Outbreak Company: Volume 5

by Ichiro Sakaki

  As I sat there in the bathing area pretty much panicking, someone quietly approached, eyes downcast. It was, needless to say, Clara.

  Once again, she was naked as a jaybird.

  I mean not a scrap of clothing.

  Her modest chest, her still-widening hips, and her... uh... the place where her legs met her torso were all more or less on full display. She didn’t seem to have any thought of covering herself with a towel, but pattered toward me with only her hands to hide her chest.

  “Okay... Wait...!”

  I spun around on the bench as fast as I could, putting my back to her.

  Not to brag, but I put the L in loser. Zero experience with the ladies, of course. I wasn’t about to let out a “Woo-hoo! ♪” and drink in the sight of Clara’s naked body.

  “Pardon me,” Clara repeated, and then she sat down on the bench next to me. I could tell by the sound, and I could sense her there. I still kept my back to her, staring resolutely at the wall of the room. But then...

  “Eeyikes!”

  I found her arms wrapping around me toward my chest.

  I felt something pressing up against my back. Is it?! Was it?! Could it be?!

  No, they weren’t large; in fact, they were quite slight, but they were perfectly soft, and I could feel them stimulating the nerves in my back—! Boo... Booo... Boooooooo?! Boob... bo-ob... boooooahh!

  As my language functions rapidly went haywire, Clara pressed herself up against me, embracing me from behind.

  “W-W-Wai— Wait! Hold on!”

  “...Okay,” Clara said, and obediently waited.

  She waited, but that didn’t mean she gave me any more personal space. Hence, my galaxy was ecstasy faster than the speed of light. (Meaning unknown.)

  “Look... Uh... Could you give me a little space?”

  “Okay,” Clara said, and just as obediently backed away.

  If nothing else, it looked like she was going to respect what I wanted—she wasn’t going to force, you know, things on me.

  What exactly was going on here?

  “C-Could you tell me what exactly is going on here?”

  “I thought I might wash your honored back.”

  “No, er... I mean, I’m very happy about that, but—”

  “And that we might have relations after that.”

  “I told you, no relations!”

  I hadn’t meant to shout.

  Clara was silent.

  “Listen, it’s, er, I’m very and most humbly aware of what you’re exaltedly saying, but—”

  This was no good. I had another bug in my system.

  No, brain cells! We have to forge ahead!

  We need a phat plan to get us out of this jam!

  I’m not trying to brag, but this isn’t the first time that I, Kanou Shinichi, have been in a situation like this!

  So I should be able to draw on my past experience and know exactly what to do!

  Last time— Last time, I— err... What did I do?

  Arrgh, it’s no good! Last time I got out of it with my purity intact because Myusel and Minori-san both showed up at the worst best moment, but this time it was just me and Clara...!

  Come to think of it, I didn’t even get out of it by myself last time! Bad self! I’m disappointed in me!

  Danger! Danger, Kanou Shinichi!

  Come on, brain cells, think!

  There’s got to be some reason—some reason not to do anything dirty...

  “Ahem, er, um, there’s—there’s someone I’ve already set my—you know, my heart on!”

  “Is that so?”

  “Very much so!” I said, my voice cracking a little.

  Yes! That would do it. That would keep Clara from pushing me into anything! I should have realized when she asked me if I was turning her down because there was someone else in my heart that even in her worldview, they understood preserving one’s chastity for the person you loved.

  Perfect. Very logical.

  I smiled in relief—until Clara began to speak in a quiet voice.

  “In that case, you should set your heart on me instead.”

  “Excuse me?!”

  If you could just change the object of your affections at the drop of a hat like that, you wouldn’t be very “set” on that person, would you?!

  More to the point, it really was absolutely time to clarify what in the world was going on here!

  Were things going all adult here? Not-for-under-18s?!

  “It doesn’t matter, we just can’t!” I nearly screamed.

  Look, it’s not that I wasn’t totally eager for the plot to take an X-rated twist.

  The problem was, this was the Kingdom of Bahairam. And I was their prisoner.

  I didn’t have a very solid grasp of what was going on, and my gh**t (er, maybe I should say my instinctive sense of caution) was whispering that one careless move could spell very bad things for me.

  But then...

  “Am I not to your liking, Sire?”

  IS THAT REALLY ANOTHER TROPE LINE?!

  Frankly, the whole “Don’t you like me?” thing has been done to death in every manga and anime and light novel, not to mention this was the second time Clara had said it to me.

  But this time she was saying it from so close that I could feel her breath tickle my ear as she whispered the words, and that hackneyed line became a force to be reckoned with.

  “Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-That’s not really what I meant...!” I said, backpedaling before I knew what I was doing.

  I had a certain sense that just spitting, “Damn right, how could I ever get moe for someone like you?” would actually save me a fair amount of trouble in the long run, but I could also picture her simply responding, “Let me offer you someone else, then,” and bringing in somebody even more aggressive. And that would be a whole new problem.

  But this was a problem, too. Damned if I did, damned if I didn’t. Surrounded on every side!

  “Would you prefer a man, perhaps?”

  “No! No! Definitely not!”

  Through my mind flashed the image of a certain WAC’s head exploding—but as for my own head, I shook it vigorously. I wanted to make sure this particular message got across loud and clear: no guys. The last thing I wanted was for Clara to blandly slip away and send a man in her place, no matter how happy that might make Minori-san.

  At that point in my thinking, I finally stopped and breathed a sigh.

  How was everyone in Eldant doing? How did they feel about my disappearance? Was there an uproar? I would feel bad if I had caused them any distress.

  Or had they been basically like, “Well, he is a former home security guard,” and not worried about it in the least? That was equally painful to imagine.

  I have no way to communicate, and they won’t let me out of this house, so there’s nothing I can do.

  The question remained, though: what exactly did Bahairam want with kidnapping me? I had tried asking Clara about it, but she just shook her head wordlessly and wouldn’t tell me anything. And as for Amatena, who seemed to be at least somewhat responsible for what was going on, I had only seen her the one time.

  When I thought about kidnapping, the word that came to mind was definitely ransom.

  But am I that valuable? ...was, er, a question I hoped nobody was asking.

  The Japanese government had pretty much wanted to disappear me anyway, so it didn’t seem likely that they would shell out money to get me back. As for the Holy Eldant Empire, I might have been treated as a guest of state, but I wasn’t one of their subjects, so I didn’t expect them to pay for me, either. If Bahairam was going to go to all the trouble of kidnapping somebody, why pick someone in such a precarious position as I was? The son or daughter of some noble family seemed more certain to get results.

  That suggested the kidnapping had something to do with the work I was engaged in.

  Otaku culture. The weapon of cultural invasion I and the Japanese had brought to this world.

  “But... Does Ba
hairam...?”

  It was true, Eldant had begun taking steps to export otaku culture itself. There had already been shipments to several other countries in the area, experiments to see what the reaction would be. But I was pretty sure none of them had gone to Bahairam, which was an enemy country, after all. Ah! But if they had spies like Elvia in Eldant, they had probably gotten at least some information on the subject.

  “Sire?” Clara asked again.

  Oops! I forgot. I had to deal with my little friend somehow.

  “Um, right. Um. You see, I a-actually, you know, I’m all about girls, but I’m... I’m sick! It’s a very bad, very rare illness, that, uh... it makes me die! If I, you know, do that kind of... thing.”

  I decided to just let my mouth do whatever it wanted. Part of me definitely wondered what the hell it was saying at that moment, but I had to come up with some kind of lie like this or they would just sic one girl after another on me, and things would only get more whoa-whoa-whoa with every new face.

  But then...

  “You are... sick, Sire?”

  Apparently, Clara had bought my ruse.

  “Yeah, sick! So if, you know... If I do anything with you, Clara, I’ll die. And that would be bad for everyone. I think.” I continued to let my mouth run the show as I attempted to escape from this honey trap. “You guys don’t want me to die, do you? You don’t want me to die, do you, Clara?”

  “You’re correct. That would be very problematic,” Clara said.

  “Well, er, then maybe you could leave me alone in the bath for now. Oh, hey, actually, I’m done! I’m out of here, so take your time!”

  I worked my way out of the bathing area, turning my head painfully so as not to look at her, and headed for the changing room.

  “Sire...”

  Clara’s voice followed me, but I shut the door between the bath and the changing room. Then I slumped against it and let out a breath.

  The inside of the mansion seemed dark and gloomy. Without the master, Shinichi-sama, at home, it felt like something was missing. And of course that was true, on some level, but it was more than that. It was like the color had gone out of everything; it was like the mixture of sadness and indolence you feel at twilight.

  Brooke-san, Cerise-san, Elvia-san, and Minori-sama: nobody talked very much, and nobody looked very happy. I must admit that I’m not very good at reading the expressions of lizardmen like Brooke-san and Cerise-san, but their body language, the way their tongues moved, made it seem very much like they were feeling down.

  I knew it was a little late for this, but all this brought home to me just what an important presence Shinichi-sama had been in all our lives.

  I could hardly neglect my duties as maid just because Shinichi-sama was gone, though. In fact, it was my job to make sure the house was shipshape, so Shinichi-sama could come back at any time and find the place looking good. On top of that... Well, I was just a maid, and this was all I could do. And I had to do something, or I thought I would go mad with worry.

  After breakfast was over, it was time for cleaning and laundry.

  I took care of the laundry first. Things were mostly dry, and I was walking down the hallway with a basket and some rags.

  “Shinichi-sama...”

  I couldn’t stop his name from coming to my lips. No matter how many times I called him, though, he wouldn’t answer.

  I thought the anxiety was going to crush me.

  It was already five days since Shinichi-sama had gone missing. I hadn’t heard anything from Her Majesty or Minori-sama these past three days. That probably meant they hadn’t learned anything. Even our hypothesis that Shinichi-sama had been taken to the Kingdom of Bahairam wasn’t completely certain. And trying to find one single person without any kind of clues was like grasping at clouds...

  I let out another sigh. I’d lost count of how many times I had done that.

  School was the same way: without Shinichi-sama, nothing could move forward. Minori-sama and I, the two remaining instructors, had told the students that they would be doing “free study” until further notice, and we hadn’t been to school since then.

  I was sure the students were all worried as well. Everyone so looked up to Shinichi-sama.

  “Shinichi-sama...”

  Are you hurt? What’s happening to you now?

  His face floated through my mind over and over, and each time I felt my chest tighten. It hurt.

  I was walking along with my eyes on the ground when...

  “Hm...?”

  Suddenly I noticed: I could hear people talking.

  It was coming from the living area. It sounded like it was probably Minori-sama and her superior, Matoba-sama. It had been quite a while since Matoba-sama had been here—I believe he had gone back to Japan to make a report.

  Could it be...?

  Would Japan send someone to rescue Shinichi-sama?

  The Jay Ess Dee Eff couldn’t act without orders from Japan’s government. But that also meant that if the government so ordered, the Jay Ess Dee Eff could turn its strength—power enough to defeat a dragon—to helping my master.

  That had to be why Matoba-sama had come back!

  Holding that hope in my heart, I headed toward the living area.

  “That’s exactly why—!”

  “But...”

  I could only hear snatches of the conversation.

  They were speaking Japanese. Of course, the rest of us in the house routinely heard Shinichi-sama and Minori-sama speaking this language. But our magic rings also simultaneously transformed it into the Eldant language, which enabled us to speak more readily with them.

  At that moment, though, all I could hear was Japanese. That must have meant the two of them had taken off their rings. Deliberately, I suspected.

  That anxiousness began to well up again.

  I set the basket and rags on the ground where they would be out of the way, then pressed my back to the wall and listened hard to the words coming from the next room.

  “So, you’re saying...?”

  “That would..., yes. So...”

  They were speaking quickly and using a lot of words I didn’t know, so I couldn’t follow everything they were saying. But then I heard Minori-sama shout, “You mean the Japanese government instigated Shinichi-kun’s kidnapping?!”

  I caught my breath, feeling my heart skip what seemed to be several beats.

  What had Minori-sama just said?

  “Now, now, I’m not certain about that myself. I’m simply saying those above me rather seemed to... expect this. There have always been those who felt that restricting our engagement to the Eldant Empire alone was risky. Especially when the country’s empress seemed so taken with Shinichi-kun. Some have suggested he might be a twenty-first-century Rasputin or Dokyo.”

  “That’s—”

  “On top of that, the JSDF has been running escort missions for export shipments of otaku merchandise, has it not? And they know we defeated that dragon. In that light, it seems he was simply given the duty of approaching nations other than Eldant.”

  “I wasn’t told!”

  “You’re merely Shinichi-kun’s bodyguard. It didn’t concern you.”

  “But sir—”

  “I’m fairly confident it’s the Kingdom of Bahairam that’s behind this latest incident. I’m simply saying they might have been inspired by information passed to them by the Japanese government.”

  “But why would the government...?”

  “Well, without Shinichi-kun, they have the perfect excuse to send somebody new.”

  “That’s what this is about?! A pretext?”

  “Earlier events made clear how strongly the Eldant Empire would oppose any direct attempt by Japan to liquidate Shinichi-kun. An impolitic move on our part could even lead to war. How much easier would it be if Shinichi-kun vanished by ‘accident,’ something unrelated to the Japanese government? A smooth transition of Amutech’s management would be quite readily achieved then.”

>   “That’s why they fed information to Bahairam?”

  “I’m only saying it’s a possibility. I have no actual proof, nor was I personally told any of this. I do know, however, that the government has already prepared a successor. That’s much too quick if they only just learned about Shinichi-kun’s kidnapping.”

  “.........Grr...”

  “Whatever the case, the government is not going to move on this situation. Nor is the JSDF. And I doubt the Holy Eldant Empire will, either. That’s simply the way it is.”

  The meaning of their conversation slowly sank in to me, spreading darkness through me like a poison as it did so. Yes, they were using difficult words and expressions that left me unable to understand everything they had said. But I understood enough.

  Was it Japan’s fault that Shinichi-sama had been kidnapped?

  With Shinichi-sama gone, would somebody new come?

  It was more convenient for Japan that Shinichi-sama disappear, so they were deliberately going to hold back their army...

  What would happen to Shinichi-sama, then?

  Who would help him?

  No one? Really—no one?

  Would everyone, even his own country, abandon him?!

  The thought was so terrible it made me dizzy. I stumbled a bit and accidentally kicked the basket of clothes I had set on the floor.

  “Who’s there?!” Minori-sama demanded instantly.

  And I—horrified and overwhelmed by everything that was going on, I simply ran for my life.

  “Ohh...”

  What should I do?

  What should I do, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do what should I do what should I do...!

  Anxiety—no, terror seized my insides.

  Nobody was going to rescue Shinichi-sama.

  Even Minori-sama couldn’t help him.

  So honestly... what would happen to him?

  Would he never come back to us? Would somebody new come to replace him, like Matoba-sama said? And would I have to serve that new person?

  Whoever they were, they wouldn’t be Shinichi-sama.

  “I couldn’t bear that...!”

  My vision went blurry... and then I fell.

  I lay right there on the floor in the hallway.