Yunyun's Turn

by Natsume Akatsuki

  …Well, we’d come to my house, for better or for worse. “Very well, Yunyun. As my self-proclaimed rival, you must work hard and grow stronger. If you dawdle, I’ll be ruling the world as the Demon King before you know it. And then it will be too late to beg to be one of my generals, you understand?”

  “Believe me, I won’t be begging for that! If you become the Demon King, the only thing I’ll be doing is defeating you!”

  Ah, Yunyun. I could always count on getting a rise out of her.

  Reassured by her threats, I turned toward the door. “All right, then, I’ll see you.”

  “…Yeah. See you.”

  Yunyun and I shared the simplest of good-byes. I could feel her gaze burning into my back as I opened the door.

  8

  “Welcome back, Sis! Let’s eat!” Komekko said, rushing in. I wouldn’t be seeing her for a while, either. Would my little sister cry? What would I do if she begged me not to go?

  “Komekko. Before we eat, I want to talk to you.”

  “…?” Komekko gave me a quizzical look. I straightened myself up, and Komekko sat politely in front of me on the floor. She looked at me expectantly.

  “Komekko. Tomorrow… Tomorrow, I am leaving on a journey.”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  ………

  “A journey, Komekko, you understand? Your big sister is leaving. Naturally, I won’t be home for quite some time. You won’t see the face of your beloved big sister. Do you understand?”

  “Yup! I’ll manage!”

  Such a strong child.

  “If it’s too painful for you, you could always beg me to stay. Although my mind is quite made up, and I must say that you wouldn’t sway me.”

  “Okay! If it won’t work, then I won’t ask!”

  “Komekko. I’m very pleased with what a strong young woman you’ve grown up to be, but I confess it pains me a little.”

  “You’re such an attention seeker, Sis.”

  “?!”

  After Komekko and I had bathed, I thought I could invite her to sleep beside me this one last time.

  “You’re so needy, Sis.”

  “K-Komekko?! ‘Attention seeker’ this and ‘needy’ that. Where did you even learn such words?!”

  “From the neighbor boy. Bukkororii.”

  “That stupid NEET, huh?”

  Before I left on my journey tomorrow, I would have to sock him one.

  Komekko was busily laying out her bedding in the living room. When I nonchalantly lay down beside her, she duly let me stay there without any more talk of being needy.

  I was surprised to find myself feeling like we had switched places. As the elder sister, I wouldn’t have minded if Komekko had acted just a little sadder to see me go.

  The room was pitch-black. Under the covers, I took Komekko’s hand and felt her squeeze mine back.

  “…Komekko. If anything should happen while I’m away, let the adults know immediately.”

  “Yep, I know.”

  My little sister was so grown-up, but she was still so young. I would have to make sure to ask the neighbors to look after her.

  “Bukkororii may not be the most reliable person in the world, but if push comes to shove, you can even go to him. He’s got time to kill pretty much every day.”

  “Uh-huh. If I run out of food, I’ll go ask him for some!”

  Did that NEET even have enough food to share?

  “And if you get lonely, you can go to Yunyun’s house. I’m sure she’ll take good care of you. For that matter, I’m sure she’ll be feeling lonely herself, so you should go check on her once in a while.”

  “Yep, I know…” Komekko’s voice was quieter than before. She sounded sleepy.

  “…I will leave a letter for Mother and Father. When they come home, please give it to them. They are already aware that I have been saving money in order to go on a journey, so I don’t think they’ll worry if I’m not here.”

  “Yep…” Komekko sounded like she could barely keep her eyes open.

  I hugged my little sister tight. Could I maybe, perchance, have a sister complex going on here? I had to get my fill of her while I had the opportunity.

  There in the dark, though, Komekko said, “Sis?”

  “…? What is it?”

  Komekko hugged me and said softly,

  “Come home soon, okay?”

  …A sister complex? I could live with that.

  I held Komekko close to me the entire night.

  The next morning.

  I slipped out of bed quietly so as not to wake Komekko, who was still sleeping. I pulled on the robes Yunyun had given me, affixed Arue’s eye patch, and looked in the mirror.

  …Huh, not bad. I was starting to like this eye patch.

  I pulled my hat down well over my eyes and picked up my staff. Then I looked in the mirror again, and as immodest as it may sound, I could practically have fallen in love with myself.

  “What kind of game is this, Sis?”

  I suddenly found Komekko imitating the pose I was striking in front of the mirror.

  After we had both taken our breakfast, I double-checked that I had everything. Yep, not forgetting anything. Not that I had much to forget in the first place. Just as I went to leave the house, though, Komekko called out: “Sis, you forgot something!”

  Despite my thorough check, Komekko was saying I had left something behind.

  “I wonder what I could have forgotten.”

  “Your lunch!” Komekko said, pushing a big bundle at me.

  …I guess she had made a packed lunch for me. I took a sneak peek inside and saw a huge rice ball. Receiving such an act of kindness from my younger sister as I was about to leave on my journey was almost enough to make me drop my travel plans and just stay here to live a pleasant life with Komekko.

  “You can have this, too, so Needy Sis doesn’t get too lonely.” Along with this rude explanation, Komekko gave me the picture book I had often read to her before bed. It was one of her prized possessions. With a pained smile, I added the book to my bag. That brought a big, satisfied grin to Komekko’s face.

  “Knock ’em dead, Sis! Go be the strongest!”

  “…So I shall. I vow to you: One day I, your very blood, shall be called the strongest of wizards!”

  I gave a flourish of my cape to make sure my little sister was suitably impressed. This could be good. I hated to admit it, but Yunyun had really picked out something nice.

  Komekko clenched her tiny fist. “Go beat the Demon King, okay?!”

  “The—the Demon King? I did try to tell Yunyun that I might do that, but…”

  “Go beat his butt!”

  “…I’ll do my best,” I replied, caving to my sister’s insistence, and Komekko grinned even wider.

  9

  When I stepped outside, the day was so bright, it hurt my eyes. Perfect weather to begin a journey.

  But before I started that journey, I had somewhere to go.

  “Good morning. Is Bukkororii in?”

  “Oh, Megumin. Morning. If you’re looking for that boy of mine, he’s still asleep.”

  I dropped in on the neighborhood cobbler to ask him to please kindly help Komekko if she should get in any trouble.

  “Leave it to me. You aren’t the first to ask. Your parents wanted me to look after the both of you, so I won’t let you down! And if you ever run into any trouble, Megumin, don’t you hesitate to let me know.”

  That was very reassuring.

  “In that case, there is one small thing that’s bothering me.”

  “Oh? And what might that be?” The cobbler frowned and raised an eyebrow.

  “If I may say so, your son, Bukkororii, has been teaching my little sister the most awful things. I wish you would stop him…”

  “A-awful things?! Such as…?”

  “Oh, a young woman could never repeat those foul things.”

  “That wretch!”

  The cobbler stormed off to the second floor, shouting f
or Bukkororii.

  Good. After this, he would think twice about teaching Komekko any more nasty words for a while.

  I left the cobbler’s place behind, hefted my bag on my back, and headed for the Teleportation Station. A one-way ticket to Arcanletia, the city of water and hot springs, cost three hundred thousand eris. Almost exactly as much as I was carrying. Once I arrived, I would have to get a job or something…

  Actually, maybe I could start accepting adventuring requests right away. That was perfect: I could use my spell only once, but as long as I used it at exactly the right moment, I could defeat anyone and anything. I just hoped I would find some companions who understood how to employ my special talents…

  And then I found myself in front of the Teleportation Station.

  “You’re late. We’ve been waiting all morning for you!”

  The voice came from behind me, just before I could enter the shop. I turned and saw Funifura and Dodonko, along with Arue and all our classmates. They must have come to see me off.

  “…You certainly have a lot of time on your hands.”

  “You can’t say Thank you even at the last minute?!” Funifura exclaimed, face red.

  I noticed that there was just one person who didn’t seem to be there. Funifura spotted me looking around and drawled, “Yunyun? She’s not coming. I guess she had something important to talk about with her dad or something.”

  “D-did I say anything about Yunyun?!”

  Funifura and Dodonko smirked at each other.

  …Grrr. If I wasn’t leaving on my journey today, I would have had them both in tears.

  I was just grinding my teeth when Arue pointed to my eye patch. “That suits you.”

  “I’ll take good care of it.”

  I said farewell to my friend, whom I still didn’t fully understand.

  “The Teleport to Arcanletia will take place soon,” came a voice from inside the shop. “No more than four people at a time, please. Next teleportation is after noon. All aboard for Arcanletia!”

  I waved to everyone and turned around. I guess I really wasn’t going to see Yunyun. Well, she did tell me she wouldn’t be coming to see me off, and she didn’t exactly have a lot of friends around here anyway. If she had seen me this morning, she might have just plain followed me. It was better this way. I would be lying if I said I didn’t regret it a little, but…

  I passed my pouch of coins to the clerk, then joined the other passengers in the magical circle used for teleportation. The circle helped make teleportation accidents less likely and reduced the MP drain on the caster.

  My destination was Arcanletia, the city of water and hot springs. It was my first time outside the village, and it was impossible not to be a bit nervous. But I was excited, too. I felt unbeatable right now. I had made a promise to my sister that I would become the strongest wizard.

  “All right, now departing!” the clerk called. “Please relax your bodies and don’t resist the spell!” I closed my eyes and let myself go limp. I pictured all the classmates who had come to see me off.

  I naturally felt my strength welling up. I tried to imagine a world I had never seen.

  “Have a safe trip. Teleport!”

  The teleportation magic swept over me…

  INTERLUDE THEATRE: ACT II

  Lady Aqua, I Won’t Be Broken!

  I’m starving.

  I had been sponging meals off that hot guy with the fancy sword, but in the end, he got away. Every day, I would cry and beg him to stay, but when I woke up this morning, he was gone, leaving only a note.

  The note didn’t make a lot of sense to me—he said something about wanting to save the world with the power he’d been given by the goddess. Forget the world. I wanted him to save me from a life of scrounging for food. And here I’d been so sure he would make a great Axis disciple…

  Well, no use crying over him now. I had to start thinking about where I would get my next meal… Maybe I could put up a collection box near the school. Perhaps those sweet, purehearted children would donate their allowance.

  …But then I had the sneaking suspicion that in doing that, I would forfeit something important as a human being.

  All right, well, what if I used my incredible good looks to earn a buck?

  …No, no. If I, the most famously beautiful priestess in the Axis Church, were to do such a thing, it would damage the reputation of the entire religion. But at this rate, I was headed for another full day of gelatinous slime. As much as I loved it, I was starting to get sick of it.

  Well, that left me with just one option…

  “It’s Cecily! Cecily’s here! The reprobate of the Axis Church!”

  “What do you want today, Cecily?! I know you love to target children, and there are no more of them here! All our parishioners with children have moved to other towns because they were afraid of your meddling! I don’t know what mischief you’ve got in mind this time, but believe me, we’ll stop you right now!”

  Two men stood in front of the Eris Church, saying the most outrageous things to me.

  “Excuse me, but could you please not act like it’s my fault that you can’t keep your followers? I was simply explaining the tenets of my religion to those innocent, ignorant boys and girls. Is one not allowed to share one’s beliefs with someone, just because they already belong to a Church?”

  “The ‘tenets of your religion’ are a bad influence on our children! ‘Axis followers can do anything they set their minds to. You look like capable kids, so if something doesn’t go well, it’s not your fault. Blame society,’ you told them! ‘You can lead a serious, disciplined life, or you can just lounge around and enjoy yourself. Either way, you don’t know what will happen tomorrow. So why worry about an unpredictable future? This moment is the only one we have, so live it up!’ you told them! Every child who goes to your church for a visit comes back a blithering imbecile! You’re a menace, Cecily, and I insist that you stay away from our children!”

  So you had me, a beautiful priestess well known for her affection for today’s youth, and an Eris disciple showering me with contempt. I balled up my fists and looked at the ground, my voice trembling. “…All the times I’ve been here, and now I discover this is how you think of me? You… You know? I thought that even if we followed different religions, as fellow practitioners of the priestly trade, we could understand each other…”

  “…C-Cecily? L-look, stop that; now you’re making me feel guilty… You’re just exaggerating, right? Just…pretending to be…hurt…?”

  “L-listen, I guess we did go a little too far! Y-you’re right—it’s not nice to call people a menace or tell them to stay away from your children, is it?! We didn’t mean it! Look, when we see you, I mean, acting in your usual ways, you’re more…”

  Eyes still on the ground, I walked past the two stuttering priests, over to the entryway of the Eris Church, where, for some reason, there was a bag full of bread—which I grabbed.

  “Wha—? C-Cecily? Just what do you think you’re doing…?”

  “…Hey. Y-you can’t touch that. That’s…!”

  I jerked my head up to meet their eyes. “To emotionally wound such a beautiful priestess…you Eris followers can just go straight to Hell!”

  I clutched the bag of bread and ran.

  “S-stop, thief! We bought that bread with our own money to give to the unfortunate! People who can’t feed themselves…!”

  I glanced back at the priest, who was about to try chasing me. “After being run out on by that hot, sword-wielding guy and then trampled all over by you two, I’m feeling awfully unfortunate myself! Trust me—you can’t win me over by asking me to stay now! Don’t try to stop me! Just leave me be! Don’t follow me!!”

  I turned away from the two priests, who suddenly seemed to really regret chasing me off. I offered up a prayer to the goddess Aqua, who must have been watching over me even at that very moment.

  Lady Aqua, I won’t be broken!

  “We don’t care ab
out you, ya damn idiot! It’s the bread we want! Give us back our bread!!”

  1

  I had packed all the gear my friends had given me.

  I had made a promise to my sister to become the strongest wizard.

  I felt as if nothing and no one could beat me.

  …At least, that was how I felt at first.

  “Who would have imagined that the Adventurers Guild would have a level requirement…?” I sighed, leaning on my staff, which I clung to with both hands.

  Arcanletia, the city of water and hot springs.

  All the monsters around here, I was told, were quite powerful. Goblins and kobolds existed, yes, but mostly as traps set by a nasty critter called the Beginner’s Bane. For that reason, the Guild here had a minimum level for adventurers to be allowed to accept quests. No matter how much confidence I had in the strength of my Explosion, it was a moot point, because I couldn’t take jobs to begin with.

  Axel Town—that was where I wanted to go. And to get there, I needed to earn the money for a carriage. So the moment I got into town, I walked straight to the Adventurers Guild, but now here I was.

  “What a mess… I don’t know how much a carriage costs, but I’m sure it’s more than I’ve got on me…”

  I sat on a park bench, looking into my wallet and sighing as I thought about what to do next. That was when I heard the desperate shouting.

  “Axis Church! Join the Axis Church!”

  “Won’t you join us in revering Lady Aqua? Won’t you worship her with us? Serve her? You won’t believe the changes you’ll see in every part of your life!”

  The Axis Church: a religious sect that worshipped Aqua, the goddess of water. It was supposed to be full of the strangest people you’d ever meet, and it was mostly known for…well, being known.

  Followers of that very Axis Church were shouting on the street corners, trying to get people to join their religion.

  “When you hear the many anecdotes about Lady Aqua passed down in our church, you won’t be able to ignore her any longer!”