I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 3 Page 6

  “...”

  Satsuki closed her eyes and tried to endure.

  But the pain didn’t stop.

  Chapter 3: Bonds Torn Apart, Longing for Destruction

  Laughing nuts. Weirdly colored bugs. Clouds dancing in a circle.

  None of these things should have been possible.

  “Where are we?!” Hibiki yelled.

  “Don’t ask me!” I screamed back at her, actually raising my voice for once.

  And we kept screaming at each other until we were panting and out of breath, and the heat suddenly drained from our heads.

  “Ugh...” We both sighed at the same time.

  I guess, really, we realized that screaming wouldn’t help anything. And so we tried taking another look around.

  “Man, this is one weird world,” she said.

  “Have you ever been to another world like this?”

  “No, this is my first time in another world. What about you?”

  “I’ve never been to one this weird. I went to one that was kind of medieval, though.”

  I guess Kult’s walled garden world counted as one too, but this was my first time in another world that felt so... otherworldly.

  But that was exactly the problem.

  “Why are we here?”

  “That’s what I want to know.”

  “Rekka Namidare, you said that going through the red door would take us back home, right?”

  “Yeah. You’d think it would take you back to the same place, right?”

  “Then what is this place?”

  “...No idea.”

  And without a single clue, there was no way for me to tell.

  “What do we do now?”

  “If we wait, Kult might come to find you.”

  “Hmm... It’s passive, but I guess it’s our only option. I don’t like just waiting around though. This time, he’ll come as prepared as he possibly can to capture me. We need to come up with a plan to stop him first.”

  Booooom!

  Just as we began to discuss what we’d do next, the ground started to shake. It felt like a giant had suddenly kicked the mountain we were on.

  “Hahahahahaha!” The nuts on the trees laughed as several of them fell to the ground.

  “What was that?” Hibiki asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. She plowed through the brush, covering her head as she moved.

  “Hey, where are you going?”

  “Somewhere where I can see! I can’t tell what’s going on here!”

  She had a point, so I followed her through the vegetation. Soon we came to a path that had been cleared through the mountain.

  “If there’s a path like this, that means there must be people, right?” I whispered as I looked up at the winding road.

  “It might not be people,” Hibiki replied.

  “Huh?”

  “This world is a weird place. It would make sense if there were creatures here that weren’t human.”

  “...Maybe, yeah.”

  I’d prefer it if they were, though.

  If we did run into something, I at least hoped it wouldn’t be scary.

  But then the mountain shook again, interrupting my thoughts. It was followed by a frightened murmuring from along the sides of the mountain.

  “It’s those nuts...”

  Why were those creepy nuts acting so scared? The nuts around us started to murmur too.

  ...Was something coming up from below?

  “This sounds bad... Let’s hide!”

  “I’m with you,” Hibiki said.

  We nodded at each other and ducked into the bushes just off the path.

  And then it came up the mountain, over the tops of the tall trees.

  Hiding in the bushes below, we watched as it scaled the mountain with ease. At first it only looked like a white ball, but as it got closer I could see that part of it was shining. When it got even closer, I realized it was a golden tail. Nine tails, in fact. Each of them gleaming as it bounded past on all fours.

  It was...

  “Was that a fox?”

  It certainly looked like a fox, but I couldn’t be sure. I mean, it was five times bigger than the lions at the zoo. Its fangs were big and sharp, and its enormous eyes were the size of my head.

  This huge fox creature leaped up the mountain path, quickly disappearing over our heads. We watched in awe as its nine tails receded into the distance.

  “Nine tails... Was that a nine-tailed fox?” Hibiki asked.

  “A nine-tailed fox?” I was confused by her question.

  She looked at me like I was a complete idiot.

  “I have better things to do than give you the full explanation, but it’s a legendary monster that caused a lot of damage in India, China, and Japan. Of course, this might not be the same nine-tails as in our world, but it’s still probably safer to stay away.”

  “Yeah.” I didn’t want to get anywhere near that thing either. “If it went up the mountain, maybe we should go down.”

  “You’re right. As we walk, we can look for points to intercept Kult Graphimore.”

  And then the nuts started to rustle again.

  “Now what?!” I yelled. I was getting a little sick of this.

  “It wasn’t a big noise like the last one. Let’s hang back and see what happens.”

  “Roger.”

  We both crouched down again.

  What came up the mountain next was as weird as the nine-tailed fox. Maybe even weirder.

  “Is that a raccoon? An otter?” I asked.

  “It’s got a plate on its head. That’s definitely a kappa.”

  “That one has a wheel on its face...”

  “It’s a big centipede.”

  “I see a running wall of rock. But it’s slow.”

  “A cold, beautiful woman... A snow woman?”

  This went on and on.

  We watched as dozens, if not hundreds, walked by us. Most of them were monsters that didn’t seem human at all.

  “Looks like this is a world for Japanese monsters, huh?” Hibiki whispered as soon as they’d all passed.

  The nine-tailed fox was a Japanese monster too, supposedly, so she seemed to be onto something.

  “A mountain of Japanese monsters, huh?”

  I looked up at the mountain again, but this time there was a pillar of fire.

  Wait. A pillar of fire?!

  Then there was a loud roar, followed by shouting. I felt something familiar—the sensation of battle.

  “Maybe that nine-tailed fox is fighting the other monsters?”

  “Maybe. But it looked like they were chasing it...”

  “What’s that pillar of fire then?” I asked.

  “They’re Japanese monsters. They can probably use Japanese magic.”

  “Japanese magic...?”

  As soon as I asked, a giant ball of ice fell from the sky.

  The battle on top of the mountain was growing fiercer. If we got caught up in that, we wouldn’t last an instant.

  “Should we run, Hibiki?”

  “Yeah. We’ll retreat and get ready to intercept Kult.”

  With a course of action, we quickly headed down the mountain to get out of danger.

  “That cost us time. We need to hurry and set a trap,” Hibiki said as we moved.

  “Where?” I asked.

  “We’ll look for a good spot while we run. He won’t fall for the same trick twice, so this time we need...”

  As we talked, we came around a bend in the mountain path—just in time for a tiny little fox to jump out in front of Hibiki.

  She was going too fast to stop in time.

  “Uwah!”

  “Yip!”

  Girl and fox collided, both hollering. I heard a silly “poof” noise, and my vision was almost instantly obscured by pink smoke.

  “H-Hibiki?!”

  What was this pink smoke? I couldn’t see what had happened.

  “Damn it!”

  I tried my best to fan it away fro
m me, but it just slipped through my fingers. Suddenly, it was gone as quickly as it came.

  And then I saw Hibiki lying on the ground.

  “Hibiki!”

  “......”

  I dashed to her side, but she was silent.

  “Hibiki! Hey, wake up! Hibiki!”

  “...Mmm.”

  There finally was a tiny response as I continued to shout. I was relieved that she was okay... but then I noticed something strange.

  “Mmm...”

  Twitch, twitch.

  As she breathed, the fox ears that had appeared on her head wiggled.

  “Umm....”

  Since when did Hibiki have fox ears?

  “R, what’s going on with those ears?”

  “Cute, aren’t they? I like the contrast between this and her normally cold demeanor.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “It’s super moe.”

  No... I don’t know how moe it can really be for someone to say it so indifferently.

  As I sat there and held her, Hibiki suddenly moaned in my arms and slowly opened her eyes.

  “Hibiki, are you awake?”

  “...Hibiki?”

  As she weakly whispered her own name, she looked down at her body and limbs. Then she went pale.

  “This is... Oh no! I did it again!”

  “Did what?”

  What was going on here?

  “Whadda I do? Whadda I do?” Hibiki seemed strangely confused as she mumbled to herself.

  What in the world...?

  “Hey... Hibiki?”

  “Hyah!” Hibiki’s shoulders jumped as she looked up at me in fear.

  Her face was dead pale. She was also shaking and starting to cry.

  “It’s kind of hot, isn’t it?” R said.

  “Yeah, it really is... Wait, no! It’s not!”

  I threw an uppercut at R for interrupting. She dodged.

  “Aahh...!”

  Oh, right. Hibiki couldn’t see R. She looked terrified of the boy who’d just started shouting and punching the air.

  “Waahh...”

  But... she was a little too afraid, wasn’t she? I wasn’t sure how to handle this new side of hers.

  “What are you talking about? Come on, Hibiki, tell me.”

  “Waah... Hibiki is unconscious right now.”

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “My name’s Kokomo.”

  “...Huh?”

  I didn’t know what she meant, so I’m sure I only looked more confused. But still, somehow, I could tell...

  The story had just gotten even more complicated.

  Just then, there came another loud rumble from the mountaintop.

  “Wow, lightning this time, huh?”

  Four lightning bolts had joined together, striking the earth. Even from where I stood, I could see that they’d taken a giant chunk out of the mountain.

  We needed to get away from here. Fast.

  “Oh no! I need to hurry!”

  But Hibiki did something I didn’t expect.

  “Huh?”

  Before I could actually ask what she was in a hurry about, she started to run up the mountain at top speed.

  “Hey, wait!”

  “I-I’m sorry, but I’m in a hurry!”

  “You idiot! Weren’t we supposed to be going down the mountain?” I yelled as I followed after her.

  Argh! I didn’t know what was going on anymore!

  “Tell me why we’re going back up, Hibiki!”

  “I told you, I’m not Hibiki! When I slammed into her, my possession magic went out of control and we combined!”

  Slammed into her? Not Hibiki? Possession magic? Combined?

  I thought back to how she’d run into the fox at the bend in the road. ...So was Kokomo that little fox? Was he a Japanese monster too?

  “I see. So that’s what’s up with the fox ears, huh? They’re rather pretty, aren’t they?”

  Sure, we’d solved the mystery of the fox ears, but R’s comments were as laid-back as ever! Especially since this Kokomo fox was about to get Hibiki caught up in a monster battle.

  “Then just undo the spell and get out of Hibiki’s body!”

  “I can’t undo it myself once it goes out of control!”

  “Then at least stop running!”

  “I can’t do that! I... I have to go! Everyone needs me! So... I’m sorry!”

  Kokomo had been apologizing this whole time, but wasn’t slowing down in the slightest. I wasn’t sure if the possession magic was making Hibiki stronger or if she was just that strong to begin with, but she was sprinting up the mountain like it was nothing.

  As for me, I was reaching my limit. My scores in middle school endurance running had been less than average...

  “Gwah... aah... aah...! Damn it!”

  But if I let them escape now, there was no telling what would happen to Hibiki’s kidnapped(?) body! I was going to follow her no matter what!

  “...Damn it! What’s going on on this mountain? At least tell me that!”

  The price of screaming was my breath getting caught in my lungs. I started to cough.

  “My mom... The leader of the nine-tailed foxes breathed in some poison ki and went out of control! Everybody in this country knows that!”

  Whatever! I’m from Earth!

  I didn’t have the breath left to yell back though. I was reduced to panting. My brain felt hot and slow, and my lungs hurt so much I thought they might burst.

  Wait a second... If she was “the leader of the nine-tailed foxes,” that had to mean she was the nine-tailed fox we saw before, right? I was starting to see what was going on.

  “In other words, the monsters are all trying to stop the rampaging nine-tailed fox, perhaps?” R offered, uninvited as usual.

  But I agreed with her.

  I roughly understood the situation, but there was still something that baffled me. And that was the reason that this Kokomo guy was heading to the battlefield.

  How far up the mountain had we gotten? I looked up to check... just in time to see something big falling towards me.

  “Dwaaahh!”

  I dodged off the side of the path, but tripped as my foot got tangled in the brush. Whatever it was landed right behind me.

  “Bwah!”

  I quickly yanked my head out of a bush and turned around. My eyes met something big and bug-eyed.

  “Ugyah!”

  I was now face-to-face with the huge, growling nine-tailed fox!

  “Grrrrr...!”

  The fox easily weighed a ton, and drool was coming out of the sides of its mouth as it snarled. Its fangs were bared so high that I could see its gums. One bite from that thing would rip me in half.

  “...Tch!”

  It was the most literal image of death I’d ever seen.

  Even after fighting Bahamut and the dragon, I still wasn’t used to it. My legs started to shake as cold fear ran down my spine.

  “Grrr...”

  But the nine-tailed fox must have decided that I was just a coward, because it turned its gaze towards Kokomo.

  “Aah! N-Nine-Tails! I’ll seal you...!”

  “GRRRRR!”

  “AAAH!”

  Kokomo screamed and fell backwards when the fox looked at him, which left Hibiki’s body defenseless...

  “Hibiki!”

  I was moving before I knew it.

  “Gah!”

  A few moments later, the fox leaped for Kokomo. I was closer and had gotten a head start, but the nine-tailed fox was far faster than me. We crossed paths as I made a dive for the frozen Kokomo.

  “Oww... Hey, are you okay?”

  “Th-Thanks!”

  “As long as you’re safe. Now ru—Aah!”

  I felt a pain down my back that was like scalding water, and suddenly realized my shirt felt wet. When I’d knocked Kokomo down, the fox’s claws had caught me. It wasn’t a deep wound, but the pain froze me in place. My eyes met the fox�
�s again at the worst possible time.

  No...!

  I’d left a fatal opening. Thoughts of death flashed through my mind.

  And then a wall of flame came down from the sky, separating us from the fox. A one-eyed monster with an extremely long head appeared. The flames were coming out of its hand.

  “Kokomo! What are you doing here?!” The monster must have sensed him somehow, because it looked straight at Hibiki’s face when it spoke. “Seal the elder! Now!”

  “R-R-Right!” Kokomo quickly answered. He then used two fingers to draw a triangle in the air in front of him, followed by an upside-down triangle overlapping it.

  I knew that design from video games. It was a six-pointed star.

  There was an almost invisible white flame coming out of Kokomo’s fingers as they moved. Each time he traced a side, the hexagram became more and more visible. Was this the ritual needed to seal the fox?

  “Grrrrr! Hisssss!”

  The nine-tailed fox was now busy fending off the army of monsters that rushed it from all sides. It was functionally trapped in one place. All that was left was for Kokomo to finish the seal... or so I thought.

  “Ah... aah!” Kokomo suddenly screamed.

  I looked and saw that the hexagram he was drawing had become warped and distorted, like it was about to shatter.

  “What are you doing, Kokomo?! Only your clan knows how to use Fumetsu magic to get rid of the poison ki!”

  “I-I-I’m sorry!”

  Kokomo was half-crying (with Hibiki’s face) as he tried to draw the six-pointed star again. But the lines were more uneven than before. He couldn’t even draw them straight.

  “GRRRAOOOR!”

  The huge roar the nine-tailed fox let out next made a whirlwind appear. The blades of wind knocked everyone back, both on the ground and in the air.

  “Uwah!”

  “Hey!”

  I grabbed Kokomo as his feet left the ground, but I ended up getting blown away too.

  “Oww...”

  It flung me a good ten meters. I hit my head when I landed, but thanks to my grabbing her, Hibiki’s body wasn’t hurt.

  “Hibi—I mean, Kokomo, are you okay?”

  “Waah! I knew I couldn’t do it!”

  Kokomo was blaming himself. The expression on his face that Hibiki would never make and the timid voice he spoke in that she would never use said everything. His fox ears drooped as if reflecting his feelings.

  After the whirlwind had cleared away its attackers, the nine-tailed fox made another great leap and vanished off into the distance. The army of monsters followed after it, some of them throwing dirty looks our way. They were probably looking at Kokomo.