by Yuu Kamiya
“While you may pet me as you like by mutual consent, long as you do no harm—I’ll pass.”
“You—what?!”
“You should have thrown in the unconditional right to pet me with that coin toss… Now if you wish to pet me, you’ll have to take me on again?”
As the Shrine Maiden grinned ear to ear, crossing her legs on the crag, Sora asked hastily:
“—Y-yo, Jibril, what time is it now?!”
“Sir—let’s see… It is around eight o’clock.”
…Crap! If he started playing the Shrine Maiden again now, there wouldn’t be time!
“Damn, we have no choice! Let’s hit the town and pet some animal-girls, Shiro!”
“…Golden…sparkly fox…fluffy…!”
Nghh, Shiro reached out her hands for the Shrine Maiden as Sora dragged the reluctant girl away.
“Fear not, Shiro, this is not a surrender! We shall return in order to discuss self-government within the Commonwealth and other bor—sorry, important matters! Prepare—to have your ears and tail petted, Holy Shrine Maiden!!”
Sora made this declaration with a finger smashed toward the Shrine Maiden, apparently convinced. Shiro’s eyes glinted keenly as she followed Sora’s lead in bashing out a finger.
“…Get, ready, bitch… We’ll, fluff you up…!”
Picking up Shiro and running, Sora called over his shoulder by way of an aside.
“Oh, Steph, we’re not coming back to Elkia until we’re satisfied, so take care of the country for us!”
“Huh?”
Sora and Shiro noisily dashed away at full speed, yelling chaotically. Jibril followed uninstinctively, and Steph panicked and chased after them.
“Wai—! This must be a joke, some sort of jest! I’m already dying working to incorporate the continental domain, so surely you don’t mean to dump the entire task of establishing an unprecedented multiracial commonwealth on me! Do you?!”
And so—the calm after the storm enveloped the garden. Izuna flicked her gaze restlessly after the departed tempest called Sora and Shiro as they faded into the distance. Composing herself once more, the Shrine Maiden broke the silence with her voice like bells.
“…Ino Hatsuse, Izuna Hatsuse.”
“Y-yes, Your Holiness!”
“What do you want, please?”
“I said, Izuna, how dare you!”
“Now that both our demands have gone through—your possession has been released.”
—Yes, the guarantee of the rights of Werebeast. Now that Sora had taken that on, the two were no longer the property of Elkia. However—
“—As the Shrine Maiden, agent plenipotentiary of Werebeast, I command you. Go with them.”
“Understood, please!”
No sooner had the Shrine Maiden issued her orders than Izuna was tilting full speed after Sora and Shiro without asking for further explanation. Meanwhile…Ino wondered: was she telling them to spy?
“Learn as much as you can from that amusing lot. ‘The way of the weak’ and all. Also…”
The precaution slid from the Shrine Maiden’s lips informed mirthfully from her heart.
“Mind you don’t make enemies of those two.”
—Just as Sora and Shiro had promised, they would no doubt return in the coming days to flesh out the details of the “Commonwealth.” And certainly, they would challenge her to settle issues by means of the Covenants. And almost as certainly—she would lose. The Shrine Maiden considered this with something approaching conviction…and a chuckle.
“I’ve never felt so glad someone wasn’t my enemy. These folks truly—”
And with a face that seemed to speak to something more fun than she’d ever experienced in her life. With a gaze full of giddy anticipation. Watching the backs of Sora and company as they left, the Shrine Maiden spoke:
“—might take down Tet himself, you know?”
The street was lined with architecture that to Sora and Shiro felt a mite old-fashioned, nostalgic. The neighborhood lit in lantern scarlet, in fantastic neon.
“…King Sora.”
“Huh?! Don’t tell me you’re gonna get in the way of our petting spree, old fart.”
Ino caught up with Sora and Shiro a step faster than Izuna. At the sight of the two promptly setting about molesting a bunny-girl, he momentarily fumbled for words.
“…Your swiftness inspires awe, sir, but have you obtained proper consent?”
“Hnh? Oh, yeah. I don’t know what the deal is, but all Izuna has to do is tell all the girls around, ‘These assholes are damn good at petting, please,’ and they all just let us pet them. I wonder why?”
Watching a rabbit-eared Werebeast let out a Hffmmm, Ino thought—
—that he knew the reason. No one ever before had had the petting skills to make Izuna sigh aloud. This was a famous anecdote at large within the Eastern Union. If Izuna said they were good—
“…Well, there is just one thing that puzzles me.”
Wary of the idea of telling them this, Ino went about his original question.
“Okay, sure, make it quick. We’re in a hurry here!”
To Sora, who answered without stopping the gliding of his hands, Ino continued.
“…If the Holy Shrine Maiden hadn’t challenged you—what did you plan to do?”
—That was the one unresolved question still hanging on the old Werebeast’s mind. However cornered they might have been, he couldn’t fathom the Shrine Maiden initiating a challenge so easily.
—Learn as much as you can from that amusing lot. ‘The way of the weak’ and all. Through the back of Ino’s mind flitted the Shrine Maiden’s words. Indeed, he had been shown that “way so no one would die” that Sora had confided to Izuna. However, Ino was neither so unskilled that he could accept such improbable perspicuity blindly nor, unfortunately, so skilled as the Shrine Maiden, who could see the Immanity’s true purpose completely. But Sora answered his question casually.
“In that case—we probably would have rolled out our extraspecial ultimate troll.”
Namely—
“—We would have actually told Elven Gard and Avant Heim the details of the game.”
—At this revelation, Ino couldn’t hide his wince.
“We’ve got Chlammy in Elven Gard and Jibril in Avant Heim. We just tell them, ‘Give it to us,’ and we’ll probably get it back. That said, it would cause some significant damage to the Eastern Union, so we didn’t want to do it that way.”
Plus—he continued…
“—The Shrine Maiden could probably see that coming, and that’s why she got on board.”
—Yes, to the Shrine Maiden, who had supposed Sora and Shiro to be agents of Elven Gard, that must have seemed the worst conceivable outcome. And that was why, before that happened, she’d have to grab the territory to fight back…or she’d be trapped, she must have figured.
“Hey, Gramps, you know what ‘checkmate’ means?
“It’s not like shogi where you only say ‘check’ as a warning—‘checkmate’ is an announcement you’ve won.”
Forming a humongous smile that drained the blood from one’s face…
“When I met you for the first time, I told you that anything you did would be useless, didn’t I?”
Through the back of Ino’s mind flitted Sora’s prediction that day he bet the Immanity Piece.
“I said—‘checkmate.’”
—Yes, by that day. Everything was already over.
(—O Holy Shrine Maiden, do you tell me to trust this man?) It could indeed be said that this Immanity made a decision to our benefit. But to be outstripped so easily, so spectacularly—(Does it not mean…that we may be stabbed in the back at any time…?) While Ino was thus preoccupied with doubt, Sora changed up the pace and dropped his serious face, saying to the bunny-girl he’d been stroking the whole time:
“Welll then, I hate to say it, but it’s time I go look for a place to sleep tonight!”
“…See you, later…
bunny-chan …”
And so Sora, casting a sidelong glance at the bunny-girl strolling away while looking back at Sora and Shiro as if she really hated to go, turned his attention to the matter at hand.
“Okay, Izzy, for now we gotta set up our fort. You know where we can stay around here?”
“…? Why don’t you just stay at my place, dumbass, please?”
“…The sleepover, event…woot…”
“Izuna’s house must be loaded with games! Amirite?!”
“No shit, please. So you’ll take me on, please?”
“Of course! So first, let’s play games all night, and then in the morning, let’s go back into town! Oh, Izzy…if this country has video games, does that mean there’s also porn—?”
“…Brother…”
“What! What possible problem could there be with me playing them secretly?”
As the three bickered, one who’d been observing from a slight remove now wove her way through Jibril and Ino—
“I—I finally caught up to you! Y-you two…just what do you think it’s like to have a country with no—”
Though the first in pursuit, Steph had been left in the dust by everyone, only now breathlessly catching up.
“Jibril! Take Steph and fly to Elkia! Then come back!”
“As you wish.”
Jibril grabbed Steph’s shoulder lightly. Steph, certain she’d be able to resist the Flügel taking her by force, paled.
“Oh, take Gramps while you’re at it! It would probably be tough for Steph alone.”
This time it was Ino’s face that paled.
“Wha—? D-do you mean I shall have to endure that noise again?!”
“Excuse me, but that’s not even the issue! Hey—what—this must be a joke…this—”
“Well then, you two, I shall escort you to the Elkia Royal Castle!”
Jibril made her exodus, leaving only this “tweet” in her wake and the wind that stirred filling the void created by the sudden absence of large masses. This breeze hitting him, Sora sighed—Hff—and muttered as if truly tired.
“…God’s not gonna smite us for taking a little break, is He?”
Shiro nodded in agreement. Oookay, Sora prepped himself.
“So, why don’t we enjoy the animal-eared paradise for a bit?!”
……Steph and Ino, deposited within the Elkia Royal Castle.
…With too many different things to think about, Steph abandoned thinking about anything. In the back of her mind, Sora’s words surfaced.
“No one will die… Just a game.”
Chewing over statements that in the past had made her doubt the man’s sanity, Steph perceived a glimpse of something radical at the edge of her consciousness. If you conquered this world… They must have been misunderstanding something. Having seen the Eastern Union swallowed up without any actual damage, she considered.
—Could it be, of all things, that they intend to take over the world bloodlessly. To bring all the races—into a single harmony against the God?
…The Tenth of the Ten Covenants.
—Let’s all have fun together!—
“Th-that piece of shit—! No, the man who ordered her, too—! Next time you show your face, you’d better be ready, asshole!”
Glancing a Ino beside her, writhing and holding his ears, Steph muttered softly.
“…You’ll get used to it.”
Apparently finding some kind of special meaning or comfort in Steph’s reassurances, Ino followed the girl’s lead in slumping to the castle floor, remarking:
“We have our work cut out for us, don’t we, Miss Stephanie?”
“…That we do, and that we shall, Mr. Ino.”
No one knew that at that very time and place, the Society for Victims of Sora and Shiro was in the midst of being quietly established…
TRUE END
“Ha-choo!”
“Why, Chlammy, how sweet your sneeze sounds. Is someone talking about you?”
“…Must you read so much into a simple sneeze?”
—The outskirts of the capital of Elven Gard. Having completed her round of reports without issue, Fi had returned. And Chlammy snapped her fingers before Fi’s eyes. What Sora had built into the covenant—the fraudulent accounting of the game. And—the cancel signal.
“…My goodness. Why, I was just effectively forced into falsely reporting the rules so that Elven Gard would lose.”
With a little smile, Chlammy started walking. Fi following along behind.
“Fi, had you read this far?”
“Hee-hee. To my chagrin, why, I found myself unable.”
She had read as far as Sora using Elven Gard to lay siege to the Eastern Union, but—
“This must be what is called using up someone… Why, I was exploited to the very depths of my potential…”
Everything that could be had been wrung from Fi and Chlammy, to the extent it was somehow refreshing. Considering this, Chlammy walked quietly. Having touched entirely upon Sora’s memories and awareness, Chlammy—like Shiro and like the Shrine Maiden—was one of the few parties in the world who entirely grasped Sora’s plan, his imagined method to beat the game. On the map of that strategy—her own name was engraved clearly.
—Annotated with a brief and preposterous statement of her mission. But even faced with such a chore, Chlammy evinced no despair, no unease. With all those memories now filtered through the match with the Eastern Union, there was one thing Chlammy recalled. In the tournaments to decide the monarch of Elkia—his words as he’d grabbed her chin and fixed her with his gaze.
—Don’t—underestimate humans like that.
Having been witness to the potential of humans before her eyes, she’d spoken of the limits of Immanity. She laughed at herself.
—She—was an Immanity, too.
“It’s not my imagination, is it…? Why, Chlammy, you’ve changed a bit.”
“Perhaps it is the influence of that man’s memories. You object?”
“Hmmm, I only regret I may no longer be able to see the crybaby Chlammy.”
“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t cry?!”
But then Fi cautioned seriously.
“But, Chlammy? Even if you try to be like that man—Sora—”
“I know. I don’t have the foundation of his confidence—Shiro.”
Yes, even Sora, who could pull off such feats. Without Shiro, his absolute, he couldn’t even remain confident about himself.
“But I have you, Fi. I’ll find my own way.”
A way for the weak, as the weak, to take down the strong. A way for herself, as herself, to overcome her own limits.
—A way to fly without being able to fly—she’d find it. Just a little humbled, Chlammy turned to face Fi again.
“…Will you help me?”
“Why, of couurse I will. For you, Chlammy, I’d make enemies of the whole worrld.”
Fi grasping Chlammy’s hand and smiling like the sun. Chlammy nodding gently and walking once more.
“In that case…let us go, Fi.”
“Why, certainly!”
Hff, Chlammy subtly sighed.
“Undermine Elven Gard from within—it’s easy for him to say, isn’t it?”
She faced the grandiose mission assigned to her by Sora, yet no unease remained on her face. Her feet as they moved forward held only deliberate purpose.
“Very well, why don’t I go ahead and do it for him? Just you wait—Sora.”
Her face as she continued onward bore the expression of a contender.
A way for humans—as humans—to surpass humanity, to surpass the Ixseed—even to surpass the God. This was what the two sought as they walked forward. A means for Chlammy and Fi to create their own wings, of their own design. The two shadows headed beyond the horizon—but first—
AFTERWORD
Here comes Christmas once agaiin! To collect the strain of leisure time that once was fuun!
…This is Yuu Kamiya, back afte
r four months with seasonal gags that will have expired by the time this goes on sale. This volume, as I mentioned in the afterword to the second, is a volume of convergence that brings together the currents flowing from the first volume so that the preparations Sora and Shiro have been plotting for “beating the game” all come into place. Basically, it’s a turning point that wraps up an arc, and given that—it’s frightfully dense and heavy… For this reason, I’m thinking I want to make the next volume wonderfully fluffy and light. You know, Sora and Shiro decide to hang around in the Eastern Union for a while, take in the animal ears, and hey, it’s a maritime nation—of course it’s got beaches. There’ll be Eek! Tee-hee-hee! developments in the swimsuit episode, and Sora will come to an epiphany: who the hell cares about work? I’m gonna live in moe-moe land! (Yeah, I know no one says moe-moe anymore—)
“You’ll get lost if you start scribbling out your real-life wishes in your work. ”
—Wh-who the hell are you?! What did you do with my usual editor, Editor S for Sadist!
“S for Sadist—switched jobs.”
…What are you saying? You sound like certain cicadas when they cry! You didn’t—
“From this volume on, I, ‘S the Second,’ will be your editor. Looking forward to it. ”
Oh, but now my editor is a woman with a sweet-sounding voice. Maybe she’ll treat me—
“So, Mr. Kamiya, when can we expect the twenty pages of color illustrations we ordered?”
—If you’d only give me time for a brief vision of fancy. I have now decided to call you Editor S for Sadist the Second.
“Hee-hee, you may call me whatever you like, as long as the manuscript gets in. ”
…Uh, uhh…I-I’m sorry. All my time got eaten up by the main text, and now that I’m writing this, the situation with the illustrations is pretty bad. I should particularly note that I don’t really understand where it says here, “Manga launch”… I sort of failed to notice it, which is what I said to myself so I could blatantly ignore it. It’s not really—
“Oh, don’t worry. We hired someone else to do the manga.”