August 31, 12:47 PM.
A large amount of dust obstructed the visibility at the scene.
The people around there had heard the noise, but no one was curious enough to come and see what was going on. If ordinary people wanted to come and look, then they would want to look from a safe place. In a situation like this where nobody knew where was safe, nobody was reckless enough to come close.
"…Haha."
In the middle of all the commotion, Kamijou smiled half-heartedly.
Kamijou ended up sitting on the floor, with a steel beam planted between his legs. Not only that, there were countless steel beams surrounding Kamijou—a lot like a small cottage seriously flawed in design and with a roof full of holes. The steel beams had a delicate balance, as if they would crumble if blown by a breeze. But anyway, Kamijou had escaped the fate of being buried alive.
(Am I just lucky…? That can't be; my luck's one of the worst there is. If that's the case… oh, yeah, that Level 5 esper; if she uses the power to control electricity, controlling magnetism shouldn't be a problem for her.)
That was right, it wasn't good luck at all. The path of the beams had been aligned to pierce through Kamijou. Apparently, some sort of power had changed their path slightly before they fell on Kamijou.
Kamijou, who was afraid that the roof would collapse any moment, looked around. He saw the magician lying between two of the steel beams that held the roof together.
One of the magician's hands was stuck in the gap between two steel beams. Though the magician's hand hadn't been crushed, but was instead stuck in a natural gap, it was like a super-heavy handcuff had been put on him.
The magician was incredulous at the fact that he was still alive, and was stunned for a few moments.
After a while, he finally said, "Did I lose?"
"I don't know, I didn't create this situation."
Kamijou said that while scratching his head. But the magician shook his head. No matter the reason, he couldn't even move an inch; fighting on in this situation was impossible.
"Guess it's my loss." The magician smiled slightly. "That way, my part in all this comes to an end. I don't have to kill Misaka-san, or kill anyone else now, right?"
"…"
Kamijou didn't answer; he just looked at the magician.
Carefully thinking back, maybe in his heart, the magician had always been conflicted. Even though he had been serious about trying to kill Kamijou, his heart had been clouded and that may have held him back unconsciously—because once he emerged victorious in this battle, he'd have to kill Mikoto with his own hands.
If he had used the Spear as his first attack, Kamijou wouldn't have had time to dodge and would have died then and there. When chasing Kamijou in the straight streets, after carefully thinking about it, he probably had several chances to accurately hit Kamijou in the back.
That magician didn't want to hurt Misaka Mikoto.
He didn't want to destroy the world that Misaka Mikoto lived in.
But his selfish wish was hard to make come true. If it did, then his own life would be in danger, so he needed an excuse. Something like "I tried my best, but due to obstacles, I failed to complete the objective".
The enemy organization treated the "group led by the amateur Kamijou" as a very dangerous group, so even though Kamijou was an amateur in combat, but his position, almost like the boss of an organization, definitely qualified for the "I tried my best" excuse.
"I think…" the magician said, "The attacks won't just stop here. One failure by a small fry like me won't be enough to convince the 'above' to give up. Instead, this will make them even more sure that the judgment of 'Kamijou Faction is very dangerous' is correct. My allies might appear next to you or Misaka-san; in the worst-case scenario, I might get the same order again."
Kamijou silently listened to the magician's words.
"Can I ask you to protect her?"
The magician asked.
"No matter where, no matter when, no matter who your opponent is, no matter how many times, as long as something like this happens, you'll have to be a hero and go to her side to protect her. Can you promise me this?"
It was what he dreamed of but could never bring into reality.
It was his dearest wish, but he didn't have a choice other than to give the opportunity to someone else.
And then…
Kamijou only said one sentence.
And then nodded.
"That's the worst possible answer," the magician lying on the ground said lightly while smiling.