I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 3 Page 12

  “Rekka.” Tsumiki was glaring at me.

  “Rekka.” Tetra was smiling.

  “Rekka.” Lea gently smiled with her eyes.

  But they were all looking at me.

  “...You’re okay with that?”

  I’m just a kid! I don’t have any power! I’m not a real hero! I might not always be able to save you! And I’m going to whine and complain along the way! Can you all accept that? Will you still stay by my side?

  “It’s really okay for me to stay with all of you?”

  “It is.”

  The girls’ answer came back like it was the most natural thing in the world. I could feel a weight being lifted off my shoulders.

  “Then...”

  If everyone was going to stay by my side and protect me...

  “I’ll become strong enough to protect you too!”

  I balled my hands into fists again.

  I was still scared. My hands and legs were still shaking. The fear of losing the things I cared about was still there. But if everyone was there to support me through my weakness...

  I balled my fists up even tighter.

  I was going to work for the best possible future—for me and for them. I wasn’t going to let my bloodline get the better of me. I would fight. For the sake of the people who were going to be with me. For the stories that needed my help. And right now, what I needed to fight for was...

  “Hibiki...”

  I looked up at the distant sky in the direction that Zolphiakd had taken her.

  Hibiki Banjo, the girl with a bloodline just like mine... She was the reason that I’d left everyone behind in the first place, but now I was back together with them.

  That meant Hibiki was alone again. That wasn’t okay. She was a normal kid, just like me. She needed someone by her side too. And if that was my job, then... world-ending weapons of mass destruction, insane monsters, wars, terrifying demons... I would defeat them all.

  I looked around, taking in for a moment how much everything had changed. That’s when I saw the Infinity Reviver again.

  “...!”

  In an instant, everything clicked.

  There were limits to the plan I had come up with on my own, but if everyone would help me, we could smash through those limits together.

  The story of Kult and Meifa... The story of the nine-tailed foxes... The story of the claymen... If we worked together, we could save them all!

  “Please, everyone, help me!”

  Chapter 5: And I Save, and Am Saved

  I was over my worries.

  I was weak. But everyone would compensate for my weakness. Where I lacked power, they would lend it to me. That was how I could save them all. I could protect everyone. I could resolve these stories.

  That was the path I’d chosen. And the first step was the story of the magical scientist who’d gotten me into all this.

  “Hey, Kult!”

  “Meifa... Meifa... Hmm? Oh...”

  Kult looked up from his sleeping lover in a daze. He looked like he’d aged ten years in just a few minutes.

  “Snap out of it! I need your help.”

  “Hmph... What can I do now? Just leave me be.” Kult weakly cradled Meifa’s body. “I couldn’t save anything. Not the world, not even the heart of the woman I love...”

  “You mean the nightmares Zolphiakd was talking about? He was making that crap up.”

  “How can you be sure? If he was lying, then how was he able to revive?” Kult asked.

  If Zolphiakd had managed to break the seal and revive, that meant he’d gotten his hands on darkness energy somehow. Since he was linked to Meifa, it seemed like the only place he could have gotten it was from her. In other words, her nightmares.

  There were tears in Kult’s eyes.

  “I never should have gotten her involved. I never should have told her that she was the only one who could seal away Zolphiakd. She was so kind... When she heard that, she must have felt like she had no choice... I took advantage of her kindness and forced her to endure this horrible suffering. No amount of atonement will make up for this...”

  “Then...” I grabbed Kult by the collar of his white lab coat. “You’ll just have to do what you can!”

  “Wh-What?’

  “Only a coward would give up before he even tries, right?”

  “But if Meifa wakes up and sees this disaster, she’ll blame herself,” he said.

  “Yeah,” I replied.

  Meifa had sacrificed herself to save her world. That was the kind of person she was. If she saw that Zolphiakd had revived, she’d surely blame herself.

  “I know. That’s why we’re going to fix all this before she wakes up.”

  “Is that possible?” Kult’s eyes widened.

  “To do it, I need your help.”

  “...”

  “Listen, maybe she did regret choosing to sleep for eternity, and maybe she did have nightmares. But that doesn’t mean she blamed you, does it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  It was true that Zolphiakd was back. That probably meant that she was having nightmares in her long sleep, but it didn’t mean that the nightmares were what the demon said they were.

  “Anybody would feel bad after having to say goodbye forever to the person they love, right?”

  I’d never had a girlfriend, so maybe it wasn’t my place to talk, but that was beside the point.

  “It hurt you too, didn’t it? So believe in her. Believe that she felt the same thing you did. And this time, why don’t you try for it?”

  “Try for what?”

  “What else?” I gave him the brightest smile I could muster. “A happy ending where everyone is smiling.”

  ▽

  I was on Lea’s back like a dragon-riding knight. Since she’d lost most of her power, she was now small enough that I could wrap my legs around her torso. Together, we were flying above the clayman battlefield.

  I’d borrowed Kult’s dowsing pendulum and was using it to look for Zolphiakd. He made it sound like he was going to watch the fight, which meant that he was probably hovering somewhere around here, looking down on the claymen and laughing as they spilled each other’s blood...

  “Rekka, I found him,” Lea said to me telepathically. She could see much farther than a human could.

  “Okay, we’ll launch a surprise attack from above...”

  “No, he’s already noticed us too,” she said.

  “All right... then charge in!”

  “Understood!”

  Lea accelerated. The wind whipped around us as we surged forward. No normal human could withstand this kind of acceleration or this kind of wind. That is, unless they were protected.

  I was wearing a hero’s armor, the Infinity Reviver. Kult had removed his modification to turn the wearer’s Fate Ratio into energy, and had restored the armor’s original function: converting one’s Fate Ratio into pure combat power.

  Kult’s crystal ball had told him that Hibiki’s bloodline made her the perfect person to power it... but my fate was just as crazy as hers!

  In fact, my whole body felt like it was overflowing with power. Despite wearing heavy armor, my body felt light and limber.

  I looked down at my clenched fist and saw a burning red aura. With this kind of power, I should be able to fight even a darkness-eating demon.

  “Rekka, he’s throwing something!”

  Lea’s telepathic message got my attention. I looked up and scanned the horizon. Zolphiakd was still just a dot in the distance to my human eyes, but I thought I could make out him raising the arm that wasn’t holding Hibiki. His hand emitted a malignant aura that instantly formed into a spear of pure darkness.

  “Dodge!”

  I reflexively ducked. Of course, Lea dodged too, but the spear passed right over my head.

  “He’s fast. And what’s more...”

  I felt the unease in Lea’s voice and looked behind us. The spear I’d just dodged had circled back around and was headed straight
for us again.

  “It looks like he can control them too!”

  Lea rolled to dodge the spear that threatened to impale her from behind. But yet again, the spear turned and came right back at us.

  “Lea, let me handle this.”

  “Are you sure? You haven’t tested how much that armor actually enhances your power yet, right?”

  “I’ve gotta fight him either way. This is as good a chance as any to figure it out.”

  I glared at Zolphiakd, who was now close enough to see clearly. The spear was just a distraction. If I couldn’t handle it, there was no way I could beat a demon.

  “All right. I’ll try and dodge close enough for you to reach,” Lea said. She understood exactly what I was getting at.

  This time, the spear of darkness came down on us from above like a meteor. I looked right up at it and steeled myself.

  Hero’s armor... No, “Infinity Reviver.” Lend me your power. Draw out my own.

  The instant we crossed paths with the falling spear, I threw my gauntleted fist out and smashed the spear’s edge. The red aura and the dark aura intermingled, but it was only for an instant.

  With a noise like a tree splitting from a lightning strike, the spear shattered and vanished. It was made from energy rather than physical matter, so there was nothing left of it.

  I could see Zolphiakd’s lips curl into a grin.

  “Okay! We can do this!”

  With Lea’s speed, I’d be close enough to hit him in only a few more seconds. But just when I was ready to punch that smirk right off his face...

  Spears appeared one after the other from both of his hands. Almost instantly, there were more than thirty of them. Dodging or knocking down that many would be no easy task. Maybe this was the end of the road for me.

  But more importantly...

  “Hibiki!”

  When Zolphiakd raised his other arm and let go of her, Hibiki started to fall to the ground.

  That bastard! He threw Hibiki away as soon he found a new toy to play with. Damn it!

  “Lea!”

  “Right!”

  Lea instantly went into a steep dive. We were faster than the gravity pulling Hibiki’s body downward, but the flock of black spears was still chasing after us.

  “Don’t be afraid! Just focus on catching her!” Lea yelled.

  “...!”

  Her words kept me from turning around.

  She was right. Lea would dodge the spears for me. My job was...

  I watched Hibiki as she fell. Suddenly, her eyes opened. The roar and pressure of the wind must’ve woken her up.

  “Ugh, ah... Kyaaaaah!” She screamed when she realized she was falling.

  “Hibiki!”

  “R-Rekka Namidare?”

  She seemed confused when she heard my voice. Maybe she didn’t recognize me in the armor I was wearing.

  I clenched my legs tightly around Lea’s torso and let go of the ring I’d been using as reins so that I could reach out with both arms. Hibiki must’ve understood because she reached out for me too.

  “I’ll kill you if you touch me anywhere weird!”

  “Is now really the time to worry about that?!” I yelled back.

  The instant Lea caught up to her, I grabbed on to Hibiki.

  Lea pulled out of her dive, zig-zagging her way through the spears.

  I put Hibiki behind me to protect her from the wind. With my armor, I could block it from reaching her.

  “Hang on tight!” I yelled.

  She cooperated and wrapped her arms around me tightly. With her holding on to me, I was able to use my hands again.

  The red aura gathered around my fists once more as I struck at the black spears.

  “Don’t fall off!” Lea warned me as she began to rapidly climb.

  The spears turned around, hoping to impale us from below.

  I clung to Lea and tried to support both my weight and Hibiki’s with just my legs. If I relaxed even a little, we’d both fall straight off. This was harder than I expected!

  Damn it! Come on, Infinity Reviver! Give me more power! I swore I’d give everyone a happy ending!

  “I won’t let it end here!”

  As I screamed, my whole body pulsated with red light. I felt a great power surging through me. My legs, which had been on the verge of slipping off, held fast to Lea’s torso and I could see the aura around my hands get stronger.

  For some reason, I felt like I could really do this. I relaxed my fist and moved all five of my fingers. Just like I’d hoped, red lights gathered at my fingertips. I looked around and counted the remaining spears.

  “Go!”

  The red bullets of light that burst forth from my hand were faster, more agile, and more precise than the spears. My five bullets easily destroyed the twenty spears or more that were left.

  “Nice work, Rekka.”

  “No...”

  Lea was impressed, but I didn’t know why I’d suddenly powered up. In the heat of the moment... what had I been thinking?

  “Rekka, were you able to save Hibiki?” Satsuki asked through Lea’s powers.

  “Yeah, she’s fine. You stay with Kult.”

  “Roger.”

  After telepathically confirming things with Satsuki, I turned my mind back towards Lea.

  “Lea, follow the plan.”

  “Right,” she responded. Her horned head nodded at the front of her long torso.

  Then we took off for Kult, but of course, Zolphiakd followed.

  “Hey, where are you going? Entertain me more!”

  Compared to a moment ago, his voice was clearly more excited. He was like a berserker who’d found a new rival. Zolphiakd chortled with glee as he threw spear after spear. His attacks did feel more like he was playing than seriously fighting.

  “Lea, connect me telepathically to Hibiki and the others.”

  I kept knocking the spears away as I prepared to move to the next stage of the plan.

  “All right, you’re connected,” she said.

  “Thanks. Can you dodge the spears behind us for a while?”

  “It looks like our foe is just toying with us. I’ll be fine.”

  “Understood.”

  I put Lea in charge of handling Zolphiakd for the moment, and focused my mind on Hibiki and Kokomo.

  “Hibiki, Kokomo, can you hear me?”

  “Wh-What the heck? I suddenly heard a voice...”

  “Rekka Namidare, is that you?” Hibiki asked.

  “Telepathically, yes. Listen to me, both of you.”

  I explained the plan quickly, including what I needed them to do.

  “Can you do it?”

  “...I can do it. But what about you, Rekka Namidare?”

  “Me?”

  “Are you willing to involve the people you care about in a story like this?”

  Of course that was what she’d be concerned about.

  “Everyone says they’re willing to help.”

  “But...”

  “And it looks like I don’t have the right to refuse them, either.” She probably couldn’t hear it through the telepathy, but I was laughing to myself inside my armor. “They all said they wanted to be with me, Namidare or not.”

  “...”

  “So, Hibiki... Once this is all done, let’s go see your friend in the hospital.”

  “Huh?”

  “You were good friends, right? You should at least talk to her so you can tell her how you really feel and find out how she really feels too.”

  “...”

  “...”

  “...”

  “...”

  “...”

  “...”

  “...”

  Huh? Did I just feel six cold stares? Was that even possible with telepathy?

  “Um, anyway, if you’re worried about it, I’ll go with you.”

  “But...”

  I could hear the hesitation even in her thoughts.

  Just like how Satsuki and the other girls ha
d decided to stay with me even when they knew about my bloodline, maybe her friend would feel the same way. I could tell that that was what she was thinking, but it seemed like she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

  “It’ll be fine! Believe in your friend.”

  I gave her a little push.

  “She’s very shy. She won’t be able to talk comfortably if you’re there.”

  “I see...”

  “...But you can still go with me to the hospital?”

  What was with that question mark?

  Well, whatever. Of course I’d go with her.

  “So what about you, Kokomo? Can you do it?”

  “I...”

  Hibiki’s arms held on tightly to the Infinity Reviver, but I knew it was probably Kokomo’s doing.

  “I... I can’t do it.”

  “You can’t, huh?” I asked.

  “I’m a coward! I can’t even use magic right! But now I’ve gotta fight that scary demon? I...”

  “I’ll get scared and run away again! I know it!”

  The last part didn’t come telepathically. It was a pained scream.

  “Even if your helping us meant we didn’t have to seal away your mother, and we could save her instead?”

  This time I was sure I could save everyone. But in order to do it, I was going to need everyone’s help.

  “I want to save her! But I can’t do it!”

  Kokomo was refusing, but I could feel that he really did want to save his mom. He was still a kid. And a wimp. So I could understand why he wanted to run away. But...

  “Kokomo, if you want to try being courageous, now’s the time.”

  “But I’m not strong, so I don’t have the courage.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” I cut him off. “You need courage because you’re a wimpy kid.”

  “...Huh?”

  “If you’re strong, you don’t need courage. When you’re strong, you can do whatever you need to by yourself. But the weak are different. You’re weak, so there are a lot of things you can’t do. And because of that, you lose out a lot. You can end up losing things that are precious to you. That’s how it is for me, really.”

  “For you too, Rekka?”

  “Yeah. Most of it you can probably put up with if you make the right excuses. You might be able to forget about something once you’ve lost it. You might even be able to pretend you never had it in the first place... but the day will come when you just can’t do that anymore.”