Translator's note
I'll redo the translation of this chapter later and also apply the dynamic naming.
Third person view
"Is there anyone else who would like to go?" (Sabine)
And many hands were raised in response to Sabine's question.
"…tsk, wait a minute!" (Guard)
After saying that, one of the guards left the classroom.
He was probably calling for support.
Carrying a large group of people to the bathroom by himself was too risky for them to run away along the way.
On the other hand, it would be bad if the guards here disappeared.
In that case, he had no choice but to call for support from the other group.
(I wonder where the other group will be based based on the time it takes for that man to return…)
Sabine was thinking about such things, but she already had an idea of their location.
…the staff room.
There were telephones, televisions, refrigerators, electric kettles, computers connected to the internet, and many others.
There was also a restroom nearby for staff.
It's the perfect place for the criminals to stay.
The man returned in about 10 minutes, followed by another man.
Apparently, they had been talking about various things over there. In this case, the strategy of determining the destination based on the time taken for a round trip was a failure.
Well, Sabine didn't expect anything like that from the beginning.
"If you want to go to the bathroom, please follow me. However, if you think about running away midway through, you never know what will happen. The one who tried to run away, and the friends who were left behind? Hehehe…" (Guard)
It's a threatening phrase that seems to be effective against children.
Then, about half of the children, including the Sabi-Colé duo, went to the bathroom with two men sandwiching them in front and behind them.
They went to the bathroom on the same floor as the classroom…
Several children who were confined elsewhere came to the same restroom.
(…huh? The staff room is on the first floor, so why…? I see! Since there weren't many people on watch, tried to do it all at once in the same place!)
As Sabine had guessed, they seemed to be planning to organize a toilet tour on a regular basis, and for that reason, they seemed to have thought about keeping the number of guards following them to a minimum.
One of the guards went inside the bathroom first, and after making sure there were no windows or other places where they could escape, he let everyone in.
There was no escape route other than the entrance/exit, and they were an elementary school girls. So maybe they weren't too worried, or maybe they didn't want people to think they were perverts, but the men waited in the washroom instead of in front of the private room.
Because there were so many people, some people waited for their turn in front of the private rooms, and others came out after they finish.
Even though the other person was a child, it seemed a little awkward to make eye contact with them.
(…chance!)
After seeing that the men were not staring at her too much and were looking away, Sabine seized a momentary gap and followed a child from the "separate room group" who was about to enter the vacant private room after the previous person had finished, then quickly closed the door.
"Eh…" (girl)
The girl's eyes widened in surprise, and then she turned bright red.
"Ah, uh, uh, S-Sabine-chan…?" (girl)
…it seemed like there's some kind of strange misunderstanding.
"Where is the place of confinement? How many hostages and opponents? What is the situation inside the room?" (Sabine)
"…!! Staff room, 7 children, 2 teachers, 6 enemies, in the center of the room in preparation for an attack, collecting information on TV and smartphone, contacting some friends on smartphone, frequently said 'This is not supposed to happen!'" (girl)
As expected, these are children who attend Stella Maris. She changed her mind in an instant and came back with an accurate answer that concisely summarized the necessary information.
"…Excellent!" (Sabine)
Sabine smiled broadly.
Then, Sabine opened the door a little and quickly left the private room.
They had the option of taking turns to relieve themselves, but even though they were children, it seemed like it was a bit of a hurdle to relieve themselves while their classmates were looking at them head-on.
The bathroom mission was successfully completed.
As for drinks, there was water in a kettle that seemed to have been brought from the hot water supply room, so that people could replenish their hydration as needed, but since they had to use the restroom, not many people drank it.
The situation seemed to be changing quickly, but that's the main focus in the staff room, and here in the 6th grade classroom, where only two men were keeping watch over the hostages, the situation still unchanged.
The reason why this room was used is because probably it would be troublesome for lower-class students to be too young and cry, or easily die due to something unexpected, so they were targeting upper-class students.
Or did they choose the top floor, which is advantageous for barricading themself… and easy to detect a surprise attack by the police?
Or maybe it's just that "Idiots and smokes like high places"…
In any case, one of the 6th grade classrooms on the top floor was chosen.
Since this was a school for young ladies, the number of children was small. There were about 50 students in the first grade.
Since it was an integrated school that extends from kindergarten to elementary school, junior high school, high school, and university, the number of students in the school including all of them was quite large.
Therefore, if it's because of the grade, the probability of taking the Sabi-Colé duo's class was very high.
If a group armed with guns suddenly rushed in, it was beyond the control of the security guards to prevent the children from being in danger, so it was their job to act as a shield and guide evacuations to protect the children. It was the best they could do.
The teachers also worked hard to guide the evacuation of the children and evacuated outside the school together.
...And so, some of the students were taken prisoner in the occupied classrooms on the top floor, along with three teachers who refused to leave the students behind and escape.
"Ane-sama, in the restroom, I made contact with a hostage in another location and obtained information. The location is the staff room, there are 6 enemies, 2 teachers, and 7 children. It seems that the current situation is unexpected for the enemy." (Sabine, whispering)
While holding hands with Colette, Sabine pressed the send button on the wristwatch type communication device and spoke as if praying to God, giving a concise report in the language of the other world.
Even if they didn't receive a confirmation, surely Mitsuha or Lorena was listening.
With this, gathering all the on-site information that was available to them and that Mitsuha needed had been finished.
All that is left now for Mitsuha to do was to obtain enough information, decide how far to go, and think of a method of intervention that will keep secrets as clear as possible.
Sabine smiled at that thought, and Colette smiled back.
The two of them consoled and encouraged their classmates, without thinking about the danger they were in.
Mitsuha's PoV
The information had finally come out…
After attacking a jewelry store and failing to escape, the criminals fled to an elementary school, which was a nearby location where they could easily take hostages and barricade themselves inside.... Are the criminals armed with guns?
It wasn't like they were taking hostages and barricading themselves from the beginning and making political demands, but it was just a failure of a profit-making crime by idiots….
It was good that they weren't political, ideological, or religious offenders so it wasn't any trouble, but unlike people who act foolishly but aren't particularly violent, truly stupid people are more likely to get enraged over small things and become violent towards children, which is bad...
In Japan, although there were cases of thieves sneaking in at night and people running away with items, there were very few attacks on jewelry stores in broad daylight, and even more so, with large numbers of people armed with guns.
There's a popular Japanese anime about thieves who raided a jewelry store in broad daylight with a vacuum truck and sucks up all the jewels, but that's just an anime after all...
Recently, there had been an increase in ephemeral, violent, and reckless crimes in Japan like in other countries. Both those by foreigners and those by young Japanese people…
In this information-based society, and with surveillance cameras everywhere in the city, there's no way they wouldn't get caught.
Carrying a gun means they had some sort of organization backing him up, right? But, would a professional do something so reckless?
Maybe they were not a regular member of the organization, but a disposable part-time worker….
Also, in Japan, you could only buy stolen jewelry for a small amount of money.
Even if you sold it normally, you might end up selling something for 3,000 yen that you bought for 500,000 yen...
However, there was no certificate of authenticity, and in a small industry, information about stolen items quickly spread….
Even if they took Japanese jewelry out of the country,….
There was almost no information released about the barricade.
I wondered if there was a media blackout in place, perhaps because of the possibility that the perpetrators would see it.
Well, I was probably waiting for a request for an escape method from the criminal…
If the culprit was alone, there would be ways to attack the hostage while he was tired and falling asleep or defecating, or by putting sleeping pills in the food and drinks provided for the hostage, but if there were 8 people, that would be impossible.
…in that case, I couldn't just time it and retrieve Sabine-chan and Colette-chan…
It would be bad for the two of them to suddenly disappear, and I didn't think they would tolerate it in the first place.
It would be even worse if all the hostages disappeared…and even worse if the criminals disappeared.
It must be resolved naturally, without showing any transfer ability.
No, it would be better if I didn't do anything and the police force or some other action was taken to resolve the issue.
The police probably wouldn't do anything unreasonable if they have hostages, but you never knew what a cornered person would do…
Anyway, I knew the coordinates of the classroom where the two of them were. …the staff room and other main areas of the academy are generally the same.
I didn't have that kind of memory, but I remembered the things that were part of it that were fused into my head.
That's why, if it was determined that the danger had exceeded a certain level, both of them would be forcibly recalled without being asked.
Until then, let's plan some strategies.
And the necessary equipment must be brought from Wolf Fang's home base.
Author's Note
Notice!
My work, "I Shall Survive Using Potions!" spin-off comic, "The Journey of Hanano and Lotte"
https://x.gd/hCuzu
Author: Sukima-sensei, the illustrator of the novel version… currently being serialized in Niconico Seiga's free web comic magazine "Wednesday's Sirius"…
All episodes will be released for free from May 22nd!
For those who missed it, take this chance to read the latest chapters all at once! ! (^^)/
Thank you very much for your support! (^^ゞ