“I don’t suck blood, and I’m not short!” Aiko shouted indignantly. She didn’t seem to like being reminded of her height.
“I’ll stay away from you for life,” the boy vowed.
“Good. That’s demand number one. Now for number two. I want you to tell us more about Natsuki Takeuchi. What is she? Is she exactly like you? Is she tough?”
“She’s... similar, in that she attacks people, but she’s not like us aboriginal oni. She’s a foreign species.”
“Why do you attack people, anyway?”
“For food. Well, I enjoy it, too, but some of us wring our hands over it a little more.”
“You eat people?!”
“Well, yeah. We’re oni.” He made it sound like you’d have to be stupid to think otherwise.
Yuichi looked back to Mutsuko.
“Yeah. There’re a lot of types of oni, but in Japan, we generally believe that they eat people,” she said.
“Well, it’s kind of like a curse placed on us,” the oni boy said. “Most living things just need a certain amount of nutrients and calories, but we need to eat people. It’s like we’re prisoners of karma.”
“...Can we assume Takeuchi is the same way?” Yuichi asked uneasily. One of his classmates was eating people. It wasn’t an image he wanted to think about, but he still had to ask.
“I think she’s a little different. I think she kills for mental satisfaction or something like that. For our kind, killing people is just a way to eat them. If we have to, we can just eat people who’re already dead. But her kind needs to kill with their own hands.”
Yuichi was a little relieved to hear that. She was still killing people, of course, but whether or not she ate them made a big difference in his perception.
“As for how tough she is... I haven’t seen her fight myself, but she’s probably tougher than me,” the boy continued.
“Why do you think that?”
“My big brother Shuten tried to horn in on her hunting grounds and ended up half dead for his trouble. Shuten’s tougher than I am, so she must be tougher than me.”
“I see.” Unfortunately, just knowing she was tougher than him didn’t really change much. All they could do was just be on their guard.
“That’s about it for me. Do you have any questions, Noro?”
“Huh? Me? I don’t think so...” Aiko was clearly caught off-guard at having the subject suddenly tossed to her.
“What about you, Sis?”
“None from me, either. I think this is your problem, Yu. Of course, I’ll help you however you want me to, but a big sister’s gotta respect her little brother’s independence!”
“Yeah, yeah. So, what do we do with this guy?”
“If you don’t need him anymore, why don’t we let him go?” Mutsuko began untying him without a second thought.
“You heard her,” Yuichi said. “You can go.”
The boy stood up and checked the places where his arms had been bound. His right arm, the one pierced by the bean, didn’t seem to be working. The bleeding had already stopped, but it didn’t seem to be healing immediately, either.
“Hey... just who are you people?”
“We’re the Seishin High School Survival Club! We study knowledge and skills you need to survive in this cruel world! It can help you make it out of disasters, large-scale terrorist strikes, and of course, oni and yokai attacks!”
“Wait a minute... this is a survival technique?” The boy groaned, self-reproachfully. “You’ve gotta be kidding...” He glared down at the shrine rope and sardines scattered on the floor. Then he sat back down.
“Huh?” Yuichi’s jaw dropped.
“So this is like a club, right?” the boy continued. “How about you show me what you’ve got?”
“What the hell? Get out! No one asked you!” Yuichi shouted after a moment. It was an utterly baffling statement.
“Okay! We’ll show you what we’ve got!” his older sister chimed in.
“Hey!” Yuichi shouted, outraged. Their interrogation was over. The guy had no reason to stay.
“Sorry. Club prez said so.” The boy grinned triumphantly.
Yuichi stared forlornly at Mutsuko. He knew that once she had decided on something, it was nearly impossible to get her to change her mind.
“The survival club never turns anyone away!” Mutsuko declared with unnecessary pretension.
“What do you think, Orihara? You’ve been staring outside this whole time,” Yuichi said.
“What was that, Sakaki? Hmm? I didn’t see anything!”
“That’s right, you didn’t see anything. So come over here and we’ll start our club activities.”
“Oh, but...” Kanako was still gazing outside. She didn’t even gesture at looking into the room.
“It’s okay. You probably thought there was a boy tied up in here who peed himself, but it was just your imagination.”
“Really? Was it really?”
“Yes, it really was. Come back in and look!” At Mutsuko’s urging, Kanako turned back.
“Eek!” She let out a little scream at the sight of the blond boy.
“Don’t worry, that’s just a friend of Yu’s. You probably thought you saw him lying on the floor before, but it was just your imagination.”
“Was it? Was it really my imagination?”
“It really was. You’re such a worrywart, Orihara. You’re gonna be in big trouble if you ever get sent to an isekai for real.”
“Y-Yes, you’re right. I could never survive in an isekai like this. I really must be braver.”
That’s how you convince her?! Yuichi thought as he slammed his face down on the table.
The main club table was made up of two long, narrow folding tables stuck together. Aiko, Yuichi, and the blond boy sat together on one side.
Across from them sat Mutsuko, and — after being led back to reality — Kanako.
“Okay! Club activities, commence!”
“Wait a minute!” Yuichi interrupted, holding up his hand.
“I never said I wanted to join the survival club. Neither did Noro.” He figured it was no use, but he’d at least try to resist.
“Oh, really? Now that you mention it, you never filled out the forms... So let’s do that now!” Mutsuko ran off and came back with the submission forms, which she laid out in front of the two.
As expected, they weren’t getting out of here without joining the club.
“...Fine, I’ll join... but can I be in two clubs?”
“Hmm? If you want to... is there another club you wanted to join, Yu?”
“Choir club.”
“Huh? Why?” Aiko asked, sitting up in surprise. She looked like she never would have dreamed that choir club would be his first choice.
“Huh? Why is that weird? I just want to play the piano.”
“You play the piano, Sakaki?” Aiko asked in amazement.
“Yeah, it’s a hobby. Is that a problem? We only have an electric keyboard at home, though, so I’d really like to try a real one..” Yuichi had taken piano lessons through elementary school, and he still enjoyed playing the electric keyboard. Both of his sisters had also started lessons, but given up immediately.
“Noro, do you have another club you want to join, too?”
“I guess I hadn’t really thought about it...”
“Then you can join the survival club! Participation in club activities is totally voluntary! You can just show up on the days when you feel like it! Like, Orihara and I are the only ones who came today!”
“Yeah, what’s up with that? How can you have activities with just the president and vice president?”
“So if you also want to join the choir club, Yu, you can!”
“Fine. I guess I don’t mind just being on the roll. Is that good enough?”
“Same here...” Aiko spoke up hesitantly.
They both signed the submission forms, and Mutsuko took them, smiling brightly.
“Okay, let’s make it off
icial. Actually, I feel like I’m saying that a lot today... But anyway, welcome to the survival club!”
“Yeah, okay,” Yuichi said.
“It’s a pleasure to be here,” Aiko added.
Yuichi’s response was perfunctory, whereas Aiko’s seemed relatively earnest.
“Well, shall we begin with member introductions?” Mutsuko asked.
“Oh, come on...” Yuichi groaned. He already knew everyone, so it just seemed like a waste of time.
“Okay, I’ll start,” she said. “Mutsuko Sakaki! I’m the club president! My specialty is fictional martial arts! Okay, Orihara, you’re next!” Mutsuko urged.
Kanako stood up and gave a short bow in greeting. “I am Kanako Orihara. I am the club’s vice president. My specialty is isekai.”
“Got it! Yu, you’re next.”
“Yuichi Sakaki,” he grumbled.
“Aw, is that all?” Mutsuko frowned.
“I don’t have a specialty.”
“Well, okay. Next, Noro.”
“Okay. I’m Aiko Noro. I don’t know if I have a specialty, but my hobby is making sweets. It’s a pleasure to be here.”
“Got it. Nice to have you! Now you, oni guy.” Mutsuko pointed to the oni boy.
“Huh? You want me to do one?” He seemed surprised at being addressed.
“That’s right. It would be sad if you hung out here and we didn’t even know your name!”
“Fine... I’m Kyoshiro Ibaraki. I’m fifteen years old. If I were in high school, I’d be a first-year.”
“You mean you’re not? But you wore a school uniform, didn’t you?”
“That was just camouflage to blend in with humans. People like us don’t go to normal high schools. That girl... Takeuchi, did you call her? She’s about the only one I know who does go out of her way to go to school.”
Yuichi looked at the boy — apparently named Ibaraki — again. “Ibaraki-doji” was now the label above his head. It was different from before. Maybe because he now knew he and Natsuki were different species... or maybe Natsuki’s would also become more specific the next time he saw her. He couldn’t be sure just yet.
“Well, introductions over. Let’s get started!” Mutsuko stood up and pulled up the whiteboard.
She pulled out a black marker and wrote “Isekai Survival Ideas” on it.
“What is that?” Aiko asked, hesitantly.
“Hmm? We’re going to brainstorm ideas about how to survive if you ended up in an isekai. Another world! You know, like with time travel, or dimension hopping!”
“Is there any point to that? I could understand figuring out how to survive an earthquake, or even a nuclear war, but dimension hopping?”
“You can’t prove it doesn’t happen, so it clearly does!” Mutsuko spoke up with perfect confidence.
Yuichi supposed it was true that he had no proof that people couldn’t travel dimensions...
“We have a lot of beginners here today, so we’ll start simple. I mean, figuring out what to do if you traveled to a world full of silicon-based lifeforms would probably be a little advanced.”
“Is this really a subject you can have an advanced perspective in?”
“So let’s consider an isekai where the Japanese language and Japanese common sense applies. Say... if you traveled back in time to the Warring States Period! Orihara, please lead the discussion. Noro, you keep the minutes.”
“Huh? Me? But I’ve never done that before...”
“It’s okay. Just write down what you can. We’ll help you fill in whatever you’ve missed.” She slid her a pen and notepad.
“Right. I will now lead the discussion. Thank you all for coming. I’ll get right to the point. There are quite a few works that deal with travel to the Warring States Period.” Kanako began writing names on the whiteboard.
“Ryo Hanmura’s G.I. Samurai. This is a famous novel that has been adapted into a TV show and a feature film. It’s about the Self-Defense Forces traveling to the Warring States Period. Mikage Kasuga’s The Ambition of Oda Nobuna. This is a light novel that has been adapted into an anime. The protagonist travels into a Warring States-like world where the famous generals are all girls. A Chef of Nobunaga, written by Mitsuru Nishimura and drawn by Takuro Kajikawa. This is a manga that was also adapted into a TV show. It’s about a chef from modern day Japan who travels into the Warring States Period and ends up serving Nobunaga. This list is not comprehensive, but there are so many works you can buy conventionally, and if we added web novels, it would just get overwhelming. Nobunaga-centric novels have been growing in popularity lately, so we’ll discuss it from that vantage point for now. What should you do if you found yourself in Nobunaga’s army?”
Orihara seemed so meek and unassuming most of the time. Yuichi was astonished by how easily the words poured out of her mouth.
Aiko’s eyes had gone wide. She seemed to be feeling the same way.
Despite how she looks, she’s still a friend of my sister...
“The works I mentioned are adequate for providing a basic image of the time period, but they are still works of fiction, so they feature some dramatization. All stories take liberties to make things more interesting. So what do we do if we want to know more about the real Nobunaga? We consult historical texts. For this, the best primary source is The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga, written by Gyuichi Ota, an actual vassal of Nobunaga’s. In other words, this is a work written by someone who saw Nobunaga in action first-hand. Several copies of this work were made, and they all have subtle differences, so it cannot be taken completely at face value, but it’s still the best historical document about Nobunaga that we have.
“Oh, and don’t make a mistake and read The Record of Lord Nobunaga instead. That’s a novel written by a Confucian scholar named Hoan Oze, based on the Chronicle. His story is the reason people think that the battle of Okehazama took place in a valley when Okehazama is, in fact, a mountain. If you read The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga, it clearly says ‘Mt. Okehazama.’ This falsehood became pervasive because the Record was a bestseller in the Edo Period. Other works were created based off of it, and it gradually spread, until it became one of the fundamental images associated with Nobunaga. But if you end up traveling back there with these fictionalized images in your mind, you’ll get confused, so we base our premises on factual history as much as possible.
“Now, to our main subject: Personally, I believe that it would be foolish to choose to work for Nobunaga. He was an erratic man, subject to violent whims, which led to him putting many of his own followers and vassals to death. This is a hard thing to sugarcoat, so works that deal with Nobunaga as protagonist tend to leave it out. Of course, if we go with the assumption that you won’t have much of a conversation, let’s assume you manage to conduct yourself flawlessly in Nobunaga’s service. In that case, there are several major points of note: the Battle of Okehazama, the Honno-ji Incident, and the Siege of Kanegasaki. We’ll start with these. If you want to make it through these events alive...”
A single thought pervaded Yuichi’s mind. How exactly is this for beginners?!
Chapter 8: What Do You Say When Someone Tells You They’re Writing a Novel?
Kanako’s lecture continued, uninterrupted. No one could get a word in edgewise. Granted, Yuichi didn’t know anything about the subject to begin with...
She’d started with Nobunaga, but gradually got off the subject, shifting from Shimazu’s sutegamari retreat strategy to the bravery of Nabeshima’s warriors in Saga, and on to the Hagakure from there.
Yuichi had his doubts that such information would ever be useful in an isekai situation, but Kanako seemed to have a lot of fun talking about it, and Mutsuko enjoyed listening, so it was harmless enough.
“Oh, look at the time!” Mutsuko said, looking at the clock in the club room.
Yuichi took a glance out the window. The sky was already turning red. It was well after 6 PM.
“Well? How’d you like the survival club?!” she exclaimed.
“It’s about what I was expecting, given the way you always talk about it.”
Mutsuko had generally told him what kind of things went on in the survival club. If he was being totally honest, the in-person experience had been a bit different, but he was feeling surly and dismissive.
“Huh? Where’d Noro go, anyway?” he added.
She had been handling the secretary’s duties, but it was Ibaraki who was writing the minutes now. Aiko was nowhere to be seen.
“Why are you keeping the record?” Yuichi asked.
“Shorty asked me to take over. Didn’t you see her go wandering off?” Ibaraki was more conscientious than Yuichi had expected.
He thought back, and remembered Aiko leaving her seat. Maybe she’d gone to the bathroom?
Mutsuko was abashed. “I meant for it to be for beginners, but...” Maybe she thought she had made a mistake.
Yuichi was accustomed to the information dump, so it hadn’t bothered him, but being on the receiving end of a speech like that without warning might have been too much for Aiko. He felt a little bad for neglecting her, too.
“U-Um, I’m sorry. I guess having all that thrown at you at once would be a bit incomprehensible...” Kanako was flustered and apologetic. Like Mutsuko, the thought of scaring off a potential club member seemed to have depressed her.
“Ah, um, I don’t know much about the Warring States Period, but the story about the starving guy who stole rice taxes rather than kill himself was really interesting,” Yuichi said quickly, trying to make Kanako feel better. He knew Mutsuko could handle herself, but it bothered him to see the mild-mannered Kanako look so sad.
“R-Really? That’s good. Then next time I’ll talk about traveling to Europe in the Middle Ages!”
Yuichi wasn’t sure why Kanako was so obsessed with isekai, but it was hard to begrudge her anything when she smiled so gently.
“Oh, that’s right, Orihara. Would you show Yu and his friend the thing?” Mutsuko piped up.
“Ah? The thing? The thing? But...”
The World's Strongest Little Brother Page 11