Just then, there was a crash and a commotion from the kitchen: angry shouting, and the overturning of pots and dishes. Then the cooks came bursting into the ballroom in a panic, followed by Kurz. He must have been in such a fright that he’d forgotten to put his mask back on.
“Ah, Sergea— I mean, er, wait, everyone! Look at me! It’s all right. Please evacuate slowly—”
“No, no, no, no, no!” Kurz shouted, interrupting the man. “No time to lose! Run! Now! Crawl over each other if you have to! You’re all gonna die! Don’t waste time! Run, right now!” He shoved the male student standing next to him, then began firing his pistol into the air. The hundreds of students that had been standing there staring let out a collective scream, and began flooding towards the doors. The principal and the others who normally would have scolded them were so caught off guard that they simply stood in place, shocked.
“K-Kana-chan!” Kyoko was getting carried away from Kaname, caught up in the wave of students.
“It’s okay! We’ll meet up later!” Kaname just managed to shout, but Kyoko was already gone. Kaname fought back against the tide, heading for Kurz in the middle of the chaos. “Hey, Kurz-kun! What the heck is going on? Are you crazy?”
“We got a visit from those robots you told us about!” He said, shouting to be heard over the din. “And not just one, but a whole dozen of ’em! They nearly killed me in the hold, and now they’re on their way here. So get evacuated already!”
“What?” Kaname blinked in surprise. Those Alastor machines? But why? Is Leonard involved in this, too? Dismissing these questions as a distraction, Kaname continued to lay into Kurz. “S-Still, this is crazy! You’re going to get the students hurt!”
“Better hurt than dead. Hey, you!” Kurz turned around and shouted at his comrade. “Give me your P90 and AP rounds! Then round up the stragglers and evacuate to the aft! You’re Team Golf’s backup, got it?!”
“Y-Yes, Sergeant,” the man agreed shakily.
“Hostage safety is our number one priority,” Kurz instructed. “Move as carefully and calmly as you can. Now go!”
The Mithril man threw a Belgian-made next-generation submachine gun and a magazine of armor-piercing rounds at Kurz, then turned to go. He hurried along a handful of teachers and students still wandering aimlessly around in the ballroom, and also helped up a girl who had fallen.
As Kurz checked the clip with practiced hands and flicked the gun’s selector switch, he shouted into his radio, “Uruz-9, how are things where you are? ...Okay, hold that corridor for three minutes. ...Like I care! Figure it out!” He shut off the radio and barked at Kaname. “What are you doing? Get going already!”
“A-Are you sure?” she asked. “Those robots are super strong, and pretty agile, too...”
Kurz shot her a cynical smile. “I’ve faced them before. Your intel saved my butt, by the way. Now go.”
“Um... fine. Just don’t push it, okay?” Kaname didn’t hesitate a minute longer. She whipped around and ran in the other direction from the kitchen, towards the ballroom exit.
It happened very suddenly. Without any forewarning, the ceiling above her collapsed with a roar. Splinters and dust rained down as a huge object fell—no, landed—in the ballroom. One of the students who hadn’t made it out yet let out a high-pitched scream.
“What the...” Kaname wondered.
The thing straightened swiftly from where it had collapsed the floor beneath, then turned its red head-mounted sensor to scrutinize the face of a nearby girl. Kaname flashed back to that night in the rainy hotel district two months ago, and the scene played in her mind like it was yesterday: the sight of a robot, identical to this one, finishing off the assassin. It could snap a girl like that in half.
“Run! Hurry!” Kaname shouted as she took off in a dash, but the girl didn’t move, most likely paralyzed from shock and fear. She was a girl from the next class over, but Kaname couldn’t remember her name.
The Alastor was heading straight for her. At the same time, it didn’t seem overtly hostile. It looked the girl up and down as she crouched in fear—she was about the same height and build as Kaname—and peered into her face.
Kaname didn’t have time to interrogate the situation. Heedless of the danger, she rushed past the Alastor to knock the girl aside.
“Eek!” the girl squealed.
“I said, ‘run!’” Kaname yelled at her.
The enemy’s black coat rustled as it rotated its upper torso to face her. She could hear the servos buzzing behind its red sensor, suggesting a shift of focus. It was indeed the same kind of robot she had met before... but it looked much bigger now: the thick chest; the burly arms. It made the pro-wrestlers she’d seen up close in arenas look like children.
Intimidated, she took a shaky step back. The robot continued to approach, until its expressionless mask became all she could see. Behind her, Kaname could hear Kurz shouting something. He sounded about twenty meters away, and it occurred to her only a few seconds later that she was standing between him and the enemy. Her body was in the way.
“Kaname, don’t move!” Immediately, she heard a gunshot behind her, and felt a faint breeze pass between her thighs. The Alastor took three or four shots to the right leg and lost its balance. A moment later, she felt her skirt rustle.
Kaname went agape as she realized that Kurz had fired a shot between her legs. She was at
