However, thanks to the assistance of a certain individual, along with the stroke of fortune that had let him control Tio, he’d been able to command monsters from as far away as the fourth mountain range. He forged a contract with said individual, who then started sending him more reinforcements every day. All that power finally corrupted him.
Convinced that he actually was special, he waited for an opportunity to unleash his might on Ur. However... he was handily defeated by Hajime, and brought to Aiko in chains... or well, ropes.
His all-powerful army had been mercilessly slaughtered. Hajime dumped the unconscious Shimizu in front of the students. His head bounced a few times on the ground before coming to a rest. Aiko and the others all gasped.
When she’d seen Hajime dragging Shimizu back, she’d waited for him outside the town walls. The only people present at the moment were Hajime, Tio, Shea, Yue, Will, the students, Aiko, David and his guards, and a few of the town’s most important people.
If they’d brought the culprit into town, Hajime had no doubt it would have caused an uproar, so he’d met them all here. The mayor and many of the other town’s prominent figures were busy dealing with the battle’s aftermath.
Aiko hesitantly walked up to Shimizu, who was still unconscious. The fact that he was wearing a black robe, and that Hajime had taken him directly from the battlefield, proved his guilt. She hadn’t wanted to believe it, but now she had no choice. Aiko looked down sadly at Shimizu and shook him to wake him up.
“Aiko, he could still be dangerous.” David tried to stop her, but Aiko simply shook her head. She asked he be untied as well. She said she wouldn’t be able to have a proper conversation with him otherwise. Aiko still intended to have a teacher to student talk with him.
“Shimizu-kun, Shimizu-kun! Please wake up, Shimizu-kun!”
“Ngh...” Finally, Shimizu regained consciousness. He gazed around with unfocused eyes. A second later, he realized where he was, and came to himself with a start.
He tried to stand up, but the concussion still hadn’t worn off, so he fell back to the ground. Terrified, he tried to crawl backward. His eyes darted from one person to another, his expression a mixture of wariness and fear.
“Please calm down, Shimizu-kun. No one’s going to hurt you. I just want to talk to you. Why did you do something like this...? That’s all I want to know. I just want to understand your feelings.” Aiko kneeled down until she was at eye level, then gazed patiently at Shimizu. His eyes stopped darting about. He guiltily averted his gaze and that started explaining... or rather insulting everyone.
“Why? You can’t even tell why? That’s why you’re all a bunch of incompetent losers. You all always look down on me... and go on about hero this, hero that. Even though I’m way better than that prick Kouki... none of you ever noticed. You always just pretended like I wasn’t even there... You’re all a bunch of retards! That’s why I wanted to prove my worth to all of you...”
“You little... Do you realize what you did!? You nearly killed everyone in the town!”
“And you called us losers!?”
“Do you even know how worried Ai-chan-sensei was about you?”
Shimizu didn’t show the least bit of remorse. Atsushi, Nana, and Noboru couldn’t take it anymore and started yelling at him. Intimidated, Shimizu hung his head and went silent. Aiko couldn’t bear to see Shimizu like that, so she stopped Atsushi and the others from going any further. Then, in as gentle a voice as she could muster, she responded to his words.
“I see. So that’s what you were dissatisfied about, then... But you know, Shimizu-kun. I don’t understand, why would you try and get back at your classmates because of that? Why’d you try and attack the city? If you’d succeeded... and killed all the people of this town... even if you had an army of monsters at your command, that wouldn’t have proven your worth.” He looked up at Aiko, dark eyes peering through dirty bangs. He smiled thinly and gave a most shocking answer.
“It would have... to the demons.”
“Wha—!?” Everyone except Hajime and his party let out a gasp of surprise. His smile turned into a triumphant grin, which only made his voice grow stronger.
“I went alone to the northern mountain range to brainwash monsters. But while I was over there, I met a demon. I was wary at first, but... the demon just wanted to talk to me. And they were the first one who understood. Who understood my true worth. That was why... I made a contract with them.”
“A contract... you say? What kind of contract?” Aiko was shaken at the fact that one of her own students had made a deal with the enemy. But more than that, she was furious. She was convinced it was the demon that had led her student astray.
However, Shimizu simply grinned maniacally and gave the most disheartening answer she could’ve possible heard.
“A contract... to kill you, Hatayama-sensei.”
“...Eh?” For a second, Aiko couldn’t even comprehend what Shimizu had just said. The others were the same, but they recovered from their shock faster than Aiko. They glared at Shimizu with eyes full of rage. He shrunk back in the face of their unbridled hate, then desperately continued talking in an attempt to shake off their glares.
“What’s with that dumb look? Did you really think the demons were just ignoring you guys? There’s no way they could have ignored you, you’re even more of a threat than the hero. The demon told me that if I killed you... if I killed the fertility goddess along with the rest of the town, that I’d be recognized as a hero. That was the deal.” The corner of Shimizu’s mouth twitched, and he continued in an increasingly louder voice.
“They told me. They told me my power was the strongest. That it was a waste for me to languish beneath the hero. They actually understood. They gave me all these super strong monsters, and the strength to make a huge army... so I thought that... that I’d be able to kill you for sure! So why!? How!? How did you beat my army!? Where did you get those kinds of weapons in a fantasy world!? Just... Just what the hell are you!?” At first he’d been sneering, looking down on the students and Aiko, but as he continued his tirade Shimizu’s expression grew more and more angry, and by the end of it he was yelling at Hajime and not Aiko.
A hint of irritation, hatred, and jealousy slipped into his expression, along with the weariness, the fear, and the odd sense of superiority. However, what eclipsed it all was the insanity in his voice.
It would seem that Shimizu hadn’t even realized the white-haired boy was his classmate, Hajime Nagumo. Though seeing as he’d never said a single word to him, perhaps it wasn’t all that surprising. He glared at Hajime with hatred so fierce that it wouldn’t have surprised Hajime if he’d leaped at him then and there. Despite his tirade, Hajime didn’t react at all until Shimizu said “You damn chuuni!” Those words had touched a sensitive spot. He gazed off in the distance, his heart shattered by Shimizu’s callous words. Thinking he was being ignored, Shimizu got even more worked up.
Realizing what must have hurt Hajime so, Yue gently patted him on the back. Her kindness nearly moved him to tears. Hajime and Yue ignored the serious atmosphere and started flirting in their own little world. Possibly thanks to their blatant unwillingness to read the mood, the silence stretched on long enough for Aiko to finally absorb everything Shimizu had said and recover from her shock. She took a deep breath and grabbed Shimizu’s hand. Though he talked big, it seemed he lacked the courage to do anything more, so he didn’t move.
“Shimizu-kun. Just calm down.”
“Wh-What the fuck!? Get away from me!” He tried to shake Aiko off, but she strengthened her grip, making it clear that she wasn’t going to let go.
“Shimizu-kun... I understand how you feel. You want to be special. There’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone wants to feel like they’re special. And I’m sure you can even become someone special. Even if your methods were mistaken, you were able to do so much... Still, you mustn’t side with the demons. They only wish to use you. As a teacher, I cannot allow you to en
trust yourself to such selfish people!” Unable to bear the weight of Aiko’s serious gaze, Shimizu gradually calmed down. He hung his head once more, his bangs hiding his face. Aiko continued appealing to his rationality.
“Shimizu-kun. It’s not too late to start over. If you say you’re willing to try again, I promise I’ll help you. Someone as strong as you can surely fight together with Amanogawa-kun. Don’t you want to help everyone find a way home and go back to Japan with us?” Shimizu quietly listened to Aiko, but his shoulders were trembling. Everyone thought he’d been so moved by Aiko’s speech that he was crying. In fact, Yuka, who was the most stoic person among their classmates, was already weeping. That was how heart-wrenching Aiko’s speech was.
Sadly, reality was cruel to them on that day. Aiko moved closer to pat his head, when suddenly Shimizu tightened his grip on Aiko and pulled her forward. He then wrapped his arm around her neck and started squeezing.
He pinned her arms behind her back, and pulled out a short, ten centimeter needle from somewhere and pointed it at her neck.
“Nobody move! Move and I stab her!” He tried to sound threatening, but he came across as hysteric. His mouth was twitching, and he glared at Hajime with eyes full of madness. The reason his shoulders had been trembling before was because he’d been trying to hold in his laughter.
Aiko desperately tried to peel Shimizu’s arm off her neck, but to no avail. Everyone froze, unwilling to risk Aiko’s life on a rescue attempt. Shimizu was crazy enough at this point that they believed he’d do it. Everyone started talking at once, screaming at Shimizu, or worriedly calling out Aiko’s name.
It was then that Hajime and Yue finally came back to reality. He’d been fretting about his over the top appearance this whole time, and was surprised to come back to see Aiko being threatened.
“Huh? When did all this happen...”
“This is a poisoned needle I took off one of the monsters in the mountains! One prick and she’s dead! So, if you don’t want your precious teacher writhing on the ground, drop your weapons now! All of you!” Everyone’s faces went pale. Shimizu grinned, then turned to look at Hajime.
“Hey, you damn chuuni bastard! You, no not the person behind you, you! Are you making fun of me, you fucker!? Keep this up and I’ll stab her! Hurry up and give me your gun! Your other weapons too!”
Still trying to escape from reality, Hajime turned around, as if Shimizu was talking about someone other than himself. However it didn’t work, so Hajime turned back around with a frown. Despite the tense atmosphere, Hajime seemed unruffled. His nonchalant attitude irked Shimizu to no end. Thinking he was being looked down upon, Shimizu completely lost it. Still hysterical, he demanded Hajime hand over his gun.
Hajime looked at Shimizu with eyes cold as ice.
“Um, you say that, but... if you don’t kill Sensei the demons won’t accept you, so you’ll have to kill her eventually anyway, right? In that case, what point is there in me handing my weapons over?”
“Shut up! Shut the fuck up! Shut up and give me everything you have! Retards like you should just listen to what I say! O-Oh yeah, hehe, why don’t you hand me that slave while you’re at it. Bring her to me!” Shimizu’s screams were nearly incoherent. He’d been driven so far into a corner that he could no longer make rational decisions. Shea shivered when he looked at her, looking back at him with eyes full of disgust.
“You can tell me to shut up all you want, but you’re still a loser... Hey Shea, don’t hide behind me just because he creeps you out. You’re just gonna make him more mad.”
“But he’s so disgusting... Just looking at him makes me sick... See, look at all these goosebumps! I didn’t even know people could be this gross.”
“Well, I suppose I can’t blame you. He said he wanted to be a hero, but he acts more like a two-bit villain that dies in the first chapter.” Whether because they didn’t care, or because they couldn’t keep their voices down in the face of such creepiness, their discussion was loud enough for all to hear. Shimizu’s face went from beet red, to sickly green, to pale white. It would seem he’d literally become so angry that he’d gone insane.
With empty eyes, Shimizu mumbled “I’m a hero. I’m special. Everyone else is just a moron. It’s all their fault. But that’s okay, because everything’ll work out. Because I’m a hero. Because I’m special.” Then suddenly, he started laughing deliriously.
“Sh-Shimizu-kun... please... we can... talk... this out...” Despite the situation she was in, Aiko still tried to reason with her student. Aiko’s words cut his maniacal laughter, and he started squeezing down on her neck even harder.
“Shut up! You keep pretending to be a good person, but you’re just a hypocrite! I don’t care about what you have to say. Just shut up and be a good hostage.” Shimizu’s gaze returned to Hajime. His earlier hysteria was gone. Now, his eyes were filled with nothing but hatred. He shot a quick glance at the revolvers strapped to Hajime’s thighs. Even without words, his intentions were clear. If Hajime hesitated for even a moment, he’d kill Aiko without a second thought. He no longer cared anything for his own safety.
Hajime sighed. Thinking he could just shoot a wire and shock them both with Lightning Field when he went to hand over his guns, he slowly reached for Donner and Schlag.
With how small Aiko was, and how fast he could draw and fire, Hajime could easily shoot Shimizu before he had a chance to do anything, but he decided Aiko needed to be taught a lesson too.
However, before he could hand his guns over, something happened.
“Huh!? Oh no! Get out of the way!” Shea yelled out as she leaped toward Aiko faster than anyone could blink.
Panicking, Shimizu tried to stab Aiko with the needle. Shea pulled Aiko free and dived out of the way. A second later, a torrent of water slammed into Shimizu’s chest, directly where Aiko’s head had been not even a second ago.
Hajime, who’d also been in the line of fire, diverted the stream with a shot from Donner. Someone must have cast Rupture.
Shea hit the ground shoulder-first, and sliding a few meters before coming to a stop. A cloud of dust rose up behind her, and she groaned painfully.
“Shea!” Yue frantically called out Shea’s name and rushed over to her. She took a protective stance in front of the two of them.
Inwardly thanking Yue for knowing what to do without him having to say anything, Hajime steadied Donner with both hands and used Farsight to find the source of the spell. He spotted a dark-skinned man in dark clothing with pointed ears and swept back hair riding atop a giant bird-like monster.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! After a second’s hesitation, he fired a volley of shots at the monster and the figure riding it. The man had predicted Hajime’s attack, so he made his mount do a barrel roll, barely avoiding the volley of shots. However, one had still grazed past its mount’s foot, blowing it clean off. Another had hit his arm, doing the same. Still, he didn’t falter for even a second, and fled as fast as he could. He was clearly well practiced at making his getaways after assassination attempts.
Hajime guessed that was the demon Shimizu had made a deal with. He fled into the town and flew low, using the city’s buildings as a shield.
Hajime grimaced as he realized this demon had a pretty good grasp of Hajime’s offensive capabilities and was most likely planning on reporting that to his people. If he managed to escape into the woods that surrounded Urdea Lake, Hajime would have had a hard time tracking him down even with his Ornises, but there was something that took priority over all of that.
“Hajime!” For the first time in Hajime’s memory, Yue’s voice was tinged with panic.
Hajime holstered Donner and ran toward Shea, ignoring Shimizu entirely. She was resting in Yue’s lap, her face scrunched up in pain. Next to her was Aiko, still cradled in Yue’s arms. She too looked to be in considerable pain.
“H-Hajime-san... Ngh... I’m... fine... Please... l-look after your teacher... the needle grazed her skin...” There was a
gaping hole in Shea’s stomach. She’d managed to use her body strengthening to halt the bleeding, but it was obvious from her expression that she was in a lot of pain. Despite that, she still smiled faintly and put Aiko’s safety above her own.
Hajime looked over and saw that Aiko was even paler than Shea, and her limbs were convulsing. Aiko’s eyes locked with Hajime’s. She weakly shook her head and pointed to Shea. It seemed she’d heard their conversation, but the poison had already left her unable to talk. If Shimizu had really been telling the truth she would only last for a couple more minutes, but judging from her condition, she didn’t have more than a minute left in her. And the longer it took to heal her, the greater the chance that the poison would cause permanent damage.
Hajime looked over at Shea, nodded, and pulled out a vial from his Treasure Trove. It was around that time that the other students and guards finally caught up, and the area around Hajime turned into a cacophony of screams.
“Aiko, Aiko!”
“No... Sensei! What do we do? What do we do, Nagumo? Sensei’s going to die!”
“S-Shea-san looks like she’s in bad shape too! Goddammit! It’s going to happen again...”
Yuka and David were particularly shaken. The person they loved was on the brink of death, so it was only natural. It was even worse for Yuka since seeing Aiko on the verge of death triggered flashbacks to when she’d seen Hajime fall. She didn’t want to see someone she knew die again. The students and guards all crowded around Hajime, some of them were worried about Aiko’s safety, others tried to shove past him, and yet others tried to cast ineffective healing magic. With a single scream Hajime silenced the entire crowd, and they took a hesitant step back.
Hajime was honestly a little surprised. He was angrier about Shea getting hurt than he thought he’d be. Without him even noticing it, she’d become someone dear to him. And that was why he was so furious with himself for failing to consider the possibility that the demon Shimizu had made a deal with was waiting somewhere nearby.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 3 Page 22
