He landed on the rocky area directly in front of Nijun. They were within arm’s reach of each other.

As soon as he landed, Nijun took action.

He must not have had time to activate a charm because he began a left roundhouse kick from the pose his reverse roundhouse kick had left him in.

As he did, Sayama sank down low and muttered something.

“Too slow, Nijun-kun.”

The boy spread his suit coat and Nijun shouted the name of what surrounded the edges of his exposed vest.

“Acceleration charms!?”

Inside the suit, the charms Nijun had been using glowed and floated on the back of the waist and the sides.

“But how!?”

“Oh, that one is easy.”

What a pain, thought Sayama as he answered and sent the bottom of his suit fluttering behind him.

“Lies do not work in this space, correct? So I blatantly picked your pocket when grabbing at your arms. I even gave a clear announcement of my success.”

“…!”

Nijun’s eyes opened wide in surprise, but he had clearly not trained enough if this was enough to shock him.

How about I give him some training right now? thought Sayama as he sent his body toward the man at high speed.

“Listen.”

He swung his right fist and struck Nijun’s gut.

Without stopping the impact or acceleration and without stopping Nijun’s body from rising into the air, Sayama stepped forward.

“Nijun-kun, you do not trust me enough. That is why you have failed. …It is truly regrettable. So to deepen our understanding of each other, how about we have some fun together?”

With that, Sayama grabbed Nijun and leaped into the empty air behind him.

He jumped straight off the cliff.

“Sayama-sama!?”

“Is something the matter?”

He casually replied in the empty night air, kicked Nijun downwards, and looked in that same direction.

A ravine lay below.

It was at least a few dozen meters deep and it was too dark to see the bottom.

Nijun fell face up along the cliff face and Sayama slammed both his feet down on the man’s stomach.

He jabbed his heels into the man, pressed down, lowered his hips, and spoke.

“Nijun-kun. There are three kinds of fun I have never had a chance to do in these mountains.”

Their falling speed increased, the cliff face raced upwards beside them, and they fell into a space the moonlight barely reached.

As they fell, Sayama held Nijun down with his feet and raised three fingers on his left hand.

“First, I have never played a multiplayer handheld game with Shinjou-kun in the mountains.”

As for the second…

“I have never played shiritori with Shinjou-kun in the mountains.

He continued on to the third.

“And the third, Nijun-kun? I have never surfed in the mountains.”

The instant he finished speaking, Nijun’s upside-down form slammed into the cliff face.

“…!!”

Sayama rode on Nijun as they fell down the cliff face.

His body tried to bounce off the rock, but Sayama held him down with his heels and forced him to slalom.

The boy surfed down the cliff face and he shouted into the darkness down below that was now straight ahead.

“Ha ha ha. No wave is bigger than this. …Well? Are you having fun now!?”

He raised his voice.

“Answer me! I am trying to provide entertainment!”



Nijun thought as his back slid down the cliff face.

…My concept is no use here.

He held his breath and bounced up off the rock.

…My strength and techniques are of no help.

He was pressed back against the cliff and he was surfed on.

…My body will not last much longer.

He would likely be destroyed before reaching the bottom of the ravine.

In that case, he had to make up his mind now.

And so he moved. He squeezed out the very last of his strength and tried to resist.

“Sayama-sama! I cannot let you enjoy this more than me!”

He forced his body up and kicked off the cliff face.

He pushed Sayama up and toward the cliff and threw himself down toward the empty ravine.

They instantly moved five meters apart and that gap slowly continued to grow.

“Ha ha! How about that!? You can’t keep it up from this far away!!”

Nijun saw Sayama place his feet on the cliff face and begin to run down.

But Nijun spoke to the boy who had outdone everything he had.

“I am the one that will determine my end! I will outdo you here!! You may have twisted everything in your favor as Team Leviathan’s negotiator, but I will outdo you in the end!”

Nijun brought a hand to his neck.

He pulled back a hand for a karate chop and prepared to bring about his own end.

This was his way of outdoing Sayama.

But would this ending send the Concept Core to Low-Gear?

…Will I be satisfied with an end that ruins Sayama-sama’s plans?

Once he finished thinking, he heard a voice.

Sayama’s clear voice reached him from above.

“Are you sure that will not be a lie if you say it again?”

Nijun tried to respond by saying he was having fun.

However…

“…”

He found himself unable to speak in this space of no lies.

And he heard Sayama speak instead.

“Okay,” the boy began. “I will be right there to finish this.”

Impossible, thought Nijun. He can’t reach me even if he jumps now.

But he heard Sayama continue to speak as they both fell.

He began with a question.

“How about I sum up the situation, Nijun-kun?”

The man listened to him.

“You were lying about trying to kill yourself, weren’t you?”

And…

“You wanted me to let down my guard. Then when I approached you, you would use your other hand to cut me down. That was the truth here, wasn’t it?”

Nijun realized what Sayama was doing, so he opened his mouth.

He hesitated but managed a loud voice.

“You saw straight through me!! This suicide attempt was a feint!”

A moment later, his body stopped for just an instant as he fell a bit away from the cliff face.

His momentum from jumping away was gone, so he simply fell.

The feint disguised as suicide had been rejected.

The very next moment, he saw Sayama fall from above while surrounded by new acceleration charms.

He twisted his body and sent his right leg toward the man’s chest.

Nijun prepared his hand to strike back and make his previous statement the truth.

…Is this the end?

“Ah,” he muttered. “Such fun!!”

With that shout, he fell into the darkness and swung a rapid karate chop toward Sayama.

At the same time, he remembered what Sayama had said before plunging into the depths of the forest.

…You will be seeing nothing but darkness.

He laughed in his heart. It was a loud laugh and he hoped that it would reach his brothers.

He laughed louder and louder.

He had never stood a chance from the very beginning.

And so he spoke from his heart.

“This world is what I have yearned for!!”

As his shout came to an end, their attacks crossed and his entire being fell into darkness.