My throat was hot. It hurt to breathe.
The wind on my skin told me that I’d been blown outside. I craned my neck to see that Kult’s lab was mostly destroyed. The building looked like it had been split in two from inside, and flames were rising out of it. Here and there I could see rubble on the ground.
“Gaah...”
Kult was lying right next to me, bleeding from his face. He must’ve tried to protect Meifa during the blast. His monocle was cracked, and half of the lens was missing. Even in his despair, he’d defended the woman he loved while I hadn’t been able to protect Hibiki, my partner, at all.
I bit my lip hard, feeling useless. The taste of a loser’s blood spread across my tongue.
Zolphiakd came waltzing out of the burning lab at a slow, leisurely pace. Hibiki was still in his arms, thankfully unhurt.
“Oh? What’s this?” Zolphiakd seemed confused when he saw the walls of light. “Hmm, I see. I thought something seemed strange. So this world is already doomed, then? How boring.”
His confusion didn’t last for long. As soon as he understood the state the world was in, he started to look around.
“Hmm? And what’s that?”
Zolphiakd gestured in the air with his fingers, and the red door slid over to him from the wreckage of the lab.
“Hmm... I can feel faint traces of otherworldly energy from beyond this door. It’s connected, then?”
He quickly realized what the red door was for. Since he was an energy-eating demon, maybe he was sensitive to subtle differences in energy? Come to think of it, he’d instantly been able to tell that Hibiki and I were from another world too.
He reached out for the red door, and I heard a crunching sound. The dial along with the doorknob were crushed in his hands.
Zolphiakd clicked his tongue in frustration and threw aside the damaged parts. He then tried pressing the recall button on the side of the door, but crushed that as well.
“Hmm... It’s been so long since I’ve had a body that it’s hard to control my strength,” he whispered calmly.
Unexpectedly, however, the red door crackled with electricity. The air around it started to twist and bend. Three holes, something like wormholes, appeared in the distorted space. They converged over the door, and the door itself started to crack. The cracks became bigger and bigger until...
SNAP!
There was a sound like space itself was splitting, and the warped area around the door burst, rapidly covering everything in sight.
▽
At this point, I’d lost count of how many times today my body had gone through this weird sensation, but this time was the worst by far.
“Gwaaaaahh!”
It felt like a giant had grabbed my head and my feet, and was trying to wring my body out like a rag. There was no pain; it just felt like my insides were being shaken out. But the feeling didn’t last long.
“Gaah!”
I hit the back of my head. Hard. Once again, I’d screwed up the landing.
I opened my eyes to find myself staring into a clear blue sky. I turned my head a little. I could still see the ruins of Kult’s lab.
“Huh?”
I hadn’t switched worlds after all? That was impossible. The sensation of passing through the door was so unique. I was sure that’s what I’d felt.
What was going on?
I looked around and saw Kult nearby, lying on top of Meifa to shield her. At least he was safe. The Infinity Reviver was lying next to him too.
“Oh, right! Where’s Hibiki?!”
...And where had Zolphiakd gone?
“Heh. Who are you looking for?”
“You—Gah!” I screamed.
I stood up, ignoring the burning pain in my back, and gritted my teeth as I looked up at the sky. Zolphiakd was flapping the wings on his back as he hovered in the air above me, still holding Hibiki. He was looking to the left and right.
“This is quite an interesting world, isn’t it? Is that a skirmish going on over there? What curious creatures. And they’re fighting over there too... Hmm, the creatures of this world are all very different.”
“...?”
What was he talking about? We hadn’t gone anywhere. We were still at Kult’s lab. I looked up at Zolphiakd and tried as hard as I could to figure out what he meant... and then I realized something was wrong.
A blue sky? That was impossible. Kult’s world was covered with a dome of light. There was no way I could be seeing the sky.
And Kult’s world was really tiny, so why could I see so far into the distance? Not to mention that the neat, green lawns and bushes suddenly cut off, disappearing into a barren wasteland. But then I heard what sounded like people yelling from beyond the wasteland...
“No way!”
I could see a flash of something on the horizon, like it was reflecting light... The claymen!
“Then are we in the claymen’s world?”
Had Zolphiakd destroying the door moved Kult’s whole world to the clayman world? Is that why there was grass in the wasteland? Just as the thought crossed my mind, I was interrupted by the sound of another explosion from the opposite direction.
“Now what?!”
I turned around and was astonished all over again.
There was a mountain. Of course, Kult’s perfectly manicured garden world didn’t have any mountains.
Then I could hear the familiar, creepy laughter of nuts. I could see pillars of flame and localized blizzards rising up from the tree line, as well as huge gouges out of the mountainside that looked like they were made by massive, invisible blades.
It was the Japanese monsters again, and I could see what they were fighting even from where I was standing. It was a huge beast—the crazed nine-tailed fox.
“Monster mountain’s here too...”
There was no doubt about it.
“Three worlds have gathered into one?”
It was the only explanation.
No, wait. There was something I still hadn’t considered, but it was because my mind was refusing to acknowledge the possibility. Because it... It just wasn’t fair...
I’d left everyone to keep something like this from happening. So... why?!
“...”
I looked up at R, as if entrusting her with my last hope. I wished with all my heart that she’d deny it. But...
“Yeah, it’s exactly what you’re thinking, Rekka. It appears that the door’s recall function, well, malfunctioned. Now all three worlds have appeared on Earth.” R’s voice was as calm as ever.
She went on to explain a little more. I caught bits and pieces of things like “probably in the Pacific” and “the door was small, so it only took a portion of each world.” But none of that mattered.
Compared to the despair before me, I...
“I...”
The nine-tailed fox was still on a rampage. The “Eternal Death Before Defeat” device was still threatening to blow up and destroy the world. And then there was Zolphiakd, the darkness-eating demon.
I’d brought all three of these calamities home to Earth.
“Why... Why did this happen?!” I screamed.
I wasn’t even sure what I was feeling, but it was threatening to drive me crazy, so I just kept screaming. Maybe I was crying. Or maybe that was just the blood dripping from my forehead.
“I think it’s time for me to go,” Zolphiakd said coldly.
“W-Wait!” I yelled.
But the demon only laughed at me.
“I refuse. There are all kinds of spectacles around here to entertain me. I’m going to watch. You may do as you’d like, though I doubt you’ll last long with those wounds.”
With the blood in my eyes, I literally saw red as I watched Zolphiakd fly away.
“Damn it all...!”
I stretched out my hand as if to reach out and catch him, but before I could take two steps, the pain in my leg caused me to stumble to the ground. Blood was still pouring out.
My legs w
ere getting heavier and colder...
Come to think of it, I read something in a manga once about an important artery in your thigh...
Was I... going to die...? Everything was slowly... going black...
“Rekka. Are you still alive?”
God, was she ever casual about it...
“I’m still alive... somehow...”
“Oh, glad to hear it,” R said as she looked down at me.
“You need something?” I asked bitterly.
“Rekka, you’re not going to run?”
“...You mean you want me to just give up on all this and run away?”
“No, I’m neutral. I’m just asking, you know?”
“Ugh...”
At least she was the same as ever.
But... what was she really saying? That I should run? After dragging three different potential cataclysms to Earth?
I didn’t have anyone to help me this time. I was all alone and nearly dead.
Did she really think there was anything I could do now? Or that if there wasn’t, I should just run? Yeah... That would be the normal thing to do, wouldn’t it?
“Hell no... I’m not running.”
But instead, the words that came out of my mouth were the exact opposite.
Even if running was, objectively, the common-sense thing to do, there was no way I was going to. That wasn’t the kind of “normal” I wanted!
“I see. But the plan you came up with earlier didn’t include saving Kokomo’s mother or the white claymen, did it?”
“...!”
She had a point.
I’d only planned on sealing away the nine-tailed fox, and I had no way of ending the war or the discrimination against the white claymen. My plan was just an attempt to avoid the worst possible outcome.
That was my limit. It was all I could think of.
But it didn’t matter now. I was at death’s door, and Hibiki was gone. I wasn’t going to be able to keep my promise to her after all.
Damn it all...
I couldn’t move my legs. I could hardly even see. There was nothing I could do.
Nothing...
Not a thing...
I couldn’t do anything on my own...
“Oh, looks like they made it in time,” R suddenly whispered. “Hmph. I guess maybe it was worth buying time with that meaningless conversation. It would’ve been bad if you were unconscious by the time they got here.”
What was she saying now?
I moved my head just a bit, and I could see a light through my closed eyelids... Dawn had long since broken on Earth, and the morning sun was climbing high into the sky.
Then I could sense what felt like someone landing right beside me.
“Rekka.”
At first, I couldn’t believe the voice saying my name was real.
“Huh?”
I looked up, but the blood and tears kept me from seeing what was right in front of me.
I did my best to wipe them away. When my vision started to clear, I saw Satsuki, Iris, Harissa, Tetra, and Lea... all standing there in the sun.
“What are you doing here...?”
“Did you forget what kind of magic I have?”
She meant the great Magic of Omniscience, which let her search through all the information in the universe.
“It’s the easiest thing in the world for me to find you,” she said.
“Aww, Sir Rekka, yer all beat up! L-Lemme take a looksee!”
Harissa panicked and ran over to me, then quickly began casting a spell. A warm light came out of her staff and started to heal the wound on my leg.
“Harissa... you’re okay?”
“Yes! Satsuki broke the spell on me!” she said happily.
“Satsuki did?”
I looked over at my childhood friend.
“That’s right. If you’d come to me for help from the start, you never would’ve gotten hurt like this,” Satsuki said, trying her best to look annoyed.
She was probably talking about how I’d left her behind to chase after Kult. Given the state I was in right now, I could see why she’d feel that way.
“Rekka, so what’s going on here? Why are a bunch of identical people on white and gold teams fighting each other? There’s all kinds of what look like space monsters fighting over there, too.”
“Yeah. Satsuki told me to come, so I did, but what’s going on here?”
Iris and Tsumiki both had the same question. On their way here, they must’ve seen all the carnage.
“...It’s my fault,” I said.
“What does that mean?” Tetra asked. I could hear her concern for me in her voice.
...I had to tell them.
“They’re all stories I got caught up in... and I brought them all to Earth...”
I could hear someone gasp. I flinched, waiting to hear the words that would follow: “What have you done?!”
“...Is that why you disappeared on your own?” Lea asked in an unexpectedly gentle voice, although she looked a little sad as she spoke. “Remember what you said when you saved me? When you can’t solve something on your own, it’s only natural to go to someone else for help.”
“Yeah... I did say that,” I replied. “I know it’s lame not to live up to my own words, but...”
I looked down, afraid to see how disappointed she must be in me.
“But... me getting caught up in stories like this is going to get all of you hurt. The blood of the Namidare means there’s nothing I can do about it... and it’s not something that just stops if I beat the bad guy, like with Bahamut. So...”
“So you disappeared on us to try and protect us?” Satsuki cut me off and glared at me.
I nodded meekly, afraid of her piercing gaze.
“That’s right... Like what happened to Harissa...”
“Harissa was fine. If you’d just talked to me before you ran off, there was an easy solution,” she said.
“Th-That’s right! I’m just fine!” Harissa said, waving both her hands at me as if to prove it.
“Rekka, do you think there’s anybody in this world who doesn’t cause trouble for other people? You’re constantly involved with other people, so of course you’re going to do the same.”
“...”
I gradually started to understand what Satsuki was trying to say. Her words began to soak in to my wounded heart. But...
I stood up on my freshly healed legs and looked back at Satsuki as firmly as I could.
“You’re ignoring the point. Somebody like me... Somebody who puts people in danger just by being around them doesn’t have the right to be with anyone at all!”
I finally said what I’d really been thinking in the back of my mind this whole time. I shouldn’t be allowed to be around other people. Especially not the people I love.
I wasn’t some saint. I wanted to be rid of this stupid bloodline. I didn’t think I could endure it... but I had to force myself to. Even if it destroyed me, I couldn’t bear to see everyone else get hurt.
But Satsuki didn’t look away, even when I screamed.
“I don’t care. You probably came to that conclusion out of selflessness, didn’t you? But you still haven’t asked us the most important thing.”
“The most important thing? What’s that?” I asked.
“Let’s say you do put us in danger just by being around us. Let’s just say you invite disaster wherever you go... That still has nothing to do with whether or not we want to be with you.”
“...!”
“Now come on. Ask us. Say ‘I’m putting you all in danger. Will you stay with me anyway?’”
“......”
I just stood there.
I didn’t even need to ask. When I looked at their faces, I could tell what kind of answer each of them would give me.
“Think about it. We knew you were caught up in something awful again, and we came here anyway. We knew it was dangerous, but we still came to help you. Tsumiki even said yes before I told her what wa
s going on.”
“Y-You didn’t have to tell him that!” Tsumiki yelled. Her face was bright red.
But Satsuki ignored her and kept staring at me. Her eyes made me waver. I didn’t want to involve them... That’s what I’d decided... But...
“Even with the bloodline of the Namidare, I’m still just a normal kid. The day might come when I really can’t protect you.”
“I don’t care about hypotheticals,” Satsuki cut me off. “Not even the Magic of Omniscience can tell me the future. The future is something we make together, Rekka. And we all want a future where we’re with you. What about you?”
“I...”
What I wanted...? That was obvious. I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be with everybody.
That’s what I wanted to say... but when I thought about what might happen, my voice got caught in my throat. Even if I made it through this one, what about the next one? And what about the one after that? Or the one after that?
As I stood there clenching my jaw, R did an aerial flip in front of me.
“You got yourself into this, you know...”
She was now floating upside down like when we first met.
“You can run from your bloodline and all, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’ve saved them, right? Even when you grow up and lose the power of your bloodline, that’s not gonna change how they feel, now is it?”
For a brief moment, I thought I saw the tiniest sliver of emotion in R’s eyes. Was it... anger?
“Rekka, didn’t you just say you weren’t going to run? If you really meant that, then why are you running away from how they feel?”
Running away...? I hadn’t left everyone because I wanted to keep them from getting hurt... I was just running away?
“Now, why not do what Satsuki suggested and ask them?”
Was I going to run away again rather than ask them if they would stay with me? Even though I wanted to be with them?
When everybody found out how dangerous I really was, they might scorn me. They might be disappointed in me. They might tell me to stay away from them... Was that really what I’d been running from? Had I pushed them away first so that they couldn’t push me away?
“Rekka,” Satsuki said with a serious look on her face.
“Rekka.” Iris had a big smile on hers.
“Sir Rekka.” Harissa was holding her staff tightly to her chest.
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 3 Page 11
