by Takehaya
“Looks like it.”
“S-Satomi-kun...?”
Sitting up, Maki was confused as to why there was a ski jacket draped over her shoulders. Koutarou had been worried she’d get cold in the outfit she was wearing and given her his jacket, and it wasn’t until she looked at that jacket now that she remembered Koutarou was even there. She’d been so taken aback by her miraculous recovery that she had temporarily forgotten everything else.
“Anyways, I’m glad you pulled through.”
“...You’re the one who saved me, aren’t you, Satomi-kun?”
Maki looked at what was lying next to Koutarou. There was Yurika’s new staff, Encyclopedia, and Koutarou’s sword, Signaltin. Those two new magical tools had saved Maki’s life, and they were quite clearly the cause of the increase in room 106’s mana.
However, Maki still had a lot of questions. How had Koutarou saved her with them? And how had he obtained them in the first place? As the magical girl Dark Navy of Darkness Rainbow, she wanted to get her hands on any information she could about these magic items.
“I guess you could say that.”
“Satomi-kun, are you a magician...?”
As Aika Maki, however, she simply wanted to know more about Koutarou.
“No.”
As Koutarou flatly denied being a magician, there was no change in the green light around Koutarou that Maki used to detect lies. It seemed even now, he was telling the truth. Dark Navy should have known better. There was a better way to go about this. A more calm and logical line of questioning she could have taken.
“That can’t be true! No matter how you look at it, what you did wasn’t normal!”
But right now, Maki was just Aika Maki and all she really wanted was to understand Koutarou. It was an emotional matter, and she approached it without any of Dark Navy’s normal calmness or rationality.
“I’m really not. The tools are what’s not normal. I’m just your everyday high school student.”
Koutarou was planning on being honest. He knew that there was no way he could hide the truth after saving Maki’s life in such a dramatic fashion. He knew this was coming the moment he decided to save her life, and he’d steeled himself for it.
“What do you mean?”
“Actually, something big happened recently. You know, when we were doing the play.”
On the day of the play, Clan had come after Theia and Koutarou, and that had been the start of it all.
So it really was during the play...
Koutarou’s story matched with what Maki had conjectured.
“There were some people that helped me resolve that incident, and among them were a few people that could use magic. I got this sword and staff from those people.”
As he spoke, Koutarou presented the staff to Maki. He smiled wryly and shrugged as she received it from him.
“So while I think that it’s probably magic, I don’t really get the details. I was told how to use it, but I don’t know how it works.”
“I see...”
Maki nodded and examined the staff in her hands.
As I thought, the enchantment is considerably old... It seems to be using the same ancient language of magic that controls the mana in room 106. But the staff was made quite recently... which means it must have been made by magicians with no direct relation to Folsaria.
The current practice in Folsaria used a reorganized, modern language for magic. However, Maki could tell the magic in the staff used something much older than that. That suggested it had been made by magicians who had branched off from Folsaria a very long time ago.
This staff essentially takes care of casting the spell entirely on its own, just like he said. Between that ability and the vast amount of spells it contains, it’s wasting the artifact-rank mana it has. So on it’s own, it’s not a big threat... but it’s quite troublesome the way Yurika used it.
That was Maki’s conclusion upon examining the staff. Thanks to that, Maki was able to see the total picture behind Yurika’s power-up. The power of her magic hadn’t increased outright, but she had evolved in a direction that made it very hard to fight her.
And the sword is the same as this staff. It does a lot on its own... So while the sword is powerful, Satomi-kun himself is just a normal human. Which means that was also true when we fought last time.
Maki finally started to really understand Koutarou, and because of that, she came to realize her own misunderstanding.
In the past, Maki had assumed that Koutarou was a dangerous magician. He was able to get through her barrier, he had a ghost companion, and he could use a powerful magic sword, so she assumed he had access to powerful magic. Either enhancement or alteration would have allowed him to get through a barrier and make a magic sword, and necromancy would have allowed him to control ghosts.
However, knowing what she did now, Maki was getting a different picture of the situation. First off, he had been able to slip through the barrier because he had a powerful sword that interfered with the magic of others. And the ghost had simply followed him of her own will. It was just such an unlikely scenario that Maki had written it off entirely at the time.
And here I was... worried about traps and schemes that don’t even exist. I never even truly saw the man in front of me...
Right now, Maki no longer feared Koutarou. It was a strange feeling. Despite seeing his overly powerful sword right in front of her and knowing that she wouldn’t stand a chance against him in a fight, Maki wasn’t afraid of Koutarou. At worst, she felt like it would probably hurt when she lost.
What is this feeling, I wonder...? Why do I feel so relieved? Even though he’s an opponent I have no chance of beating in my current state...
Maki was confused, but only on the surface of things. Deep inside her heart, she was calm. She was satisfied with the current situation.
“Achoo!”
Koutarou suddenly sneezed. As she was lost in thought, the abrupt noise caught Maki unawares and her eyes opened wide in surprise. But the moment she saw the silly face Koutarou was making, she began to laugh.
“Pffft! Ahahaha!”
“Don’t laugh. I’m in the middle of an important story.”
Seeing Maki laugh, Koutarou’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.
“I-I’m sorry. It’s cold, isn’t it? Do you want this jacket back?”
Maki apologized, but she was still laughing happily. She put one hand over her mouth in an attempt to suppress her laughter, and touched the jacket on her shoulders with the other. Koutarou had ultimately sneezed because he lent Maki his jacket.
“I don’t need it. I’m not that cold.”
“Ah...”
In that moment, Maki could see the green light that enveloped Koutarou wavering. The spell Maki used to detect deception finally caught Koutarou in a lie.
Satomi-kun lied to me...
That surprised Maki far more than the sneeze had. Maki hated lies and deceit more than anything. She abhorred any form of scheming or trickery. Because of that, the moment she realized Koutarou was lying to her, her heart skipped a beat.
He really does lie... Of course he does... There’s no human who doesn’t...
Maki’s heart then began intensely throbbing. It was almost like it was burning. It was the first time she’d ever felt something like that.
“Satomi-kun, you’re a terrible liar.”
“I’m not lying. A true man wouldn’t lose out to the cold.”
“I think you sneezed because you did lose, though.”
Maki smiled, but this time it was much, much brighter than before.
“Ugh...”
“Actually, Satomi-kun, I hate people who lie.”
“I see. Then we’ll make good friends.”
“That’s true. Heehee...”
Maki slightly tilted her head as a tinge of mischief crept across her grin. Really, it was a smile no one had ever seen from her before.
“Heehee... Indeed, I think people who trick oth
er with lies are the worst!”
But strangely, Maki was actually happy that Koutarou had lied to her. It was the first time that had ever happened.
This man’s lies aren’t scary at all!
Not even Maki knew why she felt that way, but that didn’t bother her right now.
“Definitely.”
“Heehee... Ahahaha!”
And so Maki dismissed the spells she had activated.
“...Satomi-kun, you liar! I hate you!”
“Huh?”
Maki no longer needed a spell to confirm if Koutarou was being honest or not.
After watching Maki laugh for a while, Koutarou eventually nodded with a satisfied expression.
“All right, you look like you’re okay.”
Koutarou had explained the immediate situation to Maki and now she seemed to be fully recovered, so Koutarou decided to move on to the next matter at hand.
“Aika-san, the staff, please.”
Koutarou reached his hand out towards Maki.
“Satomi-kun?”
When Maki looked up at him, Koutarou was already on his feet. His expression was serious and she sensed a strong will in his eyes.
“Please give me back the staff. I have to go save Yurika.”
“Save Yurika-san...? O-Oh right, that white demon!”
It wasn’t until after hearing Koutarou say something about saving Yurika that Maki finally remembered how this had all happened. She’d gone into the mountains to obtain a familiar, but things had gotten ugly and Yurika was frozen and trapped. Maki still had a score to settle.
“So you saw it too, Aika-san? In that case, this’ll be easy to explain. I have to beat that thing and save Yurika.”
As Koutarou said that, he looked out through the window of the lodge. The blizzard was still raging on outside and he couldn’t see a thing. However, somewhere in the direction he was staring, Yurika was out there waiting to be saved.
To think monsters like that exist on Earth too...
Koutarou strongly grasped Signaltin’s sheath. This wasn’t the first time Koutarou had encountered strange monsters, and based on his experience, Signaltin should be enough to deal with them.
“So please give me back the staff. I’ll probably need that too.”
Koutarou’s Signaltin was very powerful, but since he had used it to heal the fatally wounded Maki, its power had temporarily grown weaker. Encyclopedia would be the perfect tool to compensate for that. Koutarou was planning on fighting using both sword and sorcery.
Return the staff...?
Maki was a leader of Darkness Rainbow. Her best option right now would be putting some sort of curse on the staff before returning it to Koutarou. That way she could use it as a trap against Yurika later. However...
“Satomi-kun.”
Instead, Maki simply didn’t plan on giving the staff back.
“Since I’m better now, can I help too?”
Holding the staff in both hands, Maki smiled at Koutarou.
Maki’s suggestion was simple. Koutarou was an amateur when it came to magic, so it would be better to have one of them focus on using the sword and the other focus on the staff. It was a perfectly sound plan.
“So how about it?”
“Huh...”
As things were, Koutarou was inclined to say no. He was reluctant to drag a normal girl like Maki into a fight. But he understood what she was saying. He also didn’t think that he’d be able to pull off something as demanding as using a sword and a staff at the same time. Since they had two people and two weapons, it did seem much more reasonable to divide them accordingly.
“Since you’re struggling to make up your mind, Satomi-kun, I have some news that might convince you.”
“What’s that?”
“I have an A in PE. Yurika’s barely even passing.”
Seeing Maki boasting with pride, Koutarou nodded.
“All right, I’ll leave the staff to you, Aika-san”
“Really?!”
Maki’s expression lit up.
Honestly, Aika-san does look like she would be better with the staff than Yurika...
Maki was obviously in better shape than Yurika. Koutarou felt like Maki was more suited to be a magical girl than Yurika just based on that alone.
“In exchange, you have to promise to run away before things get really dangerous. If you do that, I can run away too without worrying if all hell breaks loose.”
The only thing Koutarou was worried about was that Maki might try to do too much and get in over her head. Since he’d just managed to save her from the brink of death, he wasn’t interested in seeing her in danger again. That’s why he wanted her to retreat before things got ugly.
“...Liar.”
“Huh?”
However, Maki didn’t agree. Instead, she stared at Koutarou quite suspiciously.
“Satomi-kun, you won’t run away even if things turn dangerous, will you?”
“That’s not true. I’d run with my tail between my legs,” Koutarou said, nervously shaking his head.
“That’s a lie. There’s no way you would run away without saving Yurika-san first.”
Maki was no longer using her spell to discern lies, but she still knew that Koutarou would never leave Yurika behind to save himself.
“Aika-san...”
There was nothing Koutarou could say. His real intentions were just as Maki had said.
“In that case, we’ll share the same fate.”
Maki appeared to be quite serious as she looked at Koutarou and firmly held the staff with both hands.
“Please steel yourself, Satomi-kun. I definitely won’t leave you on your own. In exchange―”
“Fine, I get it. I’ll protect you.”
In the end, Koutarou was the one who backed down. The best chance he had of saving Yurika was if he and Maki truly worked together. That’s what he himself believed.
“It’s almost like you’re proposing. Heehee...”
Maki smiled. She seemed awfully happy. Koutarou didn’t know the meaning behind it, but Maki’s smile in that moment reminded him of Yurika’s. Without realizing it, his attitude did a one-eighty.
“You idiot. Be more serious.”
“Yes, sir!”
Maki smiled at Koutarou and jokingly saluted. And just like that, the strange team of Koutarou and Maki was born.
The lodge that Koutarou had taken refuge in with Maki wasn’t all that far away from the cave. It had been built when power lines were being constructed in the area, but it was no longer in use. As such, Koutarou and Maki didn’t need to worry about running into anyone on their way back to the cave. The area was desolate. It was just the two of them making their way across the mountain as the snow and wind intensely raged on.
“By the way, Aika-san, what were you doing out here in the mountains? Yurika was really worried about you.”
“Ah, that’s because of that white demon.”
However, neither of them seemed particularly bothered by the weather. That was thanks to a spell that Maki had cast. They forged ahead, unfettered by the harsh winds, the steep slope, the darkness, and the ever dropping temperature.
“Did he capture you?”
“Oh, um... Well, something like that.”
“I see. That was really unlucky.”
“...Though to be more precise, I was the one that came to capture him.”
“What was that?”
“I said I would have been in danger if you and Yurika-san hadn’t come along. It seems like that demon is very violent and attacks people on sight.”
“I see. Then let’s be careful to reduce the danger.”
“Yes, let’s.”
The two of them carefully climbed the slope while staying alert and wary of what was in front of them. Since magic made it easier for them to brave the elements, they had more energy to focus on finding the demon and Yurika.
“Satomi-kun!”
“Uwah!”
After clim
bing for a while, Maki suddenly grabbed ahold of Koutarou and knocked him down into the snow.
“Wh-What?!”
“Shh! Don’t you see it? Over there!”
While whispering to Koutarou, Maki covered his mouth with her left hand and pointed with her right.
“Mmmhh!”
The white demon in question was just up the slope from them. Next to it was Yurika, still frozen. Maki had seen them first, and she’d taken action to keep the white demon from spotting them too.
“I’ll let go now.”
“Mm.”
Maki made sure Koutarou saw the demon for himself before removing her hand.
“Hahh... Thanks, Aika-san.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Yurika is...”
After crawling out from under Maki, the first thing Koutarou did was look to Yurika. Fortunately, Yurika’s spiritual energy wasn’t so weak that she appeared to be in immediate mortal danger. Koutarou relaxed his shoulders when he realized that.
“Phew, she seems to be okay...”
Koutarou had been worried all along that she might die while he was treating Maki, or that the demon would destroy her along with the pillar of ice. So now that he was here and could see that she was safe, Koutarou let out a heavy sigh of relief. His fighting spirit was lit anew upon discovering that he still had a chance to save her.
“So what do we do, Satomi-kun?”
“Hmm? What?”
“Don’t you think it’d be dangerous if we just charged straight in?”
As Maki spoke, she indicated their surroundings. They were in the path of what had been carried away by the avalanche, but they’d hit the edge of the woods. They’d been using the trees as cover, but from here on out, they’d be in the open if they continued forward.
“Yeah, he’d definitely try something.”
“I think it will be another avalanche.”
“I’d rather not go through that again...”
It was possible that the white demon might cause another avalanche if it spotted Koutarou and Maki climbing up, and they were right in the path of where the first one had fallen. That was part of the reason why Maki had stopped Koutarou in the first place.