CH 44

By Effugium October 19, 2022

The Hero School is, as the name suggests, a training institution for heroes. Official name “National Public Safety Commission’s School for Training Personnel with Special Skills against Local Human Disasters” is a two-year vocational training school with admission requirements of having finished compulsory education and being under twenty-seven years old.

The Tokyo Main School in particular is a prestigious school that produces excellent human resources every year. About half of the members of the Hero Teams, the nation’s elite, including Kuriyama Rintaro, the top of the 49th class, and Kurenai Retto, the second top of the class, are graduates of Tokyo Main School.

Many of them were born with many talents, such as Kioumaru, a.k.a. Victory Yellow, and Silver Zero, who until a few years ago was the absolute ace of Hero Headquarters.

However, even in the history of the Hero School, which is lined with such talented people, “she” still possesses a talent so outstanding that other geniuses can’t even come close to her.

Mayuzumi Kirika, 17 years old.

There is no one in the hero world who does not know her name and face. No one is more beloved by the gods of talent than she is, that’s what everyone will tell you.

Kirika is one year younger than Kuriyama Rintaro and Kurenai Retto, and is a young hero with the title of the top of Hero School’s 50th class. She is a girl who was born to be a hero, and has rewritten all the records of the Hero School, which boasts a history of 50 years.

Obtaining a score that doubled that of the second place to the fifth place added together in the World Student Hero Championship, and being awarded the Order of Cultural Merit and the Medal with Red Ribbon during her studies. Such memories are still fresh in people’s mind.

She also has a beautiful appearance, her flowing silver hair and icy cold eyes are popular with both men and women.　 A dedicated room has been set up for the large number of love letters that are sent to Hero School, and there are even some black market goods being sold at high prices. There is also a rumor that a Saudi Arabian oil tycoon paid the same price for a graduation album from the Hero School as he did for his own jumbo jet, even though she was still in school.

A girl who is loved by the gods too much for her strength, talent, achievements, appearance, and everything else. That’s the sixth Victor Ranger, a.k.a. Victor black, Mayuzumi Kirika,.

「Welcome to Victory Sentai Victor Ranger!　Long time no see, Mayuzumi!」

「……Hello.」

A small get-together was being held at the secret base of the Victor Ranger at Hero Headquarters. However, it was quite simple, just a half-price cake left over from Christmas. There were only three members: the leader, Kurenai Retto, the new commander, Samejima Asaka, and Mayuzumi Kirika.

「But I never expected you, of all people, to come here.　Well done in choosing the Victor Ranger!」

「In regards to that, she herself had a strong desire to join, and got the position in October.」

Commander Asaka followed up. In fact, Kirika has received an outpouring of enthusiastic love calls not only from more than three hundred hero teams across the country, but also from international hero organizations.

Kirika refused all of them and was eager to join the Victor Ranger.

October was the time when the five Victorious Rangers were still working together. One person was killed in the line of duty, and three others were injured or sick, which seems like a long time ago now.

She could have easily flown around the world if she wanted to, but she insisted on becoming a member of the Victorious Rangers for one reason, which is…

「I see I see, As expected you are a good kouhai! I thank you!」

「……Yes.」

Kirika responded with a small murmur and touched a locker, which had a green plate on it. The plate was engraved with the name of Victor Green “Kuriyama Rintaro”.

She followed the familiar name with blank eyes and traced the familiar name with her thin, white fingertips.

Kirika and Rintaro had only spent one year together at Hero School. But that year was invaluable to Kirika.

She recalled the vivid memories of Rintaro and her at the Hero School.

『Senpai, please have a match with me!』

『Alright, I understand, fuu.」

『Ugh!　……M- My body is… This is, poisonous blowdart……?』

『Mayuzumi, don’t let your guard down even for a moment. The battle begins when you decide to do it in your heart.』

『……Yes, Senpai……!』

Rintaro was not a “good senior” at all. In fact, when they first met, Kirika had made Rintaro an enemy in her eyes.

She was once forced to take a 30-kilometer one-way trip because she was beaten in a match. They were once caught playing poker in the dormitory by a teacher and was given a big scolding. They once wandered for over a week in the snowy mountains as a result of their mutual stubbornness during the training in the snow.

However, unlike the others, Rintaro was not blessed with talent, but he had worked hard behind the scenes to win the top position, and Kirika had great respect for him.

It is thanks to the presence of an “enemy” named Rintaro that Kirika has been able to continue her tireless efforts without being complacent because of her tremendous talent.

If Kirika had anyone she could call a master, it would be Kuriyama Rintaro.

「Mayuzumi, as you know, the Hero Headquarters is currently in a critical situation and we are unable to deploy equipment. For the time being, you will have to use Green …… Kuriyama’s locker. You may also keep your unique weapon, “Kuroageha(Spangle butterfly)”, in the locker except during emergencies.」

「……Don’t want to.」

「That objection cannot be accepted because it violates the service regulations.」

「Senpai, is still alive!」

Kirika’s voice was hoarse, she slammed her fist into the locker and her shoulders slumped.　 Large tears spilled from her blue eyes, as clear as the sky.

When the offer to join the Victory Squadron Victory Rangers was made, Kirika was overjoyed from the bottom of her heart. It was the first time in her life that she had been able to look forward to spring with such anticipation, and she was delighted to find that she had the ability to smile, even though she had never expressed her emotions.

Only two months later, her joy turned into a sorrow that was deeper than the abyss.

Since then, Kirika has not been able to smile again. The number of words she used to talk, which was not much to begin with, has decreased drastically.

Kirika is still unable to accept the reality of Kuriyama Rintaro’s death.

「Stand up, Mayuzumi…….!　Being sad won’t bring him back……. We’ll avenge him!」

「You are the only ones who can stand up to the Arc Dominion here at Hero Headquarters right now. I know it sounds harsh, but the time to cry is after you defeat Death Green.」

Kirika wiped away her tears and stood up slowly with black fighting spirit in her cold eyes.

「Heinous mysterious Death Green…… I will get rid of him with these hands…… without fail……」

……………….

…………

…….

At the same time. Rintaro Kuriyama, a.k.a. Death Green, was lying on his king-sized bed, watching TV in a daze.

All the channels were full of news about the great defeat of Hero Headquarters.

「Haa, I wish I could take a break at least for the New Year holiday.」

「We’ve been working hard all the time these days, after all.」

「Why don’t the three executives work harder? We’ve already worked hard enough.」

「I also want to relax, ssukedo, Right now is our chance, ssuyo, Aniki！　If we work hard now, forming a heinous army will no longer be a dream, ssu. When Samecchi becomes the number 2, Samecchi will make a faucet that spews out cola, ssu!」

Just llike what Samecchi was exclaiming, Ark Dominion is extremely busy at the moment.

General Bearion’s Hundred Beasts Legion will head to the north, towards Saitama, Gunma and Tochigi.

General Zazoma’s Strange Insect Army will head to the southwest, toward West Tokyo and Kanagawa.

General Tagaraak’s Machinery army is steadily preparing to invade the eastern part of the country, in the areas of Chiba and Ibaraki.

As soon as each army group secured a branch to serve as a bridgehead, they would launch a full-scale offensive. As a ranger, Rintaro’s job was to back up the entire army that was to follow.

In other words, he was a helper who could move on his own. Although he did his best, he had too much time on his hands until problem arose.

「The enemy is probably just some small-time heroes from the Kanto region, right?」

「It’s not just heroes, ssuyo. The mysterious being organizations isn’t monolithic either, so if we want to expand our territory, we may have to fight each other, ssu.」

「You mean the mysterious beings are going to fight each other?」

「That’s right, ssu. For example, if you go as far as Gunma, a group called the North Kanto Mysterious being Union is in charge, ssu.」

「Hoo, that’s scary. Since I am scared, I think I’ll just stay in bed for a while.」

At that moment, the TV screen suddenly switched to show the news. The newscaster read out the script with a tense expression.

『We are in the middle of a program, but we have just received some extraordinary news. According to the National Public Safety Commission, in the early hours of this morning, 108 local human disasters belonging to the North Kanto Mysterious being Federation were arrested at once…….』

Aerial footage was shown on the news, showing many motorcycles turned into black scrap, filling the mountain roads on the border of Saitama and Gunma prefectures.

「So they’ve been destroyed, the North Kanto Mysterious being Union!」

「Huh, ssu?　Hero Headquarters shouldn’t have any heroes right now,ssuyone?」

「They probably took advantage of the absence of the heroes to go on a rampage, and got hit in return. But where did the guys at Hero Headquarters find the strength to do that?」

「That’s weird, ssune?」

Rintaro and Samecchi looked at each other in wonder. At the same time, the door of the room opened roughly with a bang, and a pale Minato jumped in, throwing a knife around.

「Th-Th-Th-This is bad, Rintaro!　The branch that was prepared for the Great Kanto Conquest Operation was destroyed by the heroes’ attack!」

Rintaro got up from his bed without any sign of surprise. Even though they had lost more than half of their forces, the heroes outside of Tokyo Saitama were still alive and well. It was within Rintaro’s expectation that there would be some resistance.

「So, where did we get hit?　General Zazoma’s Kawasaki branch?　Or General Tagaraak’s Funabashi branch?」

Rintaro thought that it could not possibly be the Omiya branch of General Bearion in Saitama, which had turned into a blank zone. It’s hard to imagine that the vicious forest bear would be so easy to bring down.　

Minato replied to Hayashi Taro, who talked in his usual aloof tone, with her lips shaking.

「It’s all three of them!　We have been hit in all three of them!」

「Ahaha…… That was a joke right?　……Are you serious?」

Rintaro’s face had lost all trace of composure.