Megumin heard me. She looked up and made a pretend-angry gesture with her staff.
“Anyway, we must go! The transport-shop owner has kindly registered Axel as a Teleport destination for us. We should hurry over and do the paperwork so we can get back to town!”
“Hey, wait up, Megumin!” I smiled as Yunyun rushed off after her friend, then I followed them at an easy pace.
…And then two girls about Megumin’s age appeared ahead of us.
“Oh! Funifura, Dodonko!”
I wonder what the connection is here…?
“Long time no see, Yunyun and Gimmick Wizard! How are you doing?”
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! The greatest genius in the Crimson Magic Clan and our most ridiculous joke of a wizard, right in one place! The whole village is talking about you, you know.”
Megumin, the object of their amusement, leaped at them almost before they knew what was happening.
“That is some way to greet your beloved classmate whom you have not seen in forever!”
“H-hey, we were only teasing! Sorry! We’re sorry! You haven’t seen us in a long time, either, and you think attacking us is the best way to say hello?!”
“Stooop! How can your grip be so strong?! What level are you? Ouch, yikes! Stop! Violence is wrong!”
Both girls were soon on the verge of tears under Megumin’s assault.
…I couldn’t guess as to their history, but Megumin seemed to have the upper hand.
One of the girls turned to Yunyun. “…Hey. You were really cool yesterday. I always thought you were, like, weird. But I guess there’s another side to you.” She couldn’t quite meet Yunyun’s eyes as she spoke, embarrassed.
“Yeah, I see you in a whole new light now. You were really cool, Yunyun!” Even the other girl joined in.
But given that Yunyun was covering her beet-red face with both hands and fighting back tears, I wished they would stop.
“Both of you seemed, like, headed the wrong way. You know? We were worried about you.”
“Oh yeah! Megumin can be sort of childish, and Yunyun always seemed like the type to be attracted to really awful guys. It’s such a relief to see you’re both doing well.”
Smiles came over their faces. I got an oddly warm feeling myself. I was glad that Yunyun, who seemed so alone in Axel, at least had some real friends here at home.
Then Yunyun turned to me and smiled. “Mr. Kazuma, let me introduce you properly. These are Funifura and Dodonko. We used to be classmates. They’re my…f-friends!” She seemed very happy about—in fact, almost proud of—it. I bowed and said hello to the girls. They bowed back, seeming a little flustered to be called friends.
“Hi, I’m Kazuma Satou. I’m a friend of Yunyun’s—she really does a lot for me. A pleasure.”
““Th-the pleasure’s all ours!””
There sure were a lot of attractive women and cute girls in this village. It left me unusually uncomfortable. Then again, the two girls looked nervous, too—or was I imagining it?
That was when Megumin decided to drop the bombshell.
“Hey, I know you never meet any guys and are lonely all by yourselves, but I shall have you stop making eyes at my man.”
“““?!”””
It was so sudden that all three of the other girls froze, looks of shock on their faces.
“Wait, what did you just—? So that stuff you said last night about liking me, you were serious?!”
“““!!”””
This only astonished the girls more. Dodonko and Funifura, in an absolute uproar, said, “A m-m-m-m-man?! Miss Only-Has-Eyes-for-Magic got herself a man?! Y-you’re kidding, right? You mean you like him as a guy friend, right?”
“Y-y-y-yeah, that has to be it. Megumin, you never cared a whit for being popular or anything, and now—a man?!”
Wait a second.
What’s going on here?
Yunyun looked every bit as caught off guard as the other girls. “M-Mr. Kazuma, is it true?” she asked in a small voice. “D-did Megumin really…say she…l-l-l…?”
I glanced at Megumin, trying to ask with my eyes how much it was all right to say.
“Oh, do not be so shocked,” Megumin said. “Kazuma has formally greeted my parents with a gift of candies. We have bathed together, and recently we have spent every night snuggled up in bed. So you may judge our relationship yourselves.”
“““—!!”””
Funifura and Dodonko took a step back, reeling.
I guess nothing Megumin had said was technically untrue…
Megumin gave the two girls a triumphant smirk.
“………Heh.” She snorted.
““!!””
“……Wa— Waaaaaaah! S-so you got a guy, so whaaaat!”
“I-it’s not like we care! It doesn’t bother us at aaaaallll!”
And with those parting shots, they ran away. The only person left there with us was the stuttering, agitated Yunyun.
“Yunyun, there is somewhere I would like to take Kazuma. I’m sorry, but could you handle things at the transport shop for us?”
“Huh?! Oh! S-sure, of course… But…a-are you two really…?” Yunyun was so scared she almost couldn’t bring herself to look at us.
And in a schoolgirlish tone, something I almost never heard from her, Megumin said, “Even if one of us gets a boyfriend, we’ll always be friends, right?”
“W-waaaaaah! You hardly ever call me a friend—why now?! I haven’t— I haven’t lost to you this time, Megumin; just remember thaaaaaat!”
And then off she ran, just like Funifura and Dodonko.
Megumin took me beyond the village limits.
We found ourselves in a quiet spot in the forest, no one else around. All I could hear were birds and insects. Suddenly, Megumin turned toward me.
…Huh? What’s the situation here? Wait—is she…confessing her feelings for me? No, she already did that. Didn’t she? Did that thing yesterday even count?
Okay, wait. She did just call me “her man” earlier. Or maybe she was just trying to show off in front of her friends…?
Right. Stay sharp, Kazuma Satou! What if you say, “I like you, too—let’s start dating!” and she says she didn’t mean it that way?
For that matter, do I like Megumin that way?
Pull it together! You can’t go getting all confused just because a girl is a little bit nice to you! Am I so easily swayed?!
All these thoughts rushed through my head in an instant, leaving me confused. Meanwhile, Megumin turned to me and began speaking.
“Kazuma… About what I asked you last night—I will ask again. If you could have a truly great wizard, would you want her?”
…What’s this about? She said the same thing yesterday night—but what does she mean by it?
I gave her the same answer I had the night before, as nonchalantly as I could: “If you’re asking whether I’d rather have her or not—sure, I’d want her.”
Megumin seemed satisfied by that answer. “I see… Yes. I am ready, then.” And suddenly, she flashed me a smile.
…Speaking as a virgin—as someone who’d never even been on a date—you should definitely give some warning before coming up with a smile like that. We were alone in the woods. She was ready. She was asking if I wanted a wizard. It was all enough to make my heart pound.
Then she spoke the wildly stimulating words, a hurdle a poor virgin would find it hard to overcome. She said…
“I am thinking I will learn advanced magic.”
Wait, what?
That brought me up short. “…Come again?”
Had our Explosion-crazy wizard—the one who would have skipped a meal if it meant being able to set off a blast—had she just said…?
Megumin took out her Adventurer’s Card. Looking at it fondly, she spoke.
“I have been giving it a lot of thought, even since before Yunyun started calling me Gimmick Wizard. If I had never met you and Aqua and Darkness, I might never have
thought about it—just kept working and working on my Explosion. The people of this village are no doubt disappointed in me, as Funifura and Dodonko have made clear… I shall no longer be your burden, Kazuma. Next time, I want to be the one who helps you and our friends. So… So… As of today, I seal away Explosion.”
And then she smiled at me.
No.
No, no, no, no, no.
“Hey, wait a second. It’s true; it would be helpful if you could use advanced magic. But listen. You don’t have to ‘seal away’ Explosion or anything. Some days we don’t even go on quests—you could do your daily explosions then. And even if you don’t use it most of the time, it will be good to have an ace up our sleeve when we need it! Didn’t you tell Yunyun once that you were putting all your skill points into upping the strength of your explosion and making your high-speed incantations even…higher speed or something?”
Megumin snickered at that. “I’m surprised you remember. I have been carefully saving my skill points so I can use them for that purpose at any time… If I release Explosion, it takes all my MP, and I can’t use any other magic that day. By the same token, if I use advanced magic, I won’t be able to release an explosion that makes the best of my abilities for that day. If I learn advanced magic, I will chant it over and over again, practice so I can be even just a little bit quicker, just a little bit more powerful.” She never took her eyes off the Adventurer’s Card in her hand as she spoke.
…The words Vanir had said to me before we left town suddenly came to mind.
“Once you reach your destination, a time will come when one of your companions will confide in you about some confusion. What you say may change the path that person takes in life. Think carefully and be sure the advice you offer will leave no regrets.”
So this was what he was talking about. That stupid cheating demon! Did he foresee all this? When we get back, I’m going to douse his doorknob with holy water.
But I couldn’t shake the vision of Wiz grabbing the knob and bursting into flame.
Megumin was studying her card like it was the most precious thing in the world. Finally, she silently closed her eyes. Then she took a deep breath and opened them again.
She turned away from me, as if she was struggling with something, then handed her card back to me without turning around. There was a slight tremble in her shoulders.
“I’m sorry, Kazuma. Can I make a very…very difficult request of you?”
“…You can’t bring yourself to do it, so you want me to push the button to acquire advanced magic, is that it?”
Megumin gave a single nod.
Dumbass…
“Look, think hard about this. We’re coming into money, remember? We won’t have to bother defeating anyone or doing anything dangerous if we don’t want to. We can just hang around the house, blowing up some small fry when we feel like it—everyone just having fun.”
“This from the man who once asked me if I wouldn’t even consider taking intermediate magic!” Megumin exclaimed. There was another weird tremor in her shoulders, and she pushed the card at me again. I took it without a word.
“…Not gonna regret this?” I said to her back.
“No. I’ve resolved not to be a burden anymore. If I had been a normal Crimson Magic Clan member, I’m sure I could’ve kept those orcs from traumatizing you, stopped Sylvia from kidnapping you… I am first among the spell-casters of the Crimson Magic Clan. Wielder of advanced magic! …Yes. I think I’ll go with that from now on. I have more magical potential than Yunyun. Once I can use advanced magic, I shall truly be first. I will not let her take that place from me.”
She got it all out as best she could and forced herself to smile.
…Really. Total dumbass.
She loved Explosion more than anything else; she’d given everything she had to it. I moved my finger across Megumin’s card.
Who knew you could operate someone else’s Adventurer’s Card? I wished I’d found out sooner. Then maybe I could have just grabbed her card or Darkness’s back when we met and specced them however I wanted.
When I was done, I gave the card back to Megumin. She didn’t even look at it, just mechanically returned it to her neckline. Then she glanced back at me.
“Now then, let’s all of us go home. You and Aqua and Darkness and me—back to Axel Town! Oh yes, I heard the reward for Sylvia is quite a sum.”
“Oh yeah? We’ll have to host a little party when we get back home, then.” But as Megumin made to leave, I stopped her. “Say, Megumin. Could you let off an Explosion? Please?”
It was a very sudden request. Megumin responded wearily, “…I just don’t know what to do with you. Here I have made my resolution, and before five minutes have passed, you are asking me to cast Explosion. I have no idea what you’re thinking.”
“In my country, we say, ‘Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow.’ And anyway, I haven’t seen a hundred-point Explosion yet. That weapon boosted the one you dropped on Sylvia. Are you going to let your last hurrah be a trick like that?”
“…You do know how to raise a person’s hackles. Very well. My final Explosion. I shall show you a blast more amazing than any you have yet seen!”
And with that, Megumin made a show of pointing her staff at a rock some distance away.
“…Uh, not there, Megumin. That’s a little too close. Pick something a little farther off. You’re going to give it everything you’ve got, right? Try that rock over there.” I pointed to a boulder on the plain just beyond the forest. Megumin cocked her head at my request.
“I do not mind, but you know that is just at the edge of my range, don’t you? …Oh well. Now I shall demonstrate for you, Kazuma, my last—my most heartfelt—explosion!”
And then she smiled—not the way she had earlier, like she was trying to push something away, but a true smile, from the bottom of her heart. She began her chant with real joy. And then…
“Explosion!!!”
A brilliant light flashed from the end of her staff, piercing the rock. This was definitely her biggest Explosion ever. There was an ear-shattering roar, along with a fireball of almost unimaginable size. It looked like it could have taken Sylvia down even without the rail gun.
Megumin, looking stunned at the power of her own magic, pulled out her card. She ran her eyes over it, then looked at me with a startling mixture of confusion and irrepressible happiness. Finally, she gave a dramatic flap of her cape, wearing a huge smile, and announced:
“My name is Megumin! Arch-wizard and wielder of Explosion! First among the spell-casters of Axel, and she who will one day master Explosion!”
Now, that was the Megumin I knew.
I hadn’t done what she’d asked. Instead, I had put all her remaining skill points into increasing the power of her Explosion.
Did I want a great wizard? What wizard could be greater than our Megumin? Her explosions had convinced generals of the Demon King to fight her. They had slowed down and even destroyed those same generals. I’d like to see any wizard with more sheer combat power than her.
Even more than a great wizard, what I really wanted was…
Looking at me triumphantly, Megumin puffed out her little chest and asked, “How many points for that one?”
No question.
“A hundred and twenty.”
A huge smile came over her face.
Epilogue
“Ah! There really is no place like home! I’ve had enough travel. What was a hikikomori like me even thinking, leaving the house like that?”
It felt great to be back at our mansion after so long away. Two major trips in a row were a little too much for someone who was used to staying shut up in his room. Plus, my business deal with Vanir would mean big money soon enough. I wouldn’t have to go on any more trips. I wouldn’t even have to go outside.
I was thrilled when the people of Crimson Magic Village had insisted that we take the entire reward for defeating Sylvia. The upshot was that I had pl
enty of funds now.
I’d decided. No more risky stuff. I didn’t care who came to me with what sob story.
“Didn’t take you long to show what a worthless excuse for a human being you are, huh, Kazuma? I have to admit I find it oddly reassuring. It kind of helps me feel like I don’t have to bother trying too hard, either.”
“Aqua, that’s only because you think he’s like you! Don’t sink to his level—he’s an example to avoid, not emulate!”
Darkness. How rude.
“Let us go easy,” Megumin said. “I think this time, at least, Kazuma did a great job. He deciphered the ancient letters, figured out how to use the weapon, and then defeated Sylvia.” Megumin seemed uncharacteristically prepared to take my side.
“It was your magic that defeated Sylvia, Megumin,” I said. “I just pulled the trigger.”
“Not at all! Without that weapon to turn magic into sheer destruction, I wouldn’t have had the power to do it. It was all thanks to you finding that weapon.”
We were basically patting each other on the back at this point.
“…Aqua, what do you suppose is up with those two?” Darkness asked. “They’ve seemed a little weird ever since we got back… Y-you don’t suppose that, while sleeping in the same bed, they finally…?!”
“All right, that’s enough speculation. Nothing happened! Right, Megumin? We didn’t… Hey, aren’t you gonna back me up? She’s looking at me all suspiciously!”
Darkness was giving me a dubious look as Megumin made her way over to Aqua, still not denying anything. She seemed to be interested in something Aqua was holding. Wait—didn’t Aqua usually jump right in with some stupid remark at times like this? What was going on? What had she been doing over there on the couch since—?
DA-DIIING!
…
“Just when did you get your hands on a game? Hey, let me play, too. That should be mine anyway—I’m the gamer here!”
“If you want to borrow it, you’ll have to give me something in exchange! Specifically, take my turn cleaning the bathroom tomorrow!”
Crimson Magic Clan, Let’s & Go!! Page 16