Chapter 9 — What Is This, a Shojo Manga?
Yoshifumi and his two female companions stepped out of the bar. Hanakawa stayed close behind them. They were the last ones out. After the building had started squirming and then turned to stone, the other customers had left immediately.
Naturally, there was just as much chaos going on outside. An enormous statue of a beast was sticking up from the ground—formerly the monster that the bar had briefly become. But the panic wasn’t limited to that. Tigers, wolves, bears, boars, chickens, and all sorts of enormous animals were now rampaging around the city. There was no clear intent behind their actions. They simply seemed to be destroying whatever buildings were around them and eating anyone they could catch. It didn’t seem like they were being controlled by anything in particular.
“Hey, things are lookin’ like shit out here,” Yoshifumi remarked in an amused tone as he surveyed the spectacle. This was supposed to be the capital of his own empire, but he didn’t seem to mind the insanity much.
And now that he’s not paying attention, it’s time to fade away! This is it! I will finally attain my freedom and begin the construction of my otherworld harem!
But for that, Hanakawa would need to not only escape the immediate area but get away from the empire entirely. He would have to find a place far from the reach of the Sages where he would have the freedom to act as he wished.
He slowly started backing away. Rather than running in a panic, he would casually separate himself from the others.
“What is Rena even doing?” Yoshifumi complained. “It’s like she just let them get away.”
“Rena has her Intercept power, so she should have caught them,” one of his groupies, a smaller girl, replied.
“What do we do now?” his other companion, a taller woman, asked.
“You know, I hate seeing things all messed up like this. I can’t take it.”
“Hmm, it looks like the damage is limited to the third layer’s southwest block. It hasn’t reached beyond that yet.”
The capital was enormous, split into a number of districts. They were currently in a block on the outer edge of the southwest of the city, which was enclosed by walls like every other block.
“Clean this area up, then.”
“Okay,” the smaller woman answered flippantly.
Hanakawa had a bad feeling. This woman was about to take action. Rather than just dealing with the creatures Akinobu had created, it sounded like she was about to do something far more indiscriminate. He had opened up some distance between himself and the group, but now he stepped back towards Yoshifumi. If anywhere in the area was going to be safe, it would be beside the Sage.
For now, the “Huh? Of course I’m with you. Is that a problem?” approach seems to be the best option!
Hanakawa inched towards Yoshifumi and the others. If he stood too close, they might find him annoying, so he stayed at the absolute outer limit of what could still be considered staying with them. If he interpreted Yoshifumi’s words earlier (about how he liked the cowardly small-fry types) as generously as possible, the Sage should be okay with having Hanakawa around.
He had made the right decision. For a few meters around Yoshifumi, nothing happened. But in a single instant, everything else disappeared. Aside from the walls enclosing the southwest block, absolutely everything was gone. The rampaging beasts, the people walking through the city, and the buildings lining the streets... It all disappeared without a sound, creating a huge, open field around them.
Oh no, oh no, oh no! What is happening here?! This is too strange!
It was all gone. Everything had vanished without a trace. The district must have had a few thousand people in it. How could they all have disappeared?
Hanakawa forced himself to stop thinking. There would be no pleasant conclusions gained by pursuing that line of thought.
“Hey! Could you not just reset things without warning like that?!”
Hanakawa turned around at the sound of the furious voice coming from behind him. Standing there was Rena, the woman who had gone in pursuit of Shigehito and the others, with Rei Kushima beside her. They had been nowhere in sight just a few moments prior but were now standing there like it was perfectly natural.
“I figured someone with mid-level boss powers could easily cut us off or show up behind us, so it would be fine!”
Sounds like Mary from that urban legend, doesn’t it? “I’m right behind you,” or something like that.
“Who’s Mary?”
Hanakawa was taken aback by Rena’s question. He hadn’t expected anyone to call attention to him just now. He had suddenly become the center of their focus.
“Speaking of which, what’s with this guy?”
“He just sort of showed up, huh? Maybe I should have erased him too?”
“P-Please, spare my life!” Hanakawa immediately dropped to his hands and knees again. There was no reason for them to go out of their way to kill him. He would try to be as unassuming as possible, waiting for the moment they finally lost interest in him. He couldn’t imagine them standing around in this empty space for long, so he was banking on the hope that they’d leave soon.
“I feel this guy is thinking if he takes a dump here, maybe we’ll get disgusted by him and leave,” Rena remarked, as if she could read his mind.
“How?!” He had, in fact, been clinging to the idea of using techniques that had been successful in the past.
“I just got that feeling.”
“No, no, no, there’s no way you could have such a pinpoint ‘feeling’! You’re reading my mind, aren’t you?!”
“Damn, I guess you caught me. ‘If my mind is being read, I need to be careful about what I’m thinking. Boobs.’ I feel like that’s what’s on your mind right now.”
“Dammit! I was thinking of all sorts of things I wanted a beautiful young woman to say, but she ignored them all! What do I do now?!”
“Why not try taking that dump?” the smaller woman suggested innocently.
“Would that help me? If so, I would gladly do it, as much as you wish!”
“No, I’d just erase you along with it.”
“Of course!”
Ah, if my mind is being read, what should I do?! Why don’t I start thinking about something totally unbearable to read? No, then I’d be so annoying, they would just kill me! Though thinking even this much might be enough for them to decide to kill me!
Nothing. I must become one with nothing. Become as a stone, unresponsive to everything, so that they lose interest and leave.
As he thought that, Hanakawa pressed his face into the ground. They had seen through Shigehito’s and the others’ powers, so they must have had the Discernment skill. They should be well aware that Hanakawa had no particularly useful abilities. They should have known he posed no threat, so they could let him be without issue.
“You’re funny,” Yoshifumi commented.
“What is this, a shojo manga?” Hanakawa shrieked before realizing what he had just said. “M-My apologies!” He couldn’t help his instinctive reaction to Yoshifumi’s words.
“I’ve never seen a guy like you before. I’ll keep you around as my clown. Come with me.”
“Actually, someone such as myself is good for no more than producing fecal matter. I cannot offer anything of value to you, Lord Sage; rather, I imagine it would be a great inconvenience for you to have me around. If possible, rather than take me with you, I believe setting me free would be in the best interests of all involved... I mean, okay! I’ll go with you! Please let me go with you!”
Yoshifumi watched his spiel with a grin, but the reactions of the others were quite different. His groupies turned gazes on Hanakawa that sent chills down his spine—a silent but obvious warning that they wouldn’t allow him to disobey their leader’s orders.
Hanakawa couldn’t resist that pressure. For him, the only option available was to do as Yoshifumi said.
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