Truly, this was a far cry from the old Hajime. Even if he hadn’t been the least bit capable, the old Hajime would have still tried to save her.
The situation was different from when he’d saved Yue. He didn’t sympathize with this bunny girl’s plight one bit, and since he could see no benefits to saving her, he felt no desire to. If he helped everyone that begged for it, he’d be old and wrinkled before he could focus on his own goals. Besides, this world was nothing more than a prison to Hajime. With a few exceptions, he had no interest in helping any inhabitants of this world.
However, it was then that the bunny girl spotted Yue and Hajime. She got blown back by the two-headed T. rex and crashed into a nearby boulder, but she recovered quickly and scuttled behind it, staring at Hajime all the while.
The T. rex brought its claws down again, this time blowing the entire boulder away along with her. She tumbled backward, using that momentum to run as fast as possible... Right toward Hajime and Yue.
There was quite a bit of distance between them still, but the amplified echo of the gorge let the bunny girl’s words reach him.
“Finally! I finally found youuuuuuuu! Pleashe shabe meee! Eek, it’s gonna kill me! I’m gonna die! Shabe me, pleashe! I’m begging you!” Tears streamed down her face as she ran with all her might. The two-headed T. rex chased after her, intent on devouring its prey. At the rate things were going, she was destined to be dinosaur food before she ever got to Hajime and Yue.
After being pleaded with so earnestly, Hajime...
“...She ‘finally’ found us? That’s an odd choice of words. Also, she’s got a train of monsters chasing after her. Seems best not to get involved.”
“...Yeah. Seems like a pain.”
...still had no intention of helping her. Even her heartfelt cries couldn’t reach him. In fact, they just made things worse.
When she saw them turn away from her, the bunny girl realized they had no intention of helping, so even more tears started rolling down her cheeks. It was amazing how her eyes never seemed to run out of liquid to pour.
“Waiiiit! Pleashe don’t abandon meeeee! I’m begging youuuuu!” she yelled, even louder this time. If Hajime did nothing, she really would get eaten. Or she would have, if it weren’t for the fact that it bared its fangs at Hajime too. Once the T. rex noticed Hajime’s existence, it rested its hungry gaze on him and roared angrily.
“Graaaaaaaaaaah!” Hajime wasn’t about to let that one go.
“What was that?” The monster had threatened his life. It wanted to eat him. Hajime’s body instinctively reacted to its bloodlust. This enemy bars your path! And enemies that get in your way are to be killed! Those were the only words his mind screamed at him.
As it continued chasing down the bunny girl, the T. rex opened one of its jaws wide. Despair filled her eyes as she turned and saw countless rows of teeth bearing down on her.
“Ah, so this is where it all ends...”
But an instant before she became dinosaur chow— Bang! A sound completely alien to her reverberated throughout the gorge. A red streak passed right between her two twitching bunny ears. The speeding bullet flew right into the T. rex’s open maw and mercilessly pulverized its skull as it passed out the other end of one of its heads.
The destroyed skull sank to the floor, sliding a little before coming to a stop. Unable to maintain its balance, the T. rex fell to the ground with a resounding thud.
The shockwave of the impact sent the bunny girl flying again... Directly toward Hajime.
“Kyaaaaaaaa! H-Help meeee!” She reached her arms out to Hajime as she hurtled toward him. Her face was a mess of tears, and her lady bits were shamelessly exposed for all to see. But even then, any normal guy wouldn’t have hesitated to save her.
“Hell no, get away from me!” However, our esteemed hero simply wheeled Steiff back a bit to avoid colliding with the bunny girl.
“Eeeeeeh!?” Still screaming in surprise, she fell to the ground a few inches in front of Hajime with a sickening thud. She lay spread-eagle on the ground, her body occasionally twitching. It appeared she was still conscious, but couldn’t move due to the pain.
“...What a pathetic rabbit.” Yue said such harsh words nonchalantly, her head peeking out from behind Hajime’s shoulder to watch. Meanwhile, the two-headed T. rex had successfully ripped its deceased head off, leaving just a normal T. rex with an extra neck sticking out at an odd angle.
With its balance thus restored, the one-headed T. rex roared ferociously. That roar was enough to shock the bunny girl to her feet. She was unexpectedly tough. Her face still a mask of tears, she moved surprisingly swiftly and hid behind Hajime.
It seemed she was determined to rely on him until the end. While it did make sense, since she’d die for sure on her own and Hajime had clearly dealt with its other head even if she didn’t know how... her ironclad faith in him still felt a little unnatural.
Not only was this their first meeting, Hajime was a human, a member of a race that despised her people. Normally someone in her situation would have just used Hajime as bait and ran off. The reason she wasn’t was because she seemed to have some unknown reason to trust him. Hajime suddenly remembered the words she’d said when she first saw him. That she’d “found” him. He had definitely found that odd. But the way she kept clinging to him had started annoying him, so instead of questions, what came out of his mouth were insults.
“Hey, you. You walking joke of a bunny girl. I never said you could use me as a shield. Come on, don’t you have the courage to at least try a suicide rush before forcing your problems onto other people?” Hajime said, clearly annoyed by the bunny girl clinging on to his coat for dear life. He really didn’t mince his words anymore. Behind him, Yue’s hands were pressed up against the bunny girl’s cheeks as she tried to push the girl off him.
“I-I don’t have that kind of courage. And besides, if I let go you’ll just try to abandon me again, won’t you?”
“Obviously. I have no reason to save some annoying bunny girl I don’t even know.”
“A-An instant rejection!? How can you say that...? Isn’t there a shred of goodness left in your heart? You wouldn’t really leave an innocent beauty like me to die, would you?”
“I left my humanity behind in hell. And what kind of person has the gall to call themselves a beauty?”
“Th-Then if you save me... I-I’ll do a-a-any one thing you ask!” She blushed as she said that. The whole thing was very, very cleverly played. Had the image not been ruined by the tears and snot running down her face, it would have actually been perfect. She hadn’t been lying when she called herself a beauty either. Beneath all the grime and tears, one could tell she really was quite pretty. Any normal guy would have fallen for it even if they knew it was a trick. Unfortunately for her, Hajime was no normal guy.
“No thanks, I’m good. And get your filthy face away from me; you’re getting my shirt dirty.” His savagery knew no bounds. It was enough to make one doubt he had any human compassion left at all.
“F-Filthy... You didn’t have to put it like that... I can’t believe you! I am not—”
“Graagaaaaaah!”
“Eek. P-Pleashe sha—”
Angry at being ignored, the T. rex let out a bestial roar, interrupting the bunny girl’s protests. It then bent low, preparing to charge.
The bunny girl screamed hysterically and tried to wedge herself between Hajime and Yue. Thoroughly annoyed by that point, Yue tried to kick the bunny girl off of Steiff, but even after her face was covered in shoe prints she refused to let go. Her tenacity was truly commendable.
The T. rex grew steadily more enraged as they continued to ignore it, until finally, unable to stand it any longer, it charged forward.
Hajime reflexively brought his arm up and took aim at the T. rex’s forehead. A gunshot followed not even a second later, and a red streak of light flashed by as the bullet pierced the T. rex’s skull.
Its charge was abruptly cut short, an
d it fell on its side with a thunderous crash.
“Eh?” The bunny girl unconsciously let out a confused gasp. She peeked out from behind Hajime’s back to make sure the T. rex was dead.
“I-It’s really dead... You killed that Dihedwa in a single shot...” Her eyes were as round as dinner plates. Apparently that two-headed T. rex was called a Dihedwa.
Even as she looked down at the Dihedwa’s corpse in shock, Yue relentlessly continued to try and kick her off. However, her firm grip on Hajime wouldn’t budge. Tired of having her ears whack his eyes every few seconds, Hajime brought his elbow down on the back of her head.
“Hawugh!?” She screamed incoherently and started writhing on the ground while moaning, “My head. My heaaaad.” Hajime gave her one last cold look before nonchalantly pouring mana into Steiff.
She must have sensed the flow of mana because the bunny girl instantly hopped back up and ran to Hajime before he could leave.
“You’re not getting away from me!” For a bunny girl, she was surprisingly hardy.
“Thank you very much for saving me earlier! My name is Shea. I’m a member of the rabbitmen tribe, Haulia! I know this is presumptuous of me, but could you please save my family as well!? Please, I’m begging you!” And quite pushy as well.
Hajime gave the desperate bunny girl a sidelong glance, then sighed heavily. Of course the first thing he’d run into after escaping hell would be this nuisance.
Seeing his exasperated expression, the bunny girl, Shea, fretfully repeated her plea even louder.
“Please, you have to! I’m begging you, you have to save my family!” By the end she was practically shouting. It seemed her family was in dire straits as well. Hajime finally realized why she was so persistent. Her plea was so heartfelt that even Yue stopped trying to kick her off for a moment.
When he saw just how desperate she was, Hajime reluctantly shrugged his shoulders. Thinking he’d finally agreed, Shea breathed a sigh of relief. In reality... Hajime simply activated his Lightning Field.
“Ababababababababaa!?” He had controlled the voltage so it wouldn’t kill her, but it would at least leave her paralyzed for a while. The shock made her rabbit ears and fur all stand on end, like a cartoon character. After he released the spell, Shea fell to the ground, twitching all the while.
“You never know. Give it your all, and maybe you’ll be able to save them yourself. Good luck, I guess. Alright, Yue, let’s go.”
“Okay...” He left behind some generic words of encouragement, if they could even be called that, and began pouring mana into Steiff once more. However...
“I-I’ll never let you get away!” Like a zombie, Shea dragged herself to Hajime’s foot and clung to it for dear life. Surprised, Hajime accidentally stopped sending mana to Steiff.
“What are you, some kind of zombie? I made that shock pretty strong... so how are you still able to move? You’re seriously starting to creep me out.”
“...Yeah. She’s creepy.”
“Hic... why do you two have to be so mean... First you elbow me, then you kick me, and now you shocked me! Don’t you think you’re being a little cruel!? I’m against violence! If you want my forgiveness, then please save my family!” Even in her anger she didn’t forget to throw in her request once more. It actually was a little scary how she seemed completely unharmed. The word “hardy” no longer did her abnormally sturdy body justice. That wasn’t the only thing weird about her, either: she also kept muttering odd things like “If I mess up here, the future’ll change,” to herself.
Hajime had considered just starting Steiff up and shaking her off, but her absurdly strong body and those prophetic mutterings of hers had finally sparked his curiosity a little. Besides, he had a sinking feeling that even if he tried to shake her off, she’d somehow cling on anyway... and even he wasn’t so heartless that he’d drag her around until she was a horrific bloody mess.
So he finally, reluctantly, decided to hear her out.
“Fine, fine, what is it? I’ll at least hear you out, so let me go. And quit wiping your face with my coat.” Shea broke out into a beaming smile the moment those words left his mouth, and she started surreptitiously wiping her face with his coat. She really had no restraint. Hajime elbowed again to get her to stop, eliciting another strange squeal from her.
“Hagyuun! Y-You hit me again... Even my father never hit me. I can’t believe you’d keep hitting such a beautiful girl over and over... Don’t tell me you prefer men? Is that why my feminine wiles didn’t work on you earlier? That has—” Hajime brought his boot down on Shea’s head before she could slander him any further. A vein stood out on his forehead.
“Who the hell are you calling gay, you damn rabbit! And how do you all know these words!? You and Yue both, who taught you these things? Anyway, I can’t tell if your feminine wiles were supposed to be an actual attempt at seduction or a joke, but the only reason they don’t work is because I’ve already got a girl far prettier than you by my side. I honestly don’t get what gave you the idea you could beat her in the first place.” Hajime turned back to look at Yue as he said all that to the bunny girl. She was blushing bright red, her hands cupping her cheeks as she squirmed shyly.
Her golden-blonde hair sparkled dazzlingly in the sunlight, and her slightly flushed porcelain skin was flawless enough to charm any man that saw it.
She was no longer emaciated and weak from her long imprisonment either, as she had been when he first met her. On top of that, her clothes were far more fitting as well. She had on a frilly white dress shirt and a black mini-skirt, also with frills. Covering it all was a white coat with blue lining. Adorning her feet was a short pair of boots and knee-high socks. Each article of clothing was one Yue had sewn using the old clothes they’d found in Oscar’s room combined with materials harvested from monsters. They were enchanted to grant her heightened stamina, and functioned very well as defensive gear.
By the way, Hajime was decked out in a black coat with crimson lining, and the rest of his outfit was also a combination of red and black. His left sleeve was joined to the shoulder by a kind of special adhesive he’d crafted from monster parts, and could be easily detached. He usually stowed it away in the Treasure Trove during fights to leave his prosthetic arm completely unencumbered. That sleeve was Yue’s masterpiece.
Shea faltered slightly after looking up at Yue.
They were both admittedly extremely beautiful women, but which one was more beautiful was a subjective decision that came down more to one’s preferences more than anything. Objectively speaking, they were both about equal.
Shea had long blue-white hair, and azure eyes that sparkled like sapphires. Her eyebrows and eyelashes were both blue-white as well. They complemented her pale skin quite nicely, and as long as she stayed quiet most people would find her quite alluring. Her limbs were slender, and her glossy rabbit ears and round tail only added to her charm. Any fan of bunny girls would break down in tears of joy at the mere sight of her.
Most conspicuous was... the one thing Yue lacked. Namely, boobs. Shea’s in particular were huge. The torn-off scraps of cloth barely covering them did more to emphasize their presence than hide them. Without anything to hold them in place, they jiggled suggestively every time she moved. Veeery suggestively. Just to remind everyone they were there.
Basically, she had every right to call herself beautiful. Hajime was the weird one for being so put off by her. The old Hajime would have done a Lupin Dive straight into those soft valleys of hers, while screaming “Rabbit ears!” However... Well, anyway, his current indifference had definitely hurt Shea’s pride a little. And thus, she said the one thing that was absolutely taboo...
“Y-Yeah well... I beat her in boobs at least! That girl’s as flat as a board!”
—Flat as a board.
—Flat as a board.
—Flat as a board.
Her accusatory shout echoed over and over throughout the gorge. Yue suddenly went silent, her earlier blush vanishing in a
n instant. Her bangs hid her expression as she slowly dismounted Steiff.
Hajime simply looked up at the sky and brought his hands together, offering a small prayer for the poor bunny. May your rabbit ears rest in peace... In all fairness, Yue wasn’t quite that flat, but her boobs certainly were on the small side. They weren’t like the sheer cliffs that currently surrounded the party.
Shea cowered before Yue like a mouse in front of a cat. Yue’s next words were barely whispers, but everyone heard them surprisingly clearly.
“Any last words?”
“If I apologize, will you forgive me?”
“......”
“I’m sorry, I don’t want to die! I really don’t want to die!”
“Storm Gust.”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
Shea was swept up in a whirlwind and flung high up into the sky. Precisely ten seconds after her screams faded away, she fell to the ground with a wet plop.
Her head was buried in the ground, and her limbs flailed wildly as she struggled to free herself. She resembled a certain cartoon character, looking like that. It really was a shame that a beauty like her carried herself so pathetically. Her tattered clothes had been ripped up even further, and they could barely be called clothes at that point. Upside down as she was, her private bits were exposed for all to see. Even a hundred-year-long love would fade if someone saw their loved one in such a state.
Yue wiped an imaginary bead of sweat off her brow, as if to congratulate herself on a job well done, before trotting back to Steiff and remounting it.
“...Do you like big boobs?”
Now that was a loaded question if Hajime ever heard one. He was about to answer yes, but thought better of it when he saw the bunny girl still doing her best impression of a dog with its head stuck in the ground. He didn’t want to end up like that.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 2 Page 2
