Sasaki and Peeps - Volume 4 - Chapter 6

<Collaboration>

There was already a faint light in the sky when I finished dealing with the explosion at my apartment and returned to Ms. Futarishizuka’s villa. The police officers and firefighters I’d left behind were probably still up to their necks in work. Personally, I’d have been willing to stick with them for the whole thing, if not for the early-morning meeting with my boss regarding Kraken countermeasures.

I escaped the scene by telling the others I had things to take care of at the bureau—this way, I could make time to consult with Peeps. I’d already explained how I wanted the explosion camouflaged, so I figured they could handle the rest on their own.

I tossed my bureau phone in Ms. Futarishizuka’s car and parked in a lot near the apartment—that would serve as my alibi for the chief. From our hotel room, I prevailed upon my distinguished Java sparrow to bring us to Karuizawa with his magic. Finally, we arrived back at the villa where Lady Elsa was staying.

“I see,” remarked Peeps. “So that’s what happened.”

“Sorry for taking so long to contact you,” I apologized.

“Don’t worry. I’m just glad you’re all safe.”

We all settled down on the sofas in the spacious living room. My neighbor and Abaddon were here as well. After the shocking events of the previous night, my neighbor no longer had a home, and I balked at plopping her down in a hotel and leaving her there. I also needed to secure Abaddon’s and her cooperation with regards to the Kraken.

I wasn’t sure whether I’d end up contacting a child consultation center or negotiating with the bureau on her behalf, but either way, she consented to staying with the rest of us for the next few days. She remained courageously cheerful throughout the conversation, a fact that almost moved me to tears.

Ms. Futarishizuka and I sat side by side on one couch across from my neighbor and Abaddon on the other. Peeps was on his perching tree on the low table in between. Given the early hour, I wasn’t surprised that Lady Elsa was nowhere in sight—she was probably fast asleep in her bedroom.

“You seem quite busy,” Peeps pointed out. “Are you sure you have the time to be talking to me?”

“Actually,” I said, “there was something I wanted to discuss with you specifically.”

“What is it?”

“It has to do with the Kraken—that monster we were discussing last night…”

With all eyes on me, I explained my idea to the sparrow. I’d already told him about the proxy war and isolated spaces the day before, so he quickly caught on to what I was thinking. Apparently, he’d been considering something similar. When I was done explaining, he offered a very optimistic response.

“I see,” he said. “That you’ve gained the cooperation of a so-called Disciple is fortunate, indeed.”

“What I’m concerned about is the Kraken’s size,” I explained. “Would you be able to cover the entire thing with your magic? I’m not confident I could manage it. Actually, I’m one hundred percent certain I can’t.”

“Yes. At that size, I believe it should work.”

Peeps’s reassuring answer made me hopeful at last. If the Lord Starsage himself said so, I figured our chances were pretty high. And if we could drag the creature into an isolated space, Peeps would be invincible. It wouldn’t matter how powerful his spells were—nobody would see, so he could fight the Kraken to his heart’s content.

Afterward, I would have my neighbor and the angel’s Disciple separate. According to Abaddon’s explanation, most deaths that occurred inside an isolated space were reflected in the real world. It would depend on how well Peeps did, but if everything went smoothly, the monster would appear to instantly vanish.

I’d have to think up some excuses for why it had happened. But the thing had appeared out of nowhere to begin with. I doubted its sudden disappearance would pose much of a problem. After all, if this job had fallen to us, that meant everyone else had already thrown in the towel. So if we independently fought the Kraken and dealt with it, we shouldn’t have to report the details to any third parties. Probably.

While the magical girls, assembled by a certain foreign nation, had used their Magical Beams and Magical Barriers, they hadn’t used any of their more specific Magical abilities. Why, then, should we have to reveal our hand? Dealing with all that would be up to Mr. Akutsu.

“Where is the creature now?” asked Peeps. “I heard it has moved quite far.”

“I’ll find out from my boss when we head to the office after this,” I told him.

“Then would you like to get a full night’s rest over there before you go?” he asked. “You’ve had very little respite since yesterday.”

“Over there” probably meant the otherworld. Compared to our first visit, the difference in time flow had decreased. But an hour here was still over ten hours there. That seemed like plenty of time to get a good night’s rest. I was struck by how kindhearted my pet sparrow was—he even deigned to consider the physical condition of his owner.

“I’d like that. Could I trouble you?”

“Yes, very well.”

With a small nod, Peeps flapped his wings and rose from his little tree to land on my shoulder. I then turned to my coworker to announce my plans. “Ms. Futarishizuka, I do apologize, but I’ll be—”

“You know, I did pull an all-nighter myself,” she interrupted, a very sincere look on her face.

She was right—she hadn’t slept since the previous day. And the night before that, we’d worked really late.

“And I didn’t get much sleep the night before, you know,” she continued.

“……”

She looked at me with upturned eyes and a pathetic expression. She wasn’t able to travel to the otherworld like we could, so she had to be incredibly sleep-deprived. Her body might be ultra-tough, but she still suffered, and she still needed to sleep—at least, that was what her gaze was telling me.

The strain of keeping up with us world hoppers was really starting to hit her. And I didn’t need to be reminded of all the other times she’d been with us late into the night.

“Must I truly drive you all the way to the bureau and go to work in this state?”

“Um, well…”

“……”

Her argument really tugged at my heartstrings, especially considering she looked like a little girl. Even Peeps, who was always so harsh with her, kept his mouth shut this time.

While we could cure hangovers with healing magic, we couldn’t do anything about a lack of sleep. We could alleviate the symptoms, like heavy limbs or tired eyes, but we couldn’t solve the root problem. It didn’t matter what we tried—when we got sleepy, we just had to accept it.

“I’m so tired,” she repeated. “I really want a good night’s sleep.”

“What, then, would you have us do?” asked Peeps.

“Couldn’t you please take me with you?” she pleaded.

“Plot anything untoward, and the bruise on your hand will grow again.”

“Then put a collar on me, or tie me to the bed, or whatever. I don’t care.”

“……”

I empathized keenly with the pain of forcing yourself to go into work without much sleep. Depending on how things shook out, we might even have to stage our assault on the Kraken this very day. I doubted she would have to fight it directly, but work at the bureau was unpredictable. We needed her to be rested.

“Peeps,” I ventured, “if you’re willing to hear me out…”

“What is it?”

“I feel like, as long as she stays inside the inn, it’ll be no different than Lady Elsa’s situation here.”

“Are you being serious?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but… Maybe?”

I felt greatly indebted to her on account of everything she’d been doing for us—and naturally, I was rewarding her in proportion to the help she provided. In terms of our transactions, everything evened out. To be honest, I had the sneaking suspicion we were being taken advantage of somehow, and we simply hadn’t figured it out. Nevertheless, I didn’t think a little bit of sleep was too much for her to ask.

“…Very well,” said Peeps. “If you wish it, I shall yield.”

“Thanks so much, Peeps,” I said, feeling a bit selfish.

There was nothing worse than being up all night and still having to go to work in the morning. It hit too close to home—I couldn’t refuse her. My heart filled with gratitude at the Starsage’s benevolent understanding.

“Just this once,” the bird said to Ms. Futarishizuka, “we will bring you with us.”

“Wait, really?” she replied, shocked. The sparrow’s agreement had probably thrown her for a loop. She always complained about things on the off chance she’d get her way; in all likelihood, she’d simply decided to ask, knowing we’d say no. I knew this, but her appeal had really gotten to me this time.

“However,” continued Peeps, “should you make any odd moves, I shall not wait for the curse to progress—I will pass judgment upon you immediately.”

“All you have to do is throw me into a bed,” she assured him, as if to emphasize her utter exhaustion.

Meanwhile, the living room door opened with a click, and Lady Elsa came in from the hallway dressed in her pajamas. When she saw us in the room, she rubbed her eyes and said, “You’re all up very early. I believe the sun has only just risen.”

“Sorry,” I said. “Did we wake you?”

“I had to go to the bathroom. I heard you all talking, so I came to see what was happening.”

“Oh. I apologize for disrupting your rest.”

She paused, looking at my neighbor and Abaddon. “Did you just get back?” she asked.

Despite her youth, the girl was very perceptive. I found this insightfulness fitting of a noblewoman and Count Müller’s daughter. Knowing she’d see through any lies, I chose the honest route and nodded. “Work has been a little busy,” I explained.

“What is she saying?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“She wanted to know if we’d just gotten back,” I told her.

“Oh? Yes, that’s quite right,” she replied emphatically. “Our evil boss and colleague have been forcing us to do hard labor into the wee hours! And now that we’re finally home, we received a message calling us back to work. I fear I may faint straightaway if this continues.”

“Did we not give you the promise of repose but moments ago?” remarked Peeps.

“Um, Sasaki, what did Futarishizuka say?” asked Lady Elsa.

“She says she’s a little tired after working nonstop since yesterday,” I explained.

“Would you mind terribly conveying what I actually just said?” complained Ms. Futarishizuka, speaking in a very exaggerated manner, and using gestures and body language to try to get her point across. I guessed she was trying to draw Lady Elsa’s attention and concern. Peeps and I, as mediators, felt a little like we were under siege.

Lady Elsa watched her, seeming troubled. Her worried look concerned me.

A moment later, she hesitantly asked, “Is there anything I can do to help, Sasaki?”

“I know we’ve talked about this before,” I said, “but you’re our guest.”

“But you and Futarishizuka are working so hard while I do nothing but relax. I feel bad. I don’t know what sort of work you’re doing outside this mansion, but if there is anything at all I can help with, I’d very much like to try.”

“Come on,” urged Futarishizuka. “Translate for me.”

Maybe she was starting to feel that peculiar rush you sometimes get after pulling an all-nighter. All of a sudden, Ms. Futarishizuka seemed a lot closer—physically—to me. She ground her elbow into my side, which actually sort of hurt, and I wished she’d give it a rest. It was the sort of gesture that belonged in the realm of manga or anime.

My neighbor kept a close eye on our exchange. Considering she was still grieving, I felt kind of bad about all this. I needed to wrap up this conversation and get her someplace calmer.

“She says she feels bad that we’ve been so busy,” I explained. “She wants to help, if there’s anything she can do.”

“Ah, if only a certain sparrow were around to hear such a praiseworthy comment,” she remarked.

“I heard well what she said, thank you,” said Peeps.

“Sasaki, what did Futarishizuka say?” asked Lady Elsa.

“She’s waiting for your answer, Ms. Futarishizuka,” I said.

“I’m being paid rent, so there’s no need for her to do anything but relax. We may seem busy lately, but things should calm down soon. And then we’ll be able to take it easy just like her for a while.”

That was half an admonishment toward me. Hey, I want to relax as much as you do, I thought. She’d be better off saying that to Mr. Akutsu instead. Of course, he works so much I have no idea when he sleeps, either.

“She says that while we may seem slightly busy at the moment, things should settle down soon, and you don’t need to let it bother you,” I said to Lady Elsa, subtracting some of the sarcasm from Ms. Futarishizuka’s words. “I agree with her. Please spend this time relaxing.”

The young lady, ever pure and earnest, didn’t like that answer, though. “But then I’ll keep feeling guilty,” she insisted, refusing to give up.

I’m a little scared of what she’ll do if we let her be, I thought. She’s already shown she can take drastic action, like when she hid in our luggage and hitched a ride to Japan. “In that case,” I said, “I may have something to ask of you later. I can’t guarantee anything right now, but could I ask for your help when I’m ready? It would be something you could do here at the mansion, of course.”

“Really?” she asked, suspicious.

“Yes, I promise.”

“Then I’ll patiently wait for your request.”

“Thank you so much for understanding, Lady Elsa.”

Despite her stubbornness, she wasn’t unreasonable, and she agreed to my suggestion without further objection. Peeps and Ms. Futarishizuka looked at me dubiously but didn’t ask any questions. They probably understood that I’d only said it to convince her.

After Lady Elsa went back to her bedroom, we crossed from modern times into the otherworld as planned. Since we had so little time to spare, I had to really put the pedal to the metal, so to speak. First, we transported our goods into the Lunge warehouse and transferred them to Mr. Joseph, leaving verification and payment for a later date.

Next, we paid a visit to Count Müller, with whom we watched Lady Elsa’s video letter and recorded a reply. Then we went to the Baytrium branch of the Marc Trading Company and deposited about the same amount of funds as last time to be spent on my territory’s development.

Finally, we headed back to Japan to bring Ms. Futarishizuka into the otherworld. The Karuizawa villa winked out, and when our vision returned, we were in our luxurious Baytrium inn—the same room we’d been using since our first visit.

“Well, you two sure know how to live it up,” remarked Ms. Futarishizuka upon arriving and taking a look around.

She was right. This room and my apartment back home were like night and day. The suite was spacious, and all its fixtures and furnishings were of the highest quality. You could even ring a bell to summon a private maid. Ever since I began living here, I’d bid farewell to cooking and cleaning.

“Well, compared to our world,” I said, “this one’s systems are a little more lax.”

“Oh, you naughty man.”

“What? Just so you’re aware, I’m fairly certain I haven’t broken any local rules.”

“But you’ve been having the time of your life, I’m sure—bending the rules, and all that.”

“Nothing of the sort.”

Ms. Futarishizuka went over to the window, grabbed the curtain, and flung it aside, letting sunlight stream into the room. It had been daybreak in Japan, but here it was around noon. In the distance, beyond the land used by the inn, you could see the townscape—a scene that didn’t bear the slightest resemblance to our own world. I’d witnessed it plenty myself, and it was still striking.

“What is this?” breathed Ms. Futarishizuka. “It’s like I’m inside one of those videos with god-tier graphics and ray tracing or something.”

“I had a similar thought the first time I came here,” I told her.

“Well, I’m glad I lived long enough to see this.”

Coming from her, that sentence held a lot of weight. How old is she anyway?

“Since I’ve come all this way,” she said, “I’d like to take a quick constitutional.”

“What happened to that exhaustion you complained so much about?” remarked Peeps.

“Oh, how am I supposed to just lie down and sleep after seeing all this?” she complained.

I sympathized with her, but unfortunately, we didn’t have that kind of time at the moment. Not to mention, we’d brought her along on the condition that she wouldn’t leave the inn.

“Our schedule is a little too tight for that,” I told her. “Carry that energy forward and use it to fall asleep.”

“What? That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Yours is the door near the entrance,” said the sparrow. “Go get some sleep.”

Chased out of the room, Ms. Futarishizuka disappeared into the hallway. I thought she’d be a little more insistent, but she agreed without much objection.

Her absence only lasted a few moments, however. Soon, we heard the clopping of her geta heading right back into the living room. She stood there in the entryway, looking like she had something to say.

The maid prepared the room, didn’t she? “What’s wrong?” I asked. “I thought all the bedding was ready for you.”

“I can’t get out through the window,” she explained sullenly. “There’s some sort of invisible wall blocking me.”

“What did you expect?” asked Peeps. “We cannot let you do whatever you wish.”

“Grrrr…”

Peeps was using barrier magic to seal off all the exits to the suite—it was impossible for her to get out. It was critical that we maintain our business venture between the two worlds so that we could make that carefree life we’d envisioned a reality. We couldn’t let anyone get in our way, not even Ms. Futarishizuka. This was a line we couldn’t let anyone cross.

We simply wished to retire. Though perhaps, in the end, our efforts had resulted in even more work.

“Go to sleep,” the bird said to her. “Now.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll do as you say, I suppose.” She turned to me. “Oh, but would you like to join me?”

“We have a separate room,” I explained.

“So cold,” she said, turning around and disappearing back down the hallway.

We waited a little while, but she didn’t reappear. The guest room had been hastily arranged. It was normally used by the maid while she waited for requests. When we inquired about having a guest over, she specially rearranged the room just for the occasion. I was beyond grateful for her flexibility. As for the maid, we had her wait in a different room, lest Ms. Futarishizuka start bothering her.

“You should sleep as well,” Peeps said to me. “I will keep watch over her.”

“Huh? Are you sure?” I asked.

“You’ve been carrying the lion’s share of the burden as of late, both here and over there. Please let me handle things this time. I feel frustrated that this is the only thing I can do to help.”

“Maybe, but once we get back, I’ll be asking you for all sorts of things.”

“That will not be a problem. I have been quite bored in that one’s mansion. I am more than ready to act.”

“Okay, well, if you’re sure.”

“I am. You may leave this to me,” he said with a firm nod, fluttering off my shoulder and perching on the tree set atop the low table.

He hasn’t had anything to drink, I thought, so I suppose it’s safe to take him up on the offer.

With that decided, the sparrow came out with a very rational, very impressive, very Peeps-like proposition. “In fact, I could put her to sleep with magic,” he offered. “It wouldn’t do for either of you to let a lack of sleep get in the way of your job over there.”

“Oh, um,” I said. “If you could do it without alerting her, that would be great.”

“Understood.”

After agreeing to his suggestion, I headed for my own bedroom. Compared to Lady Elsa’s first visit to Japan, Ms. Futarishizuka’s trip to the otherworld was looking to be uneventful. Relieved, I went to lie down in peace.

After catching a few winks in the otherworld, we returned to modern times as originally planned. About an hour had gone by in Japan, placing our arrival exactly where Peeps had predicted. Nothing had gone wrong in the otherworld, either; Ms. Futarishizuka remained obedient, and we simply left upon waking up—no fantasy world sightseeing for us.

Then, once again prevailing upon the Java sparrow’s magic, we returned to the hotel room near my apartment. I planned to use this location as a temporary base of operations in lieu of my now-exploded apartment building, so I’d put in a reservation for a month’s stay.

The adjoining room was occupied by my neighbor and Abaddon; I’d sent them back before heading to the otherworld. They agreed to stay and rest while Futarishizuka and I met with our boss.

Leaving Peeps behind in the hotel room, I hopped into Ms. Futarishizuka’s car and headed for our bright and early meeting with the section chief, just as promised. The trip there was uneventful, and the driver—perhaps on cloud nine after scoring a visit to the otherworld—was unusually talkative. The time went by in a flash. Thanks to Peeps’s magic, she seemed to have gotten plenty of sleep, so her driving was impeccable.

We headed into our office at the bureau and made our way to the meeting space, where Section Chief Akutsu and Miss Hoshizaki were already present. There, we took up the same positions around the table as usual, with the chief on one side and the three of us on the other—Futarishizuka and Hoshizaki on either side of me. The chief had a laptop open in front of him hooked up to an external display.

“Jumping straight in,” Mr. Akutsu said as soon as we sat down, “I have some important news.” He looked at all three of us in turn.

“Have we figured out where the Kraken is going?” asked Miss Hoshizaki.

“Yes, that’s exactly it.” He used his laptop to bring up a map on the display.

The image was zoomed in further than last time and showed the Japanese archipelago and the Philippine Sea. Right in the center of it, heading from east to west, was the same line connecting several dots, like those charts showing the predicted path of a typhoon.

The Kraken had initially been advancing toward the Philippines, but just as we’d feared, it was now traveling north along the Kuroshio Current from the Pacific Ocean toward the East China Sea. At this rate, it could make landfall in Japan at any time. In fact, it was already dangerously close to Ishigaki Island.

“Oh,” said Ms. Futarishizuka. “That’s well within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.”

“It could make landfall anywhere along the nation’s Pacific coast,” the chief explained. “The most likely route leads toward the Sanriku Coast in Iwate Prefecture, at the junction between the Kuroshio Current and the Oyashio Current. Based on statistical analysis of garbage and other jetsam, the higher-ups have determined several points with high probability.”

The chief pressed some buttons, and a handful of marks appeared over the Japanese mainland. The marks were made to look like tiny cartoon versions of the Kraken. Hey, those are actually kind of cute, I thought. These icons appeared one after another, first on the coast of Iwate Prefecture, then Tanegashima in Kagoshima, Aichi’s Mikawa Bay, the coast of Ibaraki, and so on.

“Do they truly intend to keep watch over all those areas?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“The SDF will be traveling north along with the Kraken, preparing for its arrival,” replied the chief.

“That sounds like quite the affair,” she said. “The travel expenses alone will be monumental.”

“Any chance it’ll head back out into the ocean?” asked Miss Hoshizaki.

“It’s certainly possible, but the higher-ups are operating under the assumption that it will make landfall in Japan. The bureau has received an official request for support, so we’ll be cooperating with forces on-site.”

Red lines appeared between the icons on the map showing major roads, railroads, and sky routes. That must be how they’ll get around. A label reading COMPLETE was displayed near part of Kyushu. The SDF must have already gotten there. The reality of this giant sea monster attack was finally starting to sink in.

After that, we asked the chief several questions, until eventually he turned back around to face me.

“So, Sasaki,” he said, staring straight at me with a very serious expression, “to continue our conversation from yesterday… What do you think?”

“Right. Well…”

I was determined now, and I’d already promised Peeps. But the thought of just nodding and telling him I had a plan irritated me. I decided I might as well show off a little. After all, it was rare for Mr. Akutsu to go to this much trouble, like with the previous night’s party. What’s wrong with lording it over him a little, huh?

“May I have a little more time to prepare?” I asked.

“How much time?” he said.

“I should be ready within the day.”

“Before sunset?”

“That’s the plan, sir.”

Depending on how it shook out, I could see this coming down to the wire. The chief probably knew that, and he kept his comments brief, a troubled look on his face.

It seemed this was his only choice, though, and he accepted my terms without complaint.

“You said you wanted to contribute to this nation as a member of the bureau,” he told me. “I will trust those words.”

“I understand perfectly, sir.”

The man was probably up to his eyeballs in complaints and instructions from the higher-ups. The way he’d slyly reminded me of our little deal just now made me wonder if his future advancement, too, was riding on our success.

Once our meeting with the chief was finished, I got straight to work on my plans to take on the Kraken. First, I had to join up with the Disciple who had promised his cooperation the night before. With Ms. Futarishizuka in tow, I practically ran out of the bureau. We headed for our destination in her car. We already knew the Disciple’s identity, so we relied on the car’s navigation system for directions.

Unfortunately, he had been lying; the phone number he gave us in the isolated space was a fake. I attempted to contact him as soon as the space dissipated only to hear an automated voice declare that the number was not currently in service.

When that didn’t work, we had bureau members check all the neighborhood camera feeds under the guise of investigating the explosion. We spotted the boy shopping at a nearby convenience store and were able to verify him using Ms. Futarishizuka’s sketch.

Fortunately, he paid electronically. Using that info, the relevant department was able to get his personal information. From there, they speedily obtained his address, contact info, the name of his school, and even his family composition.

“All right, we’re here,” said Ms. Futarishizuka, parking the car on the shoulder.

“Thank you,” I replied, looking out the window. I could see the front gates of the high school facing out toward the road. Classes seemed to be in session; it wasn’t lively enough to be break time. I could hear students’ voices from the grounds—they were probably in the middle of gym class. The noise echoed in between the school buildings.

“Do you intend to waltz right in, grab him by the scruff of his neck, and bring him back out?” she asked.

“That’s my plan. I’ve already informed the school.”

“And I’m to mind the car, hmm?”

“No, actually. You can come with me this time.”

“They won’t look down on me because of my appearance?”

“I called in some support—partly to prevent that from happening.”

“Eh? What are you talking about?”

She and I were the only ones in the car; Miss Hoshizaki was acting separately and was on her way to Atsugi Base on the chief’s instructions. Apparently, she was to link up with our SDF contact there—as well as the other bureau members—to prepare for the operation that night. She was already familiar with the SDF personnel due to our field investigation the other day, and Mr. Akutsu had asked her to mediate between the SDF and the bureau. This was probably out of consideration for me and Ms. Futarishizuka, who tended to keep everything we were doing a secret.

In the meantime, I caught sight of someone approaching the side of the car. I rolled down the passenger seat window, and they immediately called out to me.

“Excuse me, but would you happen to be Chief Inspector Sasaki?”

“Yes, that’s me. Thank you for your help today, sir.” I took out my police badge and showed it to the man standing on the road—a sharply dressed patrol officer.

In order to secure the Disciple, I’d used my authority as a bureau employee to borrow some personnel from a nearby police department. The middle-aged, well-built man wore a navy police uniform and saluted us when he saw my badge.

Behind him were more uniformed police officers—enough to fill several patrol cars.

“This is a rather nasty method to use on a poor, helpless boy,” commented Ms. Futarishizuka.

“He could really screw things up if he bailed on us at the last moment,” I explained. “So I made an exception.”

I thought maybe the kid would straighten out if we surrounded him with this many officers—or, at least, stop thinking about running away from us. It’d be great if he would apply himself to his spy activities in the proxy war. Plus, I thought he might serve to contain and intercept the other angels and their Disciples. I’m thinking about my neighbor’s safety, here— You can’t blame me for getting a little rough.

“Aren’t you worried the boss will find out about all this?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“We’ve used the bureau to collect information on Disciples before,” I pointed out. “He probably already knows about the game. Given his position, even if he doesn’t, he’ll find out sooner or later.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

Now wasn’t the time to hold back—it was vital that we fully prepare ourselves as quickly as possible.

As we discussed the matter, the two of us climbed out of the car. And then, along with our band of police officers, we headed into the school.

We’d contacted a representative in advance through the police. Once we announced our arrival at the front desk, we were shuffled quickly into a reception room. Our pretext was that we were investigating the apartment bombing the day before, so all the teachers around us were very tense.

The principal and the Disciple were already in the room; they sat side by side on one of a pair of sofas near the center. The young man had his legs together and his spine straight, clearly nervous. He was probably had no idea why he’d been called here.

I didn’t see the angel, but perhaps she was there and I simply couldn’t see her. We entered the room and boldly strode inside. The bevy of police officers filed in after us.

“…Are you serious?” groaned the young man as he saw us entering the reception room.

I had the officers position themselves around the perimeter as a deterrent. All of them wore stern, forbidding expressions, and just as we’d arranged beforehand, they stood along the walls, surrounding the sofa set. I’d asked the department for the most intimidating people they had, and they’d certainly delivered on that front. Even my heart was beating a little faster at how huge and scary they all were.

Naturally, it made a big impression on the teenage boy.

After exchanging greetings with the principal, I turned to the Disciple and got straight to the point. “Mr. Himegami,” I declared, “you are suspected of being involved in yesterday’s apartment explosion.”

“……”

I remained standing for this exchange, looking down at him the whole time. I focused on making my tone several degrees harsher than usual. This really doesn’t suit me, I thought, but right now I needed to prioritize putting pressure on the kid.

“As reported in the news, two people, including a resident of the apartment, were pronounced dead last night. Many others were declared wounded and taken to the hospital. In addition, the resulting fire caused no small amount of property damage to nearby homes.”

“Sir, what do you mean I’m a suspect?” he asked. “I’m pretty sure I was somewhere else yesterday.”

“We got your name, Mr. Himegami, from the suspected perpetrator.”

“What do you mean perpetrator? D-didn’t they say it was a g-gas explosion on the news?”

“Publicly, yes. However, we are actively investigating other possibilities.”

“Urk… Th-then I must have been framed, right? I don’t understand what’s going on.”

Yes, that’s exactly what’s happening.

With my neighbor’s and Abaddon’s help, we’d arrested the person we believed delivered the bomb the night before. Around the time the isolated space appeared, the two of them were already on his trail, so we caught him as soon as the space dissipated.

According to him, he didn’t know much about the people who hired him, much less the existence of angels and demons. Some elaborate string-pulling had been involved, it seemed, and the man hadn’t even realized what he was carrying. The methodology was a lot like how drugs were sold on the streets. His testimony was conveyed to me by the one in charge of questioning him at the bureau.

But while I couldn’t speak for the other detectives involved, we, at least, were total fakes. I hadn’t the slightest intention of performing an official investigation. In fact, I doubted there would even be a respectable trial. I’d do whatever it took, including framing him, so long as it got the kid in our custody posthaste.

“I hear it’s your eighteenth birthday next month,” I said.

“Yes, sir. So what?”

“Considering the damages and the subsequent effect on society brought about by yesterday’s incident, it’s highly likely your treatment will be very severe. Though it will depend on what role you played, it’s possible the prosecution will demand capital punishment.”

“Hgh…”

I doubted anyone in the police force would ever say such a thing so overtly. The principal looked shocked. But our priority now was to make an impression on the kid, so I was choosing the most intimidating phrasing I could think of. Essentially, I wanted him to believe that if he picked a fight with us, it’d be game over for him with or without the proxy war.

“I-it wasn’t me!” he cried. “I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“It’s our job to verify that.”

Oh, this is bad, I thought. Misusing state authority and throwing my weight around feels really good. This was the kind of thing that could ruin people who overdid it. No, it was certain to ruin them. Was there a single person on this earth who could live their whole life honestly? Saint or no, everyone falls to the dark side in the end, if you ask me.

“Um, then, what the hell do you want from me…?”

Apparently, he was nearing his limit; his tone was growing desperate. I, the big mean adult in the room, immediately interrupted him, saying, “Mr. Himegami, would you please come with us?”

“…Yes, sir.” The boy nodded, resigned.

It looked like we’d be bringing the angel’s Disciple back with us, just as planned.

With the Disciple in tow, we plotted a course straight for the SDF’s Atsugi Base. To get there, we once again took Ms. Futarishizuka’s car. We’d dismissed the police officers I asked to help us back at the school.

The angel girl who acted as the Disciple’s partner showed herself once the police were gone, as we were climbing into the car. Just like with Abaddon, she protected her Disciple while keeping herself hidden around others. She valiantly tried to prevent us from taking the boy, but Ms. Futarishizuka intercepted—a touch of her psychic power, and the angel’s energy was drained. We now had her in the car as well.

“Are you okay, Eriel?” asked her Disciple. “You look like you’re in a lot of pain.”

“I’m sorry for not being able to help.”

“I mean, it’s fine. But…”

Ms. Futarishizuka was in the driver’s seat, with me riding shotgun and the Disciple and his angel in the back. The angel sat there, limp, her back up against the seat. The boy was acting very concerned about her. As her Disciple kept saying, Eriel appeared to be pretty weak for an angel.

“Hey, old dude,” the boy said to me. “Are you guys even real police?”

“Yes, we are,” I replied.

“How is that even fair?”

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t allying yourself with the demons an abuse of authority? I bet you’d be in trouble if people knew. I could put you all over social media and get you canceled. Even you wouldn’t slip out of that unharmed.”

“It’s likely something would happen to you before that, so you might want to stop right there.”

Seriously, come on now. I doubted the section chief would have any mercy regardless of how young the kid was. He put Miss Hoshizaki through the wringer at work with no regard to her age.

“…Are you threatening me?” he asked.

“As the proxy war develops,” I explained, “people in influential positions are bound to use it to their advantage. I know you’re recording our conversation right now, but you’ll be the one in danger if it gets out. Not us.”

That’s right, I’ve long since noticed you fiddling with that concealed smartphone. He probably thought it wasn’t visible from the front seats.

“You can’t even get a signal from a cell tower, can you?” taunted Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Huh? Ah…” The boy’s expression changed; I saw his eyes widen through the rearview mirror. A moment later, he glanced out through the car window. He seemed shocked as his eyes began darting between the scenery outside and the phone in his hands. I could tell he was baffled over why he couldn’t get service in the middle of a city.

“I thought you might try something like this,” said the girl at the wheel, “so I installed a cell phone jammer in the car!”

“You’re really into that high-tech stuff, huh?” I commented. In the past, she’d tried to use a specialized microphone and thermal imaging camera to spy on Peeps and me. That had ended in failure, but this time, her hobbies were really coming in handy.

“Actually, it was to keep our boss from contacting us,” she told me.

“I thought as much.”

Out of options, the boy quieted down, still holding his smartphone. He didn’t speak anymore after that—he just sat there in a daze.

“Wanna listen to some music?” offered Ms. Futarishizuka. “There’s a hot tune I’ve been especially fond of lately.”

“Can I take a rain check?” I replied.

She continued to interject, demanding attention, and we passed the rest of the drive as I tried to keep up.

We arrived at our destination in a little under an hour. The base had already been informed of our arrival, and once I flashed my police badge, we were allowed through the front gates. We then headed for the Fleet Air Wing 4 office building, where we came on our last visit.

I got out of the car in front of the building and made my way inside. A familiar face was there to greet me.

“Thank you for coming all the way here, Mr. Sasaki,” said Miss Inukai of the JMSDF. This was the woman who had served as our guide while we conducted our investigation of the Kraken the other day.

“Thank you for coming out to meet us,” I replied.

The woman was an ensign and appeared to be in her midtwenties. Her short black hair had a nice sheen to it, and her sharp uniform suited her well.

“That took you a while. What were you and Futarishizuka doing anyway?”

Next to Miss Inukai was Miss Hoshizaki. Dressed in her usual suit, she had her arms folded as she glared at me—classic Miss Hoshizaki. She looked every bit as gallant and mature as the ensign standing beside her. And yet she was still a high school student. Modern makeup technology was truly impressive.

“My apologies for the delay, Miss Hoshizaki. Preparations took a bit longer than expected.”

“Preparations? And where’s your companion?”

“She had a separate task to attend to, so I sent her on her way,” I explained.

“Mind being a little more specific? I am your partner, here.”

“It’s really nothing special. I simply asked her to transport our collaborators.”

“…Collaborators?”

As I just described, I’d parted ways with Ms. Futarishizuka in front of the office building. She was in charge of moving the angel and her Disciple. Though word would get out eventually, for the moment, I wanted to avoid exposing anything unnecessary—including the existence of demons. We were already surrounded by the ridiculous, with psychic powers at the head of the list. Even just explaining things felt like more trouble than it was worth.

Instead, I’d entrusted the two of them entirely to Ms. Futarishizuka. From here on, we’d be acting separately, leaving me to work with Miss Hoshizaki. Additionally, I’d be the one handling my neighbor and Abaddon. Splitting up our responsibilities this way would prevent any isolated spaces from appearing by accident.

It was possible one might form unintentionally as we moved around, but I couldn’t do much about that except pray.

Miss Hoshizaki looked at me, dissatisfied. But just as I was worrying over how to answer her, Miss Inukai issued an instruction.

“I do apologize,” she said, “but I’ve been told to show Mr. Sasaki in immediately.”

“Understood, ma’am,” I replied. “I appreciate your leading the way.”

Apparently, they were quite busy—this worked in my favor, though, so I nodded and let her show me in.

We soon arrived at the reception room we used last time. As the ensign had suggested, I saw an SDF member there as well—another familiar face. It was Captain Yoshikawa.

As soon as I stepped into the room, he gestured to the sofa across from him. “I apologize for the rush,” he explained, “but we don’t have much time. I need to speak with you immediately.”

“Thank you, sir,” I replied, taking up a position across from him over the low table. Miss Hoshizaki immediately sat down beside me, while the captain’s subordinate moved to stand behind him.

“Akutsu sent a request yesterday asking us to work with you,” said the captain.

“Thank you for responding so quickly,” I answered.

“We do, however, have our own tasks to attend to, so I can’t babysit you for very long. I’ve heard pieces of what’s going on, but we have our own way of doing things—a way that seems far more reliable than working with all of you.”

“I see, sir.”

From the way he spoke, I could tell that Mr. Yoshikawa—who was likely in a pretty important position within his organization—was being jerked around by his superiors. That spoke all the more to how pressing and tense the situation had become. I wondered who would end up shouldering the blame if our plan failed.

“But you were a big help to us the other day,” he went on. “And I’d like to repay that debt, if possible.”

“I don’t plan on asking too much of you, sir,” I assured him.

“Let me hear the details, then.”

“We’d like you to lend us some of your time once AO4 has gotten closer to land.” If we caused an isolated space to occur, we’d only need an instant, really. After all, whatever time passed in those spaces got rolled back once we left. “If you give us approximately one minute, just before you make your final attack, I’ll be able to judge whether we can deal with the creature.”

“One minute?” he repeated. “You mean you want one minute to elapse after it closes in on us?”

“No, sir. In fact, we only need it to be visible from the shoreline. I understand time is of the essence, but while we’re working, could you refrain from approaching AO4 for any reason?”

“I think we can be flexible enough to give you a minute.”

Knowing I’d have Peeps’s assistance gave me the confidence to negotiate. We shouldn’t have any problems reaching the creature, either, since so many of us could fly. And as long as we were in an isolated space, no one would see us. That was fortunate, because even walking around with Peeps in a cage would be too risky under the SDF’s watchful eye.

“Thank you so much for your understanding, Mr. Yoshikawa.”

“I won’t ask what it is you all plan to do,” he told me. “But will it really be any more effective than the attack we conducted last night? Depending on the situation, even a single minute could be extremely valuable.”

“Forgive me for being rude, but I could ask you the very same question.”

The captain paused. “…I suppose you’re right.”

I was really curious about how Mr. Yoshikawa and the rest of the SDF were planning on dealing with the creature. How would the soldiers confront a giant monster like that? I wouldn’t have another chance to watch their strategy unfold from the front lines. But Mr. Akutsu had asked us to deal with this before anyone else had the chance.

“Speaking of last night, sir,” I said, “what can you tell me of its current condition?”

“Something invisible is covering AO4, blocking all heat, impact, and radiation. It appears to be working against the nuclear fallout as well, and radiation is currently low. Which is lucky, because otherwise we’d have a disaster on our hands when it made landfall.”

Peeps had explained that the Kraken could use magic. This one’s probably using a barrier spell, I thought, though I was surprised it could block even radiation.

“Still,” the captain continued, “you should probably avoid coming into direct contact with it.”

“I understand, sir,” I said. “I’ll do my best not to.”

If a group of elite creatures from the otherworld with powerful magic decided to make their way here all at once, I got the feeling they’d have a real shot at taking over the world by force. When I thought about it like that, Peeps’s own existence was a rather serious threat to modern society.

“Sasaki, is this about that plan you and Futarishizuka came up with?” asked Miss Hoshizaki.

“Essentially, yes,” I responded.

Even she was asking me questions now. It was true I hadn’t explained any of what was going on to her. Mr. Akutsu was covering for me, so the rest of my colleagues still saw me as a normal psychic, and Miss Hoshizaki was no exception. She probably had questions about Lady Elsa and my neighbor, but she didn’t know anything about the otherworld. I was hesitant to volunteer the information, and that had lead us to the current situation.

“I’m a little concerned,” she said. “I haven’t been contacted at all.”

“I didn’t want to bother you with it.”

That was what worried me. What on earth was I supposed to do about her? I was still her bottomless water bottle, as far as the bureau was concerned.

“If you can’t tell me now, you can explain later,” she told me.

“…All right, I will.”

I couldn’t exactly refuse—not in front of Mr. Yoshikawa—so I agreed. I supposed I could potentially contact the chief in secret and have him put her on a different job. She would definitely find out about that, however. I’d used the same trick already when she found Lady Elsa and my neighbor in that hotel room. Out of consideration for my future as a public servant, I really wanted to stay on her good side.

Just then, we heard someone running down the hallway, followed by a knock at the door. Mr. Yoshikawa barked “Enter,” and the door opened to reveal another member of the SDF. Based on his uniform, the man was an officer. He hesitated for a moment after seeing us in the room, but when his boss made a gesture for him to go ahead, he began his report in a loud voice.

“Captain Yoshikawa, sir, we’ve detected a change in AO4’s course.”

“Where’s it headed?” asked the captain.

“It’s moving toward the coastline of Mie Prefecture; we expect it to continue toward Hamamatsu, Suruga Bay, or Sagami Bay.”

The seaborne octodragon’s landfall now seemed imminent.

Once word reached Atsugi Base, we moved out, boarding a JMSDF helicopter and heading straight for the coast. Ultimately, we arrived in the Shizuura district of Numazu City in Shizuoka. Although it bordered the Suruga Bay, this area was a ways back from the shore.

The Kraken had passed by the Kansai region not long after our departure from the base. Now it was advancing through the waters off Aichi Prefecture, inching ever closer to land and heading right toward Suruga Bay. We’d already moved a few times following its path.

If the creature entered the bay directly, it would be facing Tagonoura head-on; our current position was aimed at attacking its flank. Furthermore, Osezaki—a cape protruding into the bay—would serve as our cover. Partly due to this advantageous location, an SDF outpost had already been set up in the area.

Camouflage-patterned tents and armored vehicles were lined up on the road along the coastline. The west side of Suruga Bay consisted of several relatively populous coastal cities such as Shizuoka and Yaizu. That was going to make the evacuation of civilians extremely difficult—and should the Kraken attack, casualties would be high. The JGSDF had fanned out along the Izu Peninsula, planning to sweep in from the east. In addition, multiple missile boats were positioned in Sagami Bay on the other side of the peninsula.

“Well, isn’t that a beautiful sunset?” commented Miss Hoshizaki.

“You’re right,” I replied.

After alighting from the helicopter, we moved to a seawall constructed along the beach. We now stood on top of it, staring out at the sea. The water glittered in the western sun, making for a very pretty sight. It made me want to take a walk down to the water’s edge—if only we weren’t on the clock.

The beautiful scenery seemed to cleanse my soul—but that only lasted for a moment.

“It’s been years since I looked out at the ocean like this,” said my senior. It was a strange comment for someone still enrolled in high school.

That was the kind of line you expected from a washed-up, world-weary office worker. And yet her youth was palpable, clipping at the edges of her words. It gave me the creepy-crawlies.

“Weren’t you doing this same thing at Chichijima just the other day?” I asked.

“…Now that you mention it, you’re right.”

Still, she must have had a few beachless years in her recent past. Wasn’t that a little sad, considering her age?

“You never go to the beach with friends or family?” I asked.

“I think the last time was when I was in elementary school.”

“Oh.”

I’d had an equally lonely youth. Having recently caught a few glimpses of Hoshizaki’s private life, I started to feel bad for bringing it up. It was great that she was gung ho about her job, but I didn’t think anyone would mind if she enjoyed high school life a little more. Wasn’t being a high school girl in Japan the best excuse in human history to go out and have fun?

“It would have made for a nice change of pace if it were a little quieter,” she remarked.

“Then how about coming here sometime in the future for a break?” I suggested.

“Oh, are you inviting me on a date?”

“No, I’d never…”

The SDF’s engagement with the Kraken in Suruga Bay had already begun. From time to time, the sound would travel across the water, and we’d hear thumps and bursts in the distance.

However, they didn’t seem to be throwing missiles or bombs at the creature to try to kill it. After it withstood a direct attack from a thermonuclear weapon, the SDF appeared to have come to the conclusion that conventional weapons would be meaningless against it.

Instead, they were simply trying to steer it away from the coast. Their attacks, which used mainly aircraft, were meant to harass the Kraken more than anything else. The strategy was to drive it off before it made landfall, hopefully sending it right back into the Pacific Ocean where it came from.

Miss Inukai, who had remained with us, was providing us intermittent updates on the operation’s status. As we gazed out over the bay, she hopped out of an armored vehicle parked on the road below and ran up to us.

“Mr. Sasaki, it appears our fighters have failed to divert the creature,” she said, her expression glum. She looked worse and worse every time she came to deliver a report.

Until just a little while ago, the two of us had been inside the armored vehicle ourselves, watching live video of the attack with Ms. Inukai providing commentary. The fighter planes have just dropped such and such type of bomb; the missile boats are about to fire a volley of such and such missiles—that sort of thing. Unfortunately, none of them had so much as scratched the Kraken; it hadn’t even seemed to notice. Unable to sit and watch any longer, I’d come out with Miss Hoshizaki to get a view of the sea.

“Failed?” I repeated. “In what way?”

“After using up all their ammunition, they returned to the base,” the ensign explained.

“I see.”

I assumed the fighters had been staying at a safe distance to conduct their diversion. The Kraken must have gauged how far away they were and decided no response was needed. A very intellectual judgment, in my opinion. This was no mere wild animal chasing around its prey based on instinct.

“It’s not yet visible from here,” I commented. “How far has it gotten?”

“The target has entered the bay and is now advancing in a straight line.”

According to Mr. Yoshikawa, civilian evacuations were going very smoothly. It seemed all the training over the last fifty years for that eternally imminent Toukai earthquake was bearing fruit. The town near our location, too, was broadcasting a constant stream of disaster warnings, repeatedly urging the evacuation of areas along the coast. The pretext was the removal of unexploded ordinance.

The SDF had already taken control of the coastline, seizing nearby vantage points and tall buildings. The Kraken was massive, and it wasn’t clear how much we’d be able to cover up, but the bureau was lending a hand, with Mr. Akutsu at the lead.

“By the way,” continued Miss Inukai, “Captain Yoshikawa wants to know the status of your mission.”

“Tell him it’s proceeding as planned,” I said.

“Understood.”

Now that we knew for certain where the creature would make landfall, I contacted Peeps via the phone Ms. Futarishizuka had lent my neighbor. I sent a message to the associated email address and received a response a few minutes later. My neighbor was serving as our go-between, since the sparrow was still voluntarily restricting his own access to the internet. I sent him the latitude and longitude of our current position and received word that they’d move out immediately.

After that, Mr. Yoshikawa and the other SDF members arrived and explained their subsequent plans to us. As we were listening, I received another email from my neighbor, saying that they were waiting within eyeshot of the Kraken.

I was slightly worried that the SDF might spot them, but it seemed Abaddon was doing a good job of avoiding the soldiers. According to my neighbor, he was able to turn them invisible temporarily.

Around the same time, my private phone began to vibrate; someone was calling me. The screen said it was Ms. Futarishizuka, so I apologized to Miss Inukai and picked up immediately. “Yes, this is Sasaki.”

“They’re not letting anyone else on the highways,” came the girl’s elderly drawl. She sounded thrilled. “I can drive as fast as I want! It’s incredible!”

“I’m happy to hear it.”

Just as she said, the highways were all blockaded due to the emergency. The only people allowed on them were the SDF and a handful of exceptions, like us. What’s more, we’d been authorized to drive as fast as we wanted with blatant disregard for speed limits.

“No amount of money can buy an experience like this,” she went on. “I don’t know how many years it’s been since I had this much fun on the road. I must say, it was a real stroke of luck that I transferred to the bureau. Of course, around the time I passed Nagoya, they told me I had to go back to Shizuoka. Rather deflating, indeed.”

“The demon group is in position,” I explained, “so hurry back, please.”

“Will do. With my driving skills, I’ll be there in twenty minutes—no, ten!”

I could hear the Disciple’s voice in the background, pleading with her to drive a little slower. Based on the time she gave me, she’d probably already gotten off the highway and was zooming through local roads on her way here.

Once she’d given me the pertinent information, she quickly hung up. I should probably put up a defensive barrier now, I thought. I trusted Peeps could handle things if I missed the timing for the isolated space, but I didn’t really want to burden him like that.

“Miss Inukai,” I said, “I’d like to know your current plans.”

“At the suggestion of the local fishing union, we’re currently feeding the target,” she explained.

“Feeding it?” repeated Miss Hoshizaki. “That doesn’t sound very reassuring.”

I understood where she was coming from—in fact, I felt much the same way.

“Previous investigations have caught AO4 eating aquatic creatures,” replied the ensign.

“I guess it must need a whole lot of food to support that enormous body,” said Miss Hoshizaki.

“As it was explained to me, we’re loading up boats with fish caught in the bay and sending them toward AO4 on autopilot. Each time, we stop the boats a little farther out to sea to try to adjust its trajectory and divert its route.”

The fact that the government was taking advice from the local fishing union really showed how desperate they’d become. The creature had nullified every weapon they’d thrown at it, and the people in charge were probably at a total loss as to what to try next.

That said, my pet sparrow was from the otherworld, too. And given how enthralled he was with this world’s food, there was a possibility, however slim, that the Kraken would be drawn in by Suruga Bay’s impressive array of seafood and follow it away, smacking its lips over the fresh-caught ocean bounty.

“I see,” I said. “Your strategy is to lure it with a life-size sushi boat.”

“You’re really good at coming up with weird analogies, Sasaki,” remarked Miss Hoshizaki.

“…Was it that weird?” I figured any man my age would have drawn the same connection. I hadn’t had a chance to eat lunch today, so naturally I was hungry. We’d come all the way to the Numazu area, and I was hoping that if we wrapped things up nice and quick, I could get a fresh whitebait rice bowl or something. I bet a nice bowl with wasabi, soy sauce, and perilla leaves would be out of this world. Young fish fry caught fresh locally was just delicious, and didn’t have that fishy smell.

“But shouldn’t you have tried that first?” asked Miss Hoshizaki.

“I apologize, ma’am,” replied Miss Inukai, bowing in place of whoever was responsible. “This operation wasn’t part of our initial plans…”

Just then, as we were trading words atop the seawall, I saw something flying toward us from the sky. It was coming from farther inland, passing over the mountains. It was going fast, too—it remained a speck in the distance for only a moment before quickly resolving into a larger silhouette.

The silhouette of a person.

At the same time, the SDF soldiers began to raise a commotion. I heard voices discussing what I’d just seen—someone flying in the sky. Other soldiers rushed out of their armored vehicles and tents, immediately angling their guns up at the figure. Well, that’s a terrifying sight, I thought, frightened even though no weapons were pointed at me.

“Wait, Sasaki, is that—?”

“Yes. It seems the magical girl is here.”

It was easy to tell—her vivid-pink hair and clothes gave her away. She eventually came to a stop a few meters above us, her staff at the ready. “What are you doing here, magical middle-aged man?” she asked.

“I’m working, just like last time,” I explained. “But what are you doing here?”

“That big thing in the ocean is dangerous. I need to do something about it,” she replied, glancing offshore.

The rest of us turned to look in the same direction. And there it was: a long silhouette in the distance that definitely wasn’t a boat. We hadn’t been able to see it until just now. Apparently, the Kraken had already made its way deep into the bay. It seemed it was able to move very quickly; it was now in the final stage before making landfall.

And that meant it was time for us to act, just like we’d promised Mr. Yoshikawa.

“If we can see it from here, it must be pretty close,” said Miss Hoshizaki.

“Yes, I believe you’re right.”

The magical girl had fought the Kraken the other day, too. She’d come here because she knew exactly how big a threat it was. And once she’d reached the shore, she probably spotted the SDF and descended.

This sort of peacekeeping operation usually went hand in hand with psychics. A moment’s thought would have told her that where there were armored vehicles and tents all over the place, there were probably also psychics nearby.

“But I won’t let any psychics get away, either,” she said.

“Wait just a moment,” I said quickly. “This isn’t the time to be fighting one another.”

Her magical staff was pointed at Miss Hoshizaki. I quickly deployed my barrier spell around the two of us. The scariest thing about this magical girl was how she could literally blast us to bits at any moment. Lately, she and I had been slowly developing a modest rapport. Unfortunately, Miss Hoshizaki was definitely, beyond any doubt, a psychic. I wasn’t sure how much consideration I could convince her to show my partner.

“The one standing next to you is a psychic. Right?” she asked flatly.

“…You’re right. She’s a psychic,” I replied.

Just as she promised me before, she remembered to make sure her target was a psychic before doing anything. She seemed like an earnest girl at heart, willing to be polite and follow directions.

I glanced over at Miss Hoshizaki. Without me realizing, she’d pulled out her gun and aimed it right at the magical girl with no hesitation. Tension marred her face. She must be panicking—she knew her gun would have no effect against the girl’s Magical Barrier.

“Sasaki, give me water!” she demanded.

“I need you to calm down as well, Miss Hoshizaki. We need to focus on the Kraken right now.”

“But we can’t let our guard down when she’s waving that staff of hers at us!” she continued, inching away, probably aiming for the water past the seawall. Even now, she refused to let herself get pessimistic. Instead, she was preparing to fight the magical girl. The sight filled me with awe. She was like the protagonist of a shounen manga.

But just as things were getting dicey, the world around us changed. Instantly, all sound vanished.

Miss Inukai and the SDF soldiers that had been causing a commotion behind her all disappeared. Even the rows of armored vehicles and tents were gone. The distant roar of aircraft had been silenced, too.

The only sound we could hear was that of the waves breaking. And in the middle of it all were myself, the magical girl, and…

“H-hey, wait, what the hell’s going on…?!”

Oh god, what do I do now? I accidentally pulled Miss Hoshizaki into the isolated space.

(The Neighbor’s POV)

Following the instructions in the man next door’s email, we leave the hotel and fly through the air to Suruga Bay. According to him, an enormous creature called a Kraken is approaching Japan, and he wants to take advantage of the proxy war to deal with it. More specifically, he wants to make use of the death game’s main mechanism—isolated spaces. He’s already secured collaborators on the angels’ side and is now transporting them to the site.

“How do you feel?” asks Abaddon. “Getting used to flying yet?”

“It’s much harder to keep my balance than I imagined,” I say.

“Well, it’d be no joke if you died and lost the game by crashing into a building. So be careful, okay?”

“I think I’m pretty clear on that.”

Previously, Abaddon and I drove back the angelic forces with my neighbor’s help. Before we left, I finally claimed my reward and had the demon grant me the power to fly. I’d been deferring this prize ever since the day I stormed that luxury hotel.

I can fly on my own now—I don’t need anyone to carry me. This way, I’ll never need to let another man to touch my body in front of him ever again.

“A world with its own rules, totally separate from everything I know. Utterly fascinating.”

“I could basically say the same about you, you know.”

My neighbor’s pet Java sparrow is hovering next to Abaddon and me. Seeing him frozen in the air like that, not even flapping his wings, is an awfully weird sight. Though compared to how he can understand human language and communicate with us, I suppose this isn’t that big of a deal.

Usually, he stays perched on the man’s shoulder. But my neighbor isn’t here right now, and the bird shows no signs of touching Abaddon or me. Maybe he’s just attached to his owner.

If he wanted to buy a pet, he could have taken me instead. I imagine myself wearing a collar, my neighbor leading me around with a leash. Yeah, that sounds pretty nice.

“Also, that thing is enormous!” Abaddon continues. “The description we were given really didn’t do it justice.”

“It is just as he said—a subspecies of dragon has strayed from the otherworld.”

It’s true. The three of us are now gazing at a strange, enormous creature as it writhes across the ocean’s surface. Lots of tentacles sprout from its cylindrical body. My neighbor was right—it’s like an octopus and a dragon fused together.

Aircraft, probably belonging to the SDF, are endlessly flitting around nearby. They’d have detected us if not for Abaddon using his powers to fool them, the same way he did at the hotel. As long as none of us actively interfere with them, neither the Kraken nor the SDF will ever know we’re here.

“As he instructed,” says the bird, “I shall create a barrier around the target.”

“The SDF is still attacking it. Does that matter?” I point out.

“What I am about to attempt is not much different from what the creature is already doing to defend itself. They will not be able to tell the difference without a detailed investigation, and as things stand, I do not believe they will get close enough to do so.”

“In that case, if we leave it alone, it should enter the isolated space on its own.”

“If we leave things up to the creature, I cannot predict when it will disengage its barrier. If we want to be certain, it is best that I handle things. I believe he thinks so as well, which is why he has instructed me to do this.”

“…I see.”

The way the bird speaks, as if he and his owner share some bond of understanding, irritates me. I know far more about my neighbor than he does. What is this sparrow’s relationship with him anyway? A pet? That seems unhealthy. In my opinion, people can only make up for what they lack by being with other people.

“……”

No. It’s time for me to stop beating around the bush. I’m jealous. I’m so jealous of this talking bird I can barely think straight. I’ve known my neighbor for years, and yet he’s never invited me into his room. And now, just because this stupid bird was put up for sale at a pet shop, he gets to be in my neighbor’s room and go everywhere with him.

I wish I could have been sold in that pet shop for him to buy. I wish he would have purchased me instead.

“I’m detecting a hint of something concerning in your eyes when you look at that bird. What’s the deal?”

“You must be imagining things, Abaddon.”

The SDF aircraft, now in formation, fire missile after missile. These projectiles fly in a precise path toward the Kraken and collide with their target, one after another. We hear a series of booms as they explode.

At the same time, a magic circle emerges just below the sparrow’s feet. A moment later, a light flashes around the Kraken. But I can’t make out very much of what’s happening, since the explosions and smoke from the missiles obscure my view of the creature. I’m guessing it’s a change brought on by the barrier spell. He must have timed it in order to use the SDF’s attacks as a smokescreen.

“Excellent,” says the bird. “Now we need only wait for the others to arrive.”

For some time, the aircraft fly around just out of range of the Kraken’s tentacles and pump missiles into its body, trying to draw its attention. Unfortunately, the creature doesn’t respond at all to the diversions, instead continuing its slow approach toward land. I guess the SDF’s plan isn’t going so well.

A little while later, the aircraft withdraw. Then, as if replacing them, several boats appear on the water and head straight for the creature. They’re totally normal fishing boats; I can’t even see any weapons on them.

And for whatever reason, the boats are piled high with as much seafood as they can hold. They’re too far away for me to be sure, but it looks like all the fish, which would normally be stored below deck, have been piled high up top.

“Are they trying to feed the thing or something?” asks Abaddon.

“That doesn’t seem like a good plan right after shooting it with missiles.”

After leaving the harbor, the fishing boats move past the Kraken and head out into the sea. In response, the giant creature slows its advance somewhat and stares at the vessels floating toward it. Its tentacles begin to undulate. Apparently, the fish-laden boats have drawn its interest.

“I suppose I should let those pass…,” the bird murmurs to himself as he watches all this take place. He’s probably adjusting his barrier spell.

Eventually, the Kraken’s tentacles reach for the boats. One coils around the lead vessel, easily lifting it from the water’s surface. The creature skillfully carries the boat to its mouth and pours all the seafood inside like a human might drink a glass of water.

With the boat now empty, the creature tosses it back into the water and begins chewing the fish in its mouth.

“Well, well! Our friend certainly seems to be enjoying the meal,” remarks Abaddon.

“…You think so?” I reply. I often find it hard to understand what’s going through Abaddon’s head.

The sparrow, for his part, seems busy with his barrier spell. Another magic circle appears at his feet as he focuses on the fishing boats making their way out toward the open sea. He seems to be responding to the Kraken’s movements, but I don’t notice any changes down on the water’s surface.

“Is it all right to open holes in the barrier?” I ask.

“No, it is not,” he replies. “Instead, I’m creating a second barrier on the outside that will include the ships approaching the target. I then shrink that barrier’s scope as they approach, and when the ships are close enough, I disengage the interior barrier. If I keep that up, the Kraken will always be fully inside at least one barrier.”

“…You’re very smart, Mr. Sparrow,” I say, impressed.

“I’m sorry,” Abaddon chimes in apologetically. “My partner here isn’t that great at using her head.”

He makes it sound like I’m some stupid, ignorant child.

“……”

No, that’s exactly what I am. I consistently score low enough on school exams that it’s better to count from the bottom when finding my rank. That’s my own fault, though. My situation at home might seem like a good excuse, but I can’t afford to let that stop me.

I always thought the man next door was just like me. But now he seems to be having so much fun with other women. It will likely take some time to reverse that situation, and if I want to play the long game, maybe it’s a good idea to apply myself more to my studies going forward. I have to at least get into high school, or I’ll be at even more of a disadvantage.

“What’s up?” asks Abaddon. “That’s quite a look on your face.”

“It’s nothing,” I say, fleeing from the conversation by taking my eyes off the Kraken and looking to the side.

That’s when I notice a car racing along the road down below.

It appears the lanes leading this way have been closed, and for the most part, they’re quiet and empty of traffic. This car, however, is blazing across the asphalt. From up in the sky, it’s no longer than my thumbnail, so I can’t even make out what kind of car it is. What I do know, however, is that it’s going extremely fast.

“Oh? Something’s really moving down there.”

“You noticed it, too, Abaddon?”

While the opposite lane is packed with evacuating vehicles, the car in question speeds smoothly down the other side. This piques my curiosity—why is it heading from the city toward the shoreline? It’s already pretty close to the water.

“Could that be the ones we have been waiting for?” asks the bird. “The collaborators he spoke of?”

“I suppose it’s possible,” replies Abaddon.

“Should we go down to meet them?” I ask. Then the sound around us vanishes.

All the noise we’ve been hearing—the rotors of helicopters keeping watch on the Kraken, the engines of the fishing boats traveling out to sea—all of it is gone. The people and cars down below disappear at the same time. But the white-crested waves, rising and falling out in the ocean, remain.

And there, amid the water’s motions, is the giant sea monster.

“So this is the isolated space I’ve heard you speak of,” the bird says with fascination, gazing at the soundless world.

The car we’d been watching down below disappeared along with all the others. If the angel and her Disciple were really inside it, as we assumed, we should be able to see them down there where the vehicle was a moment ago.

“I am curious about what determines which things disappear and which do not,” the bird remarks.

“Well, this space is created for the proxy war between angels and demons,” explains Abaddon. “You can think of it as hypothetical—or imaginary. I wouldn’t get too fixated on real space here if I were you—it often happens that something you expect to find is simply gone.”

“Hmm…”

“But if I were to try to give a rule, I suppose things you can see moving around don’t usually get replicated here. The main purpose of these spaces is to allow the angels, demons, and Disciples to battle. Gotta get rid of any external actors, right?”

“Then it would be better to regard what we see here as duplicates created for the express purpose of the war, rather than everything else having disappeared.”

“Yeah, pretty much. They’re identical inside and out, but yeah—think of them all as fakes.”

As Abaddon and the sparrow go on about this and that, I look down at the soundless world far below and catch a glimpse of something moving this way from the surface. Two figures have taken off from the beach and are now speeding up toward us.

One of them has a big, blocky-looking silhouette, so at first I don’t believe it’s human. Once it gets a little closer, though, I realize why. It’s a person carrying someone else as they fly. Eventually, they reach us. Seeing a certain someone among their number fills me with relief.

“I see you managed to get them all here, Peeps.”

“I did. And I am glad that matters seem to have gone smoothly on your end as well.”

I agree with the bird—I’m happy we’ve been able to meet up as planned. And thankfully, the sea monster raging about in the water was caught inside as well.

But right now, my mind is focused on something else.

“Mister, who is that you’re carrying?” I ask.

“I’m Sasaki’s colleague!” cries the lady in his arms. “G-got a problem with that?”

“I’m not sure how to respond to a woman threatening me while a man is carrying her.”

“Urk…”

Why is there yet another woman in his arms?

Once the isolated space appeared, we joined up with the others; they’d been watching the Kraken from a higher vantage point. I both resolved the matter of Miss Hoshizaki’s safety and respected her wishes by having her accompany me. It was either that or ask that she wait on the ground and risk her being squished by a rampaging Kraken.

“I see you managed to get them all here, Peeps.”

“I did. And I am glad that matters seem to have gone smoothly on your end as well.”

Seeing the sparrow filled me with relief. Out in the water, we could see the Kraken as well—all according to plan. It had suddenly halted its advance, seeming confused at the sudden disappearance of the aircraft flitting around in the sky and the boats drifting along the water’s surface. It definitely has some level of intelligence, I thought.

“Mister, who is that you’re carrying?”

“I’m Sasaki’s colleague! G-got a problem with that?”

“I’m not sure how to respond to a woman threatening me while a man is carrying her.”

“Urk…”

My neighbor immediately fired off a comeback. Aesthetically speaking, a middle-aged man like me carrying a high school girl wasn’t something anyone wanted to see. From a woman’s point of view, even having to see something like this was sexual harassment. In fact, Miss Hoshizaki was acting strangely—why was she tolerating it? When I said I was going up, she even directly suggested I carry her.

I told her not to ask about the isolated space or my ability to fly and insisted I’d explain once we were back at the bureau. I was a little forceful, but it had worked. When I’d told her it was all part of my plan to take care of the Kraken, she accepted.

“It seems a little strange that you would have a colleague carry you around like that,” my neighbor remarked.

“I—I didn’t have a choice!” exclaimed Miss Hoshizaki. “I can’t fly like all of you!”

“I’m actually more curious about her,” chimed in Abaddon, interrupting the other two.

He was looking at the magical girl, who had been following us, using Magical Flight to float in midair.

“…What?” she said.

“You’re the girl we met before, aren’t you?” said Abaddon.

He was right. We had now gathered everyone who was at the hotel the other day, aside from Ms. Futarishizuka and Lady Elsa. No wonder the atmosphere’s so tense. Their only mutual connection was me—otherwise, most of them were basically strangers.

Nevertheless, I’d formed a temporary truce with the magical girl and secured her cooperation in dealing with the Kraken. She’d promised not to attack the other psychics while inside this space, at any rate.

“I’m sorry I shot at your friend,” she said to the demon.

“Hey, no worries. More importantly, I’ve been curious about you.”

“Maybe worry a little, Abaddon,” chided my neighbor.

Now the demon was even making a pass at the magical girl—so soon after Ms. Futarishizuka, too. He and my neighbor must have really been desperate to win these death games. As long as it helped my neighbor gain an advantage, though, I was more than willing to help.

If I left them alone, however, the situation would probably descend into chaos. Unfortunately, I needed them to focus on the Kraken.

“I’m sorry to trouble you,” I told them. “But could the two of you go down and get the angel and her Disciple?”

“Hmm. Can we, partner?”

“We can’t exactly leave them to their own devices. Let’s do as he says and pick them up.”

“Yeah. If they leave, and the isolated space disappears, things will fall apart, and all our secrets will be revealed.”

I’d already been lied to twice by that Disciple. I should be ready for anything, at least while we’re working together like this. They could be plotting to use the Kraken to threaten us somehow.

“Let’s go, then, Abaddon.”

“Right!”

My neighbor took the lead, and Abaddon followed after her. They grew smaller and smaller as they neared the surface until we couldn’t see them anymore.

Then I turned back to face the Starsage. “Peeps, your turn. Are you ready?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I shall deal with this as swiftly as possible.”

“Sasaki, why the hell is that bird talking?!” demanded Miss Hoshizaki.

“Some Java sparrows are very good at talking,” I told her.

“Yeah, right! I knew it! That video before, that was…”

As expected, Miss Hoshizaki had reacted to Peeps. I had no time to introduce them, though. The Kraken had begun to advance toward us, whether due to the noise we were making or through the use of some detection spell, I wasn’t sure.

It opened its giant, gaping jaw, and a magic circle appeared in front of it. This was the lead-up to the big attack the creature had used to scatter the Magical Girl Alliance last time.

“Hey, wait—”

Evidently, the Kraken had noticed us. I had a barrier up, but I didn’t know how far it would go to protect us. Even Peeps had acknowledged the monster as a powerful opponent. With intermediate-level magic the best I could muster, the thing would probably tear my spell apart as easily as little Mika’s sword.

Immediately, I looked to the bird. A magic circle was at his feet. In the blink of an eye, the Kraken’s spell fired, and my vision went white.

A moment later, I felt something hard beneath my feet.

From right next to me, I heard Peeps say quietly, “You may leave this to me.”

“Peeps?”

When my vision returned, I was on the shore facing the bay. Peeps’s teleportation magic had instantly sent us all down here. Miss Hoshizaki was still in my arms, and the magical girl was nearby, too. But Peeps was gone; I assumed he’d doubled back into the sky above the water.

Everyone was unharmed, most likely because of the barrier spell the bird had placed around the Kraken beforehand. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to dodge that thing’s attack without warning.

“Wh-what just happened?” breathed Miss Hoshizaki.

“The sparrow’s gone,” the magical girl pointed out.

Both of their gazes fell on me—but they only stayed a moment, because soon booms began to sound over the water.

From the beach, our focus shifted out toward the ocean. And there, I could see countless spells blossoming in vivid color all around the Kraken. One moment, an immense firestorm thrashed about, the next, a series of lightning bolts crackled down from the sky in a fury of light and sound. I could also make out the laser beams the Kraken had used before. It reminded me of when Peeps fought that purple person in the otherworld.

“Wait,” said Miss Hoshizaki. “No, don’t tell me. Is the sparrow doing all that?”

“He’s so strong…”

We couldn’t make out Peeps from where we were standing. But I could imagine him there as I watched the Kraken—still stopped in the water—fighting against something we couldn’t see. The monster must indeed be a powerful foe, considering the sparrow generally defeated his enemies with a single blow.

Our presence here is making more work for him, I thought. Whenever the Kraken’s attacks started to veer in our direction, Peeps would slam it with even fiercer offensive magic. He was protecting us from stray magic blasts.

“He’s amazing. He just knocked off one of those huge tentacles at the root!” exclaimed Miss Hoshizaki.

“Is that your fairy, magical middle-aged man?” asked the magical girl.

“Something like that, yes.”

“Wait, ‘magical middle-aged man’?” repeated Miss Hoshizaki. “I asked you about that before, during the investigation. What does that even mean?”

“Miss Hoshizaki, would you mind getting down at some point?”

“Uh… R-right!”

My senior had remained in my arms even after landing, entranced by Peeps’s battle. She started when I reminded her, then reached her legs back down to the ground. She lost her balance for a moment when her heels shifted in the sand but quickly caught herself.

“Hey, Sasaki,” she said.

“What is it?”

“Would the section chief happen to know about any of this?” she asked, a meaningful grin on her face.

Is she threatening me? I wondered. Her water supply had been prioritizing his own tasks lately; I could easily imagine her trying to steal back the reins, as it were. Lately, she’d been taking the back seat to Ms. Futarishizuka, but perhaps she’d decided to try to regain the upper hand.

“Should you speak of this to anyone else,” I said, “it may affect your wages.”

“What…?!”

I’m really glad I got the boss under control beforehand, I thought. Miss Hoshizaki had gone totally silent.

Obviously, I had no say in the bureau’s pay and hiring practices; I was just bluffing. Still, the section chief had taken it upon himself to prevent her from prying during the mess the other day, so I’d expected the lie would sound persuasive enough.

But when I actually said it, she believed me so easily that I felt a little bad. Unlike Ms. Futarishizuka, Miss Hoshizaki seems to wear her heart on her sleeve.

“I—I won’t say anything!” she stammered. “I don’t really know what’s going on anyway!”

Bringing up her pay had caused her to shrink back immediately. She took a few steps toward the water’s edge, to get away from her bullshitting colleague.

Finally, she turned back to me and said sourly, “But we are a team, so couldn’t you be a little more—?”

Just then, as I watched Peeps fighting out in the distance, I saw a change in the sea along the beach where we were standing.

As my eyes took in the choppy white waves caused by the far-off struggle, a giant tentacle launched out from the water’s surface. Every inch of it was covered in scales—we could tell at once that it belonged to the Kraken. Peeps was steadily severing the monster’s appendages with magic, sending them flying, and one had apparently drifted toward us. Worse yet, it seemed to move with a mind of its own.

“Miss Hoshizaki, run away!” I shouted.

“Behind you! Tentacle!” called out the magical girl.

“Huh?”

Though it was just one tentacle, it was enormous compared to a person. The part we could see above the water alone was probably over ten meters long and as thick as an 18-wheeler. Its body expanded and contracted like an inchworm, quickly closing the distance between us.

“Whaaat?!” Miss Hoshizaki turned around and froze in astonishment, her shriek echoing across the water.

A moment later, the tentacle reared up like a snake ready to strike. Then it swung itself toward my partner on the water’s edge, sweeping horizontally from right to left.

“Tch…”

In response, this magical middle-aged man simultaneously put up a barrier and lifted himself off the ground with a flight spell, zipping straight for her. She’d gotten herself tangled up attempting to flee and had fallen onto her rear end on the sand. I shot past her, putting myself in the line of fire.

Not an instant later, there was a loud booming as the tentacle rammed into my barrier spell. The impact stirred up the water, and seawater spray scattered behind me.

“Sasaki, I’ll freeze the water and stop its movement!” yelled Miss Hoshizaki.

“Understood!” I called back.

The girl picked herself right back up and touched the edge of a wave that the tentacle’s motions had sent lapping up to her feet. Starting from her hand, the seawater began to crackle and freeze, eventually reaching the area surrounding the tentacle.

She turned the entire patch of sea to ice, aiming to freeze the thing solid. The water gradually rose toward the target and enveloped it whole, locking it in inside. The amount of water my partner was moving all at once had to be several times the tentacle’s volume. I was impressed by her ability to move quickly under pressure—she didn’t have seniority over me for nothing. Within a few short seconds, her psychic power had fully encased the tentacle in ice.

“I guess…,” said Miss Hoshizaki, looking at the frozen tentacle, her shoulders heaving up and down with every breath, “we managed, somehow.” My partner seemed utterly exhausted, probably from moving all that water in such a short period of time.

“We should finish it off,” suggested the magical girl.

“That does seem like the best idea,” I agreed.

The magical girl aimed her staff at the tentacle—but just then, the appendage moved. Its tip began to pulse within the thick layer of ice. And then, all of a sudden, the scales covering it split open to reveal a huge, gaping maw. Sharp teeth densely lined its mouth—the sight was positively grotesque. What’s more, it was all covered in a strange, viscous fluid. I didn’t want to get anywhere near it. At the same time, a pair of bulging eyes emerged a little above the mouth.

Its transformation caused the ice covering it to shatter, giving the tentacle full freedom of motion once again.

“I’ll finish it!” said the magical girl. Her eyes were wide with shock, but she still managed to fire her Magical Beam. It sped straight toward the newly born tentacle head.

But the moment it struck, it was repelled by some invisible force.

“It’s the same as the main body!” said Miss Hoshizaki.

“Looks like it,” I agreed.

Ever since we conducted our field investigation, something had been bothering me. How did something so colossal reproduce? Well, now I knew. It worked the same way as when you grew a new plant from a cutting.

If Ms. Futarishizuka had been there, she probably would have made some wry comment about how part of the main creature splitting off and attacking us was a must in kaiju flicks. It was the kind of gimmick that drove up toy sales.

“Sasaki, look at its mouth!” exclaimed Miss Hoshizaki.

When I looked, I saw a magic circle forming. Recalling the main body’s actions, I assumed a laser beam would quickly surge from the circle. I used flight magic to try to escape the line of fire, remembering to sweep up my colleague as I went. With my back to the tentacle, I soared up into the sky as fast as I could.

“Ugh…”

A moment later, the tentacle’s attack came at me from behind, grazing right past my side. Its laser beam had penetrated my best barrier spell, instantly nullifying it like it was nothing. First little Mika’s sword, now the Kraken’s tentacle—my otherworld barrier had more losses than wins at this point. I was really hoping to learn a more advanced version soon.

As we zoomed up into the air, the tentacle fired off a quick series of attacks. The magical girl had risen up alongside us and, not to be outdone, shot her own barrage of Magical Beams.

The tentacle’s strike had penetrated my barrier spell, but it simply bounced off her Magical Barrier. Was it a compatibility thing, or was hers just that much stronger? It looked like she was frequently having to put it back up, but either way, it seemed she had a slight advantage over me when it came to defense.

The tentacle appeared to understand this, too, and began a relentless assault on the magical girl. I assumed it had registered her as a threat.

“Can you keep its attention for a little while?” I asked her.

“Okay.”

The tentacle launched volleys of beams at the magical girl. After requesting the diversion, I brought Miss Hoshizaki far away from the tentacle. We soared from the ocean over the beach and the seawall, and when we reached the road on the other side, I let Miss Hoshizaki down from my arms. Fortunately, the tentacle hadn’t tried to pursue us. Now that it was clear my barrier spell wasn’t up to snuff, I couldn’t put my colleague in any more danger.

“I want you to retreat,” I told her.

“B-but what about you?!” she stammered.

“There are a few more things I want to try.”

She looked at me like she wanted to say something else. But I ignored her, instead hurrying back to the water’s edge.

The tentacle’s attention was completely diverted as it frantically tried to shoot down the magical girl. Grateful for this, I used flight magic to circle around the battle, flying to a spot close to the water and diagonally behind the creature, where I figured it couldn’t see me. Then I readied the same spell I’d fired at the angels, aiming at the tentacle’s head.

Now that I’d practiced it with Peeps, I could change its output at will. It seemed to me I had a good chance of taking out the tentacle alone with a focused strike.

“Get out of the way!”

I thrust out my palm, and a magic circle appeared a few centimeters in front of it. I waited for the magical girl to dart out of my line of fire and took the shot. I wasn’t sure if she’d heard me yell, but at least I tried.

The beam roared, vibrating the air, its pure-white light plunging straight for the tentacle. It arrived at its target in an instant, a perfect strike. It passed through the tentacle’s head, vaporizing most of it. Its job finished, the beam soared off into the sky before eventually dissipating.

The headless tentacle lost its balance, then collapsed into the shallows with a splash. I waited a few moments, but it didn’t so much as twitch after that. Apparently, I’d managed to take the thing out in one hit.

“That was amazing, magical middle-aged man…”

Well, I really feel like I’ve accomplished something here, I thought. And it felt good to work alongside everyone else.

But apparently, I’d let myself relax a little too soon.

“Sasaki! B-behind you!”

“Miss Hoshizaki?”

I saw my senior scrambling down the seawall toward me, her face pure desperation. Didn’t we just have this conversation? Confused at her frantic behavior, I took a look behind me…

…and saw an enormous mouth about to swallow me whole.

“Whoa…”

In the dark of the night, a giant tentacle had emerged and now towered over the water. Its gaping maw filled my vision—a scene right out of a horror film. I certainly hadn’t expected there to be a second one.

At the sight of its tightly packed fangs, I froze. I felt like I’d come face-to-face with a real-life jump scare. You know, like when a shark suddenly bursts out from the water to attack. The fact that we were on the sea at night only made things worse, and the whole scene terrified me.

I tried to use flight magic to back away, but the tentacle was faster.

“Magical man!”

“Sasaki!”

As a chill ran down my spine, it devoured me. The last thing I heard as my vision turned black were Miss Hoshizaki and the magical girl screaming.

(The Neighbor’s POV)

At my neighbor’s command, Abaddon and I secure the angel and her Disciple. We were right about the car from before—the two of them had been inside, though the vehicle itself vanished when the isolated space appeared. According to the Disciple, it disappeared along with their driver—that Futarishizuka woman. We spotted them walking along the road from the sky.

“Let’s get back to my neighbor, Abaddon.”

“Right, right. You don’t have to tell me twice!”

Now that I’ve accomplished my objective, I head straight back into the air. Abaddon follows obediently, as do the angel and Disciple, though they seem reluctant.

We’ve just turned toward the water and are gaining altitude when I notice something. The waves on the nighttime shore are awfully tumultuous. Something big is writhing around, and I see streaks of light flying here and there before dissipating.

Curious, I look out past the coast. There I see the same tempests of flames and storms of thunder and lightning as before. Apparently another fight is taking place apart from the bird’s bout with the Kraken.

“What’s going on? Things seem a little too exciting down there—that’s not where the fight is.”

“Let’s hurry,” I tell Abaddon. “There may be some sort of problem.”

The image of my neighbor sliced through the waist by an angel’s sword comes back to me. I don’t want to see something like that a second time. I’m so worried I can’t think straight.

And yet, from behind me, I can hear the Disciple’s unenthusiastic voice.

“In that case, shouldn’t the two of us wait here?”

“Be quiet and come with us,” I reply. “If you try to run… Abaddon, show them no mercy. There are plenty of other Disciples we can make use of.”

“A-all right, I get it…”

“Sure,” says Abaddon. “I just wish you had this kind of drive all the time.”

I hurry for the shore with Abaddon, the angel, and her Disciple trailing in my wake. A few moments later, I can make out the details of what’s going on.

One of the Kraken’s tentacles, like the ones we saw in the bay, is blustering around by the coastline. I can see another one as well, lying dead on the ground. That one’s long, narrow body has been cleaved in half, and it appears to be missing a chunk.

I can see the magical girl putting up a fight, with Makeup right nearby. But I don’t see the person most important to me anywhere.

“Abaddon, please do something about that rampaging tentacle,” I command, still floating above the beach.

“Right! Leave it to me!”

A moment later, I hear a woman’s voice crying out below. When I look down, I see Makeup is staring up at me, yelling. Her suit is wrinkled, and she’s taken off her shoes to stand barefoot on the beach.

“Hey! Hold on a second!” she screams. “Can’t you hear me?!”

“Why should I wait?” I ask.

“That thing ate Sasaki! It swallowed him whole!”

“What…?!” My heart begins to pound madly. That’s not possible. I look around, but I still can’t see him anywhere. Fear presses in on me again.

Perhaps sensing my consternation, Abaddon speaks to me, his tone lighthearted. “Hey, calm down, okay? He won’t go down that easy.”

“I know. I have faith in him.”

“Instead, could you give me an order like always?”

“Please reveal thyself or whatever—just hurry up and save him!”

“Hmm… That wasn’t very specific. Do you think you could be a little clearer?”

“Just do it already!” I insist, my voice rough.

“Okay, you got it!” Abaddon’s body begins to change. It seems to melt, shifting into a huge mass of flesh.

Makeup backs way up when she catches sight of my partner’s grotesque metamorphosis. Then the floating, pulsating ball of meat suddenly expands. It’s just as gross as the tentacle flailing about on the shore.

“Wh-what the hell is that?! It’s disgusting!” Makeup shrieks.

“Just be quiet and watch,” I tell her.

I can’t blame her—it’s her first time seeing this. Even the magical girl seems to cringe as she continues fighting the tentacle. Next to us, the angel and Disciple let out frightened yelps.

Ignoring the others’ reactions, Abaddon speeds toward his target. Having roughly matched its size, he swiftly unfolds in midair. To give a cuter comparison, he looks a bit like a flying squirrel gliding through the air. Well, if a drunk person vomited all over it.

The tentacle fires some kind of magic laser beam to fight off the demon. It punches a hole straight through Abaddon’s fleshy mass, but it doesn’t slow him down. Finally, just as he’s done to angels and Disciples before, he attaches himself to the tentacle and causes his flesh to crawl over his enemy, covering it.

The tentacle begins to writhe and squirm like an earthworm cooking on hot summer asphalt. Cracks and pops—most likely from the chewing—mix with the sound of the waves. Eventually, the wriggling mass of flesh ejects something, like it’s spitting.

“Magical man!”

“Sasaki!”

Makeup and the so-called magical girl immediately rush forward. I won’t lose to them. Abaddon can handle the tentacle. I take flight as well and speed toward my neighbor.

The tentacle only had me inside its mouth for a moment or two. I used a barrier to protect myself from the immediate threats—its fangs and bodily fluids. Still, it was flailing around so roughly that I couldn’t get my bearings. I felt like I was riding a roller coaster. It shook and jolted me in every direction, and soon I was ready to hurl out the contents of my own stomach.

I could probably use my beam spell to destroy it from the inside, but I didn’t want to hit Miss Hoshizaki or the magical girl. Then again, if they were killed while I hesitated, it wouldn’t matter much anyway.

But then, a few moments later, the physical structure of the tentacle surrounding me began to collapse, almost like it was melting. I used illumination magic to brighten up my surroundings and noticed writhing chunks of flesh squeezing their way through the interior walls of the tentacle, oozing inside toward me.

One bloodcurdling sight after another, I thought. I had a good idea who these fleshy chunks belonged to, though.

“Hey, found ya!”

“Is that you, Abaddon?”

My suspicion turned to certainty the moment I heard his voice. I didn’t see his human form anywhere—I could only hear him. It was probably coming from the flesh oozing into the tentacle’s body. It seemed the demon could see me, though I wasn’t sure how. Maybe one or two of the fleshy chunks had eyeballs coming out of them or something.

“You seem awfully calm despite your predicament,” the demon remarked.

“No, this is pretty much me panicking,” I assured him. “Much longer and I’m liable to lose my lunch.”

“Then you’d better get out of there quick, huh?”

“I was worried using a spell from in here might injure someone outside,” I explained.

“In that case, I’ll just have to save you!”

That was when I noticed a big change. The inside of the tentacle’s body that had surrounded me before was suddenly replaced by a wall of flesh that must have belonged to the demon. A moment later, something pushed on my lower back, shoving me upward and outward.

As I moved, a tiny hole opened up for me in the wall of flesh, and I rode the momentum back outside. It felt kind of like I was a watermelon seed being spit out of someone’s mouth.

“Whoa, there…”

By the time I righted myself using flight magic, I was outside the tentacle again. The sight of the moon shining above me was a relief. I turned around to find the mass of flesh devouring its prey.

“Magical man!”

“Sasaki!”

“I’m so happy you’re safe, mister!”

The three girls ran toward me; the magical girl and my neighbor flew, while Miss Hoshizaki ran across the beach. The last had lost her shoes at some point. Driftwood and pieces of trash were plentiful in this area, and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her; I descended to the ground immediately.

I could see the angel and her Disciple on the seawall a little farther away. My neighbor and Abaddon must have gotten back to the shore after picking them up and decided to deal with the tentacle. Thanks to them, I’d been able to escape safely.

“Thank you all for saving me,” I said, bowing to the others.

In the meantime, the tentacle had grown still inside the mass of flesh. The meat covering it oozed away and gathered into a single point. As we watched, it rapidly shrunk and eventually took on the form of a human. Just like that, Abaddon was back to normal, complete with his usual outfit, crown and cape. The physiology of angels and demons is even more bizarre than the otherworld’s magic, I thought.

Having regained his human form, he began to speak with an air of importance to nobody in particular. “Well, I’ve gotta say—that was a pretty worthwhile meal!”

As this implied, the second tentacle had, at some point, vanished. He must have devoured it. It seemed it hadn’t simply gone quiet; underneath the writhing mass of flesh, it had been eaten, scales and all. Abaddon possessed incredible power, even compared to myself or the magical girl. I wonder what would happen if you pitted him against Peeps.

“You sure like to eat weird stuff, Abaddon,” my neighbor commented.

“Hey, humans eat strange things all the time, don’t they?”

The two of them bantered like good buddies. I knew they’d met only recently, but they came off more like old friends. Maybe Peeps and I would have been like that if I were as young as my neighbor. The thought turned my mind back to Peeps’s fight.

How had his confrontation with the Kraken turned out? Curious, I looked out to the sea.

Right then, I saw a particularly intense flash in the distance. A monumental pillar of light rose from the water and shot up into the sky. It almost looked like the sun had fallen. While it only lasted a moment, it lit up the night enough to make it seem like midday. A few moments later, the impact reached us with a boom, shaking the ground under our feet. This must be the result of some spell, either from Peeps or the Kraken.

“Is that sparrow gonna be all right? Sh-shouldn’t we go help him?” stammered Miss Hoshizaki. She was the weakest person here, and yet she was the first to suggest going to the bird’s aid. I really appreciated her straightforward attitude, and I was grateful she was concerned for Peeps.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to worry about him. The brilliant, glowing pillar vanished after a few seconds, but once the light and impact had faded, something else appeared, this time in the sea. Under the night sky, once again dark, a huge wave rose up from the black ocean, rushing toward us at an incredible speed.

“A tsunami?” murmured the magical girl, her tone casual.

“Seems like it,” said Miss Hoshizaki. She was considerably more tense.

She was in the most danger here, as the only one who couldn’t fly.

“Hey! W-wait a second…,” she stammered.

“I’m sorry to keep doing this to you, Miss Hoshizaki, but—,” I began.

“Please calm down,” interrupted my neighbor. “I’ll carry you.”

But before I could go over to my colleague, my neighbor picked her up instead.

We all launched into the sky. The angel and her Disciple followed suit, meeting us in the air above the seawall. The wave, probably several meters high, passed by underneath us. The first tentacle, still lying on the beach, was carried up and over the seawall. Had this not occurred inside an isolated space, there would have been a lot of damage. I was once again grateful that those involved in the proxy war had allowed us to rent out their space.

“The Kraken’s gone,” pointed out Miss Hoshizaki.

“Did the bird win?” asked the magical girl.

At my senior’s remark, everyone looked out toward the ocean. I couldn’t see the creature, either. Instead, we heard a vwrrr as a magic circle appeared right next to us. I tensed, wondering what was happening, but then a familiar Java sparrow spawned right in the center.

“I apologize,” he said. “That took more time than I anticipated.”

“Welcome back, Peeps.”

He must have spotted us and teleported here. I’d had full faith in him—when he said to leave matters to him, I’d known beyond a shadow of a doubt he’d pull it off. But seeing him return safe and sound was still a relief. He looked and spoke exactly the same as always.

“Should I assume you finished up as planned?” asked Abaddon.

“Indeed,” replied the bird. “I have disposed of the Kraken. We may now collapse the isolated space.”

“Glad to hear it! I’m honored we were able to help.”

“And help you did. I would like to thank you properly, but this is neither the time nor the place.”

“Yup! Those are just the words I was waiting to hear.”

It was only right that the demon and his Disciple receive a reward for their assistance, separate from our promise with Ms. Futarishizuka. Though I figured we’d simply have her procure them something using gold ingots from the otherworld. Come to think of it, I was curious how much she’d been making as an intermediary lately.

“You’re being very greedy right now, Abaddon,” said my neighbor.

“Oh, come on now. It’s only right we get a reward, don’t you think?”

“Maybe, but you don’t have to be like that about it.”

“When you do something for someone else, they’re supposed to thank you. That’s how things work, isn’t it? I think you’re the odd one out here. This is one of the basic tenets of successful communication. Neglecting these things will only get you bullied at school.”

“…I’m aware.”

Abaddon spoke without any reservation. For a girl with so many family issues, having someone to act as her friend and raise questions like this must be pretty valuable. The demon seemed like a sensible person, too, and I had a feeling he’d serve as a good partner for her.

From what I’d heard during our doorstep conversations, she—like Miss Hoshizaki—was isolated at school. Not that I was one to talk. I’d only recently been saved from the same kind of existence by Peeps. There was nothing more precious than a friendship free from competition, though I supposed most people got that kind of thing from their family.

In light of what Abaddon had just said, my neighbor turned to look at the magical girl.

“He called you a magical girl, right?” she asked.

“What?” the girl in question replied.

“Thank you for doing your best to help him,” she said in a more respectful tone, although she could only lower her head a little as she was still carrying Miss Hoshizaki in both arms.

Her arms are shaking quite a bit, I thought. Is she going to be okay? I put some levitation magic on standby, just in case. I couldn’t help her fly, but I could at least support her.

“…Okay,” said the magical girl, looking away a little.

“It almost sounds like you think your neighbor belongs to you,” chimed in Abaddon.

“Please be quiet, Abaddon. I didn’t mean that at all.”

“You’ve really started whipping out those orders whenever you don’t like what I’m saying, huh. How disappointing.”

“Abaddon!”

With a shrug and a sigh, the demon backed off.

I’d heard the orders a Disciple gave their angel or demon were absolute. That allowed the proxy war system to function, like an irreplaceable cog in the system. What standards did they use to choose their partners, I wondered.

“In that case, I think I worked pretty hard myself,” Miss Hoshizaki said after watching my neighbor’s exchange with the magical girl. Her eyes were on the person carrying her. Was she jealous that my neighbor and the magical girl seemed to be getting along?

“You only made a lot of noise. You didn’t do anything.”

“Hey, I was fighting right alongside Sasaki before the tentacle swallowed him!”

“I hear you can control water. But that’s all, right? What did you accomplish?”

“Well, a lot! Like, um, holding the thing in place! I can do stuff like that, you know!”

Compared to the magical girl’s beams and barriers, Miss Hoshizaki’s repertoire seemed a bit…lacking. Maybe that bothered her, too, because I saw a little panic creep into her expression as she argued with my neighbor.

“You were watching, weren’t you?” said Miss Hoshizaki, now speaking to the magical girl. “Can’t you explain things to her?”

“You’re a psychic,” the magical girl replied. “That means I have to kill you.”

“……”

Her statement actually contained something of a concession; normally she outright declared that she would kill all psychics. Her conclusion was the same, though. Her issues must run pretty deep. Miss Hoshizaki quit looking for assistance and closed her mouth.

“So did you actually help?” continued my neighbor.

“Tch…”

I’d heard about when they first met, along with the magical girl and Lady Elsa, from Ms. Futarishizuka. Back then, they’d all been pointing their weapons at each other, but maybe they’d made some progress. After all, my neighbor had taken it upon herself to carry Miss Hoshizaki, who couldn’t fly, and she still held other girl in her arms.

“B-but all you did was rely on someone else!” insisted Miss Hoshizaki. “You didn’t do anything yourself either!”

“Abaddon is my servant,” said my neighbor. “That means his accomplishments are my accomplishments.”

“What…?!”

But the shock of having a gun pointed at her on their first meeting was probably still vivid in her mind, and she continued to stubbornly cut down anything Miss Hoshizaki tried to say. There isn’t much I can do about that.

Knowing they’d probably get into a fight if I left them alone, I decided to interject. “By the way, Peeps, I wanted to go over how we’re handling the Kraken one more time.”

“As we discussed last night, I disposed of the creature while leaving as little of its body behind as possible.”

“Then it’ll probably be totally gone by the time we leave this space, huh?” Abaddon chimed in.

Anything that happened in the isolated space would revert to its previous state when we exited. That didn’t cover any lives lost within the space, however—they died in the real world, too. That was why they called this proxy war a death game. And apparently, the state of the dead at the end of the game affected what remained of them after.

Realizing her odds of winning the previous argument were slim, Miss Hoshizaki decided to give up and join our conversation as well. “But we can’t make it look like nothing happened, right? The creature got pretty close to the shore.”

“I believe Mr. Akutsu and the rest of the bureau are doing their best to handle that even as we speak,” I said. “But I thought of another way to help out, so I’ve set that plan in motion as well.”

“What are you getting at?”

“The girl you met at the hotel before is working on it.”

“You mean the girl in the video with your sparrow?”

“I’d like to save the rest of the explanation for when we get out of here, if possible.”

I’d been keeping a constant eye on my plan as we followed the Kraken northward, so I was sure of it. In fact, it had borne even greater results than I’d expected. In that sense, even Lady Elsa had contributed to our defeat of the octodragon.

“Which means that out of the four of us who met in the hotel, you’re the only one who didn’t do anything,” finished my neighbor.

“I— I’m telling you: I did a lot!” Miss Hoshizaki insisted.

“Is the girl in the video with the bird a psychic? Or not a psychic?” asked the magical girl.

They certainly weren’t on good terms, but I didn’t think they would start brawling or shooting magic at each other on sight again.

As I watched their lively conversation, I prayed that, at the very least, they would keep their arguments just shy of a real fight.

Now that we knew the Kraken was dead, we left the isolated space as planned. More specifically, we split up with the angel and her Disciple. I felt bad for bringing them all the way here just to send them off again, but not so bad I wanted to keep them around. I’d given them some pocket money for the train home and enough to reserve a hotel room if needed, so I hoped they wouldn’t run into any trouble.

Once the two of them were far enough away, the isolated space vanished, just as Abaddon had explained. My seawater-soaked suit was dry again, as though time had been rewound to before we’d entered.

And, as Peeps had reported, the Kraken was indeed dead. Even after returning to the real world from the isolated space, its flesh didn’t regenerate. Outside, it would have looked like the monster suddenly disappeared from the ocean’s surface. The SDF—who had been closely tracking the target—were thrown into chaos, wondering if it had warped somewhere else. The SDF soldiers deployed on the coastline, including our guide, Miss Inukai, called out to us as we gazed at the scene from the beach. Mr. Yoshikawa soon arrived, and we began a strategy meeting in one of the nearby tents.

Air-based searches were being conducted by all nations now, and not just around the Suruga Bay. But no matter how long we waited, the Kraken didn’t reappear. There were no reports of further damages overseas, either.

Nevertheless, the higher-ups had the SDF remain on standby at the coast. The captain said they’d probably be on high alert for the rest of the day.

We, on the other hand, decided to go ahead and excuse ourselves. Once Ms. Futarishizuka joined us, we announced a temporary retreat. There wasn’t going to be another attack no matter how long we waited. Not wanting to waste time, we claimed there was other work waiting for us and made our escape.

From there, we headed to a long-established Japanese-style inn in the Atami area. After all, we couldn’t just go home after coming all the way to Shizuoka, Ms. Futarishizuka had declared. According to her, there was nothing wrong with enjoying a nice soak as a reward. In fact, she’d already made reservations the day before.

She’s so prepared, I thought. In all honesty, I loved that about her.

The other members of our group didn’t have any objections; in fact, everyone had been hard at work since the previous day, so they happily accepted the unexpected suggestion of a little R & R. There would be seven of us: Ms. Futarishizuka, who had made the suggestion, myself, Peeps, my neighbor, Abaddon, Miss Hoshizaki, and the magical girl.

Once we arrived at the inn, we all enjoyed a late dinner.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!” exhaled Ms. Futarishizuka. “A cold glass after a hard day’s work really hits the spot!”

“I agree one hundred percent,” I replied.

Our lodgings at the inn consisted of a living room measuring over fifteen square meters, a Japanese-style room of around twelve square meters, and our bedrooms. What’s more, this was a special suite that came with its own open-air bath and an indoor bath. I couldn’t help but be impressed Futarishizuka secured a reservation here just one day in advance.

We ate around a low table set up in the Japanese-style room. Ms. Futarishizuka and I had beers, of course. I felt a little guilty since everyone else was a minor, but that didn’t stop the two of us from gulping down the alcohol. Seated across from this pair of good-for-nothing adults were my neighbor and Abaddon. Then, to our left and right—on the short sides of the table—were Miss Hoshizaki and the magical girl. We’d mainly set it up this way so Miss “I Will Kill All Psychics” couldn’t try anything funny. Peeps, meanwhile, was in front of me in his usual position.

“You always do excellent work in this department, I must say.”

“Good enough to make you want to remove these markings on my hand, hmm?”

“That is another story entirely.”

“You are one stingy little bird, you know that?”

An extravagant array of food adorned the dinner table. While this establishment usually served meals over several courses, we had ordered as much as we possibly could right off the bat. It was a display of consideration from Ms. Futarishizuka to Peeps. This way, the sparrow could talk to the rest of us as we ate.

Currently, Peeps had a finely chopped cut of wagyu steak in front of him. A main dish like that should have come closer to the middle of the meal, but he was already excitedly pecking away at it. As his owner, I wished he’d eat a few more vegetables. I didn’t think it would be right to nag, though, so I recommended some of the fruit instead.

“If you’d told me yesterday that I’d be eating at the same table with a magical girl,” said Miss Hoshizaki, “I’d have said you were crazy.”

“…If I’m bothering you, I can leave,” said the magical girl, smoothly getting up.

“Wait, no, that’s not what I meant!”

“Then maybe you should be more careful about how you say things,” suggested my neighbor. “As an old person, you should really know better.”

“L-look, I know that was my fault. But I’m hardly an old person!”

“I’m thirteen, so you seem old to me. Don’t you work full-time?”

“Hey, I’m still only sixteen, you know!”

“How long are you going to stick with that backstory? I’m getting secondhand embarrassment just listening to you.”

“It’s not a backstory! I literally go to school! I have a uniform at home, too…”

The air was a little prickly in here, but that was one thing I couldn’t do anything about. As Miss Hoshizaki had implied, they’d all been trying to kill each other until just the other day. Even I had some difficulty adjusting to sharing a table with the magical girl.

Ms. Futarishizuka had been the one to invite her. The magical girl had tried to leave on her own at first, but she’d yielded to the enticing offer of good food, so we brought her back with us. Ms. Futarishizuka’s ulterior motives were obvious—she wanted to maneuver her way into the magical girl crowd’s good graces. In the end, we’d convinced her by saying the temporary cease-fire would only last until the following day.

Keeping watch over my neighbor and Miss Hoshizaki’s argument, the magical girl sat back down on her zabuton, picked up her chopsticks, and started hesitantly eating from her rice bowl. She’d only asked for white rice—no side dishes. Maybe she was trying to be considerate.

“Why not try something other than rice, dear?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“……”

The magical girl remained silent as the host piled one thing after another onto her plate. As I watched them, I heard Miss Hoshizaki ask me something.

“Hey, Sasaki, you said that blond girl was up to something, right?”

“Would you mind if I explained now?” I asked, just to make sure.

“Oh, quit making a big deal out of it and just tell me already.”

“All right.”

Prompted by my senior colleague, I took my phone out from my inside pocket and opened up an internet browser. Using a search engine, I typed in the words blond, girl, sparrow, and strange words and hit search. Right at the top, I found the news articles I was looking for. I pulled up the first result.

“Have you seen this yet?” I asked her, showing her the screen. I was playing a video submitted to a social media website. On it was Lady Elsa, and next to her was Peeps.

“That’s the video that went public and caused all that fuss on the internet, right?”

“Actually, no,” I told her. “This is a follow-up video we uploaded.”

“Wait, what…?”

The two on camera were speaking to each other the same as before. The background, though, was completely different. In place of the posh hotel living room was an elegant Japanese-style space—specifically, one of the rooms in the villa Ms. Futarishizuka was providing us. You could make out a shoji paper door, a tokonoma alcove, and a set of staggered shelves in the background. The two of them had placed the laptop on the table in front of them to record the video.

“Take a look at the news articles discussing it.”

“……”

Phrases like blond girl speaking in a strange language and YouTube debut danced by as I scrolled. They were calling it the biggest trend on social media. Obviously, the bureau had pulled some strings with the news. We’d immediately made the video public when word of the Kraken started to crop up, using it as a decoy to bury any trending keywords unrelated to Lady Elsa’s new video.

The existence of the Kraken—which had just begun to creep into the trending topics that afternoon—had dropped from the collective radar because of it. There was one picture of something that looked like the octodragon uploaded by an amateur photographer, but it was getting no attention. People were treating it like just another doctored photo or urban legend, and it had been buried by all the other posts. That, too, was partly the work of the section chief and the bureau.

As for the SDF’s movements, they were insisting they’d been defusing a very dangerous unexploded bomb. Plenty of news sites had articles on that as well. The bureau had relied on outside help for that part, and we’d merely taken a ride on their coattails. Thanks to that, it had been easy to get Section Chief Akutsu’s approval on the whole thing.

Miss Hoshizaki seemed to have guessed the situation after seeing Lady Elsa’s new video.

“Why is the channel name on this video site Channel P?” she asked me.

“Doesn’t it sound cute?”

“……”

We’d named it after the distinguished Java sparrow himself, using the first letter of his name. Checking again now, I saw it already had over a hundred thousand likes.

“You tried so hard to cover it up before,” she pointed out. “Are you sure this is okay?”

“We decided it would have more advantages than disadvantages.”

The leak of the previous video had exposed Lady Elsa not only to the bureau, but to the world. Word of it had probably reached other related agencies as well. On the other hand, the only information anyone had was that she was a psychic from another country. In other words, as long as we didn’t reveal any extra information, a second video wouldn’t make much difference.

And so Lady Elsa had made her debut as a YouTuber. In fact, by spinning this as a favor to the other agencies, we were hoping they might help us smooth things over if anything happened with her in the future. I’d worked out the contents of the video with Peeps beforehand.

To get specific, this performance was to be the story of a young lady from another world learning Japanese—scripted and directed by the Lord Starsage himself.

“Holy cow,” said Miss Hoshizaki. “This thing has a ton of views, doesn’t it?”

“We had an unusually large advertising budget,” I explained.

“So you’re investing the nation’s tax revenue into someone’s social media channel? Is that okay?”

“We’re not doing it for profit,” I assured her. “We haven’t even applied for monetization.”

“When you put it like that, it actually seems like a bit of a waste.”

Plus, most of what they were saying was in the otherworld’s language, so nobody on Earth could understand it. At most, they might make out individual phrases like good morning or thank you. But now that the contents of the video were slightly more relevant to her current surroundings, we were seeing a very positive viewer response.

Assuming the language would eventually be deciphered, I told them beforehand to muddle up the way they spoke as much as they possibly could. I didn’t know how much of an effect that would have, but I wanted to believe it was better than doing nothing.

“Can’t understand a word they’re saying, as usual,” muttered Miss Hoshizaki.

“Would you happen to know how the bureau is doing with their analysis?” I asked.

“Not a clue, really. They haven’t told me anything, at least.”

“I see.”

“So we have this girl to thank, too, huh?” Miss Hoshizaki watched the screen with a quiet, peaceful gaze.

We’d thought about inviting Lady Elsa here as well. Unfortunately, the possibility of other guests seeing her now that we’d put her all over the media meant it wasn’t a good idea. We planned to suggest something else to thank her later.

For now, it was time to sit back and enjoy Ms. Futarishizuka’s hospitality. The seafood rice bowl in front of me piled high with fresh whitebait was simply too delicious to resist.

After dinner, we all did as we liked. I decided to take advantage of the occasion to enjoy a soak in the huge open-air bath. While our suite included two luxurious baths—one indoor and one outdoor—we decided the girls in the group would use those, so I thought I’d spend some time away from the suite.

Peeps had stayed behind in the room. Walking around the inn with a Java sparrow on my shoulder was certain to draw unnecessary attention. And while I wanted to trust the magical girl, I appreciated Peeps agreeing to stay behind and make sure nothing got out of hand.

I’d just finished my bath and was on my way back when I ran into someone familiar in the lobby.

“Hey, wait,” the person called out. “Aren’t you Shizu’s current boyfriend?”

I turned toward the source of the voice and found the leader of the organization Ms. Futarishizuka used to belong to. He was sitting on one of the sofas near the wall, relaxing in a yukata. An empty bottle of milk sat on the table in front of him.

“Hello again,” I said. “What brings you here?”

“Don’t be so nervous,” he insisted. “You’re making me antsy.”

I stopped and turned to face the man sitting on the sofa, tightening my grip on my bathing kit despite myself. “Are you here by yourself?” I asked.

“Actually, Shizu invited me,” he explained. “Said it was a good chance to put everyone else in her debt.”

“I see.”

Apparently, Ms. Futarishizuka had already lined up her next move in case our plan failed. If she’d invited him, then he probably knew about the sparrow and the magical girl. He wasn’t likely to pick a fight here.

I’d had a feeling the nerd would have a good chance even against the Kraken. His psychic power was extremely versatile. Depending on the situation, it might have been easier for him than for Peeps. He was probably even stronger than the magical girl. His power put him a level above the rest of us.

As I wondered how he’d fare against Abaddon rampaging in an isolated space, I realized this whole line of thinking was straight out of a shounen manga. Well, that’s a little embarrassing.

“But I guess you guys handled everything, so I didn’t get a turn.”

“I do apologize for taking such a valuable opportunity.”

“Are you really sorry?”

“We were quite reluctant to take all this on, to be frank.”

“You did a pretty bang-up job in spite of that. Where did the monster go? It looked like it vanished in an instant. Was that the work of your familiar? Or did the magical girl handle it?”

“I’ll leave that to your imagination.” He was already trying to get a read on the situation, asking one question after another.

“Any interest in defecting to our side?” he asked. “I’m sure we’d treat you better.”

“Thank you for the offer, but I plan on staying in the bureau’s care for the time being.”

“Alas! ’Tis a shame,” he replied. His delivery was so exaggerated I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

If I turned traitor now, who knows what kind of revenge Mr. Akutsu would wreak? Since this nerd seemed to have a connection to him, I thought it best to keep my distance. This could even be one of his traps.

“Are you going to see Ms. Futarishizuka?” I asked him.

“Based on your reaction, it seems you all really did take down that unidentified monster, huh? AO4, I think they were calling it. No point in me seeing her, then. I’ll just head home for today.”

“I see.”

“But things are gonna get way tougher for you now, understand? I mean it. Like, for real.”

“What business do you have with me, if I might ask?”

“If you ever change your mind, give me a call. Through Shizu if you need to.”

“……”

Apparently, he only stopped by to confirm the situation. After saying what he had to say, he got up and left the lobby, making sure to take his empty milk bottle with him. Once he was out of sight, I started back to our suite.

This was definitely the sort of place Ms. Futarishizuka would choose. It was incredible to look at. Even just walking through the halls like this was enough to comfort my weary soul. Hardly anyone was here, too, likely because of the nearby evacuation order. It felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. I looked out at the gardens from the outdoor passage; the elegant scenery set me at ease. One area included a walking path.

Since I’m here, I might as well take a little side trip, I thought, stepping into the garden and letting the precision-cut flagstones set into the ground guide me. Eventually, I came to a place surrounded by trees, where I found a small gazebo. Inside it, I spotted Abaddon.

He seemed to be speaking to a tree growing in front of him. I looked more closely and saw another familiar sight—a Java sparrow.

“I’ve gotta ask what that power was you used today,” said Abaddon. “That stuff’s good enough to put you on a level with angels and demons.”

“Are you referring to your original powers that led you to start this so-called proxy war?” the sparrow returned.

“It seems to me a power like that could even destroy the world, depending on the circumstances. Haven’t you ever felt that way? Or maybe I just haven’t heard of you, and you’re one of us who’s gone rogue?”

I couldn’t see any other patrons nearby, so I stopped and pricked up my ears, listening in on their conversation.

“I know nothing about angels and demons. You may rest assured of that.”

“Then are you one of those, er, invaders from another world or something?”

“…Not exactly. But you’re not entirely wrong, either.”

Actually, Abaddon’s guess was correct. A perfect bull’s-eye, in fact. I figured the sparrow was just as shocked. We didn’t know if the world the demon was picturing was a magical realm of swords and sorcery, though. It was just a guess, and he might’ve used that phrase simply to mean “somewhere that isn’t here.”

“Really? I was actually just joking. You’ve got me at a loss now.”

“Why?”

“Well, the others and I would be in a real mess if this world got destroyed.”

“Then you needn’t worry. I haven’t the slightest intention of doing so.”

“Hmm. Really?”

Partly because of the unusual pairing, I couldn’t help eavesdropping despite the twinge of guilt I felt. Abaddon almost never left my neighbor’s side. He was taking a risk to have this conversation, and I wanted to know why.

“I guess all I can really do right now is believe you,” he continued.

“Is this world precious to you demons?” asked Peeps. “From what I could glean from the internet, the demons depicted in various cultures generally seem to be hostile toward the world.”

“Ah yes, I wonder,” replied Abaddon, sounding a tiny bit dangerous.

Abaddon was a demon, which meant that unless they were both in an isolated space, he couldn’t do anything to Peeps. I knew I didn’t need to worry, but I couldn’t help keeping a close eye on the boy’s words and movements.

Eventually, his gaze shifted. “But it looks like you’ve worried your partner,” he said to Peeps. Abaddon’s attention was now on me. Apparently he’d noticed me listening in.

Hesitant to run away without saying anything in such a situation, I decided to boldly walk up to them. “I apologize for eavesdropping,” I said.

“Oh, I don’t mind at all,” the demon replied. “It wasn’t an important discussion anyway.”

“How was your bath?” asked Peeps.

“It was wonderful, thank you. There are so few other patrons that it felt like I had the entire open-air bath to myself.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

We continued like that for a while, the three of us engaging in small talk.

Eventually, Abaddon stood up from his place on the gazebo’s bench, and we all returned to the suite. As I walked along in my yukata, ready for some rest and relaxation, Peeps sat atop my shoulder. Fortunately, no third parties caught sight of us on the way back.

When we arrived at the suite, Ms. Futarishizuka was in the living room in her yukata, sitting on a sofa and tapping away at her phone.

“Where’s everyone else?” I asked.

“In the private open-air bath,” she replied. “I’ll give you a hand if you want to peep.”

“All three of them?”

“If you’re worried about the magical girl, she went home when you left to take your bath.”

“Oh.”

Apparently, the magical girl had excused herself before I had a chance to stop her. She’d been the center of attention the whole time, so maybe she was just uncomfortable. I wondered if the day would ever come when we could talk more naturally with her.

As I chatted with Ms. Futarishizuka, I settled down on the sofa across from her and set my bathing kit down next to me. Peeps flew off my shoulder and fluttered down onto the table between the sofas. I was filled with the urge to simply flop over and fall asleep.

A moment later, we heard footsteps coming from the hallway we’d just left. My neighbor appeared in the entrance, wearing a yukata like Ms. Futarishizuka.

“You’re back, mister,” she observed.

“I only got here a moment ago.”

As Ms. Futarishizuka had said, she seemed to have just gotten out of the bath; her hair was still wet. She looked comfortably warm with the towel around her neck, and compared to the sailor uniform I’d seen her in for the past few months, it made her seem quite a bit more mature.

Noticing my gaze, she brought up another topic. “The open-air bath here has an amazing view. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Really?”

“You should go in, too,” she suggested. “Allow me to wash your back.”

“No, that’s okay. I just got out of the bath, so…”

“Speaking of the view,” said Abaddon, “why is this curtain still closed?”

“Wait, Abaddon, that curtain is—,” my neighbor began.

We’d been keeping the curtain covering that side of the living room closed this entire time, as instructed. Abaddon, however, swiftly swept it aside. With a light whooshing noise, its runners slid across the rail, revealing the view outside.

From here, we could see the open-air bath on the terrace—along with, of course, the person currently bathing there. Miss Hoshizaki was sitting on the edge of the bath, enjoying the view over the fence meant to keep people from tumbling over the side of the hill. There she was, on the other side of the big window—completely naked, her towel placed beside the bath. She was in front of us, facing to the side.

Her back is so nice and straight, I thought. I was a little jealous; I had a bit of a hunch myself. How terrible it was to get older. Your muscles shriveled, and you started to curl up.

It was then that she noticed us. She gave a start, covered herself with her hands, and sank into the water—but not before our eyes met.

Past her was the view my neighbor had described. It was beautiful—the vast sea stretching far into the distance, to the horizon and beyond, its surface glittering under the moonlight.

“Whoops! My apologies.”

The curtain was immediately closed. This kind of slip-up was uncharacteristic of Abaddon.

“Well, I bet that was a nice view, hmm?” teased Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Sure,” I muttered, “but now I have a headache imagining what she’ll do next.”

“Abaddon, what’s the big idea?” demanded my neighbor.

“Idea? There was no idea,” the demon insisted. “It was just a little mistake.”

“……”

My neighbor’s gaze drifted between Abaddon and me. What had he been thinking? At this point, I had no idea. But now I felt bad for my poor work colleague, having been used like that. She seemed to be getting all the unfavorable jobs lately.

“Oh, that’s right,” said Ms. Futarishizuka. “About this girl’s transfer. Will a school near the villa work?”

“…I’m moving to a new school?”

I’d finished my work, knocked back a few beers, and taken a dip in the bath. I was feeling very good about everything, but there were still so many problems waiting in the wings. Listening to the two of them reminded me that I had a lot left on my plate.

Come to think of it, now that my apartment’s history, I need to find somewhere new to live.