“That was an assassin from the future.”
“An assassin?!”
She said such a dangerous word so casually that I doubted what I’d heard.
“The future... That’s where you came from, right?”
“To speak of it as a place is odd... But you have the right idea, I guess.”
“Why would an assassin come here from the future, though?”
Personality aside, I thought R and I had been getting along pretty well. So why would an assassin be coming after me from her future?
“Humanity remains the same regardless of the passage of time—past, present, and future.”
“Huh?”
“Do you remember how I told you the War of All could be avoided with your death, Rekka?”
“Y-Yeah.”
I recalled having a conversation like that with R before.
“I was mobilized by the agency I belong to with the goal of saving the future by making you choose a heroine. However, that option might not be supported across all dimensions, worlds, races, or alliances in the future.”
“Which means?”
“There may be those who would choose to eliminate the cause of the War of All at its root—you.”
Well, that was alarming to hear.
“But you don’t need to worry.” R’s optimistic attitude didn’t waver. “Such radicals are few and far between. The dominant power in the future is the agency, and they wish for a peaceful solution. That’s why yesterday’s exceptional situation warranted me protecting you, Rekka.”
In other words, R was still staying out of things that involved my bloodline and stories, but she’d help with any trouble originating from the future. I guess that made sense. I would have preferred her helping out on a more regular basis, but it was a bit too late to start complaining about that now. It seemed like she’d be willing to protect the heroines, too, so I was at least grateful for that.
“I am your ally, after all.”
“...Didn’t you say when we first met that if I died, it would serve me right?”
“Oh, please, Rekka. You shouldn’t take all the snappy jokes from yours truly, the fantastic and adorable R, seriously.”
“I don’t know what’s so snappy or joking about it when you speak in such a monotone voice.”
R and I continued to chat until Satsuki called for me. I still had my worries, but I decided to focus on having fun at the festival for tonight.
▽
“Whew...”
One relatively tiring hike up the hill later, we had arrived at the community center where the summer festival was being held. We passed through the completely full parking lot and headed for the grounds where the stalls were set up. We’d passed quite a few people on the way there, but the festival itself was absolutely packed in comparison. It was enough to make you wonder where they’d all come from.
“Wow, that’s a lot of people,” Harissa muttered, echoing my sentiments. Her geta clacked against the ground noisily.
“The hustle and bustle of festivals is the same in every country.”
“You must have seen lots of festivals before, Chelsea.”
“I guess so. I’ve even seen some where you throw tomatoes and oranges. Oh, and sometimes phones, too.”
“...Is that really a festival?”
I vaguely remembered hearing about a tomato-throwing festival before, but what was this about phone-throwing? The world was a big, strange place.
“The Carnival in Rio was amazing, too. It might be a bit too much for Rekka, though.”
The Carnival in Rio? Was that the festival where people paraded in those elaborate, revealing costumes...? Yeah, that might be too much for me. As my imagination ran wild, Chelsea realized I was blushing.
“If it’s just the costume you want to see, then I have one. Shall I wear it for you sometime?” she asked with a teasing laugh.
“N-No, that’s all right!”
“Really...?” Chelsea poked my bright red cheeks mockingly.
“Come to think of it, you don’t have many other big sister types around you,” R mused, nodding pensively with a finger pressed to her cheek.
It’s true that Lea and Corona were older, but they would never do something like this... Wait, who cares about that? More importantly, how was I supposed to deal with Chelsea right now? Her chest pressed up against my shoulder as she leaned in... I had no idea what to do, but someone suddenly pulled on my other arm.
“Rekka, I’m not really used to Japan yet. Could you tell me more about it?” Ellicia asked as she pressed up against my other shoulder.
“Ooh, Ellicia’s packing a nice set, too. Good for you, Rekka, getting all that sisterly love.”
She was definitely enjoying this! I really wanted to yell at her, but couldn’t in front of everyone.
“Hey, Nammy. Weren’t you going to tell me and Sophie about Earth today?”
“...Found you, Rekka...”
Lyun approached from in front of me as Tokiwa jumped on me from behind, completely sandwiching me in. I was trapped with no way to escape now.
“...”
And worst of all, Satsuki and the others were looking pretty unhappy...
“What’s this, problem child? Seems like you’re up to no good again.”
“Please save me...”
I begged the latest arrival, President Momone, for help. At least our group was coming together. That was a good thing at least... sort of.
“Are Rosalind and the others here yet?”
“She was here just a moment ago, but two of her group went missing, so she went to look for them.”
“Two of them?”
The mansion group consisted of Rosalind, Suzuran, Ulaula, and Corona. If two of them went missing... it’d be Ulaula and Corona, I guess? They’d probably gotten distracted by something and had wandered off.
“Then I guess we can get going, too. We’ll mostly be walking around, so we’ll run into them eventually.”
I mean, all four of them stood out, so they should be easy to spot. And so our group of 11 headed over to where the stalls were set up.
“So, what brings you to Japan, Ellicia? Don’t tell me you’re only here for the festival.”
“Well, sort of. Yang’s establishing a Japanese branch of the organization soon, so I’m supervising that, as well.”
Yang was the leader of the psychic organization that Ellicia was a part of.
“We’ve got a few branches around the world, but this is our first one in Japan.”
“What made you decide to open one up here?”
“Because you’re here.”
“Me?”
“We wanted to keep up our relationship with you.”
That was... a surprise.
“I’m really not anyone that special...”
“I guess what they say about the Japanese being humble is true.”
“That’s not what I meant...”
“You’re very special, Rekka,” Ellicia stated firmly. “What you showed me that day was so extraordinary... especially for someone who’s lived the kind of life I have. You solved a multitude of problems all by yourself when any normal person would have been overwhelmed dealing with just one of them. And I was a part of that... that’s why I—”
“It wasn’t like I did anything on my own. If it were just me, I’d be useless.”
I was able to solve the four intertwined stories because I had everyone’s help. And as Ellicia and I were talking about that, Harissa, Lyun, and Sophie approached.
“Sir Rekka, there’s something interesting over there.”
“Nammy, come with us for a sec!”
“Hurry, Nammy!”
“Wh-Whoa, stop pulling me!”
I was being dragged over to the goldfish scooping game.
“Hey, what is this? Are they real?”
“Yes, they’re real. They’re animals called goldfish.”
“Wow...”
“Wow...”
&n
bsp; The sylpheed sisters expressed their awe in unison. Now that I thought about it, the only living creatures in the spirit world were spirits. They’d never seen animals before, much less a whole pool of goldfish.
“What do you do with these goldfish?”
“You fish them up with the scoop. See?”
I pointed to the parent who was helping their child attempting to nab one with a paper scoop. It was like a game because the paper dissolved quickly and you didn’t get many chances to try. There was a dad next to them who was using the corner of the pool to round them up and nab one after another... Wow, he was good. While I watched him work his magic, Harissa tugged on my sleeve.
“Sir Rekka, what do you do after you get one?”
“Oh, you get to keep it as a pet.”
“As a pet?!”
“I’m pretty sure we have an unused tank back at home.”
Harissa eyes sparkled when she heard that.
“Do you... want to try?” I asked.
“Please!”
“Me too, Nammy!”
“All right, all right. You want a go too, Sophie?”
“Yeah!”
I paid the man running the game and got three scoops.
“Here,” I said as I handed them out to the girls. “This won’t last long in the water, so you gotta make it count.”
“Got it!” Harissa replied energetically.
Lyun and Sophie looked ready to go, too. But less than five minutes later...
“Aaah!”
Lyun’s scoop was the last to break, but not one of them had anything to show for their efforts. I guess goldfish scooping was a little difficult for three beginners. Well, it wasn’t like I was any good at it, either...
“Sir Rekka, please give it a try!”
“Huh?”
“That’s right, Nammy! You catch them for us!”
“Good luck, Nammy!”
The three girls turned their hopeful eyes on me... causing me to break out in a cold sweat. What was this? The tension of a man about to prove his worth in an all-or-nothing battle... One I couldn’t afford to lose! I silently paid the man again and got a scoop and bowl for myself. I honestly had no confidence, but I had to try.
Once the scoop broke, it would all be over. I had heard once that it was best to move it in and out of the water at a diagonal angle. The less contact it had with the water, the better, of course. Only a fool would put the scoop straight in the water and try and chase a fish with it that way. I concentrated on narrowing my field of vision, imagining a rectangular space in the goldfish pool and fixing my gaze on it. As soon as a goldfish swam in that imaginary box, I’d nab it. That’s all I was thinking about. Nothing else passed through my mind. I focused on this single task. And then, when the moment came...
“Aha!”
My right arm reacted nearly reflexively. The scoop entered the water at a perfect 45-degree angle, caught the fish, and exited the water the exact same way—wait, why was it so heavy?! There was no way a goldfish weighed this much. But that was as far as my train of thought reached before I snapped out of my zen concentration mode and back to my senses. And what I saw in my scoop... was a fish snapping its teeth at me.
“Whoa!”
It was a fish, so I didn’t scream all that loudly, but I dropped the scoop for fear of being bitten.
“A-A piranha?”
I’d never seen one in person before, but that was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the fanged fish.
“Wh-What is that?! How did it get in there?!”
The man running the game was so surprised that he fell out of his chair. The other customers started to back away, too.
“Get back, you three...!” I said, waving a hand at Harissa and the sisters.
Just then, the piranha jumped straight out of the water at me like it was chasing after prey that had gotten away.
“?!”
I instinctively covered my face, but even after several seconds passed, I still didn’t feel anything biting me.
“Are you all right, Master Namidare?” someone asked.
I fearfully moved my hands away from my face and saw Suzuran standing there in her usual maid outfit, casually holding a silver knife with a piranha skewered on it. Behind her were Rosalind, Corona, and a disgruntled Ulaula. They’d apparently all managed to find each other.
“Here.”
“Oh, yeah. Thanks.”
I grabbed Suzuran’s extended hand and stood up.
“Tch...”
Did I just hear someone click their tongue? I turned around to look and caught a glimpse of someone in red disappearing into the crowd of people... before they promptly tripped over a stone and face-planted into the ground.
“You all right, missy?”
“Oww... Huh? Yeah...”
A man passing by seemed to be extremely concerned, brushing off the dirt on her kimono for her. She just squirmed in embarrassment.
That was L, right? I became sure of it when she suddenly snapped her head in my direction and shot me a dirty glare. Then she took off into the crowd and disappeared successfully this time. Watching her run off, the only thing I could think was that she was gonna trip again any minute if she kept it up.
▽
“Sheesh. It’s a good thing nothing bad happened to Rekka. Otherwise that stall owner would be in a lot of trouble...”
“That’s enough, Rosalind. He gave us goldfish as an apology anyway.”
The man had given us three goldfish for the trouble. I didn’t think he was responsible, but Harissa really wanted them, so I accepted graciously.
“Thank you as well, Suzuran. For saving me.”
“It was nothing,” she replied coolly.
Like usual, her emotions didn’t really show on her face. She was a little like R in that sense, just way nicer. She even laughed on occasion, which I wished she did more. But setting that aside for now, there were more important matters at hand...
“R.”
“Yes?”
“That piranha... Was that L’s doing?”
“So it seems,” R said with a nod.
“Didn’t you say you’d protect me from L’s attacks?” I whispered in her ear to avoid any of the festival-goers overhearing.
“And I did. Yesterday. Just so you know, if I hadn’t protected you then, you’d be atomic dust right now.”
“...Huh? Seriously?”
“Yep, seriously. But regarding the incident just now, I sensed Suzuran approaching and deduced there was no need for me to get involved since she would take care of it. I could have done what she did, but as you know, I cannot be seen by other people. Wouldn’t it be troublesome explaining to the crowd how the piranha suddenly vanished?”
“...Well, when you put it that way, yeah.”
“I’m glad you understand. I must say a piranha was a rather primitive tactic... but it was successful in that I only had my guard up for futuristic weapons. She sure does have some unique ideas. Perhaps she tried the piranha because no weapons from the future can break through my defenses.”
“Okay, so...”
“What is it?”
“Do you and L know each other?”
That’s what it was starting to feel like, so I had to ask. L seemed like she had a lot of hostility towards R, and R kept talking about her like she knew her well.
“L is my older sister.”
“Oh, okay... Wait, your what?!”
I accidentally raised my voice at the somewhat unexpected answer.
“Hmm? What’s wrong, Rekka?”
“O-Oh, n-nothing.”
I nervously waved off a concerned Satsuki who’d turned around to see what I was yelling about.
“Really? Oh, they’re selling candy apples over there.”
“I say sister, but we’re not related by blood. I believe I’ve told you before how I’m an artificial life form called a Kiklim. L is a Kiklim from the prior generation.”
Satsuki had struck up a co
mpletely different conversation with me, so R continued to explain without waiting for my response. Thanks to that, I understood a little bit of the picture. As we lined up at the candy apple stall, I took out my phone and started to type.
But why is your sis targeting me?
She’d mentioned how I might be targeted in order to put a stop to the War of All, but why would her sister be doing that? If she was a Kiklim like R, surely she was made by the same “agency” or whatever. So surely they were on the same team. Right...?
“L was the one who was supposed to be sent to you, Rekka.”
Really?
“Yes. So she underwent a one-year training course for this mission, but... Well, even if I explained it to you, you wouldn’t understand, so let’s just say that there were several issues that cropped up, leading to the production of a fifth generation.”
And that fifth generation was R, I guess. Did that mean L was discarded after being taken off the mission...?
What happened to L after that?
“In the future, artificial life forms also have human rights. So L was sent to a protected residential division to take courses that would habilitate her into normal society so that she could live an ordinary life... But she disappeared from there a little while ago.”
Disappeared?
“Yes. The agency did everything they could to locate her, but never did... until the other night when she suddenly appeared here.”
So, after she vanished, she had a change of heart and came to this time to assassinate me? Cool. That could only mean one thing.
“She was probably taken in by one of those groups that want to see you dead, Rekka. While I cannot deduce whether she was brainwashed or converted of her own will, chances are that’s what happened.”
Yeah, totally cool... At least I now knew why she might be trying to assassinate me.
“Here, Harissa.”
“Wow! Thank you so much!”
I handed Harissa the candy apple and tried to clear my mind, when...
“There’s no need for you to worry about L, Rekka,” R said, interrupting me.
I pulled out my phone again. Why not?
“Like I said before, this has nothing to do with your bloodline, so I will deal with L myself,” R said flatly, pulling her hat down so I couldn’t see her eyes.
Even though she said that...
I stealthily pointed my index finger so that only R could see it. She turned to look in the direction I was pointing, where L was hiding—or trying to hide—behind a stand, clearly tailing me. Oh, she just dropped something and was getting scolded by the stand owner.
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 9 Page 13
