I walked over to Hibiki. She silently stepped away from the wall.
“Let’s go, Hibiki. We don’t know when Kult will come back.”
“Yeah.”
I left the living room with Hibiki. I was walking slowly, but what mattered was that I was going. I couldn’t let any of the people I cared about stay close to someone like me. I had thought I was protecting them, but I was wrong. This was really how I needed to protect them.
I had to get away from everyone... From Satsuki.
“...”
Just once, I looked back over my shoulder. It broke my heart to see my childhood friend holding Harissa in shock.
“Sorry...” I bit down on the words of apology in my mouth, and left my home behind.
My chest was aching as I walked down the night street. The dull, throbbing pain wouldn’t stop.
“...”
Even R was silent.
I ran ahead of Hibiki, down the dark streets illuminated only by streetlights. It was like I was trying to shake off the things I’d left behind.
But it still hurt.
Intermission 1
After being left behind in the Namidare household, Satsuki just sat there for a while before slowly standing up and taking Harissa back to her house next door. She went up to her room on the second floor so that her parents wouldn’t notice. Satsuki put the sleeping girl in her bed, then brought over a chair from her desk and sat down next to her.
“...”
She knew that Harissa had been put to sleep with magic, but she needed to confirm that there was nothing else going on. She was silent as she began to work. It was as if her mind was somewhere else entirely as she checked Harissa’s pulse and other vitals. In fact, the only reason Satsuki was functional at all was that she had work to do. Taking care of Harissa was the one thing that he had asked her to do.
“Rekka...”
She softly called the name of her childhood friend and looked down. She tried to recall the last time he’d yelled at her like that, but couldn’t.
She could remember plenty of fights. She could remember him being angry because he was worried about her, like when she’d gone with Tetra Metra Retra to fight the Monster. He’d told her that it was dangerous and insisted she stay behind on the surface. But even then, he’d relented in the end.
This was the first time he’d outright rejected her. She still couldn’t believe that he’d spoken to her like that. And the way he’d looked at her...
In his eyes was a mixture of sadness and anger. He was clenching his jaw so hard that Satsuki couldn’t tell if he despised her or if he was terrified of her. There was a violent animosity that was a mix of those emotions, and worse.
Rekka had been her friend since she could remember, and she’d never felt that kind of hatred from him before. It was... It was like he was rejecting the whole world, and everything it had to offer. She still couldn’t believe Rekka was harboring that kind of darkness inside him.
No, it would have been better if that’s all it was.
Rekka was a normal person. He wasn’t necessarily like other people, but he was still normal. Even he would lose control of his emotions sometimes.
But...
Satsuki had always thought that it would be her job to comfort him if he was ever forced to face catastrophe or carry some unbearable burden.
“Why...?” she couldn’t help but whisper.
Why... Why didn’t Rekka take her?
Why... Why did he take that Hibiki girl?
“...”
Had she done something to make him hate her without realizing it? Was that why he left with that girl she’d never seen before?
Is it really that much of a bother to have me around?
Satsuki tried her best not to cry. She felt like if she did, she would be letting something beat her. She didn’t want to let her heart break when she didn’t even know why Rekka had left her.
Before the tears could fall, she rubbed her wet eyes with her sleeve. Her eyes quickly turned red. They started to hurt like they were burning. But she jerked her head upwards, enduring the pain, and put the palm of her hand over Harissa’s forehead.
“Blue Wind of Purification...”
As she recited the spell, a pale blue light started to fall from her hand, gently landing on the bed like newly fallen snow. It was a spell to break curses.
The sleeping magic placed on Harissa was exceptionally strong. With Satsuki’s level of power, she would have to use a lot of her strength, and even then it might not work. There was a good chance she’d be wasting her time.
“——·—·····——·”
But she kept up the spell anyway. She wanted something to concentrate on. Anything. Without that, her heart really would break, and there would be no stopping the tears.
Chapter 2: A World Saved by Sacrifice Faces Destruction Once More
Night. The treetops along the mountain behind the school cut off the starlight, and it was dark.
This was the place we’d chosen to battle Kult. There was no one around, there were lots of obstructions to block his capsules, and it was easy for Hibiki to set her traps.
“...”
Hibiki stayed focused on her surroundings, ready to fight Kult wherever he might appear.
“......”
I just held my breath and waited.
This was nothing new, but I wasn’t in particularly good physical shape. There wasn’t much I could do to help. It would be Hibiki’s job to place traps and to fight Kult.
It was pathetic, but it was the same as always.
The best thing I could do was stay as quiet and still as possible to ensure her traps would work. I’d thought that would be easy, but it turned out that breathing quietly and not moving was more difficult than it sounded.
And then, after about an hour passed...
The first thing I heard was a loud noise. I only realized it was the sound of Kult’s boosters after he made his entrance. He was still wearing his white lab coat.
“So there you are! I’ve been looking for you!” he cried in his usual pompous voice. It was pompous, but he also kind of sounded like an idiot. It was strange that way.
His dowsing pendulum was pointing straight at Hibiki. Wait... If he could tell where Hibiki was, why did he have to “look” for her?
“Looks like the most that thing can do is give him a general direction,” Hibiki said.
Come to think of it, she was right. The pendulum could only point out a direction. In order to actually find her on this tree-covered mountain, he had to come down and look for her.
“Hmph. Even if that’s true, it doesn’t matter when I’ve already found you! My instant sorcery is unbeatable. I will capture you no matter what!”
“Just try it.”
“Most certainly!”
Kult drew a mechanical capsule from his lab coat and threw it in a snap. The capsule flew low, aimed at her feet, and she dodged it with a backstep. It struck the root of a tree, and the ground there instantly froze over.
Wh-What the hell was that? I was so sure it would be another binding or sleeping spell that I almost screamed, quickly clasping my hands over my mouth instead.
“Tch!”
Hibiki leaped further backward to get away from the ice covering the ground. It had swallowed everything around the tree root to a height of almost thirty centimeters off the ground.
“I didn’t want to hurt you, but you keep running. So I decided to put you on ice! I’m running out of time, you see!”
He laughed and threw three more capsules. Each one cracked and shattered, instantly spreading ice over the ground and any plants it touched. The whole area was getting covered in it. If she got trapped by it, it would all be over.
“...”
Despite the tough situation, Hibiki just furrowed her brow and kept moving.
“Fwahaha! You can’t keep running forever! Give up already!” Kult must have felt sure of his victory, because he let loose a h
igh-pitched laugh.
It was true that, at a glance, things looked bad for Hibiki.
But Kult hadn’t noticed.
Hibiki was carefully using the cover around her as she ran, and leading Kult right where she wanted him. Right where she’d set her trap. And Kult played straight into it.
Then it was my turn!
I used the sturdy knife I’d borrowed from Hibiki to cut the wire, which sent a heavy, blunt object we’d borrowed from the base of the mountain flying at Kult like a swinging pendulum.
“Wh-What?!”
A small Buddha statue ripped through the air to headbutt him.
“Bwaaah?!”
He used his boosters to get out of the way just in time, but that was only the first stage of Hibiki’s plan. The second step was for me to leap out of the trees... right down on the distracted otherworld mage’s head!
“Nooooo! You...!”
“Gweh!”
Kult’s head rammed into my stomach so hard that I thought I was going to puke. We both tumbled to the ground.
“Gaah! Get off me!”
“No way!”
I was still fighting the urge to throw up as I held on to him. I’d made Hibiki do the dangerous work of playing the decoy in order for this plan to succeed. The original idea was for me to use the knife to threaten him, but I’d dropped it when I jumped out of the tree. But still, if I could just hang in there until Hibiki got him, I would win!
“Grrr! Fine! Take this!”
Kult’s eyes still burned with rage as he raised his right arm. He was holding another instant sorcery capsule.
“!”
Was he going to hit me with it directly?! We were so close that it would surely affect him too, but there was no hesitation in his eyes.
“!!”
I instinctively closed mine. And then...
“I won’t let you!”
Hibiki flung her police baton and knocked the capsule out of his raised hand. The capsule burst and activated the magic, but only as it was flying off along with the baton.
“Nooooo!”
Kult tried to take out another capsule, but I grabbed his hand. I wasn’t going to let him try it again! Then Hibiki finally made it to us.
“Gweh!”
“Gwbah!”
For some reason, I felt a heavy combat boot on my back.
“Wh-What are you doing?”
“I’m putting my weight on you so Kult Graphimore can’t escape.”
“You don’t have to step on me too, though!”
“It’s your fault for being on top of him.”
Well, that much was true... But she could be little nicer, right?
“So, Rekka, do you think this is going to arouse interest in a new hobby?”
No way! I shouted silently at R.
But I also breathed a sigh of relief that we’d finally caught Kult. I relaxed for an instant.
“Gnnnuh... I’m not done yet!” Kult screamed and tried to knock me off of him.
He was going to use his instant sorcery again! But... his hand didn’t go for his jacket. It went for the cable reaching out of his backpack—the control for his boosters. There was a burst of flame from them as his hand hit the switch.
“Are you crazy?!”
Kult and I were dragged along the ground together. We were heading straight for statue lying there from earlier, so I quickly kicked off the ground. It sent the two of us flying into the air.
“Let go of me!” Kult yelled.
“I can’t!”
The soles of my feet were flailing a couple dozen centimeters off the ground as I clung desperately to Kult’s body. If I let go now, he’d escape into the sky.
“Rekka Namidare! Don’t let him go!” Hibiki yelled as she followed us.
In her hand was the knife I’d dropped just moments ago.
“Wait, are you going to stab me?!”
“Don’t move!”
Hibiki dashed ahead of us, then jumped toward Kult. There was a snapping sound as the blade embedded itself into Kult’s backpack.
But wait, doing that to the machine would...?!
Suddenly, a small explosion roared from the boosters, finally shaking me off of Kult.
“Ugyah!”
I fell. My jaw slammed hard into an exposed root on the ground, and I nearly bit off my own tongue. Hibiki was crazy. What would’ve happened if that explosion had been bigger?
“Kult Graphimore!” I heard her yell.
I turned toward the sound and saw Kult had summoned his blue door to try and escape again. Hibiki was in hot pursuit, and I quickly followed after her.
“Aaaaah!” Kult screamed as Hibiki chased him through the door.
“Rekka, run faster!”
“You don’t have to tell me!”
R involuntarily moved along with me and could fly. What did she know about running?!
The strange blue door was starting to waver a little, and was gradually becoming indistinct.
“Waaah! Wait! Wait!”
I leaned forward in a sprint and raced through it. My vision blurred instantly, and I lost all sense of direction. It was similar to the time I’d used the spaceship warp, or when I’d gone through the underground seal.
But... where was this going to come out? It was a little too late for regrets, but I had them anyway. I wasn’t sure if I was stuck in that weird space for a few seconds or a few minutes, but it ended abruptly.
“Gwah!”
How many times was I going to smash my face into the ground in one day? But this time, it was an actual floor rather than dirt. I rubbed my aching jaw as I stood up.
“It looks like I’m inside a building... Where is this place?”
If Kult was from another world, that other world was probably where he’d escaped to. I looked around the room. The ceilings and walls were all made of glass, like some kind of observatory. There was a staircase in the back of the room leading down.
I could see that it was light outside. It had been nighttime on Earth. Maybe it was morning or afternoon here? I turned around, and the blue door I’d just come through was... Huh?
“It’s red now?”
Sure enough, the blue door had turned red.
“Maybe the entrances and exits are different?” R suggested.
Neither of us were sure, but it was probably safe to assume that the blue door and red door formed a pair.
Just as I was about to leave the room to go after Hibiki...
“What is that?”
I saw something strange. Actually, it was more weird than strange, and more bizarre than weird. It was something I just couldn’t ignore.
I went over to the wall—or window, I guess—to get a better look. From the observatory, I could see what looked like a town. There were houses at regular intervals, and roads running through them like a net.
There were no big buildings. The largest houses were two stories. From the look of it, the building we were in was about three stories high.
Anywhere there wasn’t a house or road was covered in greenery, including trees here and there. I could see people walking about the town, too. And if that was all I’d seen, it would’ve been a peaceful sight. But there was something clearly out of place.
This world had walls. And I don’t mean figuratively. A literal wall stretched as far as I could see, reaching all the way up to the sky. It was like we were inside a dome. The walls emitted a faint, familiar glow.
“That looks like the light from Kult’s capsule...”
“Yup,” R nodded indifferently.
But the situation seemed pretty serious to me.
“Maybe Kult is ruling this world?”
From what I could see, this world looked like some kind of walled garden. That degree of planning in a city was normally impossible. That is, unless someone had designed the whole thing from scratch, like what I’d learned about Kyoto in history class... But then, who had designed it?
“...It has to be Kult, doesn’t it?�
��
The magical science-y light from the walls was proof. This world was cut off and isolated by Kult. I just didn’t know why yet.
But he had his blue doors, instant sorcery, and dowsing pendulum.... Who knew what else his magical science could do? With all that technology, he might be able to cut off an entire part of the world.
“Earth to Rekka. How long are you going to stand there and space out?”
“I’m not spacing out. I’m just thinking.”
“Well, you’re free to use what little brains you have however you please, but shouldn’t you be following Hibiki?”
“Wait, you’re right! Where’d she go?”
If she wasn’t in this room, that meant she’d gone down the stairs. R and I headed to the floor below.
I didn’t know how many floors down they were yet, so I decided to start with the first one I came to.
“This floor’s a lot bigger than the first, huh?”
“Maybe the observatory just pops out of it?”
“Maybe, yeah.”
I began checking the rooms as I talked with R.
“It’s all libraries and labs,” I said.
“Well, he did say he was a magical scientist. So it makes sense, right?”
“Yeah.”
I checked the next room. There were machines and papers, as well as what looked like equipment for experiments. Looking at all this weird stuff was enough to make my head hurt. But... I found something in Kult’s mad scientist lab that didn’t seem to fit the mad scientist vibe at all.
“A photo?”
“Oooh, she’s pretty.” The floating girl from the future gave a catcall.
Just like R said, there was a pretty blond woman in the picture. She was smiling softly at me from the frozen surface. No, not me, but maybe the person who’d taken the photo?
“Well, I guess Hibiki isn’t on this floor.”
“Must be the next one then, huh?”
I didn’t need R to tell me that. I hurried downstairs.
And there I found Kult lying on the floor, with Hibiki on top of him, beating him to a pulp.
“Gyaaah! Stop! Please!”
“...”
Hibiki reluctantly lowered her fists. She was a little scary. And man, she wasn’t showing him any mercy...
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 3 Page 3