Even so, Yuichi couldn’t find it in him to just abandon her.
“My sister gave me this weird training that’s made me more powerful than most people,” he said. “I didn’t do it for any particular reason... but as long as I have it, I want to use it to save people. To be useful to people. B-But it’s not... you know... the ‘great power, great responsibility’ thing. I hate that stuff.” Yuichi scratched his head, feeling awkward about saying the words out loud.
“...I’ll go with you,” Natsuki said. “I could be useful somehow. But I would advise against trying to stop that monster. What it is exceeds human understanding. It’s like a hurricane or a tidal wave... It’s not something you can fight.”
Yuichi wondered if Natsuki had fought something like that before, but he didn’t want to pry. She seemed so frightened. It suggested some terrible memory that she didn’t want to relive.
“It’s primarily a rescue mission, so we probably won’t have to fight it,” he assured her. Still, part of Yuichi’s mind continued to consider it, turning over what little knowledge he had, trying to figure out a way to make the thing dead. “Well, for now, we need to find a way inside or we won’t even be able to do that much.”
Yuichi gently released Natsuki and looked around. He quickly spotted a crack large enough for a person to fit through.
Before they went inside, they decided to go back down the mountain and pick up any useful luggage they might need.
✽✽✽✽✽
There were anthromorphs waiting at the harbor, but they were no match for Nero.
His bestial strength was on a whole other level. The anthromorphs on this island were merely humans with fur; no matter how frightening they might look, they could do nothing in the face of a true monster.
Nero faithfully followed Aiko’s “try not to kill them, if possible” request, but given the vast difference in power, it was a little beyond his control.
“Dynasty Warriors: Nero! And it’s so easy mode!” Mutsuko cried, jumping around like an excitable child.
“Mutsuko, this is really not the time...” Aiko said, looking out over the harbor.
There wasn’t a single boat docked there, though Aiko remembered there having been several when they’d arrived.
“Right. First, we need a way off the island, right? Natch!” Mutsuko searched the fallen anthromorphs’ pockets and pulled out a radio and a cell phone. “No service on the cell phones. Landlines might not work either, then. It’s probably microwave transmissions with the mainland, so they can easily cut it off from the control tower...”
Mutsuko continued murmuring to herself.
“Big Sis! Big Brother really did come here!” Yoriko exclaimed as she checked the luggage that had been left behind.
The others gathered around her.
There were signs that Yuichi and Natsuki had changed clothes. The clothing they had stripped off had been cast aside, and there was less clothing in the bags. The sight of the weights Yuichi had been wearing lying on the ground were the greatest proof of all.
“Okay, let’s find a way to meet up and get out of here! We can’t exactly hold a training camp like this, after all!” Mutsuko rooted around in their luggage and produced a cell phone.
“I thought you said cell phones wouldn’t get through,” Aiko objected. Indeed, she had only just said that a minute ago.
“Oh, yeah!” Mutsuko said. “But this is a satellite cell phone, so it works anywhere!”
“Am I the only one who thinks that’s cheating?” Aiko demanded.
Mutsuko called up Akiko at the summer house and asked her to come get them. It was as easy as that.
“Okay, now that we have our way out, we’ve gotta find Yu,” Mutsuko said. “Nero, can you trace his scent?”
“Does this bag belongs to your ‘Yuichi’?” he asked. “Then I can.” Nero immediately began following the scent.
Yuichi had apparently gone to the warehouse near the harbor, then headed into a local’s house a little further away. Then, Nero said, they had gone off in some kind of vehicle, at which point he lost the scent.
“There was nothing in the warehouse, so let’s try the residence!” Mutsuko proclaimed. She was now wearing a silver gauntlet on her left hand, which apparently served as both weapon and armor.
Aiko was carrying a projectile stun gun, though she had her doubts that it would work on an anthromorph.
“There’s someone inside. Take care,” the werewolf said.
“You’re so handy to have around, Nero!” Mutsuko cried. “Hey, can we adopt you?”
Aiko and the others stopped in front of the row house. If Yuichi had stayed there for a while, it might contain a clue as to his current whereabouts.
The nameplate out front read “Takamichi.” Mutsuko rang the front doorbell, and someone immediately came running.
“Yuichi!” the someone cried out as the door was burst open.
“‘Yuichi’?” Yoriko’s eyebrow twitched.
It was a woman’s voice, too. Aiko had a bad feeling about this.
“Huh? Who’re you guys?” the girl said, slumping in disappointment.
She appeared to be the same age as Aiko and the others. She had brown, slightly curly, medium-long hair, and was wearing a simple white camisole and dark blue jeans. The first thing Aiko noticed, though, was the size of her breasts. These seemed to be the biggest yet. Breasts that large inspired less a feeling of envy and more one of awe.
“We’re the Seishin High School Survival Club!” Mutsuko announced.
“Um, Mutsuko, that’s not a useful way of introducing us...” Aiko murmured.
“Oh! Are you Yuichi’s big sister?” the girl asked.
Somehow, Mutsuko’s thoughtless introduction had proven extremely efficient.
“Does that mean Yu really did come here?” Mutsuko wanted to know.
“Yeah. Wanna come in?”
The group accepted the girl’s invitation, and entered her house. Just to be safe, though, they asked Nero to stand guard outside.
They all sat down at a low table. The girl, Rion Takamichi, brought drinks and sat down across from them.
“Yuichi said he went off to save you guys. Did you miss each other?” Rion asked with a wince.
“Looks like it,” Mutsuko said. “Do you know where he went?”
“The festival site, probably. I told him it’s where they’d take sacrifices.”
“Hmm, what to do?” Mutsuko pondered. “If we go after him now, we might miss him again...”
The island was quite large. If they acted too haphazardly, there was a good chance they would pass each other by again.
“Why not stick around?” the girl suggested. “Yuichi told me that if the ritual started and you weren’t there, he’d come back here. We had a deal.”
“You’re awfully informal with him, aren’t you? Using his first name and everything...” Yoriko said, not trying to hide her irritation.
“Huh? What’s got you all pissy?” Rion snapped back. She must have found Yoriko’s attitude incomprehensible.
“Yoriko, you’re being very rude,” Aiko admonished her. Even so, Rion’s tone had set her on edge, too. The thought of her and Yuichi spending time together caused a twinge in her chest.
“So, what was this ‘deal’ you mentioned?” Aiko asked her, curiously.
“I didn’t want to be sacrificed, so I asked him to take me when he ran away,” Rion said. “One of those elopement kinda deals, y’know?”
“Ah! That’s simple, then,” Yoriko announced. “If you die before you’re sacrificed, that solves everything. Shall I help you?”
“What was that, brat?” Rion snapped. “I’m getting pretty sick of your crap!”
Aiko watched the two fight, disoriented.
Mutsuko sat the radio she had taken from the anthromorphs on the table. “Rather than sitting around here, it would be easier to meet up again if we keep moving, but left clues behind. I’ll leave this radio here, so if Yu comes, le
t him know, okay?”
“Sakaki went off in a car, right? Could we catch up to him on foot?” Aiko asked. While the island wasn’t very large, the festival site must be far enough away that he’d felt he needed a car.
“There are plenty of other cars!” Mutsuko exclaimed.
“Could you please not propose stealing so casually...” Aiko murmured.
Mutsuko didn’t seem to feel any guilt about the thought at all. She hadn’t shown any compunctions about taking that radio before, either.
“It’s an emergency, so what choice do we have?” she asked. “The law makes allowances for emergency evacuations, too! It’s Article 37 of the penal code!”
It seemed to Aiko that she had to be careful about giving Mutsuko just causes like “emergency evacuation” and “legitimate self-defense.”
As they left Rion’s house, Aiko immediately noticed something amiss.
Nero was howling.
She didn’t need to ask why; she immediately realized what Nero was trying to warn them about.
It was a monster.
An enormous human face was looking down at them from above. It had the body of a quadruped, wings on its back, and a snake for a tale. It was a great golden beast of the sort you saw only in fiction, never reality.
Aiko’s legs had gone numb. She was finding it impossible to move in the face of its overwhelming presence.
“The Head of All...” Rion, who had come to see them off, whispered the words partly in terror.
“Oh? The Takamichi girl. I was sure you were dead.” The voice came from the monster’s feet, from what looked like a baboon dressed in Japanese clothing.
“Elder, um, this isn’t...” Rion was in a total panic. The baboon anthromorph must have been the island’s leader, Dogen Kukurizaka.
As for Mutsuko’s reaction...
“Another incredible thing! A sphinx? A nue? A cherub? A lammasu? A manticore? A chimera? Well, whatever you are, Nero’s got our back! Come on, Noro, don’t be scared! This is where your white knight does his stuff! Okay, go on!”
As usual, she was fearless before the monster. She pointed right at it, left hand perched on her hip, and gave the order as if she was Nero’s owner.
“Yes ma’am!” Nero dashed along the ground, as ordered.
The match seemed like it might end before Aiko could even react. Nero wasn’t letting his guard down. The monster brandished its own claws, but Nero dodged through them to strike first with his own.
Nero’s claws dug deep into the monster’s flesh. The blow should have scattered the monster’s brains on the pavement.
But that was not what happened. The claws stopped halfway, unable to continue or retract. They simply remained stuck where they were.
His claws — his arm itself — were merging with the monster.
“Your Highness! Please, ru—” Nero cried as he realized he had lost. But his words were cut off as the rest of his body was swiftly absorbed by the monster.
“Uh?” Mutsuko’s voice leaked, dumbstruck, from her throat. But an instant later, she pointed her left hand back at the monster.
A disc flew forcefully from the gauntlet on her hand. It bounced uselessly off the monster’s stubborn hide.
“Drat... I thought it was pretty powerful, but that thing’s muscles are so thick it doesn’t seem to do any damage,” Mutsuko muttered. Her proud tool, the chakram shooter, had had no effect.
“Nero!” Aiko screamed in agony.
“Now, the festival hasn’t even begun yet,” Dogen said. “Could you sacrifices please remain quiet until we need you? Bring them.”
At Dogen’s order, more anthromorphs appeared.
“Hey! Why is the god walking around before its ritual of revival? That’s against the rules!” Mutsuko shouted.
Even as she was being caught, Mutsuko continued to protest.
Chapter 8: The Evil God’s Revival! The Prelude to Humanity’s Destruction!
It slept.
It lived a life in eternal haze.
From time to time, it awakened, reminded of its body’s incompleteness.
Broken, lost, gone.
Restoration would require great time and nourishment.
Time, it had. The mere loss of its body would not kill it.
But a failure to die was not the same as recovery.
Suitable nourishment did not exist in this world.
When it fell from the sky, only the most primitive of creatures existed here.
To absorb them in their present form would be difficult. It decided to change those creatures, little by little.
Little by little, it would urge them to evolve into life more compatible with itself.
Over the long passage of time, a suitable race was forged.
It began to absorb them, and after sufficient recovery, it concocted a new plan. It began to plant the seeds of intelligence into the creatures it had created.
Perhaps it could use them to return to the sky.
It urged their evolution towards further intelligence. The intelligence to develop technology, to sail into the sea of stars.
More time passed. It began to think of itself as God. For these beings had invented language and created their own myths, and in these myths, they called it “God.”
It created worshipers to whom it was God. For as their creator, what else could it be?
The time between awakenings grew shorter. Consciousness now returned every few hours. Its body’s recovery was complete.
That last nourishment, a mass of great power, had been the deciding element. It was stronger now than it had ever been, before the initial loss.
The light of the moon.
That was all it needed now.
Then body and mind would unite.
Its existence in haze, it awaited the time of revival.
✽✽✽✽✽
Aiko and the others were in a palanquin.
It was decorated grandly, in an anachronistic style. If not for the situation they were in, it might have felt like aristocratic treatment. It was large enough that four of them could ride in it with room to spare.
The bamboo blinds at the front that served as the entrance were down. They weren’t tied up, so escaping would be as easy as raising the blinds. But if they got out, they’d just find themselves in the middle of a group of alert anthromorphs, so it didn’t seem worth trying.
The palanquin was swaying. They were being carried somewhere.
There were four girls trapped inside the palanquin. The three girls of the survival club: Mutsuko, Yoriko, and Aiko, and also Rion Takamichi.
They were all wearing diaphanous white under-kimonos — traditional “human sacrifice” clothing. It seemed sacrifices were to be treated well, even if they had tried to escape once; their captors didn’t seem capable of roughing up future offerings to their god. Therefore, they hadn’t been forcibly stripped, just encouraged to put the light white gowns on themselves.
Realizing it was pointless to try to fight it at this point, they had changed clothes obediently. Their original clothes were in the palanquin with them, but they weren’t sure if they’d be allowed to change back.
“Do you think it’s okay to keep our shoes on?” Aiko asked.
Aiko was wearing sneakers. Since it was originally going to be a survival camp, she’d brought clothes that were easy to move in.
Mutsuko was wearing short, hardy-looking lace-up boots. Aiko had a feeling they were rigged up somehow, too.
“They didn’t tell us not to, so I don’t see why not,” Mutsuko answered. “These clothes are silk, right? They feel nice against my skin! Maybe they don’t mind us wearing shoes because it’s gonna chomp us and leave our feet behind?”
“Don’t say things like that, please...” Aiko felt sick just thinking about it.
After changing, they raised the bamboo blinds to see outside, and nobody scolded them for it. The palanquin had been taken into Kukurizaka’s mansion.
Ahead of them were two wa
ter buffalo anthromorphs, bearing the palanquin on their shoulders. There were probably two more in the back. The palanquin was surrounded by anthromorphs that all seemed to be on high alert. There was probably no way to slip by them.
Aiko couldn’t keep track of where they were going, but Mutsuko was probably memorizing the route. That would come in handy if they ever did get out, so Aiko felt a little relieved.
“But wow, this situation is seriously bad,” Mutsuko commented.
“After all this, you finally think so, huh?” Aiko asked.
Despite her words, though, Mutsuko was acting more or less the same as always.
“Ahh! Darn it! If you guys hadn’t come, this would never have happened!” Rion sulked. She must have thought she’d been out of the woods after meeting Yuichi.
“Even if we hadn’t been captured, we’d all be in deep once that thing was up and walking around.” Yoriko muttered back.
“Yeah... you’ve got a point...” Rion began quivering again as she remembered the sight of The Head of All.
“But what was it doing out and about?” Aiko asked. “That... Head of All, you called it?”
It was as if it had been waiting outside Rion’s house. They didn’t know how it had found them.
“Good question,” Mutsuko said. “You think it was after Nero? It did fly off, looking pretty satisfied, after it absorbed him.”
After doing that, the monster had flown off without giving them another look. It seemed logical to assume that it had been after Nero from the start.
“So it is you guys’ fault! Darn it!” Rion complained again.
“But it might not be possible to get off the island without getting rid of The Head,” Mutsuko responded. “I mean, it flies! You can’t really run from that.”
The thought of a monster like that pursuing them to the ends of the earth sent a chill up Aiko’s spine. There was no way to escape something like that.
“What are we going to do?” Aiko asked. “Rion, do you know anything?”
She didn’t want to know what was going to happen, but just sitting there in silence made her anxious, too.
“You mean, what happens to the sacrifices?” Rion asked. “Some are like you just saw: they get absorbed into the body. But that’s only for anthromorphs. Some are eaten whole. That’s only for virgins. I don’t know what’s so special about how virgins taste, but it’s been the rule since forever.”
Humanity’s Extinction Happens During Summer Vacation?! Page 14