I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 12 Read online

  “I see. What kind of trouble?”

  “She’d got a friend named Sherlyn Doteyes. Apparently, she’s under some kind of curse.”

  ▽

  After school that day, I was waiting at my house for Hibiki to show up with Chelsea’s aforementioned friend, but...

  “You’re still gonna insist on this study session thing, huh?”

  “We’re students. Studying is what we’re supposed to do,” said Satsuki with a sigh from across the table. “And you have no room to complain, mister! You completely bombed the first semester. At this rate, with all of your unexcused absences, you really are going to be held back a grade.”

  “Urk!”

  Okay, touché. I couldn’t really argue there. I guess I’ll give it an earnest go while I wait for Hibiki to get here...

  But just as I got my notes organized and seriously cracked open a textbook, Iris threw down her pencil and declared she was tired of studying.

  “Hey, what’s Harissa up to? I’m getting hungry.”

  “I’m also a bit peckish,” Rosalind agreed with a sleepy yawn.

  “Shall I make something?” offered Tsumiki.

  “Definitely not!”

  “Certainly not!”

  “Absolutely not!”

  “Huh?! Why not?!”

  Iris, Rosalind, and I all shot down Tsumiki immediately, but that only made her get defensive. She shouted right back at us, fists clenched and everything. I wished she would just take a hint already.

  “Oh my gosh, you guys! We only just started!” Satsuki scolded, seeing as how we’d quickly derailed the whole studying thing again.

  But Iris didn’t pay her the slightest bit of attention.

  “So, Rekka, where’s Harissa?”

  “She should be out grocery shopping for dinner, but now that you mention it... she’s kind of late.”

  Normally, she’d be back by now. But just as I was starting to get a little worried, I heard the doorbell and Harissa’s voice.

  “Sir Rekka!”

  “Sounds like her now.”

  I stood up and headed for the front door. If she rang the doorbell, that had to mean she had both arms full with shopping bags. I was planning on helping her carry them to the kitchen, but when I opened the door...

  “Sir Rekka! Erm, I found someone collapsed just over there... What should we do?”

  Harissa looked up at me anxiously, the prone body of a samurai slumped over her back.

  ▽

  “That’s a samurai, right?” I asked, unsure.

  “It certainly looks like one,” Satsuki replied.

  “It totally does. No matter how you look at it, that’s gotta be a samurai,” Tsumiki agreed.

  We continued muttering to ourselves as we looked down in awe at the new face Harissa had brought home, someone who was now asleep on the living room sofa.

  The battle haori over his shoulders and the trademark hat on his head tied under his chin with string. The beautiful katana hanging from his waist. The tabi socks on his feet, and the zori sandals we left at the door... Yeah, by all appearances, this was most definitely a samurai.

  That said, in modern Japan, the only places you ever saw samurai were in period dramas and at theme parks like Edo Wonderland. They shouldn’t be lying on the side of the road in a random podunk town like ours.

  “What’s a samurai?” asked Iris, unfamiliar with the term.

  “My, this brings back memories,” said Rosalind with a somewhat nostalgic look on her face. “I remember seeing one once a long time ago.”

  I know we just went over how we were supposed to be studying and all, but this definitely took priority now. Figuring out where the samurai even came from in the first place would have to wait too.

  “Sir Rekka, I’ve brought some water.”

  “Thanks, Harissa.”

  “You’re welcome. I’ll go make something light to eat.”

  “I’ll help,” offered Satsuki.

  The two of them then went into the kitchen together. Tsumiki tried to follow them, but Rosalind stopped her.

  “Let’s start with the water first, okay?”

  A samurai collapsed on the street, huh? Now that I think about it, Rachelle the fallen angel’s story had started in a pretty similar fashion. Granted, in her case, she was after some incomprehensible “love energy” and not actual food... Whatever. I might not know anything else about him, but this samurai guy definitely looked human. Surely regular food and water would be okay. And with that thought, I kneeled down next to the sofa and helped him sit up some so he could drink a little something.

  “Hm?”

  How come this guy’s back was so soft to the touch? Aren’t samurai normally, like, super beefy and rugged from all their training? Huh, well, this guy did look pretty young, so I guess he wasn’t quite there yet. Anyway, I lifted the cup to his lips and carefully tilted it.

  “...Mm, mgh.”

  He swallowed the water and groaned a bit. His eyelids then fluttered for a moment before slowly opening.

  “Oh, you awake now?”

  “...”

  He just stared at me in a silent daze, so I leaned in a little to see if he was all right, but...

  “...Insolent fellow!”

  A punch was all I saw coming.

  “Gwah!”

  M-My nose...! I pressed a hand against my stinging face as the samurai jumped to his feet on the sofa and reached for his katana.

  “Where is this?! Why am I here?!”

  “First, please calm down.”

  Tears welled in my eyes from the pain, but I stood up and reached a hand out to try and reassure him. My vision was just blurred enough that I misjudged the distance, however, and I put my hand right on his chest instead of his shoulder. Wait... His chest under that battle haori was even softer than his back.

  “Wh-Wh-Wha—!”

  And now he was freaking out even more for some reason. Don’t tell me...

  “H-How dare you?!”

  “Uwah! W-Wait a minute!”

  Yeah, there was no mistaking that reaction.

  “You’re a girl?!”

  I realized my mistake and tried to apologize immediately, but the samurai girl refused to hear me out. She simply drew her katana and held it aloft, glaring down at me with clear killing intent.

  “I’ll cut you down where you stand!”

  “Gyaaaaah!”

  She really was about to cut me down, but when she went to swing her sword...

  Grrrumble!

  It seemed her hunger had overpowered her rage, and she swooned back onto the sofa.

  “H-Hey, are you all right?”

  “I’ll... cut you...”

  She was still trying to put up a fight, but it wasn’t particularly convincing with her eyes spinning in circles like that.

  “Hold it, Rekka! Did you touch that girl’s chest just now?!” Iris demanded to know.

  “No, it was an accident!” I tried to explain.

  The battle haori she was wearing concealed her chest (despite how big it felt when I accidentally touched it), and she had a pretty boyish face, so I’d honestly thought she was a guy...

  “Disgusting,” muttered Tsumiki.

  Oof... That single word felt like a knife to the heart. And the dirty look Rosalind was giving me only made it hurt more.

  But in the midst of my suffering, innocent Harissa poked her head out from the kitchen.

  “Sir Rekka! I’ve made some udon for now... What’s wrong?”

  She blinked repeatedly in confusion upon seeing the swooning samurai with her katana drawn.

  “Oh, uh... Nothing.”

  It was too bothersome to explain, so I confiscated the katana for now and retrieved the freshly cooked udon from Harissa.

  “...Mwuh?”

  The smell of food wafted over to the swooning samurai. The next thing I knew, her nose was twitching, and she was completely awake again.

  “Smells good...”

  H
er eyes were totally locked on to the steaming bowl of udon. She really must have been hungry.

  “Here you go. It’s hot, so be careful.”

  She accepted the chopsticks Harissa offered her without thinking twice, and then began wolfing down the udon at a genuinely impressive pace.

  “She sure is a busy one, what with that fainting and waking up over and over routine and all,” Rosalind muttered in exasperation as she observed all this.

  Once the bowl was completely emptied, the samurai clapped her hands together in thanks and bowed her head to us—or to Harissa, to be exact.

  “Thank you kindly for the meal. I finally feel like myself again. I do not know where I am or who you are, but allow me to express my gratitude.”

  “You’re in Sir Rekka’s house. If you’d like to thank someone, you should be thanking him.”

  “Muh?”

  Hearing that, the samurai looked at me and grimaced.

  “...So, you are the master of this house? I am in your debt.”

  The look on her face told me she was still mad about me touching her chest earlier.

  “Yeah, that’s me. I’m Rekka Namidare. Erm, do you mind if I ask your name?”

  “I am Chirika Shinomiya.” The samurai girl—Chirika—introduced herself in a clear voice before looking around at everyone else in the room. “Now, where is this place? There seem to be a great many foreigners here. There are also many objects I have never seen before... Is that glass? Not even the glass in the castle is so clear.”

  “W-Wait, hold up a second.” I tried to get Chirika to pump the breaks. “Sorry, but would you mind answering some questions for me first? I’d like to hear about your situation, Chirika.”

  “I’m afraid not. My priorities lie elsewhere. I must hurry back to the Gold Yaksha and save Princess Izuko forthwith.”

  “Princess Izuko...?”

  “You peon... You know not of Princess Izuko? The very same who is famous for being the fairest maiden in all the land?”

  Chirika looked quite surprised by this development, but I’d never heard of anyone by that name. I asked Tsumiki about it just in case it was a celebrity or something I didn’t know, but even she shook her head.

  A princess in distress? Check. A samurai come to save her? Check. But one who talked in such a strangely old-fashioned way...?

  “No...”

  That all added up to one thing in my head. It was a ridiculous conclusion to come to, I admit, but this wouldn’t be the first time something like it had happened. I couldn’t rule it out.

  “Hey, Satsuki, could I check with you about something?”

  “Sure.”

  And by “check with her about something,” I really meant I needed her to check with Magic of Omniscience for me. Specifically, I didn’t yet know if Chirika was a heroine or not. There was a possibility she was just a cosplayer with a really overactive imagination. So I leaned over and whispered my concerns to Satsuki, who then got up and discretely left the room so she could use her magic.

  “You there, answer me this: is this really the Land of the Rising Sun?” Chirika then demanded.

  “The Land of the Rising Sun?” I asked, head cocked to the side.

  “She means Japan,” Tsumiki whispered in my ear.

  “Aah, right, yeah, you don’t have to worry. We’re in Japan.”

  She was probably worried she’d ended up in a different country upon seeing Iris and Rosalind, who were decidedly non-Japanese. Then again, it wasn’t that rare to see foreigners in Japan these days. If she was reacting oddly to that, then that had to mean Chirika was...

  “Rekka,” Satsuki called out to me as she reentered the room.

  “...How did it go?” I asked tentatively.

  “I think it’s exactly as you suspected,” Satsuki answered with a slightly troubled expression. “Chirika seems to have timeslipped here from the past.”

  ▽

  According to Satsuki, Chirika had come to the present from the Sengoku period over 500 years ago.

  “You’re saying... this is a future world?”

  And Chirika was understandably astonished when we told her this. To be fair, though, I think anyone would be. Hearing you’d travelled into the future was probably about as shocking as it got. It was easily on par with getting abducted by aliens or transported to another world. And having been through both of those things, I certainly wasn’t expecting her to take me at my word right away.

  “H-Hmm, I’ll admit that I found your manner of dress to be inexplicable. But this is the clothing of the future, you say...? S-Still, I cannot believe you so easily. I demand some kind of proof.”

  Despite Chirika’s shock, she still managed to point the end of her katana at my face and question me. That was dangerous.

  “Proof, huh?”

  I picked up the remote control that was lying around and hit the power button. One beep later, the TV was playing the ending scene of some soap opera rerun.

  “Bwuh?! Th-There’s a person in the box! How mysterious!”

  “Wah! Wait! Don’t attack it!”

  I quickly pacified Chirika—who was poised to cut the TV in half—and showed her the back of it, explaining that there weren’t actually people inside.

  “I see... Yokai sorcery, is it?”

  “No, that’s not what I meant at all.”

  After showing her my cellphone and the refrigerator too, she finally accepted that we weren’t using some kind of sorcery about 30 minutes later.

  “Hmm... Very well.”

  Chirika finally nodded, crossing her arms and closing her eyes as though she’d come to a conclusion on something.

  “So, do you believe me now? That this is the future?”

  “For the most part. You see, something comes to mind now...”

  There, Chirika began to tell us the story of her fight with a monster called the Gold Yaksha.

  “...Then, just as the Gold Yaksha leaped at me, a bolt of lightning struck the cedar at the peak of the mountain and enveloped the entire area in a mysterious light. Be it the work of the Disappearing Mountain or that demon’s sorcery, I know not, but I believe that was how I came to be banished here.”

  Honestly, it was all rather vague for something that had just “come to mind,” but she seemed convinced by it.

  “Chirika, there’s actually one more thing I need to tell you about. It’s about me.”

  “Hm?”

  I gave Chirika a brief explanation of the Namidare bloodline.

  “The future sure has some curious karma at work indeed...”

  “You’re telling me...”

  “Does this make me one of your so-called ‘heroines,’ then?”

  “That’s right,” I said, looking over to R for confirmation.

  “What, you couldn’t tell? How many more hints do you want her to drop?”

  Okay, that was uncalled for, but I guess she was right. There was no mistaking that Chirika was a heroine at this point, which meant that she was here for a reason—her story.

  “Hmm, thinking about this rationally, shouldn’t Chirika’s story be to get her back home?”

  Putting together everything Chirika had told us so far, I took a stab in the dark...

  “No, that’s wrong.”

  And was immediately shot down by the heroine herself.

  “If you truly are the heir of a line of heroes capable of overturning tragedy, then surely it must be Princess Izuko you are meant to save.”

  Princess Izuko? As in the princess she mentioned earlier?

  “Come to think of it, you said you were trying to rescue her, right? What happened?”

  “It all started three days ago...”

  In this case, Chirika’s “three days ago” was actually hundreds of years in the past. In other words, she meant three days before she travelled through time.

  “A monster called the Gold Yaksha appeared in the castle of the lord I serve.”

  “You mentioned him before too, but who is th
is Gold Yaksha guy?”

  “I do not know.”

  She delivered that line so deadpan that everyone in the room nearly hit the floor.

  “Wh-What do you mean?”

  “A monster is a monster. His true identity is of no importance to me.”

  Rather than being that she didn’t know, it seemed more like she didn’t care.

  “...”

  And after what she said, Rosalind was now frowning.

  “The real problem was that he somehow managed to slip past the castle’s defenses. He made his way inside... where he kidnapped the princess and demanded a ransom in exchange for her return.”

  “A ransom?”

  “Gold, to be exact. He dared to ask for the entire castle’s worth.”

  “A yaksha is basically a kind of demon, right? What would a demon want with gold?”

  That part didn’t quite make sense to me, so I turned to Rosalind... who was arguably a kind of demon herself.

  “Demon or not, many supernatural beings desire wealth. In fact, do you not have a tale in this land about a boy who slew some demons and plundered their horde?”

  “Huh, yeah, you’re right.”

  Now that she mentioned it, that was basically the story of Momotaro. I guess it didn’t really matter whether or not demons could even use gold; it was still a status symbol. But all this talk seemed to trigger something in Chirika, and she clicked her tongue angrily.

  “How dare a mere yokai lay a hand on the princess! And to demand all the gold in the castle on top of that... That despicable, greedy monster!”

  “...Ha!”

  Rosalind suddenly scoffed at Chirika’s abusive rant about the Gold Yaksha. Naturally, the samurai took offense to the vampire’s attitude and glared at her sharply.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Oh, nothing. I was just thinking that if your precious princess is really so important to you, you could have just paid the gold and been done with the whole affair. And if you aren’t willing to pay for her life, then I guess she wasn’t worth all that much to you to begin with.”

  Rosalind’s cold assessment made Chirika’s face twitch a little.