So you’re going to destroy the world again?! I stopped myself from screaming.
There was no point in asking. I could tell that Bahamut had gone off the deep end a long time ago.
There was no stopping him now. It didn’t matter what I said. He wasn’t going to stop until everything was destroyed.
Bahamut was already larger than my high school. And he was still getting bigger. He kept growing and growing, like some kind of bad joke.
As I watched helplessly, Satsuki, Harissa, and Tetra joined us. Satsuki and Harissa were helping Tetra walk.
“Are you okay, Tetra?”
“Yes... Sorry for worrying you.”
Her voice was weak, but at least she answered me. I knew things weren’t looking good, but I still felt relieved for a moment. I took Tetra from the two of them and carried her on my back.
“What are we going to do, Rekka...?”
“...”
Satsuki looked uneasy. I couldn’t answer her.
“...You guys run away,” Lea said suddenly, turning her back to the rest of us.
“Hey, you idiot, no! I just told you not to do it yourself!”
“I remember. But my hands are tied. At this point, I’m the only one who has a chance to stop him.”
“But we’re all going to do it together...”
“The wheel of time turns slower here than in the real world. If I can stop him for a day, that will buy you several hundred on the surface. You can use that time to find a way to redo the seal, or destroy the seal and this world along with it. Satsuki’s Magic of Omniscience can do that, right?”
“Well...” Satsuki fell silent.
It was possible that with all the information in the universe, maybe we could do something like that. But...
“But then we can’t save you!”
“Then come up with a plan to defeat him. Now. We’re out of time.”
“Tch...!” Lea’s cold words left me with nothing to say.
Damn it. Come on, brain, think of something! I screamed at my useless self, but my mind was still blank.
And even as we stood there, Bahamut just kept growing monstrously large. He was already taller than a mountain. Was the only reason he hadn’t crushed us already because he wanted to save our destruction for later? It had to be.
I’d hoped that as his body grew, so too would the wound on his back. But either he’d regenerated, or his body had swelled enough to cover it up. I couldn’t see any suggestion of it now.
The full manifestation of Bahamut, “The Perfect Beast,” was almost upon us.
But I couldn’t come up with a plan. Not even a bad one. Damn it all!
“...If everyone up there is like you, the surface must be a wonderful place right now,” Lea said as she turned toward me.
There was a gentle smile on her face that seemed totally out of place.
“Tsumiki... Was that her name? Tell her I said thank you. Without her cooking, I wouldn’t even have the chance to fight... Come to think of it, she needed some of my meat, didn’t she? If I survive, I’d love to give her some.”
I could tell from the way she spoke that she didn’t think there was any way she was going to make it.
“Don’t worry about me, Rekka. This is what I want to do. Thanks to you, I can fight for hope, not hatred. I’ll buy you every minute, every second that I can. So please, go... Live. That is my last wish.”
“Wai—?!” I reached out my hand, and grabbed nothing but empty air.
She leaped toward Bahamut, transforming in mid-air.
“Gyaaaoooh!”
Lea morphed into a huge, dragon-like sea snake. Her massive body shook as she howled and lunged for Bahamut. It was like watching a torrent bursting through a breached dam, but...
“Gugyahh!”
In the face of a “beast” bigger than a mountain, it was futile.
They say that just tiny drops of water can eventually wear down stone. But even if water can make a hole in the ground, it isn’t enough to shake the earth itself. In other words, that’s basically how this fight was going to go down.
This suicide charge! This useless death! This self-sacrifice crap! It was all just a waste of time! No matter how Lea felt, it was the worst decision she could’ve made, and it didn’t make me happy at all!
Bahamut brought down his trunk, slamming Lea to the ground.
One of the wings on her back snapped. Her white body was now stained with blood and dirt. Yet she rushed Bahamut again. And was knocked down once more. Still, she got up again.
The battle between the Perfect Beast and the Strongest Beast shook the entire fake planet. A crack appeared in the white sky.
“Lea!”
“Rekka! Wait!”
I tried to put Tetra down and run toward Lea, but Satsuki grabbed me.
“Move, Satsuki!”
“No! What could you even do out there?”
“That’s not the problem! I can’t leave Lea!”
“That is the problem! If you want to save Lea, then think!”
Satsuki and I glared at each other. And then Harissa screamed.
“Sir Rekka! Satsuki!”
The earth began to shake violently. The ground underneath us vanished.
“?!”
Had we been swallowed up by an earthquake? I tried to scream Satsuki’s name, but for some reason I couldn’t. Actually, my whole body felt weird... like I wasn’t really there. There was an indescribable sense of uneasiness in my mind.
After a few moments of wanting to throw up, it all subsided.
“...?”
I opened my eyes. And then...
“...Rekka?”
I saw Tsumiki and Iris looking at me in astonishment.
“...Huh?” I said in a voice like an idiot.
I looked around and saw that I was in the backyard of Nozomiya. Satsuki, Harissa, and Tetra were all looking around, unsure of what had transpired.
Iris was the first one to move.
“Rekka!”
“Gyeh!”
She gave me a hug that was more like a body slam and knocked me to the ground.
“I was so worried! I looked and looked, but I couldn’t find you anywhere! I had to ask someone! They said you went to this girl’s house and that you hadn’t been to school for three days! I was worried that Satsuki was right and some weird disease or curse had made you crazy!”
“No, no! Wait! Oww!” Iris was too strong, and I couldn’t pull her off. She must’ve been feeling really agitated, because her usually hidden tail was flopping about openly. “I’m okay! I’m just fine, see? So don’t worry about me, Iris! And hide your tail! Tsumiki’s staring!”
“Huh? Oh, you’re right. Okay!”
Iris’s tail quickly popped back under her skirt, but I saw a confused Tsumiki mouthing to herself, “Huh? Did I just see a tail...?”
“Wait, Rekka, are you sure you’re okay?” Iris asked again, looking worried.
“I’m fine, really... But more importantly, what am I doing here?”
Just moments ago, I was in the sealed, artificial world. And now I was back behind Nozomiya? What happened to Lea? Where was Bahamut? What was going on?
“It’s because you and I are tied together by fate, duh!”
“No, that’s not it!”
I was frustrated that my question wasn’t getting through, but things only got worse when Tsumiki came up and kicked me in the face.
“What are you doing flirting behind my house?”
“I am not flirting! Wait, that doesn’t matter! When did I get here, and how?! I’m so confused!”
“Huh? I’m the one who’s confused. I heard this big noise behind the store and came out to investigate just in time to see all you guys flying out of that hole.” Tsumiki raised a single, skeptical eyebrow. “Really, what’s going on here?”
“Hole...?”
The hole she pointed to—the one behind Nozomiya—was bigger than the last time I’d seen it. It was big enough for
a person to pass through easily now.
“...I see.”
The fight between Lea and Bahamut had probably caused the seal to shake, expanding the hole that was already there. And then we’d fallen through it. That’s how we’d gotten back to the real world.
If that was the case, then we had to hurry. We needed to get back! I stood up and tried to go back through the hole... but Tsumiki stopped me.
“Wait! Where are you going this time?”
“Please, let me go! I have to get back there! Now!”
“—!”
Smack!
Tsumiki slapped me across the face.
“Huh...?”
I grabbed my cheek in sudden pain, shocked. My head had felt hot for a while now, but it was starting to calm down.
Tsumiki glared at me.
“I don’t care anyway! I don’t care where you’ve been the past three days, or what you’ve been doing! It means nothing to me!”
She stamped her foot like she still hadn’t made it clear how angry she was.
“I’ve been cooking this whole time... And I got a lot better! I don’t need you anymore! You’re fired as my taste tester! Fired! I can do this on my own. And you... You can just get lost!” She yelled with tears in her eyes.
“...”
Seeing her like this, I finally started to regain my composure.
Nothing I thought would work out had actually gone okay. I could barely put a scratch on Bahamut. Tetra had gotten hurt putting herself in harm’s way to protect me. I couldn’t even stop Lea as she went off to die.
I had been so infuriated at myself for being so weak, but now I was finally coming to my senses.
Time passed slower on the fake Earth than the real one. And because of that, I’d left Tsumiki alone for three days. I looked into her tearful eyes and said, “...I’m sorry. I said I’d be right back, but I kept you waiting.”
“Shut up! Nobody... Nobody said I was lonely!”
Tsumiki kept trying to hide how she felt, so I pretended I hadn’t heard her saying how lonely she was. But I figured she wouldn’t want me to see her crying, so I silently let her rest her head against my chest. She could use my shirt like a tissue.
If I’d gone to join Lea and died, Tsumiki’s story would’ve come to a bad ending, and she might’ve cried even more. The mere thought of it made me shudder. And it wasn’t just Tsumiki. Without me, Tetra’s story might not end happily either.
If I had acted rashly out of panic and anger, that wouldn’t matter. But I couldn’t get them involved in this.
“Rekka. You calmed down?”
“Satsuki... Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” My childhood friend smiled back at my apology. “Remember what you said, Rekka? We need to all come up with a way to solve this together.”
“That’s right, Rekka,” Tetra joined in. “I’ll help you, too. Even Lea’s doing her best to buy us time.”
“I want to help you, too, Sir Rekka!” Harissa added.
“I don’t really understand, but I’ll do whatever I can for you, Rekka!” Iris raised her hand.
“Wait a second. I really don’t know what’s going on here. What is going on?” Tsumiki looked confused as she blew her nose. She was the only person here who didn’t know what was happening.
Well, Iris didn’t know about their stories either... Suddenly, she looked at my hand and screamed.
“Rekka, you’re hurt! I need to treat you, quick!”
“Oh, um... Sure, thanks.”
“Leave it to me!”
Iris got out her futuristic bag capable of storing anything.
“I brought all kinds of things from planet Finerita to help you get better. I think I had some stuff that could cure normal injuries... Huh? It’s so full that it’s jammed?”
Iris turned the bag upside down and shook it. Out spilled all kinds of medical tools... Or, at least, things that sort of looked like them. Was that hammer with spikes on it really some kind of cure for something?
“Wait, what are those huge syringes?” I asked, eyeballing the syringes that were lying on the ground. They were as big as I was.
“Hm? Those are medical guns for treating space monsters. They can’t help being big. I mean, they are monster-sized,” Iris explained as she treated the wounds on my hand.
The needles on the guns were the size of my arm. Getting poked with one of those would be like getting stabbed.
“These medical guns use the same wormhole technology my bag does for their syringes tanks. You could fill one with as much liquid as one of Earth’s oceans. There are lots of different types, too. One’s for injuries, one’s for organs, one’s for headaches, one’s for circulation...”
“Huh...” I said, shivering.
The needle alone could kill you. If you were injected with all that liquid, your body would swell up and pop like a balloon...
“...Oh.”
Staring at the oversized needle on the medical gun, I suddenly had an idea.
The tiny fragments were connecting, one by one, with thin threads. Slowly, I concocted a way to defeat the so-called “perfect” king of beasts. Each element on its own was far too unreliable. But if I braided them all together, these fragile threads could become a spear that was strong enough to pierce steel.
Maybe I couldn’t do it by myself, but with all of us working together...! I finally had a plan to save Tsumiki, Nozomiya, Tetra, Jizu Village, and Lea, not to mention defeat Bahamut.
“Tsumiki! Do you still have that dark matter, I mean, your failed dishes?”
“Why are you assuming I failed more?! ...Well, I guess I do.”
“Give them to me. I need them.”
“Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Wait, are you leaving again?”
“Sorry, I’ll explain later! There’s no time!”
“You said the same thing three days ago. This time, you need to explain...”
...Was she still mad that I’d left her alone? Of course she was, I guess. But right now, I seriously didn’t have a second to spare.
“I’m really sorry! But I swear I won’t abandon you.”
I grabbed her by the hands and looked her in the eye.
“Wah! W-Wait!”
“I promise I’ll be back in time for Food Champion. So please, let me go for now. Please believe in me.”
“I-I still don’t understand how you can say stuff like that with a straight face!”
“?”
Why was she looking away? Was I not making how I felt about her clear enough? Hmm...
As I tried to figure out how best to persuade her, Tetra stepped in from the side and put her hand on top of mine.
“Tsumiki, Rekka isn’t the type of person to desert someone. Even if they aren’t human, even if the enemy is incredibly powerful, he’d do everything he could to help. So I want you to believe in him, too.”
“Um... Does that mean you believe in him?”
“Yes. With all my heart.”
“...Fine! I get it! I mean, sure, you’re not a bad guy. I’ll put my faith in you one more time. But once you get back, you have to tell me what’s going on!”
“Thank you. Both of you.”
I bowed to Tsumiki and Tetra, and then started to get ready. I needed time for my preparations. Lea would have to hang in there just a little longer.
I really did feel like a slime forcing a heroine to buy time. But Lea... I wasn’t about to let things go down like she said. I would never seal her away with Bahamut, or destroy both of them along with that fake Earth. I wasn’t going to let her stay lonely forever. I was going to fight to make sure nobody had to suffer, so we could all share a happy ending together.
I was going to save everyone.
Chapter 6: How We Fight When We’re Powerless
After we finished our preparatory measures on the surface, we made for Jizu Village at top speed.
We didn’t go straight through the hole because I needed something from Jizu Village fo
r my plan to work. So while it meant taking the long route, first we were going to head underground, then make our way through the door in the Hall of Sealing.
We had one small advantage. Even if a few hours had passed here in reality, it would have only been a few minutes on the fake Earth there.
But if I wanted to save Lea, I still needed to get to Jizu Village ASAP. That much was obvious, but...
“Iris, watch out! You’re scaring me! I just brushed against something! Try to be careful!” I screamed as I clung to Iris’s back.
“But you’re in a hurry, right, Rekka?”
“Hurry safely, please!”
“Okay, Rekka. Just hold me tighter. Then it’ll be a little safer,” Iris cooed in a sweet voice as she rubbed her cheek against mine.
“Aaah! Iris! Please watch where you’re going while you’re running!”
Tetra, the other girl with us, was in tears. She had her head buried in Iris’s chest, which meant that she couldn’t see what was in front of us. It made this little trip that much scarier for her.
I wished I could take her place, but... You know, as a guy, I couldn’t go burying my face in Iris’s chest, now could I? If I had, Satsuki and the others would have wrung my neck before we even left.
“It’s fine! I’ve even got a light.”
Iris, however, didn’t sound concerned at all.
She was a Fineritan, meaning she had physical powers several times that of a human. She was carrying both me and Tetra, as well as a light she’d grabbed from her spaceship. Even so, running full tilt down the treacherous underground path didn’t faze her at all.
I was glad she was there.
“‘Rekka, you’re hurt! I need to treat you, quick!’ Why not cop a feel while she’s distracted?” Like always, R had come without anybody asking her to. And, like always, she cheerfully recommended sexual harassment. Best to ignore her.
At first I’d thought about using Satsuki’s magic to fly us down to Jizu Village, but I needed her and Harissa to stay behind at Nozomiya to make sure the hole didn’t get any bigger. That was crucial, too.
So the best way to get back was for Iris to carry us, but...
“Gyah! Don’t just jump down!”
“But this way looks faster!”
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 2 Page 10
