There were roughly fifty monsters. With vacant expressions and the slow, shambling gait of zombies, they steadily advanced toward us.
“I’ll take the lead. Shizu-pon, provide support.”
Reona gave a brief order, drew her Japanese sword, and prepared to charge.
Oh. She was actually being serious during a scene that called for seriousness.
Good job, Reona.
Way to go, Reona.
My expectations for her had sunk to rock bottom. Still, I couldn’t shake the fear that she had some punch line prepared.
“…No. I can handle this by myself.”
Shizuku interrupted Reona, her expression carrying a hint of grim determination.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Shizu-pon! That’s pushing yourself a little too hard. To put it in Dragon Ba○l terms, you’re like Yamcha without his trusty Wolf Fang Fist. In other words, you’re biting off more than you can chew.”
“Yamcha fights with his bare hands.”
While delivering that perfectly accurate retort, Shizuku pulled a blue orb from the pocket of her long coat.
“I won’t lose to you, Reona-chan. After all, I was the first to acknowledge Yoshito-sama as my master. —《Night Fall》.”
The words that flowed from her pale pink lips were a different incantation from the one she usually used. The orb trembled, and an utterly black darkness spread all around us.
“Yoshito-kun, Yoshito-kun. Doesn’t this feel kind of ominous? Like a black cat, a crow, and a hearse all crashing into each other.”
I could sort of understand what Reona was getting at, but that mental image sounded more like a comedy sketch than anything ominous.
“Whenever Shizu-pon brings out her staff, I thought it was supposed to be more like a robot anime, with lots of KACHUNK! and CLANG! sounds…”
But the phenomenon unfolding before our eyes was nothing like that. One snake after another slithered out of the darkness, twisting and coiling around one another. One, two, three…
Gradually, they took the shape of a staff, and the blue orb settled into place at its tip.
And then—
“How I envy them! Oh, how I envy them! Down with big breasts! My hatred knows no bounds!”
Reona began spouting curses with a surprisingly serious expression. Shizuku’s clothes had vanished, leaving her naked. Her skin was dazzlingly white. The long coat usually concealed her figure, but her waist was remarkably slender, curving inward in all the right places. Above it, her full breasts swelled generously, looking as though they would be wonderfully soft to the touch.
The darkness around us grew denser, enveloping Shizuku’s body. A tailcoat with long tails at the back. A tight skirt. Beneath it is a white dress shirt. Different crests glowed with a black radiance on the backs of her hands.
On her left hand was the Hero’s Trapezohedron Crest I’d inscribed myself. On her right was the Eye Caught Between Two Shells. The crest representing Ayano—the Evil God.
…Ayano-san, what exactly did you do to Shizuku last night after I passed out?
With a lingering sense of unease, I activated 【Appraisal】.
| [Name] Aitori Shizuku [Gender] Female [Race] Chūnibyō [Age] 15 [Titles] 【Eighth Head of the Aitori Family】 【Third Seat of the Round Table, Sheriruth Binah”】 [Stats] ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙Level: 56 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙Attack: 56 (+50) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙Defense: 52 (+50) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙Vitality: 45 (+50) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙Magic: 92 (+100) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙Mental Strength: Unquantifiable ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙Agility: 57 (+50) [Abilities] 【Awaken】 Manifests a Magic Wand. Enables the use of magic and provides a bonus to Magic. Cannot be used while 【Night Fall】 is active. 【Night Fall】 Borrows the power of a certain god to make the contents of the Nameless Prayer Book—Her Cringeworthy Diary manifest in the user’s status. This ability is based on the user’s self-hypnosis that “the contents of the notebook are reality.” Upon activation, the user acquires the status ailment Delusion (Severe). Automatically deactivates after thirty minutes. Cannot be used again for three minutes afterward. If, for any reason, the self-hypnosis can no longer be maintained, this ability cannot be activated. [Skills] 【Western Sorcery III】 【C∴C∴C-Style Sorcery VIII】 Others unknown [Status Ailment] Delusion (Severe): “I am an executive of C∴C∴C, the third-ranked member of the Fictional Round Table. I am both the master and lover of the fifth-ranked member.” The user firmly believes these delusions, and they cannot be corrected. Nullifies all forms of mental interference. |
Holy crap!
Ayano had called it “just a little suggestion,” but wasn’t this even more troublesome than brainwashing or memory erasure?
While I stood there worrying, Shizuku’s transformation scene—the kind you’d see in an anime—appeared to be entering its final stages.
“I am Aitori Shizuku, third-ranked member of the Round Table, Sheriruth Binah!”
Shizuku proclaimed her name in a bold, dignified voice, without the slightest trace of embarrassment or affectation.
“Oh you aimless hordes of spirits and monsters! Bow before this inverted cross, bestowed upon me by the ‘Divine Will of Daath’!”
She angled her staff at forty-five degrees and struck a dramatic pose straight out of a period samurai drama.
Where had all her earlier nervousness gone? She looked like a completely different person.
“—Then I shall take my leave, Acting Supreme Commander.”
Shizuku shot me a quick wink, then dashed toward the River with a confident, gallant stride. She called me “Acting Supreme Commander” a few hours earlier too, but the atmosphere was unmistakably different this time.
She seemed genuinely serious. There wasn’t even a hint of embarrassed joking in her manner. In fact, her eyes were downright terrifying.
This was definitely Delusion (Severe) in action. No, make that Delusion (Insane). To be perfectly honest, she scared me a little.
“Cherry blossoms wither after being struck by lightning, and crows break their wings, left to hunger and thirst.”
Shizuku began her incantation. Her magical power surged, and wind rose around her in swirling currents. Her shoulder-length black hair fluttered in the gale, while violet sparks of light scattered through the air.
“Let the Last Supper arrive! Repent before the dawn that is yet to come! Raise both hands and beg for forgiveness! There is no escape for you! 《God Bird—》”
Shizuku raised her right hand high. A gigantic magic circle appeared far above her. Bursting forth from it was a dark divine bird, its form sculpted from pure magical energy: the God Bird.
“KEEEEEEEEEEE!”
It shrieked with an ear-splitting, unnatural sound as it flew wildly through the black-clouded sky in every direction. Sonic booms erupted in its wake, shattering every window in the surrounding buildings.
And then—
“Stoner Sun!”
With a gesture as sharp and precise as that of a maestro conducting a symphony orchestra, she brought her right hand sweeping down. In perfect synchronization with that motion, the divine bird slammed into the ground.
Heat and a violent gale erupted in an instant. A deafening roar and tremors, so intense they threatened to shatter one’s eardrums. A chaotic dance of light, searing itself into the retina even behind closed eyelids.
An overwhelming, violent force—swallowing everything in its path.
＊ ＊ ＊
When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I saw was Shizuku.
“This is what happens when you dare to oppose us. Do feel free to regret your foolishness to your heart’s content at the ends of the road to the underworld.”
She twirled her staff pointlessly and struck a triumphant pose.
Well, that was just a matter of personal taste, so I didn’t really have a problem with it. The problem was the scenery around us. Every last monster had vanished, but Kyoto itself had been swept away along with them. The river had dried up. The ground had been gouged out and overturned. The entire area looked as though a missile had struck it.
If this had been the real world, this would’ve been a catastrophe of epic proportions. Thank goodness this Kyoto was fake.
If I remembered correctly, Shizuku’s magic stat had been 192.
Yeah. She was certainly putting it to good use—or rather, she’d reached the point where she really ought to start holding back.
“Yoshito-sama, I did my best!”
Shizuku beamed at me with a bright, cheerful smile.
She came running over and wrapped her arms tightly around me.
“I wasn’t very impressive against the crow tengu, but I can do it when I really try! I won’t lose to Reona, either. …So please don’t abandon me, okay? I beg you.”
Where had that come from all of a sudden?
“Ahhh, I see, I see.”
Reona murmured to herself, sounding as though she’d figured something out.
“My guess is that Shizu-pon’s self-hypnosis includes the setting that she’s Yoshito-kun’s girlfriend.”
“Setting? Self-hypnosis? What are you talking about?”
Shizuku shot back in an unusually assertive tone.
“Reona-chan, has your brain become as underdeveloped as your breasts? Why don’t you try accepting reality for once? Yoshito-sama and I are in love. Deeply, passionately in love.”
Squeeze.
Shizuku hugged me even tighter. Her lower breasts were now pressed right against my face.
It was a pretty blissful experience, all things considered, but how long was it going to take for the old Shizuku to come back? Her status had said that she was immune to all forms of mental interference magic and that the effect would wear off after thirty minutes. Did that mean all I could do was leave her like this and wait?
“By the way, Yoshito-sama, I clearly went too far, didn’t I? I defeated all the monsters, but I also caused enormous damage to the city…”
Murmuring that, Shizuku gently released me.
Then she knelt down. No, not just her knees. She put her hands on the ground, too.
She was on all fours.
“So, um… I was wondering if you might discipline me…”
What exactly was she expecting me to do?
As I pondered that question, something happened to Shizuku’s staff, which lay on the ground nearby. The snakes writhed and squirmed, transforming into a different shape.
A whip.
Was she seriously asking me to hit her with it?
No, no, no. That was way too hardcore!
“Yoshito… sama?”
Shizuku looked up at me with glistening, half-lidded eyes.
Then she turned around. Her shapely backside swayed beneath her tight skirt, trembling ever so slightly, as though inviting me.
“Fine. You want discipline, right?”
“Yes… Please, Yoshito-sama. Give me your hard one… quickly…”
I picked up the whip, stepped closer to Shizuku, and raised my right hand—
CRACK!
“Eeep!”
With a shriek, Shizuku crumpled limply to the ground.
She had lost consciousness.
For the record, all I’d done was strike the asphalt with the whip. With my free left hand, I cast 《Lightning Spell》 and knocked Shizuku out. Even if someone was immune to mental interference magic, there were plenty of other ways to deal with them.
“Yoshito-kun, was the whip-cracking gesture really necessary?”
“Don’t start making sensible observations only at times like this.”
“Sorry. I just couldn’t help becoming calm and rational when confronted with the sheer depths of Shizu-pon’s inner darkness. Good grief, that’s terrifying.”
Then Reona added,
“Declaring that you’re ‘truly in love’ with a five-year-old and asking to be ‘disciplined’… Wow. That’s gone way beyond the realm of shotacon and straight into the territory of kicking ethics and morality right in the teeth.”
“I really don’t think you’re the one who should be saying that, Reona.”
“I’m fine, because I’m Reona Kanna. The ‘Re’ in Reona stands for freedom.”
“Wait. Where exactly does the word ‘freedom’ contain ‘re’?”
“You’ll understand if you put it in English.”
“…Huh?”
“It’s the ‘re’ in freedom. Are you okay with that?”
Okay.
I wasn’t entirely convinced, but thinking about it any further would just be a waste of time.
“If Shizu-pon could live as freely and shamelessly as I do, she’d never have to deal with stress. But, well, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Knowing her, she’ll be absolutely mortified once she comes to her senses. If you comfort her gently at that point, she’ll fall for you in no time. Well, she’s already fallen for you, so I guess that’s a moot point. Just when did you start raising romance flags, you precocious little boy?”
What an outrageous accusation.
I ignored Reona and turned my attention to the task I’d been working on in parallel. It wasn’t as though I’d spent the entire time cheerfully commentating on Shizuku’s battle. I’d been sending familiars all over the place, investigating this alternate dimension.
Apparently, this place was remarkably faithful to real-world Kyoto. For instance, the newspapers stocked at convenience stores bore today’s date. The place was also enormous. Broadly speaking, it covered the entire area people imagined when they heard the name Kyoto as a tourist destination.
Mount Daimonji to the east, Arashiyama to the west, the Katsura River to the south, and Mount Kurama to the north. It was an alternate dimension roughly twenty kilometers square, and beyond that area, an invisible wall prevented anyone from going farther.
It felt like the edge of an open-world RPG map.
Now, here’s the thing. A quarter of this fake Kyoto had just been blown away by 《Stonner Sun》, and it seemed that the news had reached Ajishiro Miya, who was outside the alternate dimension.
I could sense her presence. Alarmed by whatever had happened, she was directing her awareness into the dimension, peering inside to investigate.
And when it came to tracing someone back to their source, that was my specialty—
All right. Got you.
There was a line from some play or another that went something like this: When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you.
In my case, I was going to drag the abyss right into itself.
“—《Invasion Spell》・《You too, come wallow in blood and mud.》”
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
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