Invaders of the Rokujouma!? Volume 6

by Takehaya

  Kiriha continued talking, indulging feelings of both nostalgia and happiness. Based on the way she was acting, it was apparent that she really loved that boy. Koutarou felt a little bit envious.

  “He was a lot like you, Koutarou.”

  “Wow, you really think that highly of me?”

  “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have told you.”

  “Don’t say something like that straight to my face...”

  Koutarou blushed, a little embarrassed by Kiriha’s bold declaration. Not even Koutarou could keep his cool after a woman complimented him like that.

  “If I hadn’t, that would have bothered you too, right?”

  “So this was your real goal, huh?”

  “Heh...”

  Koutarou smiled as Kiriha flashed her mischievous grin. He was always being teased by Kiriha, but for some reason, he didn’t seem to mind today.

  “After that, I then spent a few days with him. I was selfish as a child, so all I did was cause trouble for him.”

  “That part of you hasn’t changed, you know?”

  “Koutarou...”

  “I can’t help but sympathize with the guy.”

  After teasing him so, Koutarou found it strange that Kiriha would say that she was selfish as a child. If she didn’t think she was selfish now, just how selfish was she as a child?

  “You’re really throwing me off... Today of all days, honestly...”

  Kiriha smiled wryly. Normally she would dance circles around Koutarou, but today their roles had been reversed. He was giving Kiriha a hard time instead of the other way around.

  But I suppose I don’t mind. It’s not like it’s unpleasant...

  That change had come about because both Koutarou and Kiriha had accepted one another into the deepest part of their hearts, even if Kiriha still wasn’t aware of it yet. And since this new dynamic she found herself in wasn’t displeasing to her, she decided she was okay with it. Really, she was happy.

  “He and I went all kinds of place together. We’d play in the park or go shop in the city. He even brought me along to the zoo and amusement park.”

  Through the window, Kiriha looked out over the amusement park and then towards the zoo. As she did, she recalled the weekend’s events, and in her mind, they began to overlap with her memories from a decade ago.

  “The zoo and the amusement park? Then...”

  “That’s right, Koutarou. I had you go with me to the places I went with him.”

  Kiriha nodded at Koutarou and pulled something out from her pocket. It was the aged trading card that had something scribbled on it in permanent marker. Seeing it, Koutarou pulled out the matching card he’d gotten with the pamphlet at the movie theater. It was almost exactly the same as Kiriha’s. Koutarou’s was just brand new, pristine, and still shiny.

  “I got this card from him. It made me so happy... So much that I had him go to the movies with me too...”

  Kiriha glanced down, but her gentle, warm gaze was directed at something much further off than the card in her hands. The card itself was a promotional item given out with snacks for the screening of the movie ten years ago. Kiriha’s card was so worn because she’d been treasuring it all this time. When she looked at it, she remembered the boy that had given it to her.

  “...You loved him, right?”

  Koutarou remembered Kiriha saying that while they were at the beach during summer vacation. She said she’d gotten it from someone she loved a long time ago.

  “Yes. He was my first love.”

  Kiriha slowly traced the pattern on the card with her finger.

  Of course a memento of your first love would be precious to you...

  Seeing Kiriha like that, Koutarou understood the meaning behind the gentle smile she would show from time to time. While they were at the beach house, he hadn’t fully appreciated what Kiriha meant when she said the word love, but he understood it perfectly now. She meant the longing, romantic love she’d harbored since childhood.

  “But those exhilarating, blissful days were short...”

  Kiriha dejectedly drooped her shoulders. She’d had a smile on her face until just a moment ago, and without it, she looked so lonely now.

  “What happened?”

  “They came to pick me up. I was a runaway child after all.”

  “Oh yeah, you’re the daughter of a distinguished clan, right?”

  Kiriha was the daughter of the People of the Earth’s chief. When she ran away, the entire clan went out looking for her. When they found her, she was of course taken back to the underground, meaning she was torn away from her beloved boy.

  “And so we were parted. After that, I wasn’t allowed to go to the surface, so I never saw him again.”

  “You wanted to though, right?”

  “Of course. I may have been young, but I was serious about wanting to marry him.”

  Still looking lonely, Kiriha managed a weak laugh. Her first love that blossomed when she ran away from home was cut short when she was taken back home. It was only for a few days, and ten years had passed since then, but Kiriha hadn’t once forgotten about it. It was like she was storing her feelings in the card in her hands.

  “That’s why I applied to become the commander when it was decided that we would invade the surface.”

  “What?!”

  With those words, Koutarou’s eyes shot open wide. He was suddenly able to make sense out of why Kiriha had really come to the surface, and it left him astonished.

  “So you agreed to invade the surface so you could meet your first love again?!”

  “That’s right.”

  Kiriha nodded. Koutarou’s guess was spot on.

  “That’s why this invasion needs to happen peacefully. I couldn’t bring myself to fan the flames of war in the city where I met my first love.”

  Kiriha had invaded the surface to find her first love. If it weren’t for the invasion, she wouldn’t have been allowed to go to the surface at all. But if the invasion was a disaster, meeting her first love again would only end in tragedy. That’s why she had to make sure things went peacefully and smoothly.

  “Wait a minute. When you first arrived, didn’t you ask me to hand over room 106 so you could mass produce weapons?”

  When Koutarou met Kiriha, she’d said she wanted to construct a shrine in room 106 to manufacture spiritual energy weapons like Karama and Korama. That didn’t seem to fit with what’d she just said about coming to the surface to find her love.

  “In reality, that was a gamble of sorts.”

  “A gamble?”

  “By putting it that way, I was hoping that you would resist.”

  “Aha!”

  Koutarou had been doubting that Kiriha actually wanted to steal room 106. It turns out he was onto something all along.

  “I needed you to resist. If the altar was completed in the early stages of the invasion, the radical faction would have pushed to use the weapons we made to finish the invasion through force. War against the surface had to be avoided at all costs. Nothing good would have come from obtaining room 106 back then.”

  The biggest obstacle for Kiriha, who wanted to invade peacefully, turned out to be a radical faction of her own people who were hell-bent on taking the surface by force. If she’d succeeded in taking room 106 too soon, there was a chance it would only fuel the fires of the radical faction. In order to prevent that, she intentionally tried to create a situation that would make it difficult for her to obtain the room.

  “That’s why you kept trying to make me nervous, but never did anything.”

  “I’m sorry, Koutarou. I could neither win nor lose the battle for room 106. If I won, the radical faction would mass produce weapons and march to the surface with them, and if I lost, they would move to take room 106 by force. It would mean a war for us either way.”

  “And if that happened, your wish would never come true...”

  Kiriha was a pacifist, so she wasn’t in favor of a military invasion to begin with. But
she had a personal investment in this too. She wanted to make contact with the surface peacefully so she could see her first love once more. In order for that to happen, she had to bring the battle for room 106 into a stalemate, which was the part that had confused Koutarou until now.

  “Really, if you had just said something, I would have cooperated with you from the get-go...”

  Koutarou scratched his head and smiled wryly. Kiriha’s goals were perfectly reasonable. She was trying to prevent a war while looking for her long-lost love. If he’d known all that from the start, Koutarou probably would have volunteered to help her regardless of room 106.

  “You’re not wrong, Koutarou. Thinking back on it, I should have just asked for your cooperation. But at the time, I had nothing to fall back on and I couldn’t truly trust you.”

  “Well, I guess that makes sense. We had just met and all...”

  Eight months ago, neither of them knew if they could trust the other. But things were different now. Kiriha revealing all of this to Koutarou was a sign of her trust in him, and Koutarou believing what Kiriha said was a sign of his trust in her.

  “I’m really sorry, Koutarou”

  “Huh?”

  “It’s true I’ve been deceiving you all this time. I want to apologize for that.”

  Kiriha had used a lot of methods to keep Koutarou from really trusting her. Everything from simple lies and inducement to trying to seduce or provoke him. She’d even gotten him to trust her only to turn around and make him put his guard up. Although she had to do it, she felt bad about it.

  “It’s fine, really. Of course... I am a little disappointed as a man.”

  Hearing Kiriha’s apology, Koutarou smiled wryly and shrugged. As he’d said, he did look somewhat disappointed. Koutarou wasn’t angry at Kiriha for everything that had happened up until now. It was all done for a good reason, and Koutarou could forgive her for that. She’d even helped him on more than one occasion, so there were no hard feelings. However, there was still one lingering let-down.

  “Disappointed?”

  “Yeah. If you’d been serious about pursuing me, I definitely would’ve felt more like a man.”

  Koutarou was a healthy teenage boy after all.

  “Koutarou...”

  Kiriha was taken aback by Koutarou’s words, but her astonishment was brief. The next moment, she fell into a fit of energetic laughter.

  “Pfft... Ahahaha!”

  The setting sun was shining on Kiriha’s profile, but her smile was bright enough to put it to shame. It was probably the first time Koutarou had ever seen her truly smile from the bottom of her heart.

  “You don’t have to laugh that much. I’m young, so it’s only natural.”

  Koutarou was a little irritated at being laughed at like that. He crossed his arms in disapproval. However, the real reason Kiriha was laughing was quite different from what Koutarou was thinking.

  “Hahaha... Koutarou, if those words are true, I would be proud as a woman.”

  That was the reason that Kiriha believed in him. Satomi Koutarou was not the kind of man to fall for such cheap temptations.

  After departing the ferris wheel, Koutarou and Kiriha headed towards another attraction. There was one final place that she wanted to go.

  “By the way, Kiriha-san, are you having any luck finding your first love?”

  “No, not quite. It was ten years ago after all. There are extremely few clues to go off of.”

  Kiriha shook her head with bitter resignation. Her face was dyed red by the setting sun. It was now approaching evening, and the shadows trailing behind them grew longer with each passing minute.

  “Well, if the only clue you have is that card, I guess that would be hard.”

  “There is one more clue, but I don’t know if he still has it or not.”

  The first time Kiriha had said anything about her first love was during their trip to the beach. It’d been a few months since then, but it didn’t seem Kiriha was any closer to discovering her love’s whereabouts.

  “There just aren’t any leads to go on. Nobody remembers anything. Not even I remember his face. Even if I found him, how would I know?”

  “I guess you’d have to talk to every man in this city closing in on his thirties.”

  Kiriha had met this boy ten years ago. She said he appeared to be high school age at the time, so he was probably in his late twenties now. Unfortunately, that only helped narrow things down so much. It was a big city.

  “He might not even live around here anymore. Even if he does, would he even remember meeting me?”

  “But you can’t just give up.”

  “That’s right...”

  Kiriha nodded and wistfully looked up overhead. The darkening winter sky was perfectly clear.

  “Do you love him that much?”

  “Yes. Spending this weekend revisiting these places and these memories has reaffirmed that for me. Even now, I’m still in love with him.”

  Kiriha’s feelings, like the sky, were perfectly clear. She would find him no matter what. Ten years had done nothing to shake her resolve.

  “That’s why I want to met him again. I’m well aware that even if we do meet, he might not accept my feelings. But if I never see him again, I’ll never know and I’ll never be able to move on.”

  They had only spent a few days together, but he was still her first love. Even as a child, Kiriha had known the significance of that.

  But it was a long time ago. That boy would be an adult now, and he might have forgotten all about Kiriha. He might even be married with a family by now. Even so, Kiriha still wanted to see him. She didn’t want to ruin his current life. She just wanted to meet with him and confess the feelings she’d held in all these years. It didn’t even matter if he reciprocated those feelings or not. She just knew that she needed to tell him. If she didn’t, there was no way she’d ever be able to move on, much less fall in love with someone else. It was what had to be done in order to move forward with her life.

  “I want to meet him, tell him how I feel, and put an end to this. Of course, I would be elated if he accepted my feelings.”

  Kiriha smiled. It was a refreshingly honest expression. She’d never talked to anyone about this before, and the smile on her face now seemed like proof of her trust in the first person she’d chosen to tell. It was a sign that she really thought of Koutarou as her friend.

  “So you refuse to half-ass it... Heh, I like it.”

  After hearing Kiriha out, Koutarou grinned contentedly. This kind of thing was right up his alley. Wanting to solve a problem, regardless of the odds and regardless of the outcome, was rather close to the awkward way Koutarou lived his own life. He really felt like he understood what she meant, and he felt closer to her than ever.

  “Koutarou?”

  “Kiriha-san, I’ll help you too, so let’s find him.”

  Inspired, Koutarou wanted to help Kiriha. He felt invested in this, almost like he was looking for his first love. That was the strength of the bond he’d forged with Kiriha.

  “Huh?”

  Kiriha’s eyes opened wide in surprise at Koutarou’s sudden offer. She’d never expected him to want to help.

  “I just wanna get a look at the mug of the guy that could make a woman like you feel that way.”

  “Koutarou...”

  Kiriha reflexively clutched her chest, her eyes moistening.

  That’s right... That’s the kind of man you are...

  Kiriha was reminded all over again how she had come to trust Koutarou. He was clumsy and awkward, but earnest and kind. That’s why she’d revealed everything to him. This sweet reminder was just the cherry on top. She was truly happy.

  “And besides, now that I’ve heard this much, I want to see what happens next.”

  “...Thank you, Koutarou...”

  Kiriha smiled and bowed deeply with her hands still on her chest. It was the only way she could think to show her gratitude right now.

  “Stop it.
Don’t worry about it. We’re friends, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  Kiriha slowly looked up. When she did, it seemed the tears had passed. She was emotional, but she certainly wasn’t upset.

  “That said, watching over someone else’s love life does make you feel a bit jealous.”

  “That’s true. I understand how you feel.”

  After blinking a couple of times, Kiriha began cheerfully smiling again. It was again a special sign of her friendship with Koutarou.

  “That’s why, after we get everything sorted out with this guy of yours, you’re going to introduce me to some cute underground girl. Got it?”

  “Got it. I’ll try my hardest.”

  “Then we have ourselves a deal!”

  Koutarou nodded and flashed a wide grin back at Kiriha. It was the same kind of smile he often had on his face around Kenji, and it was a sign he’d started to think of Kiriha as a precious friend in much the same way.

  “With that said, let’s hurry up and find this guy. For the sake of my future as well.”

  “But of course. I need to push some girl from a distinguished clan on you so I can use you as a foothold for the surface invasion immediately.”

  “Hey now...”

  “Heehee...”

  Kiriha smiled mischievously and dashed away from Koutarou. Her glossy black hair shone radiantly in the fading sunlight.

  She’s surprisingly childish sometimes. But I guess that makes sense. As a leader of the underground dwellers, this isn’t a side that she can show just anyone.

  Koutarou chased after Kiriha while thinking about that.

  “Hey, wait up!”

  “No way!”

  Ignoring Koutarou’s pleading, Kiriha ran away from him with a bounce in her step. Looking at her from behind, Koutarou couldn’t see any trace of her normally calm and composed attitude. She looked just like a child. And like a child, Koutarou chased after her for a while.

  “Hup!”

  Kiriha took one last leap and landed by planting both of her feet on the ground. Her hair fluttered behind her and continued to do so as she spun around to greet Koutarou as he came running up.

  “Is tag over already?”

  “Yes. This is where I wanted to come.”