[Blue Archive] Substitute

To the Market

I scramble behind cover, hearing a hail of fire hit the car I'm hiding behind. I hear shouts and barks from the people ahead of me. Peaking around the car, I see Haruka first; that weird corruption is still on her halo and spreading on it. I feel the Shittim chest vibrate in my coat and take it out.

"Um, S. Sensei, there might be a problem." I see Arona trying to contain a lot of the weird data corruption. She keeps whacking it with a hammer which seems to keep it at bay.

"Oh, you too, Little Star?" I hear something land to my left and quickly move while shielding the chest as I sprint out of cover. As I run, I hear an explosion and feel shrapnel lodge into my back. Sprinting to a brick wall, I feel two impacts on my right side. Once bullet fire stops impacting the wall I'm hiding behind, I peak out. The Abydos girls were outnumbered by Haruka's group by twenty-five bodies. I watch one of the construction worker girls get hit by rockets from a drone in the air.

Twenty-four.

"Yeah, the weird glitch in the chest was completely under control earlier, but now it's gone berserk for some reason." I break my gaze from the battle in front of me. I see that corruption has taken over most of the selectable icons. One icon was worse than the others, being formation. Against my better judgment, I click on it. First, it showed the Abydos girls. Each one at level eleven, and then the chest spasmed in my hand, showing Haruka alone. First, her level was five, then suddenly changed to the level I raised her to, thirty-five. The special slots were suddenly filled with Saya and Hanae. 

I quickly peek back out from behind the cover and see that familiar pink aura quickly encircling Haruka as she takes point of all the construction workers who were being torn apart. The motley group she was with seemed all surprised by her sudden advance forward. I can't say I blame them.

Sadly, I don't think the Abydos girls will last against her; Haruka has a decent-level advantage. Add her damage reduction skill and Hanae's, and she'll be unstoppable. And I don't want to imagine Kitty Cat or her friends getting nicked by Saya's poisons or gases. After all, Hanae could buff Haruka; who's to say Saya can't attack targets. But first, the rest of the attackers have to be dealt with.

"Arona, keep dealing with the corruption, but start from the formation tab." I watched her appear on the formation screen and give me a salute.

"Ok! I'll fix this with ease!" I pocket the chest after nodding at her. I quickly prepare to use the Gatling gun on my back. Okay, Haruka, get ready because once I deal with your friends I'm coming for you.

(Haruka POV)

Everything feels numb. Where are Suzumi, Hasumi, and Junko? This is a Schale operation, isn't it?  Wait, it can't be I was with Aru-sama? Before I think any further, I'm hit with more bullets from the things I have to exterminate, that I know for sure.

"Uhe~ she's a tough youngin." The smallest girl speaks, but I can't make out anything.She covered by a strange smog. I know she's short, wielding a shotgun with a shield. I fire away at her shield, causing her to give ground. Before I can finally blast her shield out of her hand, I'm hit by assault rifle rounds. 

"Nn she'll fall too!" I see someone with ears raise her rifle. She's interrupted by Saya throwing a vial at her face. "Ahhhhh!" Just like any other thug, she can't take the pain. 

"Shiroko, are you okay!" I hear another voice and turn towards it—another eared girl with a rifle very close to me and the shielded girl. If Junko or Mitsuki was here, she would've been dealt with.

I was eating ramen with Problem Solver sixty-eight, if I remember. No, I was in the Schale Cafe with Team Magpie. I feel my brain melt, I was with both at the same time that's what my memory is saying. I couldn't have been, but I'm certain I was.