that he could perform them.

As the song neared its end, Hiroki’s heart was heating up.

“‘Erreicht den Hof mit Müh und Not; In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.'”

After finishing the song, he hung the headphones back on the hook, and then…

Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap!

A crowd of foreigners was giving him a round of applause.

“Whoa!?”

Startled by the scene, he stepped back and bumped into the wall.

Then, as the applause died down, what they sent next was…

Encore! Encore! Encore! Encore! Encore! Encore!

Even Hiroki, who couldn’t speak English, understood that much.

And Hiroki was not one to disappoint expectations.

“Alright! An encore! Let’s do this!”

Two large vehicles were racing through the city, each carrying several combatants.

A total of 24 combatants had been deployed for this operation.

The large vehicles were moving to a location hidden by a WDC facility.

“Why did you rank such an incompetent person tenth in the Japanese branch?”

In the dimly lit interior of the vehicle, a blond man harshly spoke to Shiori.

“Is that necessary for the mission we’re about to undertake?”

“If you can’t say anything back, it means the Japanese branch has some dirty tricks up its sleeve.”

“Jack, stop starting fights with your words,” a girl with long hair tied back, referred to as Anna by the blond man named Jack, tried to stop him. However, Jack ignored her words and reflected on what had happened before the meeting.

“But Anna, you used your ability to see into that guy and saw nothing, right?”

Anna was the girl who had peered into Hiroki’s abilities before the meeting.

“That’s in the past. I’m sorry, Shiori-san. Because I looked into it, your teammate…”

“It was Sensei who ordered you to look, wasn’t it? I can imagine. That’s why I don’t hate you,” Shiori replied, harboring no ill will or anger towards Anna.

This was because Hiroki was allowed to act freely.

Shiori appreciated Hiroki’s abilities but understood that having teammates might hinder him in this mission.

Therefore, she bore no grudge against the girl.

And then the vehicle stopped.

“We’ve arrived. There’s no one around. Please get ready.”

They had arrived at an underground parking garage of a certain building. The twenty-four combatants, including Shiori, were divided into three groups and began their operation.

According to the information, the WDC research facility was hidden beneath their building.

First…

“We’ve reached the electrical facilities. We will now cut off all power in this building.”

One of the combatants manipulated the facilities with their ability without the need for cumbersome operations.

Then suddenly, all the lights in the building went out.

Screams from civilians on the floors above began to rise. This was all within the scope of the operation.

The sudden blackout was part of the strategy to cut off some of the power supply to the research facility and, simultaneously, to make the building’s security evacuate the civilians outside due to the unexplained power outage.

This blackout was also expected to put the enemy on alert.

Now, it was a race against time. They needed to infiltrate the facility before the enemy could respond and create a favorable situation.

This was the real beginning of the mission.

“Huh? Did the elevator stop?… And why is it so dark!? A blackout!? Hey! Is anyone there!?”

After passionately singing more than three songs, the boy who had gotten into the elevator to move was trapped due to the sudden blackout.