Outbreak Company: Volume 13

by Ichiro Sakaki

  The term “possess” seemed to imply that women who touched the armor would not only be enveloped by it, but that it would influence their words and actions. Specifically, that desires and impulses from the deepest depths of her heart would come to the surface. This didn’t seem terribly dangerous as far as it went—except that the young woman ensconced in the forbidden armor couldn’t control the manifestation of these impulses. The result would be a young woman, terrified because she was possessed by an unfamiliar magical item, attacking everyone around her like a wild animal, on a rampage she was powerless to control.

  Evidently, it was possible to gain some measure of agency over the suit if one remained calm enough—it seemed one woman had succeeded in removing the armor with her own hands, though only after having razed an entire town—but exactly how calm one had to be to exert this agency was as yet unclear. The records, I was told, said only that if anxiety exceeded a certain threshold, it would be impossible to take the armor off.

  All this left me with a question, though: Why in the world had this armor been created in the first place? Cursed items were frequently devised with the intention that they would be used not by the one who made them, but by some enemy, inviting the foe to destruction. But this armor seemed altogether too roundabout a way to entrap an unsuspecting enemy. If that was what it was for, why not have the armor simply go berserk the moment it was equipped? Why have its actions bear no connection at all to the woman inside? Why leave the woman safe?

  For that matter, if chaos was the intention, why limit it to women at all?

  Magical items have creators, and creators have plans. The plans may not always work, but one would hardly bother to finish an item if it was completely divorced from what its creator wanted.

  Whatever the case, there was still too much guesswork, too many things we didn’t know. It had clearly been the right choice to shut those things up in the castle storehouse; they were too dangerous to do otherwise.

  But then, too...

  “Hrm?” I grunted, stroking my beard absently. “Well, Garius-dono... Surely he wouldn’t...”

  There were a great many women at Shinichi-dono’s house. Presently, that included Her Majesty the Empress, and even young Lauron, the puppeteer Garius-dono had taken along to handle the cargo. It seemed to me that all this simply meant a greater probability of an “accident” occurring...

  “Perhaps it was wrong of us to take the armor to Shinichi-dono’s home,” I mused.

  It was too late for regrets, however. I ordered the witch to dispatch a message to Shinichi-dono’s mansion immediately.

  There was another air-shaking boom. Probably. I thought. It was the sound of a clenched fist tearing through the atmosphere. It moved so fast that you could hear it, or at least feel like you heard it. The steel “hand” was about to bury itself in its enemy.

  Myusel’s forbidden armor was attacking Petralka. We already knew how powerful these suits were from Myusel’s encounter with the royal guard. If the diminutive Petralka took a direct hit, she could easily be killed. It was only barely a hand, but a speeding fist was more dangerous than any inexpertly wielded sword.

  I reeled as the metal claws raked across Petralka’s face.

  But there was no sound of impact—instead, an instant later, Petralka sort of shimmered from side to side—and disappeared. Myusel hadn’t hit her at all. It had only been an afterimage.

  But wait... An afterimage implied—just to be clear what we were saying here—that Petralka and her entire body had moved fast enough to leave such an optical illusion. Was that even possible?

  What was with this hyper battle?! Was this Shura ** Mon?! Grappl**?! Or were they going to go Super S**yan? Was there going to be a second transformation stage?!

  My head spun with confusion as in front of me, girls wearing “forbidden armor”—Myusel, Elvia, and even Petralka—fought relentlessly.

  “You lot...” Petralka growled, circling around Myusel and lashing out with her “arm” in a sort of counterattack. There was another rush of air, no less impressive than the one from Myusel’s blow. It was a blitz. “...are always, always, always with Shinichi all the time! We are left out!”

  “Complain all you want, Your Majesty!” Myusel, leaving an afterimage of her own, dodged half of Petralka’s blows, and caught the other half with her own arm... Or anyway, that’s what it looked like. I thought. It happened so fast, I wasn’t really sure. “But Shinichi-sama is always so nice to you! Holding you! Carrying you around! I want him to carry me like that!”

  “You can’t carry a girl who weighs more than fifty kilos! A woman’s fiftieth kilogram is an indulgence!”

  “You wanna know why you’re so light, Your Majesty? Take a look at your chest!”

  “Gnnraaahhh!! Now you have truly gone too far!”

  The “arms” crossed and crossed again, so hard and so fast that you could almost put a bo-o-o-ong sound effect over them. The physical exchange was amazing enough, but the dialogue—I mean, they weren’t pulling their punches, physically or verbally. It seemed like a sorta weird conversation to be having during a superhuman battle to the death, though.

  Was this... Was this... where we learned that war was truly hell? (Note: don’t really think so.)

  “No fair! No fair!” Elvia came howling down from overhead. Myusel and Petralka dove aside, and Elvia slammed into the space between them. A huge flying kick. Her metal-clad leg hit the ground with a terrific boom!, throwing up dust and dirt.

  Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

  Elvia, or rather her forbidden armor, sank into the ground up to her ankle, at which point Myusel and Petralka, sensing their chance, rushed in from either side to take her by the arms. But Elvia spun, using her buried leg as a pivot, thrusting her arms out to deflect the attack and then using the momentum to free her trapped leg.

  “Y’all are such lucky girls! Shinichi-sama fawnin’ over ya all the time!” Just like Myusel and Petralka’s fists, Elvia’s right leg was almost audible as it spun through the air. Her kick looked like it could crack a tree in half, but Myusel ducked low, while Petralka crossed her arms to absorb the blow. It still wasn’t enough to totally disperse the power of the kick, and Petralka went scooting backwards a couple of meters, bracing herself with her legs. “I want some! I want some, too!”

  “You speak as if your chest were not a permanent fixture before Shinichi’s eyes!”

  “You know he won’t shut up about how great your stupid fluffy tail is!”

  ..................

  The dialogue here was completely out of whack. Like, if this were a manga, I would wonder if they printed the wrong script in it.

  Even for ladies going crazy, you’re going pretty crazy, ladies.

  I could only watch the incredible scene in stupefaction. Then again, there was that part of my brain burning so hot with moe that I thought it might melt. I mean, I was basically watching a battle straight out of a tokusatsu show unfold before my eyes. I had never dreamed such a thing would happen. Plus, those forbidden armors were 100% mecha-girl powered suit things, and they were pretty, you know, cool—or, hot, I guess, and even in the midst of all the nuttiness, as a guy, it was hard not to get excited. Each time Elvia or Myusel moved, their chests moved with them—just follow the bouncing boobs, y’know? And Petralka, I guess she didn’t bounce, exactly, but that was great, too! Her body, lithe and graceful as a fawn, had a delight all its own.

  “You are a mere half-elf and werewolf!”

  “Yeah? Well, you’re supposed to be the almighty Empress!”

  Petralka launched a back fist, but Myusel and Elvia each took a single step back and dodged it. Every attack of the forbidden armors took place with impossible speed and power, but if they missed by even a millimeter, then it was all for nothing. I guess it had that much in common with a normal fistfight.

  Or that’s what I thought, anyway.

  “Why, you...”

  The transparent “screen” surrounding Petralka’s to
rso lit up, a series of lights flickering across it. Then a bunch of small rays of light gathered in front of her, spinning faster and faster until they became a blinding sphere. This looked awfully familiar from all the anime I’d seen—but it couldn’t be. As I watched in astonishment, two rays of light shot from the area of Petralka’s chest.

  “The heck...?!”

  They carved a dark rut in the earth, just in front of my feet, obviously formed instantaneously by superheated light. Were those beams—as in, beams? Did we have a beam weapon, here?!

  “They’ve got Killer Boobeams! ...Argh, that’s dumb even for me!”

  I didn’t know how it worked, but apparently that transparent screen doubled as a lens for focusing light into this destructive form. In practice, it looked as if the beams were coming directly from Petralka’s chest (such as it was).

  “You lowlifes!”

  “Speak for yourself, Your Majesty!”

  “At least I have—!”

  As if in response to Petralka’s beam attack, Myusel and Elvia launched those cannonball-like things at her. They were more than fast enough to be plenty destructive, but Petralka easily swept them aside. Maybe the wires were made of some kind of memory material, though, because the one launched by Elvia slowly arced around in midair, wrapping around Petralka’s armor. Elvia pulled on the wire while bending over, as if doing a judo throw. Petralka floated into the air, came around, and then slammed into the ground like the head of a gigantic hammer. There was another roar and lots more dust, so much that for a second, I couldn’t see her—but then two more blasts of her beams cleared the haze away, and she emerged, unscathed.

  “This is, like...” Bad, right? The worst. It was bad enough when they started punching each other, but when the ranged weapons come out, you just can’t be like, “Oh, they’re having a little argument!” anymore. “Minori-san...!” I looked over at the WAC, but she shook her head as if to say there was no longer anything she could do.

  Garius and a couple of the royal knights with the least serious wounds rounded the house at that moment, but even they could only watch the three women in amazement.

  “I can’t believe this,” I said. “This is just the worst thing...”

  The moment they had attacked Petralka, Myusel and Elvia had probably already consigned themselves to the death penalty. They were lucky, if you could call it that, that Petralka had her own suit of forbidden armor, because without it, she could certainly have been badly hurt or even killed.

  Just as importantly, though, I didn’t want to see these three fight each other. They might be spitting out their innermost thoughts as they circled and jabbed, but even as they did so, I could see Myusel, Petralka, and Elvia on the far sides of those transparent screens, and all of them looked deeply disturbed. Whether they really meant what they were saying or not, being forced to speak and to fight by the armor could not have been fun for them.

  And on top of all that, the real cause of this trouble was... me.

  “And that means...”

  Even though we were right there, the forbidden armors made no move to attack us. Myusel, Petralka, and Elvia were completely absorbed by their three-way struggle. Although the armor could be said to be on a rampage, it really started with the dissatisfaction each of them felt.

  “You need to give us a chance, Your Majesty!”

  “We forbid you from taking Shinichi!”

  “Who needs to give everyone a chance, Myusel?!”

  All three of them assumed the same stance, legs apart, fists clenched, sides braced, elbows up—obviously ready to launch an all-out attack at any moment. When I saw them like that, I threw myself toward them, shouting: “Stop! Stoooop!”

  “Shinichi-kun?!” Minori-san reached out a hand in shock, but she missed me by an inch, and I went racing towards the girls. They were fighting over me, so if I got in the middle of them, at least they wouldn’t use their beam weapons or their cannonballs or whatever—at least, that was my assumption. And a punch, they could pull up short.

  “Stop! Everybody just st—mgrh?!”

  “Shinichi-sama?!”

  “Shinichi?!”

  “Shinichi-sama?!”

  Again, that was my assumption. And we all know what happens when you assume.

  Somebody’s fist—I didn’t know whose it was—pummeled me in the face. I guess there hadn’t been enough time to stop. Still, she had managed to slow it down considerably, so at least it didn’t knock my head clean off—the huge, hard chunk of metal merely slammed into me in a classic bit of blunt-force trauma. A critical hit to my brain, if you will. It knocked me clean out.

  I’m not sure how long I was out. The first thing I noticed when I came to was a sharp, shooting pain in my cheek.

  “Eeyowowow...” I instinctively put my hand to the side of my face, and I could feel how swollen it was. There was a damp rag there, so someone had attempted to see to my injury. My mouth felt off, too. I probed the area with my tongue, and discovered there was something weird with my teeth. Specifically, two of them appeared to be missing. Knocked free by the punch, I guess. That would explain the swelling.

  “Urgh,” I gurgled, sitting up.

  I was surprised to hear someone say, “Master.” I looked over and spotted Myusel. “You’re back... That’s good.”

  “Yeah, ’s great.”

  “Mm. It seems our long night’s vigil caring for you has paid off.”

  “Y’all didn’t do anything, Your Majesty.”

  “You yourself did not do anything, either.”

  “Ya sure stopped me when I tried to climb into bed with him.”

  “Of course we did!”

  ...There were Petralka and Elvia alongside Myusel. It looked like they had stopped fighting. So at least maybe I hadn’t gotten punched in vain. When I thought of how easily I could have ended up with a lot worse than a swollen cheek, I realized how well things had turned out. Or, if you prefer, how lucky I had been.

  “Um... Is your cheek all right?” Myusel asked me.

  “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it,” I said bravely, working my face into a smile. It wasn’t very comfortable with my cheek all puffed up, but still, I would live.

  Yes, I had survived, but...

  “Uh, Myusel?”

  “Yes, sir...?”

  “You, uh, still can’t take that off, huh? And Petralka and Elvia, you too?”

  Yes, the three of them were still wearing the forbidden armor. They still looked like walking tanks. The girls inside were still wearing the skintight, leotard-like outfits, and still looking like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. I was seriously curious about what the heck was going on here.

  “Oh! Shinichi-kun, you’re awake.” Minori-san appeared in the open doorway. She was dressed, uncharacteristically, in an apron. “We had the garrison doctor look at you and he thinks you’ll be fine, but we were a little worried when you didn’t wake up. Myusel and the others swore they wouldn’t leave your side until you came to.” Minori-san smiled as she told me this. “Anyway, breakfast is ready. I’m no Myusel, but I gave it a shot. Think you can eat?”

  “If it’s something very soft, then yeah, probably,” I said, trying not to open my mouth too wide. I made to get out of the bed. I guess I still had some damage, so to speak, because I wobbled and just about fell over.

  “Shinichi-sama?!”

  “Shinichi!”

  Myusel cried out, but it was Petralka’s hand that reached out and held me up. To be perfectly accurate, she tried to reach out, and the forbidden armor moved its arm the same way. The heavy-weaponry look was for more than just show; that arm felt rock solid.

  And then it started...

  “Heh heh! Shinichi, let us repay you for yesterday—we shall carry you this time.”

  “Er, Your Ma—yipes!” I said.

  “Your Majesty, no fair!”

  “Majesty...”

  If I was surprised, Myusel and Elvia were downright peeved. But Petralka, looki
ng pleased with herself, informed them, “The early bird gets the worm,” and then swept me off my feet and walked away, the suit so stable that it felt like I was being carried by a boulder.

  “G-Geez, Petralka, this is embarrassing.”

  “Pay it no mind. Allow us to hold you in our arms,” she grinned.

  “‘Hold me in your arms...’?” That sounded borderline really dirty, and what with Petralka’s childlike body, it sort of felt like I was doing something really questionable, or having it done to me, or something. And her face was so, so close... er, uh...

  “It is perhaps not ideal being unable to remove this armor, but it does have its uses—such as enabling us to sweep you off your feet, Shinichi!”

  “Argh, you don’t have to sweep me off anything!”

  “You are so light, Shinichi! Come now, don’t struggle!”

  It was clear that carrying me really was a piece of cake for Petralka, who continued to grin as she carted me down the hallway, Myusel and Elvia following grudgingly behind.

  So the girls were still stuck in the armor, but it didn’t seem like they were going to start whaling on each other again. Small victories.

  And so it went. I confirmed with the girls that there was still no sign of the forbidden armor coming off. They hadn’t even put it on voluntarily; it had all been automatic, and there was no obvious way for anyone to help them out of it. No handles, no tabs labeled “lift here to release.” So despite being stuck in the armor, the girls just had to go on with their lives...

  “It’s armor,” I said to myself. “Somebody made it, presumably on the assumption that whoever put it on would want to take it off eventually. Whatever happened to the last person to wear it, anyway?”

  If you could never take the armor off, then it should have been sealed up along with the last “pilot,” and we should have found a skeleton or a mummy inside, like in some really difficult RPG.

  Incidentally, the transparent “screen” surrounding the torso and head seemed pretty versatile: a hole would open up when the girls were eating breakfast, or when they needed a drink or something. I legit didn’t understand how this worked. Surely there was no way we could go on like this, and yet...