I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 1

by Namekojirushi

  “But you’re tired from the entrance ceremony, right? Why not rest a little first?”

  What got into her? She was suddenly trying to be nice to m— Oh.

  “Did you really want to watch TV that badly?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Sorry. We can do it some other time. I’ll watch as much as you want on the weekends with you.”

  “It’s fine. Really.”

  “Then don’t sulk.”

  “I am not sulking.” She looked pretty upset to me, though. Well, fine. I’d just have to stay up all night watching TV with her on Saturday. I left the house with R, thinking about what kind of DVDs we’d rent.

  ▽

  The place where Satsuki and I always used to play was an abandoned factory at the top of a little hill, about fifteen minutes away by bike. I checked my watch when I arrived. It was 1:00 PM.

  “I wonder what Satsuki wants, anyway?”

  “It’s a little late to be wondering now, isn’t it? And didn’t you just say that’s what you were here to find out?”

  “That’s true, but... I was just wondering what Satsuki would want to talk to me about so badly that she’d skip the entrance ceremony.”

  “Hahh... Sheesh. You really are dense, aren’t you, Rekka?”

  “What do you mean, dense?”

  “I mean dense. Dull. Dumb. Whenever a girl gives a boy a letter and tells him to meet her at a certain place, it usually means only one thing. She wants to tell him that she loves him.”

  “Huh?”

  “Wow, the look on your face is so rude. My deduction was brilliant.”

  “How was that brilliant? You dummy...” Me and Satsuki? No way. “She’s been my friend for over a decade now. She’s basically family.”

  “I now understand the difficulty of my mission in my heart, and not just in my head.”

  “Why? ...Well, whatever. Let’s go.” I locked my bike and went around to the rear entrance of the abandoned factory.

  The place had been closed since I was a kid, but there was a single door in the back where the lock was broken. That’s how we always used to get inside. Just as I thought, the lock was still busted. I easily made it inside the factory where I used to play.

  “It’s dark in here, isn’t it?”

  “Does it seem dark to you too, R?”

  “My senses are much the same as a human’s.”

  “Huh. I thought your eyes would shine in the dark or something.”

  “That would make it impossible for me to see anything, wouldn’t it?”

  That’s true, come to think of it.

  We waited for our eyes to adjust to the darkness before we went in any deeper. Satsuki and I always used to play in the big room in the back, so I had to walk down a dusty corridor for a bit. Maybe it was just because I hadn’t been here for a while, but the place seemed more run-down than it was when I was a kid.

  My memories were fuzzy, but I managed to make it to my destination. This room had probably once been used to hold conveyor belts and big machinery, but now all that stuff had been removed. All that was left was an open space about the size of a gym.

  Unlike the corridor I’d come down, there were windows here, and the sunlight from outside made it much brighter. It was still a little gloomy, but there was more than enough light to see her standing in the center of the room with her back turned toward me.

  “Satsuki.”

  She jerked a little when she heard me say her name, and then turned around. Her clothes were very ordinary-looking, and her straight, black hair was neither permed nor bleached lighter. She’d said before that she didn’t really like wearing makeup or putting a lot of effort into looking good, but I knew that she was secretly proud of her pretty black hair, and that she spent time caring for it every morning.

  Satsuki had the same peaceful smile on her face that she always did. “Good morning, Rekka.”

  “M-Morning... Wait, it’s afternoon now. Why’d you skip the entrance ceremony? Oh, and by the way, we’re in the same class again this year.”

  “I see. That never changes, huh?”

  “It feels to me like somebody’s setting it up. Anyway, how long have you been here?”

  “Since this morning.”

  “I knew it!” See? If I left her here, she would’ve waited the whole day. “Sorry. I forgot to check the mailbox this morning.”

  “If you’d seen it this morning, would you have come straight here?”

  “Of course.”

  “I see. I’m glad.”

  “Huh?” What was she talking about? Of course I’d come straight here. Why did she look so relieved? This whole thing felt kind of weird. “So what did you want to talk about?”

  “Well... you may not believe this, but I’m actually...” Satsuki fell silent for a moment, and glanced around the room, as if she was hesitating.

  I was starting to feel a little nervous. What did she want to talk about? This didn’t make sense.

  R said nothing. Evidently, she wasn’t going to interrupt.

  Just as Satsuki seemed to make some kind of decision, and opened her mouth to speak, the whole building shook.

  All of us gasped in surprise as the glass in the windows shattered into thousands of tiny pieces.

  The vibration stopped, and the factory was silent once more. A lot of dust had flown up into the air, but fortunately, the roof hadn’t collapsed or anything.

  “That wasn’t an earthquake or anything, was it? ...Uwaah!” I realized that I’d grabbed Satsuki and was holding her head close to me to protect it. I must’ve done it without even thinking about it. “Satsuki, you okay?” I felt a little awkward, so I decided to say something to her.

  She didn’t answer.

  Crap. I took a look at her face, wondering if I should apologize for grabbing her. Even in the dark, I could tell that she was pale. Her teeth were chattering in fear.

  “Hey, Satsuki? What’s wrong?” I tried to pat her shoulder, when...

  “Don’t touch her, young man.” I was cut off by a bright, loud voice that sounded like someone reading from a script.

  I turned around and saw a blond man with azure eyes, wearing expensive clothes and a cape that was the color of wine dipped in darkness.

  He felt kind of evil.

  And wait, where did this guy come from, anyway?

  I moved Satsuki behind me and glared at him. “Who are you?”

  “Who are you? I researched this country’s culture before I came to get her, so I know how this is done. When you ask someone’s name, you give your own name first, right?”

  “Rekka Namidare. I’m Satsuki’s childhood friend.”

  “I see.” The man nodded dramatically, like an actor.

  “Now it’s your turn, isn’t it?”

  “Oh dear. You seem to think I’m your enemy. I haven’t done anything to you, I don’t believe.”

  “You’re scaring Satsuki.”

  “I’ve given her no reason to fear me. I’m not going to hurt her. She’s my bride, after all.”

  “Huh? What did you say?”

  “My bride. She will marry me, Messiah Kyandistrapps, and grant me the wisdom of omniscience.”

  I didn’t even understand half of what he was saying.

  Just then, tiny fragments of something rained down on top of the man’s shoulders.

  There was a hole in the ceiling? The concrete roof of the factory was ringed with cracks, and in their center was a hole big enough for a man to pass through. The hole was directly above Messiah, as if he’d made it himself and jumped down. But that’s stupid. If somebody fell down from that height, they’d be lucky to even survive. And how could you make a hole in the ceiling without using any tools? But it still seemed like the only way to explain how the man had made it in here all of a sudden.

  If nothing else, he ain’t normal, I thought. But then what could he be? And then I remembered what I’d heard last night. The Namidare bloodline. The special blood in my ve
ins, which both my dad and R had talked about. Assuming that had nothing to do with this was too much to hope for.

  “Now, I’ve finished introducing myself. Will you move out of the way, young man?”

  “I refuse.”

  “I see. Will you tell me why?”

  “Don’t make me repeat myself. You’re scaring Satsuki. Why does she have to marry an asshole like you, anyway?”

  “Does it matter to you if she becomes my bride?”

  “Of course it does, idiot. She’s my childhood friend. I know her so well, I know how many moles she has, and she knows the same about me. If you could make Satsuki happy, that would be one thing, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case. If you’re trying to make her do something she doesn’t want to do, then of course I’m going to protect her.”

  “Rekka...” I could hear Satsuki whisper my name softly behind her. Her teeth weren’t chattering anymore.

  “Young man, you seem to be standing in my way.” Messiah pointed his index finger at me.

  “Messiah!” Satsuki shouted suddenly, as if trying to stop him from doing something.

  A shockwave struck my body from the side. I flew up into the air and slammed into the filthy factory wall. “Gaah—” I hit my back hard, the impact forcing the air out of my lungs.

  “Rekka!”

  “Don’t move, Daughter of Omniscience.”

  She tried to run over to me, but Messiah stopped her.

  Daughter of Omniscience? The heck?

  “Gah! I knew he wasn’t normal.” My back and left side throbbed with a dull pain, and a weird numbness ran through my whole body. My muscles still spasmed. None of this made sense. What the hell did he do?

  “Oh my. Are you all right, Rekka?”

  “R...” That’s right. R couldn’t get more than five meters away from me. When I got knocked away, she must’ve gotten dragged along with me.

  “Hey, what did Messiah do to me?”

  “Given my position, I’ve been programmed to be fair to each of the girls. If I side with any individual heroine, that will result in my having deliberately changed the future. So of course, I’m not going to help you resolve any of their story lines, either.”

  “So that means this is one of those stories my dad told me about?”

  “Oh my. Even after that, you’re still trying to gather information? You’re an idiot, but you’re tougher than I thought. It’s true that, given my mission, I’m capable of determining when you’re involved in a heroine’s story.”

  “And you’ll tell me?”

  “As long as having that knowledge wouldn’t influence the story’s outcome.”

  It didn’t look like I could count on R for much help. At this rate, she probably wasn’t going to tell me about this “Daughter of Omniscience” thing.

  What had happened just now, though? He hadn’t even laid a hand on me. It was like magic. Wait, was it really magic? This really is like a manga or a light novel, Dad. I’ve already run into a damned wizard. Magic? That’s cheating.

  And it’s not normal at all. The “normal life” I loved was gone forever now. God damn it.

  “Oh, you can still stand?”

  “Of course I’m going to stand up. Satsuki’s being attacked.” My whole body felt exhausted, but I forced myself up off the ground. “I don’t know what’s going on, but if Satsuki’s in danger, I don’t need a reason to save her.”

  R sighed. I couldn’t tell if she was surprised or annoyed.

  “Hey, hold on a second, asshole!” I grabbed a steel pipe as I stood up and flung it at Messiah as hard as I could. But just before it struck him, something knocked it away.

  “Hmm. You’re a tough one, aren’t you?” Messiah turned toward me. He sounded like someone praising a baby for managing to stand on its own two feet.

  “That’s my line.”

  “I keep my whole body covered in a defensive shield at all times. Something like that won’t even scratch me.”

  “That’s cheating...” I tried to make a joke, but to be honest, I was in pretty bad shape. And of course, he knew that, too.

  “Rekka!” Satsuki called my name and tossed me something small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. I grabbed what turned out to be her phone.

  “Take that and run! I’ll be fine!”

  “Don’t be stupid!” Was I supposed to keep this as a memento of you? You’re terrible at sports. There’s no way you can fight this Messiah guy.

  Messiah chuckled as he watched us. “You really are going to be a nuisance to me, aren’t you? I wasn’t planning on killing you, but I suppose it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

  Messiah raised his hand above his head. Suddenly the air started to shake, and sparks appeared from nowhere. The sparks grew until they formed little lightning bolts that began to writhe around like snakes. The snakes began to entwine, until at last they formed a huge ball of light. A ball of lightning.

  I wasn’t sure what else to call it. In an instant, it swelled up, becoming so large that it could engulf a person’s body easily.

  “Don’t worry. There’ll be nothing left of you. Nobody will have to learn of your horrible death.”

  “Damn it! Thanks, but no thanks...” This was not good. Messiah was a real wizard. My instincts were telling me to run.

  Was I scared? Of course I was. If that thing hit me, I’d be dead, no doubt about it. But how was I supposed to live with myself if I ran away and left Satsuki here? My legs were shaking, but I managed to stay where I was.

  Sheesh! I don’t how this Namidare bloodline stuff works, but this is one hell of an introduction.

  And just as I made one last complaint to God...

  “Eeyaaaah!” Something came down from the sky to make things even more complicated.

  1-2: A Girl Comes Down From the Sky

  That “something” fell down from above, and brought a ton of rubble with her. It seemed like she had stepped on the cracked, rotting ceiling above, then fallen through it. A fourth of the roof had caved in, falling directly on top of Messiah. At the same time, all the dust on the ground had flown up into the air, forming a smoky curtain that covered the whole room.

  “Tch! What happened?” I could hear Messiah yelling from the other side of the curtain. Even all that rubble collapsing on top of him wasn’t enough to kill him?

  But this was the perfect chance to get away! I stuffed Satsuki’s phone into my pocket and started to run. There was so much dust that I couldn’t see anything, but I managed to run to where I last remembered her standing, and grab onto what felt like her.

  “This way! Let’s get out of here!”

  “Huh?”

  She started to say something, but I was in such a hurry that I headed for the factory’s rear exit without waiting for her answer. I kept slamming into things, but we managed to make it out of the building, and I ran straight down the hill without looking behind me.

  “I’ll protect you, no matter what!” I yelled, panting. Maybe I was just trying to distract myself from my own terror. It was the only way I could keep running.

  I remembered my bike halfway down the hill, but there was no going back for it now, so I kept running. I had no idea how long I’d been running. I kept shouting things to encourage her as we fled. It was the one thing I could do to make her feel better.

  By the time I’d finally hit my limit, we were far enough away that I couldn’t see the hill with the factory on it anymore.

  “Hahh... hahh...” My mouth felt like it was full of sand. I wanted water, and bad. It didn’t look like Messiah was following us, so we must have made it away safely. And then “Satsuki,” who’d been very quiet so far, asked...

  “H-Hey... What’s your name?” It was a voice I didn’t recognize.

  “Huh?” I turned around in surprise, and saw I was holding a hand that belonged to a girl I’d never seen before.

  “Your name. N-A-M-E. Tell me already.”

  “R-Rekka... Namidare.” I was so astonished tha
t I couldn’t do anything but answer her question.

  “Rekka Namidare... Rekka, huh?” For some reason, she repeated my name to herself happily.

  Hold it. How did this happen? I looked toward R, who had been dragged along with me, for help.

  “You grabbed the wrong girl while you were in the dust cloud.” Seriously? But where did this girl come from? Oh, that’s it. She must’ve been what fell through the roof. Come to think of it, I remembered hearing her scream before she fell.

  “Hey, are you listening to me?”

  “Huh? No, um... what’s up?”

  “Jeez! I’m being nice enough to give you my name, so listen to me!” The girl was pouting angrily, shaking the long, silver twin tails that went down to her feet.

  Then she put her hands up to her chest, covered by a strange, lacy dress, and puffed it out proudly. “My name is Iris Fineritas Cyphercall. I am the only daughter of the chairman of the Owaria, the highest ruling body of the planet Finerita. Normally a lowly native from a primitive planet like this would never get the chance to touch me, so you should feel honored!”

  “Huh? Oh, sorry!” I suddenly realized that I was still holding her hand, and quickly let go.

  “Dummy. I said you should feel honored, didn’t I? This time was special, so I’ll let you get away with it.” But Iris quickly grabbed my hand again and smiled at me.

  She was holding my hand so tight now that I didn’t think I could let go. Actually, it hurt. But at the same time, it was soft. It felt strange.

  “Wh-Why is this time special?”

  “Because you saved me when I was being chased, obviously.”

  “Huh?” What was she talking about?

  “From what she’s saying, maybe she was being chased, too? And then she fell through the roof of that factory while she was running. Then you grabbed her hand and ran away with her, and so now she thinks you saved her?” My head was starting to hurt, so R helpfully offered her own theory.

  “L-Listen, I...”

  “And you said you’d protect me, no matter what! I never thought I’d actually hear a boy say something like that!” Iris put the hand that wasn’t holding mine up to her cheek and wriggled back and forth. Evidently, R’s guess was right.