Invaders of the Rokujouma!? Volume 6

by Takehaya

  Ruth would be playing a random civilian. While it sounded like an easy job at first, she had to shriek when Baron Demon showed up, deliver a few lines, and then help get the crowd fired up for Harukaze Man’s appearance. It turned out to be quite the technical role, and Ruth was chosen for her fastidiousness and politeness.

  Kenji would be playing the host of the show, both because his charming persona would go over well with the kids and their mothers, and because he was quite sure Koutarou—the alternative—would be terrible at it. Improvising and getting a crowd’s attention were both strong suits of Kenji’s. Koutarou complained about this casting as well, but again, nobody listened.

  As a ghost, Sanae would be in charge of special effects and helping Koutarou with his lines. Since nobody else could see or hear her, she made the perfect prompter.

  “So what role did you get, Satomi-kun? The lead again?”

  “No, this time I’m a bad guy. I’m playing a heartless villain called Baron Demon.”

  Koutarou pulled out a script from his bag and flipped through the pages.

  “Satomi-kun as a heartless villain...?”

  Harumi tilted her head to the side. She didn’t see Koutarou as a villain. He was a bit mischievous, but she just couldn’t imagine him doing anything evil. This piqued her interest in the hero show.

  “I’m free on Sunday, so maybe I should come watch.”

  “You’re more than welcome to. Everyone—”

  Koutarou was about to invite her, but he was interrupted by a playful grin creeping across his lips.

  “Or instead, Sakuraba-senpai, why don’t you come participate in the show too?”

  “Me?!”

  Harumi was shocked by the unexpected proposal.

  “Yes. We’re actually still short-handed, so the script has to be adjusted. If you joined us though, I think we’d finally have enough people.”

  In the original version, there was one more character. The civilian Ruth was playing had a boyfriend. But because they were lacking people, Kenji had to act as the host instead since it was a more important job. That left the boyfriend role unfilled, so the script had to be rewritten accordingly. However, if Harumi joined in, they could fill all of the roles. Harumi and Kenji would play the civilian couple, and Ruth would become the host. That way, they could still use the original script.

  “B-But Satomi-kun... you can’t just spring something like that on me.”

  Harumi, shy by nature, was perplexed at the sudden offer to appear in front of a crowd. She’d only had the courage to get on stage during the cultural festival because she was acting with Koutarou.

  “You’ll be fine. We all just heard about it today too. And if I’m not mistaken, the role I have in mind isn’t that hard, Sakuraba-senpai.”

  Giving the puzzled Harumi a moment to think it over, Koutarou merrily flipped through his script. In the original version, the civilian girl’s main job was mostly just to scream as she was being kidnapped. It wasn’t a very complicated role. It was only when the boyfriend character was cut that she had to take all of his lines, making it a more complex part. But with Kenji playing the boyfriend, Koutarou wasn’t all that worried.

  “B-But... I don’t know if I could do it...”

  Despite Koutarou’s reassurance, Harumi just couldn’t picture herself getting kidnapped and screaming. She was worried she might come down with a terrible case of stage fright again.

  “What is this popular actress saying?” Koutarou laughed and teased the hesitant Harumi.

  After the cultural festival, her popularity had skyrocketed. People originally thought she was cute, but after her masterful performance during the play, she became something of a celebrity at Kisshouharukaze High School. Since she wasn’t all that fond of the attention, it actually made her life a little harder. In fact, the other students obsessed over her so much that they completely overlooked Koutarou, who had played the lead alongside her, and his life had carried on like normal.

  “You only need to flirt with Mackenzie a little before being kidnapped by me. Then you just need to scream some.”

  “Screaming after being kidnapped by Satomi-kun...”

  After hearing that Koutarou would be the one to kidnap her, Harumi began fantasizing.

  “Gahahahaha, what a good woman! I’ll make you my wife!”

  “Noooooooo! Someone save meeeee!”

  Wearing dark, spiked armor, Koutarou would laugh as he kidnapped her in front of everyone.

  That sounds a bit fun...

  Unconvinced until now, Harumi began changing her mind. After imagining it, it might be fun after all, as long as Koutarou was the one kidnapping her. Besides, she often read books to the children at the hospital, so her performing in a hero show at the kindergarten would be like a dream come true for them.

  “If that’s all, then I should be able to...”

  “Really? Please say you’ll help us out!”

  When Harumi agreed, Koutarou jumped out of his chair in excitement. He then whipped out his phone and called to give Kiriha the good news right away.

  “A hero show, huh? Heehee...”

  Harumi smiled as she watched Koutarou on the phone. She was unsure about the whole thing mere moments ago, but now she was looking forward to the show just two days from now.

  The Intentions Behind the Invasion

  Sunday, December 13th

  The morning of the performance was blessed with lovely weather, and with that, the anniversary celebration for Harukaze Kindergarten began. The events being held for it included class visits and a game tournament. The hero show was scheduled as something of a halftime show during the tournament, which meant that Koutarou and the others wouldn’t appear until that afternoon.

  “Now then, everyone, it’s time for what you’ve been waiting for! Harukaze Man!”

  Ruth’s voice sounded out from the speakers. But there was still no one standing up on top of the stage the youth department spent an entire night building.

  “Let’s all call for him together! Haaaruuukaaazeee Maaan!” Ruth encouraged the children.

  “Haaaruuukaaazeee Maaan!” they all cried in return.

  The next moment, there were a couple of small explosions at the sides of the stage that filled it with smoke. When it cleared, there were now three people standing on stage: Koutarou, Theia, and Kiriha, all in costume.

  Koutarou was wearing a suit of pitch black, spiked armor with a mantle. Theia was wearing a formal black dress with bat wings on her back. Kiriha wore a kimono similar to her usual outfit, but this one was embellished with flashy black roses on it, and her hairpiece was fashioned after the thorns of a rose. The three costumes were courtesy of the high school’s cosplay society, and they had each been designed with their respective villain in mind.

  Theia stood in the center of the stage, her arms crossed and her head cockily thrown back. Koutarou and Kiriha stood on either side of her. The children of the kindergarten had been impatiently waiting for their hero, but these three mysterious people had appeared instead. Many of the children stared on with their tiny mouths gaping in awe. Theia smirked as she looked out over the children and waved around a long cane.

  “Too bad, kids! Your beloved Harukaze Man isn’t coming! That’s because we, the Underground Empire, have defeated him!” she shouted loudly.

  After hearing what Theia said, the children were shaken. Their hero had been defeated. That was impossible. They wanted to believe it was a lie, but right in front of them where their hero was supposed to be instead stood the evil trio. The children were stricken, and quite a few began crying.

  However, one courageous boy stood up.

  “That’s a lie! You’re lying!” With tears in his eyes, he pointed at Theia and shouted, “I won’t fall for a lie from some tiny little shrimp like you!”

  “What did you just say, you brat?!”

  Tiny shrimp. Hearing that phrase, Theia lost herself and got angry for real. Since she was self-conscious of her height and
sex appeal, those words were humiliating to her, even if they were only coming from a kindergartener.

  “Do you have any idea who you’re talking to?”

  Theia’s hair wildly bounced back and forth as she stamped her foot and threatened the boy with a sharp glare. The boy who was the target of her aggression froze and gulped hard.

  “This is bad, Koutarou! That’s not acting!” Sanae, who had memorized everyone’s lines, warned Koutarou.

  “Hey, what are you doing, Theia? He’s just a kid. Calm down,” Koutarou whispered as he lightly pulled on her dress to get her attention.

  “Shut up!”

  But it was too late. Theia had really lost it. She ignored Koutarou and swatted his hand away. Her attention was entirely focused on the young boy in the crowd.

  “I’ll show that rude little twerp—”

  “When we get home, I’ll play games with you for as long as you want.”

  Fortunately, Theia was much more receptive to Koutarou’s second attempt. Her temper tantrum ceased and she slowly turned towards him.

  “Y-You better not be lying...”

  “Of course not.”

  Jeez, just how offended were you...?

  Seeing the tears that had started to form in Theia’s eyes, Koutarou thought it would be best to do whatever she wanted to placate her.

  “All right. But you’d better not go back on your word.”

  Theia held her anger in and returned to normal. Sensing that, Kiriha ad-libbed a few lines to get the play back on track.

  “Princess Devil, leave this to your faithful servants Black Rose and Baron Demon. We’ll show this kid that there are no heroes.”

  “Very well. I’ll leave it to you.”

  “Understood. Go, Baron Demon! Show these kids that Harukaze Man is no more!”

  “Leave it to me, Princess Devil and Black Rose!”

  Thanks to Kiriha’s quick wit, the quickly derailing show was now back on track. Koutarou let out a sigh of relief, then and jumped off the stage according to his stage directions and approached the seats reserved for the children’s guardians.

  “You there! Come with me!”

  He grabbed the arm of a girl who was sitting there and pulled her out of her seat. It was Harumi.

  “Kyaaaaaaaah!”

  She let out a terrified scream, but she couldn’t help the soft look of affection in her eyes as she watched Koutarou.

  “Harumi-chan! Let go of my girlfriend, you villain!”

  As Koutarou was dragging Harumi away, Kenji—pretending to be her boyfriend—jumped up from the seat next to hers and flew at Koutarou at just the right time. It was exactly like they’d practiced it.

  “Pipe down!”

  Koutarou threw out his heavily-armored arm, making a grand display of his mantle. When he did, Kenji was sent flying backwards and landed on his rear. Koutarou and Kenji’s coordination was perfect, and everything went just as smoothly as their rehearsal had.

  “Kenji-kun!”

  “Wahahaha! Too bad for you, youngster! I’m going to make this cute girl my wife!”

  I’m going to make this cute girl my wife. Even though she knew it was just a line from the script, Harumi couldn’t stop herself from blushing. She became both embarrassed and happy. Her heart was throbbing.

  “Argh, is there no justice in this world?!”

  “That’s right! Justice died alongside Harukaze Man! Come, Jet Black King!”

  “Neigh!”

  Impersonating a black horse, Yurika came running in from the side of the stage while neighing. She was playing Baron Demon’s companion, Jet Black King, and she was doing it perfectly. To the kids there, she looked like a real horse.

  “Today marks the beginning of the age of evil! Harukaze Man is a thing of the past!”

  “Save meee, Kenji-kuuun!”

  “Harumi-chaaan!”

  “Jet Black King, to the wedding hall!”

  “Neigh!”

  “How cruel! What atrocious injustice! How could this happen?! Is Harukaze Man really gone?!”

  Ruth’s voice echoed throughout the kindergarten. The children were sweating and waiting with bated breath for the conclusion. From here, the supposedly dead Harukaze Man would appear and vanquish Koutarou and the other bad guys. That was the plot of the show. However, for some reason, the hero that appeared wasn’t Harukaze Man.

  “Let go of that woman, underground people!”

  A powerful voice supported by a powerful diaphragm rang out from the back of the venue. It carried through the audience and reached Koutarou and the others on the stage.

  Here comes Harukaze Man. Wait, what?

  Realizing the voice had come from somewhere different than what they’d rehearsed, Koutarou was confused.

  “Koutarou, something’s wrong. Look.”

  “Uh...”

  According to the manuscript, Harukaze Man was supposed to appear through the pyrotechnics in the center of the stage while Koutarou was kidnapping Harumi.

  “As expected from the underground people. They certainly have unique outfits...”

  “Do you have any good looking, manly leaders?!”

  “It looks like there’s a young one, Nee-chan.”

  “Is there anything good to eat around here?”

  “Why don’t you get some of that candy they’re handing out over there?”

  And what’s this? There’s five of them...

  What further confused Koutarou was the number of supposed heroes that appeared. According to the script, there were only supposed to be two: the man acting as Harukaze Man, and Shizuka as Kisshou Lady. The supposedly defeated Harukaze Man borrowed Kisshou Lady’s power to revive, and they would arrive on stage together. But for some reason, now there were five heroes standing there. And what’s more, they were dressed in something more like police uniforms than hero costumes.

  “...Satomi-kun, who are those people?” Harumi whispered to Koutarou, equally confused.

  “Let me try asking,” Koutarou whispered back. He then turned to the newcomers and shouted, “Who goes there?!”

  In the original scene, this was where Koutarou was supposed to ask for their identity.

  “We have no name to give to the likes of you who would attack a kindergarten! Let’s go, everyone!”

  “Yeah!”

  However, the five declined to answer. Instead, they rushed towards the stage.

  “Even though it’s our first battle, there’s no need to fear! Justice is on our side!”

  “Senpai, I don’t really get it, but they seem to be heroes,” Koutarou said as he turned back to Harumi.

  Based on their behavior, that was the conclusion Koutarou had come to. The way they were talking and acting certainly lined up with what you’d expect from a hero in a show like this.

  “I wonder if it’s some kind of surprise...”

  “Maybe there was some unexpected trouble and they had to call some stand-ins?”

  Locked in an embrace, Koutarou and Harumi stared at each other. Normally they would be blushing, but in the midst of all the confusion, neither of them had taken the time to appreciate the position they were in.

  “This isn’t in the script.”

  “Hmm...”

  When Koutarou looked around, he saw that both Theia and Kiriha were just as confused as he was. He then looked to Ruth. As the host, she should have been told what was going on beforehand, but she just looked back at Koutarou and shrugged her shoulders.

  So Ruth-san doesn’t know either? Yurika... obviously wouldn’t know. I guess the show must go on.

  Koutarou ultimately decided to press on with the performance. He couldn’t imagine that heroes arriving at this point in the show was unintentional. As long as they had the villains and heroes on stage together now, the show could proceed mostly as planned. Whether this was supposed to be a surprise or it was a last-minute substitution, calling off the show now would only disappoint the children.

  “All right, let’s continu
e, Sakuraba-senpai.”

  “Okay.”

  Koutarou nodded at Harumi, then winked at Theia and Kiriha. Understanding what he meant, they both nodded in return.

  “Mackenzie.”

  “I know. Leave it to me.”

  Koutarou was about to signal Ruth and Kenji as well, but the two of them had already taken action.

  “Justice hasn’t died! Look, everyone! Evil will never prosper!”

  “With the absence of Harukaze Man, this mysterious group of five has appeared! Are they messengers of justice, or have they gotten ahead of themselves? For the time being, let’s all cheer for them!”

  Kenji and Ruth rallied the spectating children. Thanks to them, the kids were able to overcome the shock of Harukaze Man’s defeat and cheer for the new heroes.

  “You can do it!”

  “Beat up those bad guys!”

  “Leave it to us! Justice always wins!”

  As the group of five ran through the center aisle to get to the stage, they were showered with cheers from both sides of the crowd. And as they approached, differentiating the five of them got easier.

  “I’m all fired up!”

  The one running in front was a short-haired young man. Based on his appearance, he seemed to be the athletic type like Koutarou.

  “Let the games begin!”

  Behind him was a shorter boy who looked even younger than Koutarou and the others. He had a round face and large glasses.

  “Where are the handsome leaders?!”

  The third was the only lady in the group. She gave off the impression of being a strong-willed woman with her long, black hair and thick eyebrows.