Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 12 - Chapter 9

9. Sunset on the Beach

This was kind of fun.

He could hear them.

Voices, coming from somewhere.

That, and the sound of the waves.

He should open his eyes. That would be the best thing. But he didn’t want to.

Naturally, he couldn’t keep them closed forever. He knew that.

But just a little longer.

For just a little longer, he wanted to stay like this.

Basically, he was tired. Exhausted in body and soul. Of course he was. He hadn’t been able to sleep properly on the boat, thanks to the sea sickness. Then, when they’d finally made landfall, they’d gotten caught up in something ridiculous again.

That was why. Yeah.

When the dragons had flown off earlier, he’d thought maybe he’d take a nap.

He felt like when night came, there would be things he had to do. He didn’t really know anymore, though. He sensed his head had stopped working, like he was at his limit.

“Sorry, I’m gonna sleep for a bit,” he’d said, and no one had objected.

Or so he thought. Probably. His memories were a little vague. He’d gone over to a place that seemed decent, then went to sleep.

It wasn’t dark yet. Or maybe he’d slept all night, and the dawn had come. No, that wasn’t possible. If so, he’d be more awake. He hadn’t dreamed. Not that remembered, at least. His mind was gradually getting clearer.

His feelings of, Do I have to get up? I wanna lie around more, and his will that said, I’ve gotta get up, were conflicting with one another.

Whew... He took a breath, and...

“Oh, did you wake up?” someone said to him.

“Yeah,” he responded, sitting up at the same time as his eyes opened.

This beach faced onto the sea in the southwest The setting sun was poking its face out from beyond the edge of the sea, illuminating the surface of the water. The western sky and sea both looked like they were on fire.

The breeze, which was so slight it only occasionally played with his hair a little, was as unpleasantly warm as ever. Before his night sweats could dry, he started to sweat again. If he said, Whew, it’s hot, he felt like that would only make him feel hotter, so he made a point of not saying it. Well, it was better than it being cold, at least. Still, it was damn hot. That must have been why the girls were frolicking barefoot by the edge of the water.

No, not just the edge, they were in up to just below their knees.

“Sploooosh!” Yume scooped up a large volume of water in her hands, then splashed it in the direction of Shihoru, Merry and Setora.

“Eek!” Shihoru screamed and clung to Merry.

Setora jumped back. “Hah!” She planted a sharp kick on the surface of the water.

“Meow!” Yume cried. Having taken a face full of sea water, she lunged at Setora. “Murrrrr!”

Setora nimbly danced away.

Yume cried, “Pugyah!” and ended up taking a shallow dive in the sea, but she was soon back up and clinging to Setora’s right leg.

“Meowwwn!”

“Wait, you, sto—”

“Mrowwwww!”

“Uwah!” Setora was dragged into the sea. The depth was maybe thirty centimeters, but it was more than enough to leave her fully drenched.

The two of them were soon rolling around in the water.

“Damn you, hunter! Stop! Let go!”

“Call Yume ‘Yume’! If you do, then Yume’ll let you go!”

“Who would call you that?!”

“If that’s how you’re gonna be, Yume’s not lettin’ go!”

“You stubborn...!”

Shihoru and Merry were smiling and watching the two of them tussle— or so it looked, until Merry suddenly went, “There!” and pushed Shihoru.

Shihoru cried, “Eek?!” and fell, getting soaking wet. “That was mean!”

As if to say, I’m not going to let you get away with that, Shihoru splashed Merry with seawater, too.

“It’s salty!” Merry complained as she got back at her.

“Ha ha...” Haruhiro found it deeply funny. But at the same time, there was a heat in the back of his nose, and he pressed on the bridge of his nose despite himself.

Kuzaku sniffled. “I know it’s weird to say this with what just happened to the town, but...”

Kuzaku had taken off his armor, and was topless. Kiichi was lying against Kuzaku’s legs with his eyes closed, but judging by the way his ears were perked up, the nyaa wasn’t sleeping.

“It sure is peaceful, huh. When was the last time we relaxed like this?”

“I wonder.”

It wasn’t like they were on edge all the time. If they hadn’t let their guards down here and there, they’d never have made it this far. But it was true, it didn’t feel like there were many times when they’d been able to relax like this.

“It’s like summer vacation,” Haruhiro said.

“Ohh...” Kuzaku laughed a little, then wiped his forehead with his hand. “Summer vacation, huh...” he murmured then said, “Yeah,” with a nod. It seemed to take him a while to find the next words to say. “Summer vacation, huh. Like, I know what that means. Somehow, this feels different. I can’t explain it well. What summer vacation is, I mean. I... I wonder what’s with me.”

“I know, right?” Haruhiro said. “It’s weird saying this when I’m the one who used those words, but I kind of get where you’re coming from.”

“But it really is summer vacation-y, right? This is nice.”

“It sure is.”

“But man, girls sure are energetic, huh?”

“You’re not tired, Kuzaku?”

“I was resting here, so I’m fine, sort of.”

“Was I snoring?” Haruhiro ventured.

“Just a little.”

“Whoa, seriously?”

“I think you were more beat than I was,” Kuzaku said. “You use your head, after all.”

“I hope I’m using it well.”

“I’m not thinking at all. You’re letting me take it easy there...” Kuzaku yawned, languidly moving his head from left to right.

There were what looked like logs scattered around on this sandy beach. Occasionally, they would move slowly. They weren’t driftwood or anything like that. They were living creatures. They were like seals, but rounder. If you got close to them, they’d get really startled, but from a distance they were pretty darn cute.

Seeing those sort of sea beast-like animals relaxing, and with so many of them lying around, might be one reason why their hearts were so at ease.

“Is it okay to get soaked with saltwater like that?” Haruhiro mused. “I feel like, unlike freshwater, it doesn’t just dry...”

“Yeah.” Kuzaku laughed. “They were only going to get their feet wet at first. Then Yume went in deep. At some point, all of them just stopped caring about that, I guess.”

“They are awfully energetic, aren’t they?” There was a sudden voice behind him, which surprised Haruhiro.

When he turned around, an undead wrapped in bandages, with clothes on over top of them, was crouching there.

“Oh...” Haruhiro said. “Section head. That’s where you were. I didn’t know.”

“I’d been awake for awhile, too, so I was resting.”

“You weren’t moving at all,” Kuzaku said, then let out another light yawn.

Now Yume was attacking Merry. Maybe she had let her guard down, because Shihoru was tickling Setora’s ribs.

“Come to think of it, do undead sleep, too?” Kuzaku’s question felt maybe a little rude, but on second thought, maybe it wasn’t.

“We sleep,” Jimmy answered plainly. “Though I suspect our sleep is a little different from yours. You humans have dreams, right?”

“Sometimes we don’t, though. Wait, undead don’t dream?”

“Yeah. They say we have a long dream just before we’re destroyed, but no one can really know that. Our sleep is... How should I express this? It’s like everything’s turned to sludge. As if we’re drowning in a swamp.”

“Sounds like that’d actually make you more tired,” Haruhiro commented.

Jimmy checked the state of his bandages. “It’s not a pleasant feeling, I’ll give you that,” he acknowledged. “But if we stay awake, that swamp presses in on us. We get sleepy, you could say. I think between pleasure and displeasure, we feel considerably more of the latter. In words you might use, we’re not having a very fun time.”

“Whoa,” Kuzaku put in. “Guess I’m glad to be human then.”

Jimmy looked displeased. “Kuzaku, you...”

“Ah, sorry. It’s not like Jimmy-san decided to be an undead.”

“I didn’t, no,” Jimmy said without raising his voice and smiled. “I hate the undead. That includes myself, you know. What is a living being? I’d say it’s one that grows, reproduces, and has life. In which case, we undead are not living creatures. Life is too abstract a concept for me to understand, but we don’t grow, and we don’t reproduce. What exactly are we, I wonder? It would be easier if we could just not think, like the hollow zombies and skeletons moving around under No-Life King’s curse.”

“You’re a lot like a human, Jimmy-san,” Kuzaku said. “No, not that I know what other undead are like.”

“I’m pretending to be human, Kuzaku-kun. Even though, no matter what I do, I can’t be human.”

“Hmmm. I don’t understand complicated things. But whether it’s an act or not, if you look like the part, isn’t that fine? Jimmy-san, you’re doing it because you hate undead, and you’d prefer to be like a human, right? Setting aside the question of whether there’s anything wrong with being undead, that’s what you’re doing.”

“Yes... I wanted to become anything other than an undead, if I could. But it’s impossible.”

Kuzaku shook his head. “That, I dunno what to call it, that will? That’s important. More than what race you are, I think that’s the more important thing. What you want to do, and what you actually do. Honestly, I don’t think it matters what race you are. I don’t mind guys like you, Jimmy-san. Not that I know you all that well. But I get that sense.”

“I see.” Jimmy’s tone was level. Even so, his emotions showed through subtly in intonation and gaps between words. Like now, for instance. “You’re the second human to have said something like that to me. You must be a curious fellow, I’m sure.”

Jimmy was probably happy. But at the same time, he might have felt embarrassed.

Kuzaku was a curious fellow. He was also a good guy.

Thinking about it, his first party had been wiped out, and Kuzaku had survived all by his lonesome. Despite that incredibly harsh experience, he’d crawled back up from the very bottom. On top of that, he hadn’t waited for anyone to help him; he’d moved on his own. He had a positivity that Haruhiro lacked.

Kuzaku didn’t have a tragic air about him, and wasn’t cynical. Even when he’d had feelings for Merry and gotten rejected, he hadn’t gotten depressed by it.

Wait, hold on. Why had Merry rejected Kuzaku? He was a pretty good guy, right? He was a real catch, wasn’t he? Not like a fish, though. But, no, seriously.

If Haruhiro were a woman, and a guy like Kuzaku liked him, well, he wouldn’t feel bad about that. The way the guy acted like a youngest child made him feel a bit unreliable at times, but he still put his life on the line without hesitation. He tickled the maternal instincts, but at the same time, he was manly. He was such a good guy that, for a time, Haruhiro had been jealous of him. It made him sad to think how small-hearted he’d been.

“Mrrow?! Haru-kun’s woken up!” Yume shouted.

He looked over.

“Nweeee!” Yume waved her arms wide.

Haruhiro waved back. “I just woke up.”

“Well then, Haru-kun and Kuzakkun, why don’t you come on over?! Jimmy-chan, too! Everyone can play together!”

“I’ll pass,” Jimmy said simply. “I can’t swim.”

“Huh? But you’re a pirate...”

“Undead sink.”

“They do?”

“That may only be me, though.”

“Okay.” Kuzaku shook his left leg and waited for Kiichi to move away on his own before standing up. “Let’s go, Haruhiro. Every once in a while we need some... recreation? To deepen our bonds as comrades, you could say. That stuff’s important.”

“I guess...”

Haruhiro was still kind of exhausted and, truth be told, he was reluctant to do it, but he had to go with the flow here. Besides, it would probably be fun in its own way. With an “Oof,” Haruhiro got up.

“Come on, run.” Kuzaku pulled him by the arm.

“Whoa...” Haruhiro nearly tripped, and Kuzaku laughed.

It was too much hassle to complain about everything. Haruhiro picked up the pace and didn’t resist.

“Oh, right, be careful.” Jimmy was saying something.

“Huh, what?” Haruhiro tried to turn back, but Kuzaku lifted him up with a grunt and threw him into the sea. “Hey, wait, where’d this idiot strength come fro—”

The water was only up to their ankles here, but it was sand, so it was soft, and he managed to fall gracefully. Still, his whole body got wet.

Haruhiro jumped up. “What was that for?! Damn it, Kuzaku!”

“Wahahaha! Catch me if you caaaan!”

Kuzaku raised his leg awfully high, make large splashes as he took off running.

“Hold up!” Haruhiro chased after him.

Partly because of the strange way he was running, Kuzaku wasn’t all that fast. Haruhiro would catch him in no time.

“Ha! You’re wide open!” Yume cried as she jumped him from behind.

“You’re too obvious!” Haruhiro sidestepped, dodging Yume’s charge.

When Kuzaku did an about-face and went on the attack, too, Haruhiro predicted it.

“Here it comes! Body Slam...!”

“Who’d let that hit them?!” Haruhiro shouted.

He didn’t go sideways, or backwards. Forwards. Haruhiro lowered his stance, passing underneath Kuzaku as he came at him with a tackle, both arms spread wide.

“Gwah!” Kuzaku ended up using his Body Slam, or whatever it was, on the seawater. Haruhiro paused to watch.

Maybe that was a mistake.

“You’re mine!” From behind him, it was Setora’s voice.

Haruhiro didn’t turn, attempting to escape with a sideways jump. Was he too slow?

“The techniques of the onmitsu spies are also known as ninjutsu! Flying Windmill...!”

Haruhiro let out a gasp. What was this? He’d probably been grabbed by the back and thighs. Then what? He didn’t know.

Whatever it was, Haruhiro’s body spun around sideways with incredible momentum. Setora could use these sorts of physical techniques, too? And, hold on, it wasn’t fair pulling out a technique like that here!

Haruhiro was pounded into the bottom of the shallow water. When he tried to get up, he was already surrounded by his comrades.

“Hey! Ah! Five-on-one isn’t fair!” he shouted.

Kuzaku had a firm grip on Haruhiro’s arms, Yume and Setora on his right leg, Shihoru and Merry his left leg.

“Ready, set...!”

On Kuzaku’s orders, Haruhiro’s body was first swung right, towards the shore. Picking up momentum like a pendulum, he then swung left towards the sea.

“Whoa, I’m not an object, so—”

“Go...!”

On Kuzaku’s second signal, they all released him at once.

Uwah...

He was flying. Was he pulling some impressive air time here, maybe?

He was a bit scared, but it was pretty fun.

No, but when he started falling, the fear suddenly kicked in.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

The reason he started flailing in mid-air was because he thought it would be more fun that way. Well, he had that much composure, at least.

Haruhiro landed in the water back first. But wasn’t it deeper than he’d expected here? Not to the point his feet wouldn’t touch the bottom, though. Instead of immediately floating back up, he took his time.

When he stuck his face out from the water, bellowing, “What was that foooooooor?!” in a loud voice, his comrades broke out laughing. Kuzaku was clutching his sides, tears in his eyes.

Haruhiro had been trying to get a laugh out of them, but was it really that funny? Normally Haruhiro wouldn’t do things like this, so maybe the unexpectedness of it was making them happier about it. This wasn’t so bad, once in a while. Only once in a while, though.

“Dammiiiiiiit!” Haruhiro cut through the watter, charging towards Kuzaku. The water was up to his shoulders, and got deeper when the waves came, so even giving it his all, he didn’t have much speed. He must have looked funny doing it, because everyone was laughing.

“Heyyyy!” Jimmy was shouting from the shore.

After watching, had he decided he wanted to join in? It didn’t look like that was it, though.

With the coming waves, something passed by Haruhiro. Not just one thing. They came one after another, and some brushed Haruhiro as they went by. They were living creatures. Those sea beast-like creatures that had been lying around on the beach, maybe?

“Ahhhh! Haruhiro!” Kuzaku’s eyes were wide and he was pointing at something.

“Haru! Behind you!” Merry’s voice was raised.

Yume, Shihoru, and Setora were all shouting, too.

“Huh, behind—” Haruhiro turned around. “Wait, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!”

Something had opened its maw wide. Not one of those sea beast-like creatures. It was a different creature. What could it be? Wait, now wasn’t the time for wondering.

It was close. Super close. Was he going to get eaten?

Maybe—no, there was no maybe about it—he was in big trouble.

“Tahhh...!” Haruhiro let out a mysterious cry, and tried to jump to the left like his life depended on it, but he was caught in a powerful current and he had no idea what happened.

But that meant he was still alive. He had apparently not been eaten.

The massive creature pressed through the water. More than the waves, the current created by that creature was throwing Haruhiro around. Was it shark? A killer whale? Probably something along those lines.

Haruhiro shuddered. Normally, he’d have died there, wouldn’t he? It still felt like he might die, too.

This was bad. He was going to drown.

Even when he managed to get his face up above the surface to take a breath, he swallowed a lot of water.

“Blech, salty!” he shouted.

Kuzaku and the others were screaming and running around wildly. Was that creature not a shark or a whale? It had gone up on land, and was attacking the sea beast-like creatures one after another.

The tricks it was demonstrating, like using its well developed forearms to easily toss its prey, and jumping into the air on land to bite into them, were probably beyond a shark or whale could do. The sea beast-like creatures that had been lounging idly on the sandy beach now fled en masse back into the sea.

“It’s no good,” Haruhiro gasped. “When we get carried away, this stuff always happens!”

Haruhiro was heading for land, but the fleeing sea beast-like creatures collided with him one after another, and he couldn’t go where he wanted.

The shouting, roaring of animals, and screams all echoed.

The sun was setting.