Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 5 - Chapter 11

11. Rondo of the Leopard, Whale, and Dolphin

Tada wasn’t complaining, and his expression hadn’t changed, but his breathing was ragged. He looked like he was having a hard time.

As for Inui, he was holding onto Shihoru’s staff as she used it to pull him along. He had initially asked her to lend him a shoulder, or to hold his hand, but when Shihoru had curtly refused, he’d begged her to at least let him have this much, and Shihoru had ultimately relented. Even if half of it was an act, Inui was probably suffering, too, somehow.

Kikkawa had apparently busted a few ribs. They seemed to be hurting him sometimes when he moved.

Haruhiro and the others were still wandering through the maze of rubble. They had tried to get back to where they entered, but that only got them more lost.

“If only Anna-san were here...” Kikkawa whined. “Anna-san does, like, make-mapping as a hobby, and because it’s useful. It really helps at times like this...”

“With those maps...?” Haruhiro couldn’t help but ask.

“You just need to know how to read them, man,” Kikkawa insisted. “If you know how to read them, you can figure them out. Sure, they’re, like, wrong sometimes, but that’s all part of the appeal.”

“Drop it, Kikkawa,” Tada said with a laugh. “We’re the only ones who need to understand Anna-san’s greatness.”

“Yeah, you said it,” Ranta snorted, clearly not caring. “You people can keep that stuff to yourselves...”

They were all exhausted. Mentally and physically.

Haruhiro stopped, then looked up at the roof. “...Oh.”

“Huh? What is it?” Kuzaku looked up at the ceiling, too.

“Hold on.” Haruhiro didn’t wait for a response from his comrades before he began scaling the wall of rubble to reach the roof.

He’d called it a roof, but it wasn’t like there was a single plate covering the whole thing. There were plenty of gaps. If one was big enough, it wouldn’t be impossible to slip through it.

There were lots of bumps and indentations, so the climbing wasn’t all that hard. However, it felt like it could come tumbling down easily, so he had to be careful of that.

Sliding his body into a gap, he climbed and climbed. Not looking down as he headed upwards.

He came out.

He was on top of the roof.

It was slanted, so it was a little hard to stand on. While staying crouched, Haruhiro looked around the area.

“We came in from—which way?” he murmured. “Whoa. I’m not sure...”

He had thought if he could get up top he’d be able to get a handle on their current position, then figure out what direction they should be going to get back, but... now that he had actually done it, all he’d found was himself standing in the middle of a mountain of rubble.

“No good, huh,” he muttered.

No, but I can’t let that get me down, Haruhiro told himself. It’s hardly the first thing that hasn’t worked out. Things normally don’t work out, and we’re always scraping the bottom of the barrel. We’ve fallen as far as we can fall. It’s only up from here.

“I was being so negative there, it actually ended up swinging back around to being positive...” Haruhiro murmured.

“Haruhiroooo...!” Ranta called out.

“Yeah, yeah...” Haruhiro sighed, then called down to him, “I’m coming back now!”

“You figure anything out?!”

“Yeah, that we’re totally lost...” Haruhiro muttered, then went to head back down.

Why had he stopped and decided against it? He wasn’t sure. It was just, something bothered him. But what was it...?

Haruhiro stood up. “Oh... Whoa...”

He stumbled a bit, which scared him. He wished he had something to lean on for support. When he looked, not far away, there was a spot that was like a slightly slanted, shallow cup.

In order to get there, he would have to leap over a gap that was easily over a meter wide. Haruhiro hesitated, but he went for it. Well, it wasn’t a hard jump by any means. He managed to make it to the cup safely.

What? What was bothering him? Had he heard something? Or, perhaps, seen something?

“Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Haruhiro! You ass!” Ranta shouted again.

Haruhiro was about to yell Shut up! but then thought better of it.

“Ah!” he cried.

They weren’t close.

They were far away.

Practically specks off in the distance.

More than a hundred meters away.

He wasn’t sure what direction. He’d never been clear on which way was north, south, east, or west here. Anyway, from Haruhiro’s perspective, they were ahead of him and to the left. There was rubble piled up there, almost like a tower.

He saw them halfway up. Moving. He couldn’t tell what shape they were. But, while the rubble was mostly white, these specks were black.

One, two, three. There were three of them.

Three, Haruhiro told himself.

Tokimune, Anna-san, and Mimorin would make three.

Haruhiro formed his hands into a horn and was about to try calling out to them. He stopped himself just short of doing it.

Bad idea? It might be.

It was probably best to assume there were still more of the cultists and who-knew-what-else inside the maze of rubble. The cultists below might hear Haruhiro’s voice.

Haruhiro poked his head through a gap in the roof. “I may have spotted them. Tokimune-san and the others. I can’t make them out clearly, though.”

“Whaaaaat?!” Ranta screamed.

Now, what were they going to do? Going through the maze of rubble to reach the tower was going to be a lot of work, what with it being a maze and all. On top of that, while the nimble Haruhiro might not have had much trouble getting up here, the heavily armored Kuzaku and Kikkawa would exhaust themselves doing it. Even if everyone managed to get up top, there was still the issue of whether or not they could make it all the way to the tower. There were no paths up here, and it wasn’t even level. Still, there was no reason not to try.

The girls came up first, then Inui, Tada, and Kuzaku, with Ranta coming up last. It took some doing, but they managed to get up.

It really did look like there were people in the tower. Yume, with her superb eyesight, said definitively that there were three people there. Distance-wise, it wasn’t just a hundred meters away, it was two hundred.

Haruhiro took point, advancing slowly as he searched for pieces of rubble that were viable footholds. Even if it was something of a roundabout route, he prioritized ease of passage while choosing his path. If his comrades couldn’t follow him, it would defeat the purpose.

Just to advance ten meters, it was taking five or ten minutes. Haruhiro was mostly fine, but his comrades were getting frustrated. He could understand why. Haruhiro had to focus on choosing a path, and he could focus on that, but the others were just following him. Whenever people had the leeway to do so, they would think about things they probably shouldn’t.

Haruhiro stretched out his right foot, testing the rubble. Will here work? No, it’s loose. He shifted his foot to the left, stepping on a different piece of rubble. This one seems fine.

“Ranta,” he said.

“Huh? What?”

“What happened to Betrayer?”

“I chucked it,” said Ranta. “Who needs that thing? Not me. ’Cause I’ve got Lightning Sword Dolphin now. If I kept it, it’d just be excess baggage.”

“What a waste,” Yume complained. Haruhiro couldn’t afford to look in Yume’s direction right now, but he was sure her cheeks were puffed up.

“Me, I think it’s lovely, y’know,” said Kikkawa. “The way Ranta does stuff like that. You’re the man, Ranta.”

“Yeah, you’re a guy who gets it, Kikkawa,” said Ranta. “I didn’t decide you had potential for nothing.”

“When did you ever decide he had potential...?” Shihoru muttered.

“Just now?” Ranta shot back.

“In a way, I’m jealous.” Merry’s voice was so incredibly cold, she didn’t sound like she envied him at all.

“I kind of feel that way, too,” Kuzaku said in a subdued voice.

“Seriously?” Merry sounded displeased.

“That’s Anna-san, all right,” Tada suddenly said. “That’s Anna-san, Tokimune, and Mimori. No doubt about it. I can tell.”

“Yeah...” Inui agreed. “You’re right... Heh...”

Hopefully they’re right, Haruhiro thought. But I don’t want to get my hopes up prematurely, and I don’t want to get emotional and have it disrupt my concentration, so I don’t want to think it’s them just yet.

“Haruhiro,” Tada called suddenly.

Startled, Haruhiro nearly slipped and fell.

Don’t do that! he nearly snapped, but then reconsidered. Oh, whatever, it’s fine.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“You know, you make a surprisingly good leader,” said Tada.

“...No, I don’t.”

“You’re as plain as a ladybug, and not as good as Tokimune, though,” said Tada.

“I know, right?” Haruhiro said.

He didn’t quite know why he’d responded like that. And, wait, what did Tada mean, “plain like a ladybug”? That made no sense. Well, maybe he couldn’t expect sense from Tada.

It didn’t feel bad being praised, though. It was just, more than anything, it made him feel a bit ticklish, and the strongest feeling he got from it was a desire to say, Please, stop.

He wanted to do his best work, to do the best he could for his comrades and those he had ties with. He did have those sorts of feelings, but Haruhiro also really didn’t want to stand out. He had finally realized that was the sort of person he was.

What’s wrong with being plain? he thought. Plain is good. Plain is the best. I want to be plain forever.

Haruhiro wasn’t particularly sleepy, but with sleepy eyes, he was searching out a suitable route to the tower, having run-of-the-mill thoughts like, It’s still pretty far, and, We’re not getting much closer. But he was a run-of-the-mill sort of guy, after all, so that was no surprise.

However, he didn’t stop. He didn’t throw in the towel. If he didn’t give up, he could move forward one step, or, well, one half-step at a time. Even if he turned back occasionally, he just had to move forward again afterwards. Plainly and boringly, slowly and steadily.

“They’re wavin’,” Yume said, waving both her arms back at them. “Looks like all three of them are doin’ fine.”

Haruhiro narrowed his eyes, too, and confirmed that the three who were at the tower were waving their hands. No, only two of them were waving. Tokimune and Anna-san. Mimorin was sitting down and wasn’t moving. Tada had said that Mimorin had hurt her leg, or something like that. Hopefully the injury wasn’t too bad. Still, she’d gotten that far, so it couldn’t be so bad that she was unable to move.

We’re coming now, Haruhiro said silently. We’ll be there in no time. No, it could be a while still, maybe? But, we’ll get there eventually. It’s just another fifty meters or so, I’d say.

“Tada! Inui! Kikkawa!” Anna-san called, stretching out with her tiny body. She must have been unable to hold it in any longer.

Tada pressed on his glasses with the index finger of his left hand, then silently lifted his warhammer aloft.

“Heh...” Inui was—tearing up?

Kikkawa looked ready to burst into tears, too, so Ranta slapped him on the shoulder.

“You guys!” Tokimune spread his arms out wide. “Viva Tokkis!”

“What’s that he’s doing?” Kuzaku whispered.

“A ‘T’...?” Merry tilted her head to the side quizzically.

“Oh...” Shihoru didn’t sound like she approved. “The ‘T’ from Tokkis...”

“Hoooh.” Yume nodded, seemingly impressed, then looked to Tada. “That’s a thing people do, huh? That sort of, what do you call it? Erm, a party pose, kind of thing?”

“No.” Tada shook his head. “This is the first time I’ve seen it.”

“Same here...” Inui said. “Heh...”

“It’s new to me, too,” said Kikkawa. “Oh! It’s the ‘T’ from Tokkis! It’s that one, huh!”

What other one did Kikkawa think it might have been? Haruhiro thought. It doesn’t matter which, I guess. Yeah. Whichever it was, it doesn’t matter.

Mimorin really was sitting down. Right now, she had just raised her hand a little. She was looking at Haruhiro. They were too far away for him to make out her face, but he could feel her eyes on him.

Haruhiro raised his right hand in response.

Did the usually expressionless Mimorin smile? he thought. I wonder. Not that it matters. Yeah. It doesn’t matter. After all, we’ll be there soon anyway.

Haruhiro tried to step over a largish gap.

“...Whoa,” he muttered.

Their eyes met.

It had a lion-like head. White. With one eye. Its body was like a sculpture, but the eyeball was a very eyeball-y eyeball, raw and vivid.

The area beneath the gap was pretty wide, and that thing was looking up at Haruhiro from inside there.

Ah! Aha! So this is the one I’ve heard so much about.

“A white gia—”

The white giant reached out towards him. Haruhiro leapt backwards. That thing—it could reach.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!” Ranta hollered.

Kikkawa was flipping out, and Haruhiro thought he’d heard the girls scream, too.

The white giant’s hand shot out through the gap, and the rubble that made up the ceiling collapsed.

“G-Get back! Get back!” Haruhiro shouted commands as he fell back himself.

This is bad, he thought frantically. Even thinking calmly about it, this is really bad. In order to return along precisely the route we carefully used to come here, it’s going to require just as much carefulness on the way back, but now we’re in a hurry. More than that, we’re panicking.

“Hyahhhh!” Kikkawa screamed.

Who was that? Kikkawa? Apparently, yes. Kikkawa’s gone. He must have fallen through some gap somewhere.

“Meowwwr?!” Yume nearly fell into a hole, too, but clutched onto the rim.

“Heh!” Inui was trying to pull Yume up out of the hole. Ranta, Merry, and Shihoru looked like they meant to help him.

“Dammit! Kikkawa!” Tada slid down through a nearby gap.

“Haruhiro?!” Kuzaku turned to look over in his direction.

Tokimune and the others had also noticed something was amiss, and they were trying to come this way.

This is awful, Haruhiro thought. An instant. All it took was an instant for everything to go to hell. It’s not fair. I was trying my best in my slow and steady, plain and boring way, but this is really awful. It’s all a wash. It’s just way too awful.

This is just how things go. I know that. When I pile up the tiny stones of hard work and finally think I have a nice little mountain going, something always comes along and makes it fall apart.

Even so, I won’t cry. I’ll make an immediate decision. This requires an instantaneous response. If I get it wrong—no, I don’t have time to think about what will happen if I get it wrong.

“Ranta, get down there!” Haruhiro shouted. “Inui, you, too! Support Kikkawa and Tada down below! Everyone else, attack it from up here!”

“Man, what do you mean attack—” Ranta began.

“Are you scared, Ranta?!” Haruhiro shouted.

“Don’t be stupid! There’s no way I’d be scared! Bring it on!” Ranta screamed.

It was a good thing Ranta was an idiot. Inui and Ranta immediately moved into action.

The white giant was using one arm to smash through the rubble like crazy. Attack it from above? Could they really do that?

Yume was already being pulled up. Tokimune and the others would still take time to arrive.

“Don’t push yourselves too hard!” Haruhiro shouted to Tokimune, jumping from one piece of rubble to another, heading towards the white giant’s back. “Shihoru! Test if Darsh Magic will work or not!”

“Right! Ohm, rel, ect, el, vel, darsh!”

Vwong, vwong, vwong. Three shadow elementals that looked like balls of black seaweed flew towards the white giant.

Shadow Echo. They hit. All three of them. For an instant, it looked like its arm stopped moving, but that was all.

“Maybe not!” Shihoru called.

“Whew!” Yume let an arrow fly, but it bounced off. “No good! It’s hard!”

The eye, Haruhiro thought. That one eye. It seems like a blade would go through there. But the eye, huh. How will I do it?

“Ohhh!” he cried in realization.

Like this? Is this the only way?

Haruhiro kicked off from the rubble, leaping onto the giant’s arm. It really was hard. And cold. Like a boulder. It was impressive that it could move. Haruhiro leapt from the arm to the shoulder. Then to the head.

“That’s dangerous, you know?!” he heard Ranta shout.

Yeah, you said it.

Haruhiro circled around to the front of its head, twisting his dagger into its one eye.

Ahh, this looks bad, he realized. This thing’s definitely gonna thrash around. Should I jump down?

The giant was more than three meters tall. Maybe not four meters, though. It wasn’t a height he’d die falling from, but he might get hurt.

While Haruhiro was hesitating, the giant opened its mouth and emitted a rumbling roar. Go, go, go, go, go... Then it dove headfirst into the nearby rubble.

Haruhiro circled around to its back side moments before the impact, so he managed to survive somehow. But the giant hadn’t stopped yet.

“Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go...!”

It punched the wall of rubble. It smashed it down. It was all Haruhiro could do to hold on. He had no idea what might happen to him if he was thrown off now.

Actually, does it feel like I’m gonna die even if I do hang on? he thought. I might. This could be a situation where, if I manage not to die, it would be fair to say I got really lucky.

“Gwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Ranta yelled.

Haruhiro thought he caught a glimpse of Ranta rushing towards the giant. A split second later, the giant shuddered slightly and stopped.

It was probably for half an instant, Haruhiro thought. No, it couldn’t be that, could it? Lightning Sword Dolphin. Is that it? Did he slash it with Lightning Sword Dolphin?

“Ah!” Haruhiro cried.

He threw himself away from the giant’s back as hard as he could. When he did, the giant was already starting to move again, and if he missed this chance, he figured he wouldn’t get another one.

He had been trying to be careful not to land on anything funny, but his left arm struck something, he hit his tailbone, and his back collided with something hard.

It hurts! ...was one thing he couldn’t afford to say right now.

The giant was right next to him. Haruhiro rolled away from it. For now, he just needed to put distance between them. It didn’t matter how he got it; he just needed that distance.

Once he was further away, and had hidden in the shadow of some of the larger rubble, Haruhiro noticed he couldn’t move his left arm.

His butt, he wasn’t sure about. It hurt when it touched something. His back hurt, too. Was he bleeding? Apparently. His breathing was fine. Other than his left arm, well, it was just pain. His left arm, though—he wasn’t sure. It might be broken.

The giant was rampaging about, seemingly at random.

Where was Ranta? What about Tada? Inui?

At the very least, they didn’t seem to be fighting the giant.

“Haru-kuuuun!” He heard Yume’s voice from above him.

For just two seconds, he thought about it. Then he called back. “Where are Tokimune-san and his group?!”

“Haru-kun?!” Yume cried. “Er, lessee, they’re not here yet!”

“What about the others?!” Haruhiro shouted.

“They’re okay!”

“Get away from here!” Haruhiro shouted. “From the giant! We’ll join back up later! Ranta! Tada-san, Kikkawa, Inui-san! Can you hear me?!”

“Yeah!” Ranta responded immediately, although Haruhiro couldn’t see him.

“Gotcha!” Judging from Kikkawa’s voice, he was still full of energy.

“We’re getting by somehow!” Tada responded a little after the other two.

There was no response from Inui. Searching for him wasn’t an option.

I’m sorry, Inui-san, thought Haruhiro.

“Yume!” he called. “Head towards Tokimune-san and his group, and once you’ve joined up with them, wait! Ranta! Tada-san, Kikkawa—and Inui-san, too! Find me, and follow me!”

Haruhiro remembered the direction of the tower Tokimune and the others had been in. To go that way, they would have to rush past the giant, which was dangerous, but they had no choice.

As for his left arm, he could move his shoulder, but nothing past his elbow. It hurt, of course. But not that badly yet. His butt and back were bearable, too.

“Here we go!” Haruhiro shouted, giving the signal to everyone, then took off at a run.

Just to be safe, he chose a time when the giant had its back to him. But as he tried to get past it, the giant made an about-face, which made him panic pretty badly.

Haruhiro couldn’t stop or turn back. He had to keep on running past. He nearly got kicked by the giant. Somehow, he managed to dodge its leg and turned back.

Ranta was with him. Kikkawa, too. What about Tada? Or Inui?

“Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go...!” The giant emitted its rumbling roar.

Haruhiro didn’t have time to think about it. He needed to worry about himself before others. He’d wounded its one eye, but could it still see? Could it sense him? The giant was chasing after Haruhiro!

“Why?!” Haruhiro screamed.

The giant’s movements were languid, but it was twice as big as a human, after all. If it ran straight forward, it would be as fast as a human, maybe faster. Not to mention, Haruhiro was injured. He couldn’t run at his top speed.

When Haruhiro leapt behind a wall of rubble, the giant tackled the wall and pulverized it.

“Ow!” Haruhiro shouted.

Pieces of rubble flew everywhere, and Haruhiro ran away while they rained down on him. The giant knocked down piles of rubble, springing into the air in pursuit of Haruhiro.

“I-It looks like... it’s holding a grudge?!” he shouted.

“Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go...!”

“O-Oh, crap! Th-This is bad!”

Am I gonna die? Haruhiro thought. Am I really gonna die? Normally, I would, right?

He wanted to give up.

But Haruhiro was still running towards the tower.

Should I change course? he wondered. Pull the giant as far away as I can, and then—if I do that, I mean, it might save my comrades.

Even if he was going to die, he wanted to at least do that much.

That’s right. It’s not time to die yet. Haruhiro still had things he could do. I’ll pull the giant away from my comrades. It won’t be too late to die after that.

Okay.

With a goal set, he felt the power welling up inside him.

“This way!” he called.

Haruhiro tried to hang a right. That was when it happened.

“Okaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”

What was that? Haruhiro stopped and looked back despite himself.

It looked like the guy had fallen down from up above. In other words, through a gap in the roof. The roof was pretty high around that area, leaving considerable space above the head of the giant, which stood nearly four meters tall. The ceiling was probably around two meters higher than the giant.

The guy had fallen that distance. No, that wasn’t it—he had leapt down at the giant from it.

The guy slammed his sword into the giant’s head hard. The giant stumbled. It wasn’t clear how much damage it had dealt, but it didn’t look like the giant could just shrug it off.

Then the guy landed on the giant’s shoulders, slugging the side of its big face with his shield.

“Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong!”

The guy used his sword not so much to slash it, as to punch it.

“Dahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Then, like a deer running through a valley, he stepped lightly from the giant’s arms, to its knees, then finally to the ground.

“Wahaha! Heeeere’s Tokimune-san!” Tokimune banged his sword on his shield loudly. “Bring it on, big guy! I’ll make quick work of you!”

“No, that’s clearly not going to work, you know?” Haruhiro let his true feelings escape.

“Haruhiro!” Tokimune called.

“Y-Yes.”

“You’re about to witness a miracle! So dig the wax out of your eyes and watch!”

“If I dig out my eyes, I’m not gonna be seeing anything...”

“You’re so nitpicky!” Tokimune shouted.

Am I really? Aren’t you just too sloppy about things, Tokimune? And random, too. I’m glad you dropped in to help, but this is reckless.

“Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go...!” The giant crouched down and attacked Tokimune.

Its right fist. It was going to punch. Not straight. A hook.

“Ta-da-da-dahhhh!” Tokimune—wasn’t dodging.

No, shouldn’t you dodge there? Haruhiro thought.

His shield. Tokimune meant to block the giant’s right hook with his shield.

—No. That’s not even an option. He’s crazy. He’s absolutely crazy.

“Guhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...!”

There was an incredible noise, and then Tokimune—was not sent flying. He was holding his ground. He had been pushed back about a meter by the force of the giant’s right hook, but he’d stopped there.

“Yay! Ta-dah!” Tokimune shouted.

Before the giant could pull back its right arm, incredibly, Tokimune raced up it. Where had he gotten that sense of balance? How could he commit like that?

Tokimune reached the giant’s right shoulder in no time. Then, once again, he smacked the giant in the side of its face with his sword and shield.

“Gooooooooong! Dahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

The giant staggered a little, but soon tried to catch Tokimune with its hands. Only, it was slow and stupid. Tokimune jumped away, pulling off a stylish landing, then wailed on the giant’s knees with his sword.

“Take that! And that! And that! And that! And that! And that, and that, and that, and that!”

“Go, go, go, go, go, go...!”

The giant swung down its right arm, trying to crush Tokimune. It was a terrifying strike that threatened to make an instant pancake out of him, but Tokimune dodged it with a laugh. Using a back flip, for some reason.

“That was unnecessary,” Haruhiro commented.

“It was, too, necessary!” Tokimune shouted. He got in close to the giant, visiting blows on it with his sword and shield. “Because it was damn cool! Strong and cool are synonymous—Yeahhhhhh!”

“Tch! Dammit, Tokimune!” a man shouted.

It was Tada. Tada was here. He was bleeding all over, but Tada ran forward with his warhammer over his shoulder.

“I don’t care who’s cooler, but I’m stronger!” Tada bellowed. “Somersault Bomb!”

That skill—he ran up, did a forward somersault, then slammed his weapon down into the enemy. That wasn’t a priest’s self-defense skill. A warrior. It was a warrior’s heavy armor combat skill.

Ker-smash! Tada’s warhammer caught the giant’s left knee. The giant’s knee caved in, causing white fragments to fly everywhere.

Tada did a backwards roll to get behind it, then was unable to get up, lying on his backside. “Urgh... Not enough blood...”

“Wahaha! It’s ’cause you’re trying too hard, Tada! Whoa there...” Tokimune slipped through the giant’s arms as he fell back, then hit those arms with his sword. He hit them and hit them. “But that was a good attack there! It’s slowed it down!”

It was true, the giant was dragging its left leg. Tada’s Somersault Bomb must have been pretty effective.

“Seriously?! Are we seriously, seriously going to finish this thing here?!” a voice screamed.

Someone annoying had arrived. It was Ranta.

“Then that’s gotta mean, gotta mean, gotta mean it’s my time to shine, right?!” Ranta hollered.

No, you get lost! was what Haruhiro wanted to say, but Ranta wouldn’t have listened.

“Yahoo!” Kikkawa yelled. “I’m getting in on this too!”

“Haru!” Merry called.

“Haru-kun!” cried Yume.

“Haruhiro-kun...” murmured Shihoru.

“Haruhiro?!” cried Kuzaku.

Yeah, and it looks like everyone’s come down here now, Haruhiro noted. We’re doing this. Is that the way things are going? It probably is. I don’t like it. I mean, my left arm, butt, and back hurt. If we’re going to do this, we have to win. Sure, it’s slowed down a bit, but can we take down that monster?

Haruhiro didn’t think it was going to be that easy.

The giant was going after Tokimune, reaching out with its right hand, then its left. Tokimune was nimbly avoiding its grasp and striking back, but he wasn’t managing to do any damage.

Tada was still on the ground. It didn’t look like he’d be able to move. Ranta and Kikkawa seemed to be trying to get behind the giant. Yume, Shihoru, Merry, and Kuzaku were trying to get closer to Haruhiro.

Haruhiro’s left arm was starting to seriously hurt now. It kept drawing his attention, and he couldn’t help it. He needed to get his mind back on track. What was it? What did he need to be thinking about? Reinforcements. That was right. Enemies. There could be cultists coming. There didn’t seem to be any yet.

They had to take it down. Kill it. That giant. How? Tada’s warhammer. The giant’s... outer skin? Was it skin? He wasn’t sure, but the giant’s outside was really hard. It seemed bludgeoning weapons would still work, though. Even so, it was too much to ask Tada to pull off another hit like before. Haruhiro’s sap was a bludgeoning weapon, too, but he would be hard-pressed to pull off a powerful attack like Tada had with it. Or rather, it would be impossible to. Merry’s short staff was probably a similar case. That left magic, maybe. The cultists had been weak against Darsh Magic. What about the giant?

Shadow Bond couldn’t bind powerful enemies to begin with, so it was going to be pointless. Even if Shadow Complex could confuse the giant, if it thrashed around violently, it wouldn’t be any different. That one was out, too.

What about putting it to sleep with Sleepy Shadow? It would wake up if they attacked it, so that one was also no good. Shadow Echo didn’t seem like it would be a game-changer, either.

“What do we do?” Haruhiro mumbled to himself as he looked around them, and above.

Where were Anna-san and Mimori, he wondered? Had Inui not managed to keep up with the group, after all? What was he going to do?

“Kuzaku, you join in and help surround it,” Haruhiro said. “Don’t get too close. Yume and Merry, cover Shihoru. Shihoru, use magic. Try nailing it with a Thunderstorm.”

“Right!” Shihoru immediately turned to face the giant. “Everyone, get back a little!”

Tokimune and the others backed away from the giant. Shihoru began to draw elemental sigils with the tip of her staff and chant a spell.

“Jess, yeen, sark, kart, fram, dart!”

It was a big target, so the entire bundle of lightning struck the giant. There was a pretty incredible noise, and the giant’s body shook, with smoke rising from it here and there, but, as if everything were normal, it turned to look in this direction—or rather, in Shihoru’s direction.

Oh, crap, Haruhiro thought. Here it comes.

“I’m not gonna let you—” Ranta stabbed Lightning Sword Dolphin into the giant. “—do thaaaat!”

The giant shuddered. That was all. Then it reached out and tried to grab Ranta. “Go, go, go...!”

“Whoa, hoh!” Ranta let out a weird cry and swung Lightning Sword Dolphin again. The tip of the blade grazed the middle finger of the giant’s right hand.

The giant shuddered.

Ranta leapt back during that time, and Tokimune and Kikkawa, along with Kuzaku, closed in on the giant, whaling on its lower extremities with their swords and shields. However, no matter how much they hit it, they couldn’t do the same kind of damage that Tada’s Somersault Bomb had.

“Go, go, go, go, go, go...!”

“Whoa!” Tokimune shouted.

“Yipes!” Kikkawa screamed.

“Wha...!” Kuzaku cried.

When the giant made a grand swing with both of its arms, Tokimune, Kikkawa, and Kuzaku were all forced to back away. Could they really defeat it by just repeatedly doing this?

“Haruhiro!” Tokimune shouted to him while dodging the giant’s right hook. “As your senior, let me teach you the secret to beating down enemies like this!”

“What’s that secret?!” Haruhiro shouted back.

“A concentrated attack!”

“Come again?”

“You concentrate your attacks! If there’re five people, that’s five times the attacks! If you have ten people, it’s ten! You slam all of that into it at once! A focused attack! That’s the secret!”

“...I see,” Haruhiro muttered. He felt like an idiot to have expected anything.

What’s the big deal about a concentrated attack? You’re just concentrating your attacks. Anyone would think to do that. It’s obvious, isn’t it?

The issue was where to concentrate their attacks. How would they concentrate their attacks?

A concentrated attack, Haruhiro thought.

“Mimorin! Keep trying, yeah!” a new voice shouted.

That voice, that way of talking—it’s Anna-san, he realized.

Looking up, he saw Mimorin wedged into a gap in the ceiling. No, she wasn’t wedged in there, she was trying to come down. Her chest was kind of large, though, and she seemed to have gotten stuck. Still, she slipped through.

Or rather, she fell.

“Eek!” Mimorin landed on her rump, letting out a surprisingly cute little scream as she did. Then she groaned. “Ngh...”

The fall looked like it had been painful.

“Mi-Mi-Mimoriiiin?!” Anna-san was trying to come down through the same gap. She had large breasts, too, but unlike Mimori, her body was small, so it didn’t look like she’d get caught. “Are you all right?! You not hurt, yeah?!”

“It’s nothing major.” Mimorin used her staff for support as she got up, then drew her sword.

That’s right, Haruhiro remembered.

She was a mage now, but Mimorin had once been a warrior, and she also carried a sword in addition to her staff. What was Mimorin planning to do with her staff in her left hand and her sword in her right?

For now, she looked around restlessly, then seemed to find what she was after. She started walking towards it, but her leg was injured, and it looked like her butt hurt, too, so she was tottering unsteadily.

“Hold on, that’s dangerous,” Haruhiro told her.

Mimorin was trying to face down the giant. She was apparently going to join in on the concentrated attack. Why did everyone in the Tokkis have to be like this?

Concentrating our attacks, Haruhiro thought.

No plan came to mind. Fighting this way was absurd. Why did they even need to defeat the giant to begin with? Dealing a major blow to it, to buy the time to retreat, would be enough. Any more was unnecessary.

“Ranta!” Haruhiro shouted. “Keep on whacking the giant’s legs with that Lightning Sword you’re so proud of! When you do, everyone will go for the eye! It can still see with that eye! We’ll blind it, then run! You can complain later, just do what I say for now! Now, do it, Ranta!”

“Don’t act so full of yourself when you’re just Parupiro!” Ranta hollered. He closed in on the giant and hit its leg with Lightning Sword Dolphin. “You’d better cry and thank me later!”

Not gonna happen, Haruhiro thought. I’ll never thank you, but if you do well, I might praise you for it.

“Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hahhhhh...!” Ranta swung Lightning Sword Dolphin continuously, without stopping for a breath. He swung it like crazy, striking the giant’s left leg.

Each time he hit the giant, it shuddered. Shudder, shudder, shudder, shudder. Each of those shudders only took a short time, but when they came continuously, it was almost like it was paralyzed, because the giant couldn’t move.

“Mrrow!” Yume nocked an arrow to her composite bow, then let it loose.

In rapid succession, she fired, and fired, and fired, and fired.

It was the archery skill, Rapid Fire. With Yume’s skill level, every couple shots one would fire off in completely the wrong direction, or not fly far enough, but two in every five hit the giant right in the eye. This was a result so successful, Haruhiro could only imagine it was a fluke.

“Haruhiroooo!” Tokimune raced up the giant’s body. “It looks like you’ve mastered the secret! Now it’s time for my super attack! Float like a leopard, sting like a whale!”

You’ve got something wrong there, Haruhiro thought. You probably meant float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

But it would be uncouth to correct him—maybe? Besides, Tokimune didn’t float like a butterfly or a leopard, and he didn’t sting like a whale or a bee. However, once he got up on the giant’s shoulders, he did stab the hell out of its one eye.

“Me, too! Me, too! Let me in on this!” Kikkawa tried to climb the giant, too, but failed.

Kuzaku shook his head, as if to say, Yeah, no, I can’t. Haruhiro was more or less fine with that. He was the one who’d said everyone should attack its eye, but maybe Tokimune alone would be enough.

Of course, Mimorin, who was injured, didn’t need to do anything. Haruhiro rushed over to Mimorin, patting her on the back lightly.

“You’ve done enough! Let’s run, Mimorin!”

“Huh?” Mimorin looked down at Haruhiro, then nodded. “Okay.”

Haruhiro waved his right arm wide, calling out loudly, “Retreat! We’re retreating! Tokimune-san, get down here! Kikkawa, you, too!”

“Zwahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Tada, who had been hanging his head until this point, shouted as he rushed towards the giant.

Before Haruhiro could say, No, we’ve done enough, and stop him, Tada did a forward somersault and slammed his warhammer into the giant’s right knee.

“Somersault Booooomb!”

Crunch. The giant’s right knee caved in.

Tada stumbled backwards, then sat down. “How do you like that? I’m the strong one here... heh heh...”

Who really cares? Haruhiro thought.

“Nwahhhh!” Ranta backed away two, three steps, then thrust Lightning Sword Dolphin into the ground. “I-I’m... so... exhausted... dammiiiiit!”

This is the limit, huh, Haruhiro thought.

The giant began to move.

Ultimately, Kikkawa, who had never fully managed to scale the giant, came down from it, half-falling off in the process, and helped Tada to his feet. He lent him a shoulder for support, and made him walk.

“Tadacchi! You can go, right?!” Kikkawa called.

“Damn straight!” Tada called. “Who do you think I am?!”

Tokimune made a graceful landing. “Anna-saaaan! We’re getting out of here! You know the way, right?!”

“Of course, yeah?!” Anna-san was still clinging to the wall of rubble, but she nimbly jumped down. “You follow Anna-san, yeah! Let’s go!”

Was this going to be okay? Haruhiro wasn’t fully convinced, but he didn’t know the way himself, so he had no choice but to let Anna-san lead on.

“Ranta-kun!” Kuzaku dragged Ranta behind him.

“Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go...!”

The giant might have been trying to thrash about, but with both legs collapsing underneath it, it was forced to squat. The two Somersault Bombs had hurt its knees badly.

Haruhiro looked quickly to Yume, Shihoru, and Merry. “Follow Anna-san!” he shouted.

All three nodded in unison.

Anna-san and Tokimune took the lead; then Yume, Shihoru, and Merry; Kuzaku and Ranta followed, as well as Kikkawa and Tada; and lastly, Haruhiro and Mimorin followed them, in that order. They were far from running away at top speed. Even setting Ranta aside, Tada and Mimorin were in no shape to run. The best they could manage would be a hurried walk.

Mimorin had returned her sword to its sheathe and was using her staff like a cane, but she was still having a hard time. It looked like she had lost the strength in her left leg. She was bleeding, too.

If her left side was weak, if he supported her left side with his right, she might have an easier time of it. Fortunately, it was Haruhiro’s left arm that hurt. If it had been his right, it would have made things difficult, but this he could handle.

Haruhiro smoothly slid in between Mimorin’s left arm and her left flank, putting his right arm around her shoulder.

“Let’s do our best,” he tried saying to her, but Mimorin didn’t say a thing. When he looked, she was biting her lip. It looked like she might burst into tears at any second.

The giant was behind them, putting a great deal of effort into tackling the walls of rubble, grabbing onto chunks of rubble and throwing them. Hopefully, none of it would fly their way.

This is kinda awkward, thought Haruhiro.

They had been working with the Tokkis to explore the Dusk Realm, which they had both discovered, after all, and—well, the Tokkis had stabbed them in the back and tried to steal a march on Haruhiro and the party, but they still felt like comrades, and that was why the party had accepted Kikkawa’s request and come this far.

Having come all this way, Haruhiro wanted to save anyone he could, and that was a feeling that didn’t apply to any particular individual, but to the Tokkis as a whole. Of course, that whole included Mimorin. That was all there was to it. What he was doing now was just another part of that. He could explain he didn’t mean anything else by it, and maybe he should have, but this really wasn’t the time, was it?

“Um... say, Mimorin,” said Haruhiro. “Uh... I-Inui-san’s kind of not here, you know. Nobody’s saying anything, though.”

“Ohh,” said Mimorin.

“Is that okay?” Haruhiro asked. “No, I mean, there’s no way it’s okay, but...”

“It’s okay.”

“Huh?”

“I think.”

“Y-You think?”

“He’s a stubborn survivor, that Inui.” Mimorin was back to her usual deadpan expression. “Like a cockroach.”

“...Wow,” Haruhiro murmured.

“But he’s not cute like a cockroach.”

No—I’m pretty sure cockroaches aren’t cute.

But, even if he said something normal like that, Mimorin probably wouldn’t be able to understand. He had a feeling that this girl and he would never understand one another. They didn’t have to, though. He didn’t particularly want to understand her.

I don’t care, he told himself. It doesn’t matter.

First, they had to get out of the maze of rubble. Then they could get out of the Dusk Realm. Once they were able to receive the blessings of the God of Light, Lumiaris, they would heal up with light magic. Then they would return to the Lonesome Field Outpost.

I don’t care what happens after that, Haruhiro added silently.

“My God!” exclaimed Anna-san, coming to a stop in the middle of a four-way intersection.

Everyone had to stop.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey, Anna-san!” Ranta sputtered.

“Shut the fuck up!” Anna-san turned around and said something foreign that probably meant she wanted him to shut up. “’Kay! We going, yeah! I make little bit mistake! No big deal, yeah!”

“Is that actually true?” Kuzaku mumbled to himself.

“You people.” Tokimune gave them the thumbs up and flashed his white teeth at them. “Come on, just trust Anna-san. I’m sure we’re about to witness a miracle. Yes, a miracle. No doubt about it.”

Tokimune was a big fan of miracles, apparently. Haruhiro couldn’t help but want to simply retort, They’re called miracles because they don’t usually happen, but he refrained. That was primarily because he had bigger concerns.

Straight ahead of them, across the four-way intersection, a whole bunch of cultists appeared.

To the right, too.

And on the left, as well.

“Which way is it, Anna-san?!” Tokimune shouted.

Anna-san pointed to the path to the left. “That way, yeah! Maybe... Absolutely! Absolutely that way, yeah?!”

“No, asking us won’t help,” Haruhiro couldn’t help but point out.

Anna-san glared at him.

“One, two, three, four...” Tokimune was getting a rough count of the number of incoming cultists. “Well, it’d be tough to run away. We’ll have to kill them, huh!”

Haruhiro didn’t bother counting. But, well, they were going to have to kill them. That was a fact.

Haruhiro moved away from Mimorin and tried moving his left arm. It hurt. It hurt intensely. It didn’t even move all that well. He drew his dagger with his right hand. The number of cultists was five in front, five more to the right, and four to the left. That was a lot. There might be more coming, too.

“Ohm, rel, ect, el, krom, darsh!” Shihoru drew elemental sigils with her staff and chanted the spell for Shadow Mist. The black mist-like shadow elemental burst forth, drifting towards the cultists down the right-hand path.

This’ll work—or it should, Haruhiro thought. It’s there. How is it?

The five cultists all collapsed.

Follow up with another one down the left-hand path or straight ahead, was what he would have liked to tell Shihoru to do, but it wasn’t an option. The cultists were already too close, and some of the party would end up in the area of effect, too.

“Man, Haruhiro! I sure am glad you guys came along!” Tokimune yelled.

Tokimune took off. Straight ahead. Knocking aside a cultist’s outstretched spear with his shield, he aimed for the eye. The cultist leaned back to avoid it, but Tokimune kept charging forward. He pushed down that cultist, then used Bash on the cultist to his left. At the same time, he used his sword to knock away the cultist on his right.

“We owe you for life, man!” Kikkawa shouted. “I love you, Harucchi!”

Kikkawa followed after Tokimune. It seemed Tokimune acted like no paladin should, rushing in and messing up the enemy, while Kikkawa would go in and attack the enemy Tokimune had left in utter disarray, while taking their attacks and serving as a tank.

“I’m on break,” or so Tada said, as he nonetheless sent a cultist flying with a shower of blows from his warhammer.

Mimorin used a two-handed staff and sword style, standing in front of Anna-san.

“Do it! Kill them all! Massacre, yeah!” Anna-san was apparently the team’s designated cheerleader.

“Ahh, this is dangerous!” Kuzaku cried.

Even as he complained, Kuzaku charged into the left cultists’ line of spears. While he did have a sturdy shield, it was obviously still scary. But, despite what Kuzaku said, he didn’t falter. Even as the spears scratched his shield, he closed in on a cultist and swung around his longsword. He thrust. The four cultists stopped advancing.

“Don’t worry!” Ranta declared, attacking the four cultists whose momentum Kuzaku had killed. “I’m here! Here I go! Secret skill... Dolphin Dance!”

For a moment, the vivid image of a pod of dolphins jumping around playfully flashed through Haruhiro’s mind.

Dolphins. They were sea creatures. Since coming to Grimgar, Haruhiro hadn’t been to the sea even once. Despite that, he knew what the sea was, and he could imagine it. He knew what dolphins were, too. Had Haruhiro seen dolphins at the sea before?

Regardless, this had basically nothing to do with dolphins.

Ranta slapped the cultists’ spears with Lightning Sword Dolphin. When he did, the cultists’ bodies shuddered. Using that gap, Ranta stepped in and hit their bodies with Lightning Sword Dolphin. Because of those coats they wore, he couldn’t cut them, but the cultists convulsed and collapsed. Kuzaku pressed the attack. Ranta took full advantage of the situation to attack, too.

“Use Stop-eye, then... Quick-eye!” Yume nocked an arrow to her composite bow, moving her eyes around and squinting them.

These were archery skills. Stop-eye used special eye exercises, methods of breathing, and methods regulating the body to increase shooting accuracy. Quick-eye was something like a trick for hitting moving targets.

She fired.

One cultist took an arrow in the eye.

“Nice, Yume!” Haruhiro praised her as he headed for the collapsed cultists down the right-hand path. “Merry, take care of Shihoru!”

“Okay, leave it to me!” Merry called.

Even with his left arm out of commission, Haruhiro could still handle this much. Or rather, he had to handle it. He was going to finish off the cultists Shihoru had put to sleep.

His dagger gouged out each of the cultists’ one eye. He did nothing unnecessary. He just jabbed his dagger, held with a backhand grip, deep into their one eye, twisted, and tore it free. Haruhiro probably had sleepy eyes right now. He didn’t feel anything. He carried it out like routine work.

Three down, two to go.

Cultists were rushing in his direction from further down the path. Or rather, they had come around a corner right next to him, so the danger was already close at hand. Yes, they. Sadly, it was more than one. Two. No, three.

Reinforcements. He had considered the possibility. He hadn’t done anything to prepare for it. There was nothing he could have done. The party’s hands had been full enough as it was.

I guess it can’t go that easily, huh? Haruhiro thought.

“Haru?!” Merry shouted.

It looked like she had noticed the difficult situation Haruhiro had fallen into. That might mean magical help from Shihoru would be coming. Would she make it in time? Who knew. It could go either way. After all, Haruhiro was already trying to Swat the leading cultist’s spear with his dagger. He knocked it aside, somehow.

The spears were coming. One after another.

It’s not looking like I can do this, you know? he thought.

While he focused his nerves on using Swat to deflect the cultists’ spears, Haruhiro prepared himself for the worst.

Rather than resign myself to it, I need to think about what to do next. Of course, I don’t have the time to. Still, I need to think about it and give orders. I may not be much of one, but I am the leader, after all. No, maybe I really can’t do this...?

He failed at using Swat. That was because he was thinking about things he shouldn’t be.

On his right arm, the cultist’s spear sliced off the flesh between his wrist and his elbow. He nearly dropped his dagger.

With the dagger in his weakened right hand, he tried to Swat the next spear. Somehow, he managed it. But the next one was going to be pretty hard. Well, it was probably impossible. Even so, he couldn’t stand to just die quietly.

Haruhiro tried to Swat. He missed.

“Heh!” Inui called.

Someone had beaten him to the punch. Behind the cultist who was trying to skewer Haruhiro, a man wearing an eyepatch appeared. With his trademark—or maybe it wasn’t, Haruhiro didn’t know—ponytail having come undone, his hair was loose and disheveled. But, still, it was Inui.

Inui caught the cultist’s head between his hands, then twisted hard, and suddenly...

You know, I think I’ve seen it somewhere before, Haruhiro thought. That killing style.

Inui had probably broken the cultist’s neck. It wasn’t clear if the cultist had died instantly, but it slumped to the ground limply.

The remaining two must have been surprised, because they turned to look at Inui. By that point, Inui had already drawn his two swords.

Inui stabbed his sword through one cultist’s eye. The other cultist twisted his neck, evading Inui’s sword.

His back, Haruhiro thought.

The cultist’s back was half-turned to Haruhiro. When that happened, sometimes he would see it. That line.

Haruhiro practically glued himself to the cultist’s back, kicking his heel into the back of the cultist’s knee to break his stance. His left arm wouldn’t move properly. However, it wasn’t completely immobile. He put his left elbow against the cultist’s neck, then put his body weight on it. At the same time, he mustered what strength he had remaining to ram his dagger through the cultist’s one eye. The cultist jerked a couple of times, his body convulsing.

Is he dead?

Yeah, he was dead.

Haruhiro couldn’t hold the dagger any longer, and he let go of it. The cultist slumped to the ground.

“Ow...” Haruhiro mumbled. He was ready to cry. At this point, his right hand was more or less useless.

“Heh...” Inui picked up the dagger, then held it up in front of Haruhiro’s nose. “In the end, was it over so easily for you?”

No, you don’t know that, Haruhiro thought. What’s that line supposed to mean? Are you an idiot? And, wait, why are you alive? Damn, you’re stubborn. Seriously, you’re like a cockroach. What’s with you?

“I thought you were dead.” Haruhiro forced himself to accept the dagger using his right hand, which was causing him a distressing amount of pain. He couldn’t feel his fingertips. “I’m glad I was wrong.”

“I call myself Inui the Immortal!”

“It’s just a self-proclaimed title, huh.”

“At last, it seems the time has come for me to unleash my true power!” Inui added.

“And you’re not even listening to what I say...”

“Heh...” Inui took off his eyepatch and threw it away. “Now, I begin in earnest.”

His left eye was... normal.

He hadn’t been left with one eye after some injury? Well, what was the eyepatch for, then?

“Follow me, Harunire!” Inui cried.

Inui looked like he was about to walk off, but then he stopped to stab two cultists to death, the ones Shihoru had put to sleep, which had been looking like they were on the verge of waking up.

I don’t really understand him, but he seems reliable, Haruhiro thought.

“I’m not Harunire, though. I’m Haruhiro,” he said.

Tokimune and his group pushed, and pushed, and pushed like crazy, trying to wipe out the five remaining cultists. Ranta’s group had taken down two of their four. Inui moved soundlessly, not towards Tokimune’s group, but to Ranta’s. Then, without missing a beat in between the two, he buried his swords in the two cultists’ single eyes.

“Huh...?” Kuzaku said.

“Hey!” Ranta yelled. What do you think you’re—Wait, Inui?!”

Kuzaku and Ranta were dumbstruck.

“Pissants...” Inui pulled his swords free from the cultists, then turned slowly with a devilish smile on that face of his which looked middle-aged. “Prostrate yourselves before my true power. For I am Inui! The Demon Lord, Inui!”

“Not again, yeah.” Anna-san slapped her own forehead. “Well, fine. Everyone, follow Demon Lord Inui, yeah! Demon Lord Inui! Go!”

“Hahaha!” Tokimune kicked the last cultist to the ground, stabbing his sword into his one eye. “Hey, Inui! You were alive! And you’re in that mode, too, huh! We’ll just have to roll with it! Haruhiro, let Inui do as he pleases! When he gets like this, there’s no stopping him anyway!”

It’s not just Inui, Haruhiro thought exhaustedly. All of you people basically do whatever you want, and you can’t be stopped.

Inui was charging down the stone path at a good clip.

Haruhiro groaned. “Let’s follow him.”

Oh, whatever, thought Haruhiro. Let whatever happens happen. Or rather, I’m sure it’ll all work out.

If it all went south, they could use the Tokkis as disposable pawns and escape. Even if they did, his conscience probably wouldn’t fault him for it. No, not probably—it definitely wouldn’t. The Tokkis would have no right to hold it against them. Haruhiro and the party had done enough. No, they had done more than enough. To the point they had done more than they should have.

In the time between then until they left the maze of rubble, Haruhiro lost count of how many cultists they took out. However, with his eyepatch off, Inui was ridiculously strong. Tokimune was getting into a good groove, too. Kikkawa was in high spirits. Tada looked intense. Ranta was loud and annoying. Kuzaku was trying hard. Anna-san lost the path multiple times. Yume, Merry, and Shihoru took turns supporting Haruhiro and Mimorin.

Finally, when they escaped the maze of rubble, Inui suddenly collapsed. On closer inspection, it wasn’t just that his hair was disheveled; he had wounds all over his body. He was so heavily injured, it was a wonder that he had been moving around like he was totally fine. When Merry, Anna-san, and Yume tried to care for him, Inui didn’t even move, but when Shihoru reluctantly talked to him, he suddenly sat up. That said, he was having a hard time walking, and that was true for Tada, Mimorin, and Haruhiro, too.

Whether they were having a hard time of it or not, they had to walk back towards that initial hill.

Twice, maybe three times, Haruhiro saw Manato and Moguzo off in the distance.

That girl who was facing in his direction, was she Choco, maybe?

The next thing he knew, Tokimune and the others were trying to chase off a one-eyed dog.

Leave it alone, Haruhiro recalled saying. Though, he might not actually have said it. It might not have been Haruhiro. Someone else might have said it.

“Ohh! Look!” Ranta yelled in a big loud voice like an idiot.

He was an idiot, though. Haruhiro looked idly for Ranta. Ranta was right next to him. He was pointing at something. Haruhiro looked in that direction.

“That’s bad news...” Kuzaku, or someone else muttered.

“Sure is,” someone, maybe Tokimune, replied with a laugh.

It was a silhouette the size of a mountain.

The giant they had fought in the maze of rubble had been four meters tall, at most. They had seen a giant before on the Quickwind Plains, too. That one had surprised him, too, but it paled in comparison to this. It was a few hundred meters away, but it was truly as big as a mountain.

That giant was moving around slowly.

It was walking.

Who said, “Someday, I’m gonna beat that thing down”? It might have been Tada.

It was impossible.

Wait, why would you want to beat it? Haruhiro thought. He didn’t understand. Haruhiro didn’t understand it at all. He didn’t know when he had started walking again, either.

Even when they were attacked by the cultists hiding in the shadows of the pillar rocks, and Merry was forced to swing around her short staff, all Haruhiro could do was crawl around and try to get away.

After awhile, he lost consciousness. Whenever he came to, he was always being lent a shoulder by someone, and was surprised to find himself walking on his own feet.

He was in pain, yes, but he didn’t have a leg injury like Mimori, so he figured he was better off.

At some point, a cloth was wrapped around the wound on his right arm, and that cloth was dark, red, and wet. Who had wrapped it for him?

The wound on his back might be a surprisingly tricky one. He couldn’t feel anything from his back to his waist, but it felt strangely heavy.

“Don’t die, man,” Ranta said with a serious look on his face.

Was that a dream? Or was it reality?

“Like I could die and leave you behind...” Haruhiro mumbled.

That’s what he responded, but, I’m saying something weird, he thought. No. It was a mistake. Why would I have to die before Ranta? Don’t be silly. If you look at the way both of us act on a day-to-day basis, Ranta’s gotta die before me. I’m not gonna let myself die before Ranta, damn it.

That was what he had wanted to say.

When that initial hill came into sight, Kikkawa carried him.

It’s fine, no need to do so much for me, Haruhiro thought, but he lacked the strength to speak up and refuse.

When they entered the hole, and advanced down it a ways, it seemed the blessing of Lumiaris had returned. Merry cast Sacrament on Haruhiro. The effect was immediate. He still felt groggy, but the pain vanished completely. His head cleared, and he at last met with the goddess called relief.

“Everyone’s okay... huh?” Haruhiro mumbled.

The Tokkis had two priests, Anna-san and Tada. They had, in fact, both learned Sacrament, so with them helping Merry, the healing was done in no time.

“That was an incredible experience.” Sitting with his back leaning against the rock wall, Kuzaku let out a deep sigh. “No, maybe not so much incredible as terrible, I guess...”

“Honestly...” Merry was crouched next to Kuzaku. “I’ve had enough...”

“That’s right.” Yume was letting the lantern she was holding bob around for no reason. She looked sleepy. “For stuff like this, y’know, doin’ it maybe once a year is enough.”

“I don’t think I want it even once a year...” Shihoru looked exhausted, too.

“Weaklings.” Tada used the index finger of his left hand to adjust his glasses. “You’re all weak. This is why you never move up in the world. Try to learn from our example.”

“Hell no,” Haruhiro said firmly.

“Huh?” Tada clicked his tongue, looking down at Haruhiro diagonally. “Well, this time, since you were able to bask in the honor of helping us, you must have felt a lot of things, too. Ruminate on this experience, and grow from it. If you don’t, it won’t have been worth us letting you help us.”

“Um, Tada-san, why are you being so condescending?” Haruhiro asked.

“Because I’m better than you, duh.”

“...Are you now?” Haruhiro asked.

“What, Haruhiro?” Tada snapped. “Do you think you’re better than me?”

“No... Rather, I don’t really care who’s better than who,” Haruhiro said.

“Hahahaha,” Kikkawa laughed. “That’s so you, Harucchi. I kind of love that side of you, you know?”

“...Sure,” Haruhiro said. “I kind of envy how you can take things so lightly.”

“Yahoo! I got envied! Yay, yay! Hey, hey, Anna-san, Anna-san, did you hear that? Did you hear? I’ve got someone who envies me. For my... superiority? Rarity? Incomparable lightness! I am super light!”

“Kikkawa, you not light, you shallow!” Anna-san called. “Yeah?!”

“Huh? What? What? I don’t know what shallow means, whatever shallow I do?! Just kidding!”

“Not funny! You want to die?! Shallow mean frivolous! Yeah!”

“Wow. Frivolous, huh. That one, huh?! Frivolous! It sounds kinda luxurious to me?! Is my value on a sudden rise?! Or, like, am I priceless?!”

“Kikkawa’s value is forever zero, yeah?!” Anna-san yelled.

“Whaa?! Like, multiply it or divide it, it’s still zero?! It’ll never change, you mean?! Whoa, Anna-san, I didn’t know you thought so much of me! I’d never have thought it! I’m so happy?! There’s, like, tears in my eyes?!”

It was odd to say it now, since this happened every time, but Kikkawa’s positivity was so out there that it was like a supernatural phenomenon. Haruhiro didn’t just find it surprising or appalling. He found it scary.

It is scary. It really is, he thought. There’s something wrong with him. How can he be so cheerful and energetic, even after what we went through?

“Heh...” Inui walked along while swaying, then stopped in front of Shihoru. He had thrown his eyepatch away, so he no longer had it, but his left eye was closed. He might have been sealing away his true power. The man was an idiot.

“Allow me to give you one very important right,” Inui said. “The right to be my wife, that is... Heh...”

“I-I don’t want that.” Shihoru stuttered, but she replied immediately.

“I don’t hate reserved girls,” Inui said.

“I, um... I don’t like people like you, so...”

“You don’t... like me?” Inui asked.

“...Right.”

“You don’t hate me, either?”

“I-I wouldn’t say I hate you...” Shihoru said.

“You neither like nor hate me... then.”

“W-Well... Yeah... That’s right.”

“Very well.” Inui turned on his heel. “In time, you, too, will come to understand... the hidden truth, that is... Heh...”

“I don’t want to understand, though,” Shihoru said.

“Kwahaha... Heheheh... Ha hahahaha!” Laughing as he went, Inui departed for the Dusk Realm.

“Huh?” Haruhiro looked to each of the Tokkis. “Y-You’re okay with this? Huh? Inui-san’s going by himself...”

“It fine, yeah.” Anna-san waved her hand and laughed. “He have broken heart? He in shock, so better leave him alone, yeah.”

“But, isn’t it dangerous?” Haruhiro asked.

“Well, he probably won’t die!” Tokimune laughed as he walked up, giving them a peek at his white teeth as he extended his right hand to Haruhiro. “That aside, thanks, Haruhiro!”

“...Nah.” Haruhiro hesitantly took Tokimune’s hand. “Well, it’s a bit awkward after you guys tried to steal a march on us.”

“Ahaha! Don’t let that bother you!” Tokimune called.

“I’ve kind of realized that letting it bother me wouldn’t do any good...”

“There you have it! We didn’t mean any harm! Forgive us!”

“Couldn’t you at least apologize first?” Haruhiro asked.

“Man.” Tokimune stopped shaking Haruhiro’s hand and playfully slapped him on the cheeks. “You act like you’re weak, but you can speak your mind pretty well, huh.”

“S-Stop it,” Haruhiro said. “Don’t touch me like that.”

“When you tell me to stop, it makes me want to stop less, you know?” Tokimune asked.

“Th-Then don’t stop!”

“Gotcha. I won’t stop.”

“Whaa...” Haruhiro muttered.

“What do you mean, ‘Whaa’? Don’t make me kiss you.”

“No, seriously, don’t do that!” Haruhiro yelled.

“No!” Mimorin screamed.

For some reason—no, the reason was obvious—Mimorin barged in between the two of them. She stole Haruhiro away from Tokimune and tucked him under her arm. Haruhiro wasn’t an object, though.

“No kissing,” Mimorin said fiercely. “This is mine.”

“Since when did I belong to you?” Haruhiro muttered. “Come on, let go of me...”

“Wahaha!” Tokimune gave a thumbs up. “Anyway, we owe you one, Haruhiro. A big one. I’m a forgetful guy, but I don’t forget this kind of stuff often.”

“Not often, huh,” muttered Haruhiro. “So it’s not an absolute thing.”

“I rarely forget,” said Tokimune.

“That’s fine. Really. Whatever...”

“If you need something, come talk to me anytime,” said Tokimune. “If it’s for you guys, the Tokkis are ready to break a leg, two legs even, for you. I won’t lend you money, but I’ll lend you my life.”

“Money’s more valuable than your life?” Haruhiro asked skeptically.

“No. When money gets involved, it complicates things, you know? I don’t like that. I’m the type that would rather give out money than lend it. So, if you need money, ask me to give it to you, and I’ll give you everything I have. Not that I have any savings.”

Haruhiro blinked. “You don’t?”

“Yeah. None.”

“Me neither,” Tada said, with an attitude like, What’re you saying an obvious thing like that for, moron?

“I’ve got, like, almost nothing, too, I guess?” said Kikkawa.

“I have nothing,” Mimorin said clearly.

“Anna-san has money, yeah! Like, five hundred gold?! Hahaha! It’s joke! I maybe have thirty silver, yeah?!”

What about Inui, who departed for the Dusk Realm? Haruhiro wondered. None of my concern, I guess.

While Haruhiro struggled to get away from Mimorin, his teammates, Kuzaku, Merry, Yume, and Shihoru exchanged glances. Everyone seemed too dumbfounded to do anything.

The Tokkis. These people were worse than they had thought. With how ridiculous they all were, it was a wonder how they had survived this long. What was more, they seemed to be having more fun than anyone.

Was this a viable lifestyle, too? Haruhiro really couldn’t approve, but even if someone rejected the way they lived, the Tokkis probably wouldn’t care. But, well, Ranta might be comparatively similar to the Tokkis.

Speaking of Ranta, he’s being unusually quiet. The moment Haruhiro thought that, Ranta sprang at him.

“Haruhirooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

“Wah!” Haruhiro cried.

He didn’t know what had driven Ranta mad, but Ranta was pressing the tip of Lightning Sword Dolphin up against Haruhiro’s cheek. It stabbed him a bit.

“Wh-What are you doing? It’s stabbing... Huh?”

“I knew I wasn’t imagining it...” Ranta threw Lightning Sword Dolphin away and started crawling on the ground. He didn’t seem to be apologizing to Haruhiro. He must have been depressed. “Dammit... This is awful... Seriously... Seriously... Seriously... Seriously...”

“Wh-What’s up?” Haruhiro asked.

“There, there.” Mimorin still wasn’t letting Haruhiro go.

“Nothing’s up...” Ranta punched the ground. “My Lightning Sword Dolphiiiiin! Its shocky effeeeect! It’s goooone! On the way back, when I hit a cultist, I thought I noticed something weeeeird...”

“Wow.” Kikkawa picked up Lightning Sword Dolphin and touched the blade. “You think it was, like, you know? It had a limited number of charges, or something?”

“This isn’t what I was promiseeeed!” Ranta wailed. “I only threw away Betrayer because I got Lightning Sword Dolphin! This isn’t Lightning Sword Dolphin anymoooore!”

“Y’see.” Yume looked at him, as if to say, Serves you right. “Told you it was a waste. It’s ’cause you do these wasteful things that stuff like this ends up happenin’ to you, don’t you think?”

“Shut up! Shut up! Just shut up!” Ranta screamed. “Haruhiroooo! You jerk! What’re you gonna do about this?! How’re you gonna make it up to meeeeeeeeeee?!”

“It’s not my problem,” said Haruhiro. “No matter how I look at it, this isn’t my fault.”

“Well, you know?” Tokimune patted Ranta on the back. “Just give it up, and try to forget, okay?”

“Like I could forgeeeet! I lost Betrayer while saving you people, so, basically, it’s all your fault, isn’t iiiiit?!” Ranta screamed.

“Hahaha!” Tokimune laughed. “You could say that, huh. Well, let’s go looking for another one. A good weapon. Okay?”

“Oooooooooooh—that’s not a bad idea, huh?” Ranta bellowed excitedly.

“I’ve had enough,” Shihoru muttered to herself.

Merry was nodding. Kuzaku wasn’t saying anything, but he almost certainly agreed.

“By the way,” Mimorin said, finally releasing Haruhiro.

He was in a better state than when she had him under her arm, but Mimorin lifted Haruhiro up and sat him down in front of her. They were facing each other, kneeling formally, with the expressionless Mimorin looking down at Haruhiro.

“Haruhiro,” she said.

“Yes?”

“Haruhiro, you’re not pitiful. The way you’re not pitiful, and you try so hard, that’s cute.”

“I see,” he said.

Huh? I wonder why. I feel like I’m going to grin.

Was Haruhiro feeling... happy? Apparently, yes. Not pitiful. It wasn’t much of a compliment, but maybe because it was so moderate, that actually made it easier to accept and he felt happier about it.

“You think?” he said. “Well... Thanks.”

“I...”

“Yes?”

“I want to raise—”

Did she start to say, “Raise you as a pet” just now?! Haruhiro thought.

Mimorin cleared her throat, then corrected herself. “I want to go out with you. Please, go out with me.”

Haruhiro quietly bowed his head to her.

I’m happy, Mimorin. No, I really am happy. Happy that you gave me that moderate bit of recognition. But this and that are two separate things.

Haruhiro wasn’t strong-willed, but he could say what he had to. He could say it clearly.

“I’m sorry.”