“Tokiwa!”
I ran over and sat her up, but she was unresponsive. I looked her over to make sure she wasn’t hurt, and luckily that didn’t seem to be the case. Just to be safe, I checked to make sure she didn’t have a goose egg on her head or anything. After all, it was possible she’d fainted and hit her head on something. Thankfully, however, that didn’t seem to be the case either.
“Hngh...”
Just then, Tokiwa’s eyes fluttered. In order to hear her, I leaned in close.
“Rekka...?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Are you hurt anywhere, Tokiwa?”
“My head’s in a daze... but it’s probably just my anemia.”
Or so she said, but she genuinely did seem to be mostly fine. And with that, I sighed in relief. A second too early, apparently. Just then...
BOOM!
A huge tremor shook the house.
“Rekka, the robots outside...”
“I know. Let’s get out of here.”
The thunderous sound and the shaking was probably a sign one of the robots was getting closer. They’d all been a good distance away when I first arrived at Tokiwa’s house, but it seemed they’d closed in quickly while I was checking on Tokiwa. As the noise and shaking grew more severe, Poppy came flying upstairs.
“Rekka! The robot is right outside! We’d better flee!”
“I know. But first, Poppy...”
“What is it?”
“Can you go ahead and find us an escape route? It should be easier to scout from the air.”
“Leave it to me!” Poppy replied as she darted outside.
“I must be hallucinating. I thought I saw a fairy just now...”
“No, you’re not hallucinating. That was the real deal.”
“What?”
“I’ll explain later. For now, Tokiwa, can you stand?”
“Mm, probably...”
Tokiwa staggered to her feet, but her legs were clearly unsteady. There was no way she was running in this condition... Argh, fine! I’ll do it myself!
“Grab on, Tokiwa. I’ll carry you.”
“...Sorry,” Tokiwa apologized as she wrapped her arms around my neck.
I guess, to be fair, I was used to carrying her like this. I supported her with one hand and grabbed the banister with the other as I flew down the stairs. I stopped at the front door so Tokiwa could put on her shoes, and then we bolted outside.
“Rekka!” Poppy called as she came over and landed on my shoulder. “Don’t go right! The robots are blocking the road!”
“Left it is, then!”
I drew a map in my head as I ran. Going left would put us back in the center of town with the shopping street and the school. It probably would have been most efficient just to make a beeline out of town to get away from the robots, but I couldn’t climb walls or anything with Tokiwa on my back. We’d have to stick to the roads.
I considered just trying to hide out, but these robots could destroy entire houses with a single push or kick. If we bunkered down somewhere, it was possible we might get trapped there. In the end, it was all I could do to keep running while searching for a way to safety. Thankfully, Poppy was able to get a bird’s-eye view and tell me in advance which roads were blocked. We pressed forward, running down road after road while giving the robots the slip, when...
“Huh?”
“Is something the matter?” Poppy asked, seeing me tilt my head as we ran.
“Is it just me... or are there more robots now?”
I was really hoping it was just me, but I couldn’t help asking. Poppy’s face paled when she heard my question, however, and she immediately flew up overhead to see if my suspicions were right. Roughly half a minute later, she came back down with an answer I really didn’t want to hear.
“You’re right... There really are more.”
By Poppy’s count, their number had more than doubled. Now there were 13 robots around town, which closed the ranks on their encirclement and made it that much harder to escape. But more importantly...
“Where are they coming from?” I uttered the real question at hand.
It shouldn’t have taken me that long to get to it, really. Our fairly rural town was pretty far inland. If more kaiju had just walked out of the ocean, we should’ve had some kind of warning considering how long it would’ve taken them to get here. It would’ve been all over TV, and we hadn’t seen any emergency broadcasts or anything while we were watching the tube in my room. The first we heard of it was literally that first earth-shattering boom that sounded like an explosion.
But if there was really no advanced warning, how had they gotten here? Did they just drop from the sky? Did they warp in? Ugh... I taxed my brain, but my pathetic imagination couldn’t fathom anything else. I wasn’t approaching this the right way.
How they’d gotten here wasn’t as important as why they were here. Why were giant robots in my hometown in the first place? Why had they come all the way out to the countryside where nothing ever happens? Hypothesis one: their location was chosen at random. Hypothesis two: they’re just passing through. Hypothesis three: they’re simply on a rampage, and the setting doesn’t matter.
Let’s put the first hypothesis aside for now. The second was an inconvenience, but it was honestly the ideal scenario since it would mean they’d leave eventually. The third, however... That would be the worst. I was praying that one wasn’t it.
“Hmm...”
I pondered over the possibilities, but nothing quite seemed right. I didn’t have enough information. Even with all the havoc they’d caused, I still couldn’t tell if the robots were manned or not. All that was observable from a distance was that the robots themselves were a stark white, quite unlike the colorful ones you’d see in anime. It looked like they had a smooth, glossy armor to them rather than just being giant hunks of moving steel.
I know I’ve really harped on how unbelievable this all was, but was it even possible for modern technology to produce something like these robots? They looked like they were from space... No, they looked like they were from the future.
Wait... Aliens? Space? I felt like something was on the tip of my tongue again... Something important. But now wasn’t the time...
No...
Now was the time. Now more than ever. I couldn’t count how many times today I’d fought off this strange feeling, but it was too many—that much was certain. Now throw in some giant robots and some other weird stuff... Could this really all be a coincidence?
Roughly half a year had passed since my Namidare bloodline awakened. So far, I’d saved seven heroines: President Momone, Tokiwa, Ai, Poppy, Yulia, Yorun, and Touko. I remembered them all quite well, but just now—no, this whole day—I’d been feeling like I was forgetting something.
Had I really only gotten caught up in a handful of stories so far this year? Had I really been living out my life in relative peace as a high school student after my Namidare bloodline awakened? If this was how things were gonna be, why had my dad been so worried about me on my sixteenth birthday? Was this really the first time something so crazy had happened? Something told me that wasn’t the case.
Sadly, however, my memory was a total blank. I had nothing to back that hunch up. No matter how desperately I racked my brains, I just couldn’t remember. It was almost like someone was reaching into my head and covering up those memories...
I was lost in thought for a moment there, but someone suddenly called out to me and snapped me back to reality. Two someones, actually.
“Rekka!”
“Hey, Rekka!”
To my surprise, it was Yulia and Yorun. They were both carrying their weapons—a giant battleaxe and an oversized hammer respectively. The incredible sight would have been enough to stagger me on a normal day, but somehow in the midst of all the ongoing chaos, it didn’t faze me but so much.
“You two haven’t evacuated yet?” I asked as they ran over.
“We’re in the middle of looking for any straggler
s who got left behind. Is that girl injured?” Yulia replied as she looked to Tokiwa on my back.
“No, Tokiwa just has a weak constitution, so I’m carrying her.”
“I see. So she’s all right, then?”
“Yeah.”
“President Momone has turned her family shrine into a temporary shelter. You guys should head there, Rekka!” Yorun said before turning to Yulia. “Let’s go that way next.”
And with that, they were gone as quick as they’d come.
“Are they going to be okay?” Tokiwa whispered in my ear worriedly.
It was a valid concern. As strong as Yulia and Yorun were, we were talking about giant robots here. I didn’t honestly expect normal weapons would have much effect on them. Yet nonetheless...
“Yeah, I’m sure they’ll be fine.”
At the very least, both Yulia and Yorun had more combat knowledge and experience than your average person. I was confident they’d know when to retreat. We’d have to have faith in them for now.
“Yorun’s right, though. We should head for President Momone’s.”
“Okay.”
“Then I’ll go back to giving directions!”
“Thanks, Poppy.”
The three of us then made our way to Kibi Shrine like Yorun had suggested. It took us about five minutes to reach it, and by the time we arrived, roughly 30 of the local townsfolk had already gathered there. About half of the crowd was injured, and the other half of the crowd were family and friends that had helped carry the wounded to safety. Honestly, it was a smaller turnout than I’d been expecting. Even though we lived in a fairly small town, this was a massive emergency. I was sure more people would be here...
“Hey, problem child.”
“President Momone!”
When she spotted us, President Momone—still in her school uniform—came running over from the shrine’s main building.
She took one look at Tokiwa and said, “Looks like you’re unharmed. Well done.”
The second part of that was directed at me. It probably would’ve made me blush ordinarily, but I chose to ignore it for now. There were more important things at hand.
“I was trying to escape with Tokiwa when we crossed paths with Yulia and Yorun. They told us you’d be here,” I explained.
“I see. Well, it would’ve been difficult to get out of town while carrying Tokiwa. You made the right choice coming here,” President Momone said with an approving nod.
“I gotta say, though... There are less refugees here than I expected. Is that because Yulia and Yorun haven’t been able to find that many people? Is the evacuation not going well?”
“Well, you’re one-third right.”
So, what? I was more than half wrong? Ideally I’d be completely wrong and everything was really going fine, but I couldn’t be that optimistic. Curious, I asked President Momone for more information.
“The roads are torn up everywhere. The evacuation plans aren’t going well in the sense that we’ve only been able to cover about half the town thanks to all the delays.”
“What should I do? Can I help too?” I offered.
But she immediately shot me down.
“Strength and endurance aren’t your strong suit, so don’t force yourself.”
“Ouch...”
“Listen, the reason I said you were only one-third right is because most of the residents have already successfully gotten out of town. The evacuation itself is mostly going fine. We’re just running the shelter here for the stragglers and people who can’t get away on their own.”
“What? Really?”
I didn’t think it’d be so easy for so many people to get away from the dozen or so robots now rampaging around town.
“The robots looks like they’re going berserk from a distance, but they don’t actually attack if you get close to them.”
“They don’t attack? But they’re out there destroying the town...”
“This is just a theory, but I suspect they’re looking for something. I think they’re destroying buildings and such in their search, rather than actively trying to harm anyone.”
“...”
Not only was she helping to run a shelter for refugees, she’d already gathered enough information and given the situation enough thought to come up with theories about what was really happening—all while her hometown was being destroyed, mind you. Surprised as I was, I should have expected that much from President Momone.
“The people still here are the people who are too injured to move and their families. Everyone who could make the trip was directed to evacuate by Yulia and Yorun as soon as they found them. They’re bringing the wounded here, and once they’ve cleared the whole town, we’ll all leave together.”
“I understand.”
If that was the plan, then President Momone would have her hands full during the evacuation too. That meant it’d be better for me to stay on standby here at the shrine until Yulia and Yorun returned so that I could carry Tokiwa out with everyone when the time came.
“Tokiwa, I’m going to put you down for now. Let’s find somewhere to sit and take a load off.”
“Okay.”
I set Tokiwa down on the stone steps leading up to the main shrine. On an autumn night like this, the stone was cool to the touch. I instinctively huddled up a bit, but then I realized Tokiwa was trembling like a leaf next to me. Oh...
“Here, Tokiwa. Sit on this.”
Belatedly, I offered her the jacket I’d grabbed on my way out of the house. I laid it on the steps and gestured for her to move over onto it instead of sitting on the cold stone.
“But...”
“Don’t worry about me. After all that running, I’m still sweating bullets.”
I couldn’t really hear all of what she said, but it sounded like protest. I reassured her it was fine, and after a moment’s hesitation, she accepted. I watched as she scooted over onto my jacket, and once she was in place, she suddenly leaned over and put her head on my shoulder.
“Tokiwa...?”
“Thank you, Rekka.”
“Don’t mention it. It’s just a jacket.”
“Not that... You came to my house to save me, right?”
“Ah, that’s what you meant... I mean, even that was just me being my usual worried self.”
“But is it really that strange for me to thank you for worrying about me?”
“Er, uh... No, I guess not,” I said in a fluster, making Tokiwa giggle.
“Maybe that’s being too harsh... Really, I like that you never make anyone you help feel bad about it. I think that’s cool.”
“...!”
Suddenly hearing that Tokiwa thought I was cool took me by surprise. Calm down, Rekka, calm down... She didn’t mean I was cool. She just said I did something cool. There was a difference...
But then the fairy on my other shoulder decided to pipe up.
“Rekka has been really cool today,” said Poppy.
“R-Really?”
“Yeah. It’s almost like you’re used to this kind of stuff.”
“Yeah... I thought so too,” agreed Tokiwa.
Wait, both of them thought I was acting cool? I mean, I was totally shocked when the robots first appeared, but after that... First, I gave Ai immediate orders. My next thought was Tokiwa, and then searching for an escape route. I’d done everything right—everything I should have in an emergency. But that made it all the stranger. I really was being too calm and casual about all this, wasn’t I?
I was plenty familiar with the supernatural and the unexpected thanks to the mess of trouble my bloodline got me into, but I had never once been involved in a story that actually put my life at risk. The closest thing to genuine danger I’d ever been in was getting stuck in that video game with Yorun, but even a pro racing gamer would still get nervous the first time they took a real race car out on the road. My point is that whether this was a supernatural occurrence or not, the life-risking factor should trump everything else. I m
ean, I certainly didn’t want to die... I really would’ve thought I’d be more afraid for my own life than this.
But as I was thinking all this over, I spotted President Momone out of the corner of my eye.
“Problem child, I need you a minute.”
“Coming.”
I excused myself to Tokiwa, then followed President Momone as we walked around to the back of the main shrine. There was just enough light coming from the rear entrance of the temple that we could see our feet and the gravel below.
“What are we doing here, President Momone?”
“Something we can’t do out front.”
There, President Momone stopped walking and turned around to face me. Then... I felt something staring at me from the depths of the darkness.
“Huh—wha?!”
When I looked to see what it was, I saw a pair of glowing eyes. No, dozens of them. And they were all staring at me and President Momone from the shadows.
“...Wait, that’s Ai, isn’t it?”
“Meow!”
Ai threw her hand up and waved as she stepped out of the darkness. The glowing eyes behind her followed suit. Apparently it was just the rest of the nekomata.
“We’re here too!” another voice called.
“Pon!”
After the nekomata came the local yokai. At the head of the group was their acting leader, Pon the tanuki (who was currently in animal form).
“I see what you mean now. This would certainly cause quite a fuss out front.”
Most of the refugees at the temple right now were normal civilians who were already exhausted and afraid after being chased out of their homes by giant robots. Throwing yokai into the mix would only cause chaos and panic.
“So, what are all the local yokai doing here?”
“Well, it isn’t that complicated,” President Momone declared as she stood her wooden sword against the ground with both hands. “Right now, this shrine is being protected by an invisibility talisman my grandfather and I set up so that the robots can’t see us.”
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 14 Page 4