by Yuu Kamiya
“…Well you might ask. I should say a single standard Gigant might be a feat to slay alone. If we aim for certainty, I should desire five companions. What, there are plans to slay one? ”
“No, there aren’t. Stop sparkling your eyes!”
The dejected Jibril could destroy Elf, highest of the “living things,” alone, with a single blow. But it would take a party of six like her to bring down one individual of Rank Five.
—The races Rank Seven and below, you could say, did a pretty good job surviving the Great War. Especially Immanity, I mean, us—that is.
“Speaking of us… Heyyy, Shiro, aren’t you done changing yet?”
Suddenly remembering that she was taking quite the long time, Sora called into the trees behind him.
“……Mm.”
In response to Sora’s voice, Shiro poked just her face out from the shade of a tree. Sora realized she seemed hesitant to come out for some reason.
“What’s wrong, Shiro? You can’t stand the sun after all? You don’t have to if it’s too tough, you know.”
Though he’d put on Jibril-brand sunscreen, Sora himself was not fond of sunlight. On top of that, Sora knew Shiro hated sunlight even more than he did—and thus sympathized. But then Shiro shook her head from side to side and finally, hesitantly, stepped out from the trees.
“…Hmm, well, that is something.”
“Dearie me, if you aren’t the cutest little one.”
“…Shiro, you’re damn pretty, please.”
As Ino, the Shrine Maiden, and Izuna each dropped their individual comments—Sora was simply frozen. Standing there was, clearly, the same sister he’d always seen.
—The same—and yet.
“—…Huh?”
As she tremulously left the shade of the trees, the girl was like a jewel. Her long hair, whiter than snow at normal times, had been combed out neatly and tied at the back. Illuminated by the sunlight, it was no longer like snow—but a petrifact, a diamond. From her white bikini and red hoodie, which seemed to symbolize her hair and ruby eyes, peeked her skin—
“……Bro-ther…?”
—which, just like her cheeks, carried a faint vermilion flush.
“—Wh-what? Uh?”
At the unnatural feeling of having been completely entranced by his sister, a questioning groan escaped Sora’s lips. But at that groan, Shiro’s face clouded with worry.
“…I, don’t…look good, after all…?”
As Shiro mumbled with her eyes lowered and receded back toward the trees, Sora finally came back to his senses. In a panic—to the extent that he himself wondered what he was getting so flustered about—he shook his head.
“N-no, that’s not it!! I was just amazed at what an unbelievable beauty you are, Shiro—I mean, y-you know your brother already knew you’re a flawless beauty! I already…knew, right? What?”
Shiro disregarded Sora as he tilted his head wondering what had surprised him so much. At his side, Jibril and Steph, likewise entranced, beamed. Their expressions betrayed their hearts leaping in their chests.
—Shiro cast her gaze downward shyly and, almost invisibly, smiled in relief.
“Oh. That’s…good…”
……
“Indeed my master is wise… It is a feast of which my eyes are unworthy. ”
“It’s not like that! It’s not like that! It’s quite normal to react to cute things, I sayyyy!”
Her skin glistening, Jibril smoothly sighed, Hff… While Steph again clenched her head as if in some kind of turmoil.
“…Brother…?”
“Y-yeah? Mm, hmm, you look great! That’s my darling sister!”
Reacting to Shiro who’d walked up to him, Sora struggling to regain his composure. Shiro, her hair mussed by her brother, nodded once as if finally satisfied.
“—Th-that’s right, Plum, when specifically is your welcoming party or whatever coming?”
Sora, feeling awkward somehow and then remembering his original purpose, questioned the Dhampir. At Sora’s words, everyone turned their eyes to the crate—to Plum.
Her face emerging slightly from the crate, Plum responded.
“Umm, around when the date changes…they’ll arriiive.”
“—Hmph, that’s quite a long time.”
Disbelievingly, Plum grumbled. “That’s why I said you didn’t have to come this earlyyy…mghhh.” She said only this—perhaps unable to bear the sunlight—before retreating into her crate once more.
“Well, ’tis no real loss, is it?” Thus brushing off any inconvenience, the Shrine Maiden answered elegantly, at some point having rolled onto the grassy bed upon which Sora had been reclining, as she was fanned with giant leaves by her servant girls. “Why not think it a long-deserved holiday and rest your bones as you wait. What is life without a bit of leisure?”
Grinning and scratching his head, Sora exchanged glances with Shiro. Shiro nodded once.
“Now that I think about it, this is the first time Shiro and I have ever been to the beach.”
Then, looking around at the eyes of Steph, Jibril, Izuna, and Ino, Sora smiled.
“Why don’t we give this fun thing a try?”
—A blinding white beach. A sea that reflected the sky like a mirror. Through a sky so blue it looked like nothing so much as a primary-color ink spill, the rays of sun spilled down, and the distant clouds flowed. In a place where the only noise was that of the rippling waves and the roar of the sea, sprays of mist soared through the air. It was here, at a party, frolicking in the shallow water wetting her legs, that Shiro served a fabric beach ball.
“…Steph… Pass.”
“I just have to bounce it on, yes? Here, pass, Miss Izuna!”
Steph deftly set the pass from Shiro high in the air toward Izuna. However, Izuna simply caught the ball as it flew toward her: Fump.
“…? I don’t get the damn rules, please,” she muttered in bewilderment, her head tilted. Unlike Steph, who’d gotten the idea, it seemed Izuna didn’t grasp the point.
“Uhh, it’s not really a game, is the thing… Well, okay, let’s say this. You can’t grab the ball. You have to pass the ball to the next person only touching it once, and if you can’t, then you lose—right?”
“…Understood, please…”
Watching Izuna’s nod with a warm and fuzzy look, Steph rambled, blissfully ignorant. “How nice… It’s wonderful to play a game like this where we can just relax once in a while, isn’t it?”
Yes, blissfully ignorant of the fact that Sora’s and Shiro’s eyes, as well as Izuna’s, had sharpened to the keenness of blades. As soon as rules had been set out and explicated, what we had here—was a game, pure and simple.
—Which meant—
—I’ll, kick your ass—! The three other than the maudlin Steph thus bared their fighting spirits entirely openly…
“…’Kay, then…I’ll, go, first…”
With these words, Shiro, having been given the ball, quietly exchanged glances with Sora.
—Shiro took the ball and casually dipped it in the water.
“…Here…Steph, pass…”
And so the fabric beach ball, with only its bottom wet, was tossed to Steph without spin. And to be clear—in the precise moment there was no wind.
“Yes, yes, passing it ooon!”
Silent diplomacy streaked through the air, but Steph set for the return without recognizing this. The ball that Shiro had sent rigged—if Steph set it without moving—to go slightly off course. As a result, the ball passed by Steph to Izuna had spin.
—But weighed down by the water absorbed just at its bottom, the ball’s course swayed irregularly.
“!”
Izuna, however, read this instantly. Launching off the ground in a spray of water, she caught up with the ball and received it. Only received it. By the measure of Izuna’s arms, it was a light return. But through Izuna’s little body, the ball had acquired the overwhelming force of Werebeast.
—T
hat was enough to send it hurtling at Sora with terrifying speed. But Sora, seemingly unfazed by this, thought to himself: Well, hope you don’t think it’s gonna be that easy! In the trajectory of the ball that had been only received by Izuna but was nonetheless flying at him as if spiked by a pro volleyball player, Sora intentionally fell dramatically into the water, raising an aqueous pillar. The projectile penetrated the pillar, but by the time it reached the collapsed Sora, its speed was negligible. From this unreasonable position, Sora somehow set the ball with his feet and sent it over to Shiro.
—Now thoroughly soaked, the ball had gotten quite heavy.
“…Mm—Steph…go, for it…”
Shiro just barely managed to set up the wet and abruptly heavier ball for Steph.
“Uh, h-huh?!”
Yes—with incomparable precision to a point Steph could just barely reach. To a position from which, even if she got it given the angles of entry and escape, Steph—
“Uh, I’m sorry, Miss Izu—”
—managing to keep it in play, inevitably sent it careening a considerable distance from Izuna.
—She couldn’t get it. With the ball flying off in some totally wrong direction, there was no way she could reach, yet—
—At Sora and Shiro, subtly raising the corners of their mouths as if to say and that’s the game, Izuna ground her teeth.
“…Don’t screw with me—please!!!”
She launched off the ground. She landed—impact. The water that had been at her feet now explosively scattered to reveal the sand beneath at the shock of her step—but flying as if to outstrip it, as if gliding over the ocean, Izuna caught up to the ball and, still at that speed, swung her arms. The shock wave of her swing was enough to raise a wave—but—
Powww—
Water sprayed as a fine mist from within the ball, which exploded in Izuna’s hands. Sora raised his voice.
“GG, you lose!”
“—?…! Th-that’s not fair, please! You bastards, please!”
“If you don’t pass it on to the next person, you lose…Izzy… Using, all your strength, was your downfall.” Shiro answered, exchanging a light high-five with Sora.
That’s right: if Izuna, a Werebeast, hit the ball, heavy with water, with all her might, at that moment, the ball, unable to bear the shock, would rupture, and she’d be unable to pass it on to the next person. Once she realized that had been Sora and Shiro’s aim all along, Izuna still argued.
—But what if the ball hadn’t ruptured then? “…You people… Don’t you even have the concept of playing just for fun?” Steph muttered, doused by the wave produced by Izuna’s step and subsequent swing…
“Huh? Not for games, nope.”
“…Lol…wut?”
“Isn’t the damn point of games to kick ass, please?”
At the three immediate answers, each incredibly immature in its own way, Steph gave herself over to the wave—
Meanwhile, the Shrine Maiden, who had been watching from a distance, spoke up in wonder.
“Well!…You beat Izuna at sports. ’Tis a feat, aye… Your disregard for the spirit of the rules is as remarkable as ever, but even so, I must?!”
—Her words broke off. At the instant sensation of someone behind her, the Shrine Maiden promptly moved her hands to her chest. But however unhinged Werebeast’s reaction times may have been, the blink of an eye wasn’t fast enough. Having suddenly had her swimsuit pilfered, the Shrine Maiden did the best she could to hide her breasts as she directed a sharp glare at the culprit.
“—Goodness, just what are you after, my dear pigeon!”
Jibril received the look while playing with the swimsuit she had stripped from the Shrine Maiden.
“According to my masters’ literature, in a situation such as this, a ‘nip slip’ is the law of fate!”
“Ohh, I see… In which case, we can of course expect you to fulfill this fate, eh? ”
Still hiding her chest, the Shrine Maiden softly lowered her center of gravity. As the Shrine Maiden unmistakably assumed a fighting posture, Jibril only laughed at her merrily.
“Indeed, to this I object not. However, if you suppose that a little dog with no power but to crawl the earth is capable of taking anything from me—I must suggest that you reconsider your position. ”
“Heh-heh! You talk, don’t you? But you’ve got it wrong. I’ve got more powers than crawling the earth. ”
Still smiling, but with sparks of hostility flying so fiercely it seemed you could see them—
……
“Oh, Shiro, you don’t know how to swim?”
“…Huh, Steph…you, can?”
Steph balked at this new revelation about Shiro, who had seemed capable of anything. But with Shiro gawking at someone who could swim—
“…Holy shit, please.”
“No less should be expected of Miss Stephanie. From administration to cuisine to needlecraft… And then to think you can swim. But, if I may ask innocently—for what reason is it necessary for animals that live on land to be able to swim in water?!”
“Gramps just made the point of the century! Land animals should live on land!!”
—The whole crew, apparently bereft of anyone who could swim, spoke as one. Steph, with a wry smile, took Shiro’s hands.
“You’re all hopeless. It’s more fun if you can swim. Here, I shall teach you.”
“…Mnghhh…”
“Come now, I have your hands; let’s try kicking to start.”
Drawing Shiro by her hands, Steph soothed the unenthusiastic girl and tried to teach her the basics.
—But—
“Whoaaaaaa!”
“Eeyaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!”
Suddenly, a massive wave arose and carried them all straight to shore.
“…Uwp…ah…B-Brother…”
“Wauugh, Shiroooo!”
Shiro swept to shore by the wave, Sora ran in a panic and lifted her up. Hugging her panting brother, Shiro muttered.
“…Brother…I’m, gonna, learn…to swiiim!”
But faced with Shiro, as if the seawater had gotten to her, mumbling this determination with tears in her eyes, Sora confronted those responsible for the massive wave, raising his voice.
“Hey there! Maybe you should consider moderating—I mean, at least obeying the laws of physics…if you don’t mind?”
The voice he’d raised, though, trailed off at the sight before his eyes. That sight being: crisscrossing the distant horizons of the sea, two…monsters.
“Hee-hee, though your words be grand, this is all we could ever expect, isn’t it, isn’t it? ”
Jibril taunted this as she cut across the water. Just below her, the body of the Shrine Maiden, leaping from the ocean floor, turned scarlet as she stretched out her hand.
—The hand of the Shrine Maiden, who’d gone so far as to use her bloodbreak, was nevertheless dodged by Jabril by the slimmest of margins. But the Shrine Maiden went on—bounding and dashing over the surface of the water—using her hands as a bra. The Shrine Maiden, apparently having lost not only her swimsuit top, but now even her hanten, had become so overwhelmed with something akin to a murderous rage that she’d lost the will to hide and was pursuing Jibril to get her swimsuit back.
“Heh-heh-heh! If I were you, I say, I’d prepare for the worrrst…I’ll strip you to your bum in front of eeeveryone!”
The Shrine Maiden. The agent plenipotentiary of Werebeast—the strongest among Werebeast, was she? Running atop the water—on the water!—and sometimes, albeit just for a moment, even on the air. The Shrine Maiden, dunking herself again and again in the sea, bathing in the water and wind, changing in appearance each time from scarlet to gold—
“…Th-that’s…our Holy Shrine Maiden, holy shit, please.”
—but the one thing that was certain, as even Izuna watched in disbelief, was that no one could intervene. Sora decided to write it off as a natural calamity and looked away.
“Hmm… What a fine sight.�
��
At these words, Sora turned to see Ino, and he followed the old man’s gaze to find not only those who had been swept to shore—Steph and Izuna—but also, sopping wet from the wave that had clearly soaked the entire beach, the Shrine Maiden’s servant girls. Huddled together as if their swimsuits were suddenly transparent, they presented a vision that transcended words.
“Huh… All right, then. It’s still unforgivable to nearly drown Shiro, but this is marvelous,” Sora commented, returning to the beach with Shiro still in his arms.
“Yeees, a feast for the eyes, is it not, Your Majesty?”
“Yeah, if we just didn’t have you here, it woulda been perfect.”
This Sora muttered to the muscular old man who wore nothing but a loincloth, doing his level best to keep the geezer out of his line of sight.
Watching everyone frolicking, caressed by the waves, Steph smiled warmly.
“Hee-hee… We’ve been working so hard for so long…”
The brilliant rays of sunshine, the white sand. Returning to the tide, she lightly kicked at the water, splish, splash. The waves lapping at her feet, the wind blowing from the ocean, as if chasing away her daily toils—
“…Everyone needs a break now and then, don’t they?”
Steph whispered with a deep sense of relief. At the pleasant scent of the salty air, she wondered to herself when had been the last time that she had taken it easy like this? It must have been before Sora and Shiro came—no, before her grandfather passed away. Feeling that she had not released her tension for many years—she took a deep breath.
“I’m so glad we came…!” Steph declared, seeking assent from no one in particular.
Bee-bee-bee-bee-beep
“That’s a wrap! Good work, everyoooone!!”
As Sora thus called with half-open eyes…shuffle, shuffle…they came like zombies, trudging back from the sea.
“…Nghh… My hair, is all stiff…full of, sand…”
“Hff…I do apologize, Master, but I simply cannot bring myself to find an affinity for the sea… The salt breeze gets in my wings, and I know not what to say of the discomfort.”
