However…
“None of that matters.”
She heard a quiet voice.
At first, she thought it was an illusion brought on by her weak heart.
“That crazy conspiracy theory has nothing to do with this. Listen, you thugs. It doesn’t matter if these feelings came from my own heart or if they were placed there by a Level 5. It doesn’t matter if I really think this or if I’m being deceived and manipulated by someone.”
“…Eh?”
A hoarse voice escaped her throat, but the boy did not turn toward her.
He stayed put so he could protect the girl named Shokuhou Misaki while also allowing his voice to reach the boy in the red riding suit. Even while surrounded by countless deadly weapons, he tightly clenched his right fist. He did so despite knowing he could never take on this many people at once.
And he spoke with his back turned.
“If it leads me to stand here and protect a girl with tears in her eyes, I wouldn’t want anything else.”
It was likely that instant that a decisive gear began to turn within her.
That was the instant in which the most powerful mind-controlling esper realized these feelings still slept within her.
“Heh.”
On the other hand, the boy in the red riding suit laughed.
But it was not a mocking or despising laugh.
“Ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”
He had accepted the person named Kamijou Touma.
That living example of a possibility they could not copy may have shown him an aspiration different from his resentful feelings toward this Level 5.
Guided by the boy, Kamijou laughed quietly too.
Even from behind him, Shokuhou could see his shoulders shaking.
At first glance, the scene held the gentle atmosphere of a conclusion.
But rationally-speaking, that mood was quite unnatural and it was soon destroyed by the Queen Diver’s next coldhearted words.
“Then I hope you’re prepared, you damn clown.”
“You bet. And I hope you guys are willing to put your life on the line and come at me with everything you’ve got.”