.""That angry face of yours is really wonderful… quite great… get even angrier… haha…," I said as I backed up.
"Did you wash yourself well? Ah, I think I smell something…. haha…."
"And who told me to act this way!?"
Good. I"ll attract her attention and retreat just like this, and this way, Yurippe should come to no harm.
That"s right… we"ll wait for our allies to arrive.
If this were fiction, at this moment, the perspective would fly out, and describe Ooyama and everyone hurrying over and bringing Noda, equipped with his weapon.
The strongest five in this world.
Crash!
Though the woman was still standing facing over here, her outstretched blade was dripping with blood.
My right leg started to become drenched in something warm.
Hey, wait a sec….
I need to incite her… need to keep her attack focused on me….
Hurry and say something… what should I say….
The woman turned back around.
I dodged it. She must have only hit clothing.
Again!
She struck again and again at me.
She must have only hit clothing.
"…. How shallow-minded."
Maybe that"s her way of expressing praise?
"Don"t you know that you don"t even look like a human anymore!!?? Hurry and fall down already!!"
I"m still OK, right?
I"ll keep this b.i.t.c.h occupied.
How"s that possible….
Don"t joke with me…. I"ve still got a lot of lines to use….
Yurippe, I say!
Crash!
I can"t see from my left eye.
Yurippe, it"s all because I wanted to say something to you.
What an incredibly long movement. Where did the speed she had up till now go?
Bring it on.
Pow, the sound of a blow landing, and the world is enveloped in darkness.
What happened, did I fail to dodge it?
My body was being dragged.
Hey, what happened?
Rustle…. rustle….
Rustle…. Rustle….
Is that you dragging me, Yurippe? Hurry and run away by yourself.
However, I could only move the part up to my elbow. What happened to my arm from the elbow down? Is it paralyzed?
"What is it….?"
I replied with "Hah-- hah--"
Rustle…. rustle….
If she"s so fast, you should run away alone.
"If only… if only I"d known it would be such a disaster…. I wouldn"t have brought you along…. I"m such a terrible leader… always thinking myself infallible, thinking that I"m taking care of you guys…. isn"t this just like that time….."
Hurry and run, she"s too dangerous.
"However… I won"t let you die…. won"t let your corpse be buried here… I must bring you back….."
Hah-- hah--
Plop.
Plop.
She must have been stabbed from behind.
I knew that she was very close to me.
Ahh, if only I could speak.
And, pat her on the head.
Carrying a useless corpse like me and running away…….
You"ll surely be killed like this.
So, don"t cry anymore.
Our outstanding Ms. Leader.
I"m in a dream.
Sitting across from me, currently halfway in the air is Yurippe.
I want to reach out for her, but I can"t reach.
Hurry and push, Yurippe says in a tone of voice from the past.
Now Yurippe"s staring at the ground. We"ve exchanged positions.
Who are you asking? I"m a high school student, you know.
Creak, thump. Creak, thump.
Eh? Me?
But, Yurippe continued to speak.
She put on her Yurippe-style smile and laughed.
That"s what powers her, only this, and entirely this.
If being by her side, I still don"t smile…
I stand on the narrow plank of the seesaw.
I"ll go over now.
The ground disappeared. And the seesaw became the tightrope connecting life to death.
Yurippe opened her eyes in amazement and her hand……
I was gripping Yurippe"s hand. Truly.
And I could speak now.
"Don"t cry, Yurippe. It was a long road. Can"t you greet me with a smile?"
"Really? Then I guess I"ll laugh alone. Ahaha!"
She laughed at me.
"That"s why you let me be your ally, right?"
I pushed with all four limbs,
I was standing.
"I want to move for real now."
…. Ah, it"s inconceivable.
As we were surrounded by darkness, it was impossible to see anything.
I had to figure out her position.
My stomach was stabbed suddenly.
My heart began to beat violently.
I reached out for the blade with my hand. I touched it and grabbed it tightly.
Don"t let go of the blade!
In the world of that instant I accelerated as much as I could.
I"ll never let go.
Then I immediately put her in a headlock with my elbows.
Before I lose consciousness, I must knock her down.
I pressed down with my elbow over the pressure point on her neck with all of my strength.
I"m dreaming again.
Yurippe is opposite from that thing. Of course, even if I stretch out my hand, I can"t reach her. Well, that"s how dreams are.
It spins and spins.
It"s interesting, isn"t it? Yurippe asks.
I hadn"t said a word.
Seeing her would make anyone feel lonely.
I grabbed the metal framework and got close to her. Though the centrifugal force was pushing me outwards, I still gripped tightly and approached. Yurippe lazily opened her mouth and watched.
Then I"ll be side-by-side with you, and I"ll laugh for you…..
The carousel framework broke apart, and we fell slowly forever through the world where the ground had vanished.
I opened my eyes.
It was Chaa, Ooyama, and Noda.
I sat up. I could move my body.
The wound on my body was already healed, so it was probably a long time. But that time, it hadn"t been that long before I was able to move, right?
Well, compared to that, there are still many other unanswered questions, right….?
I walked over to Ooyama and them.
"Eh, not bad. So, was that woman one of Tenshi"s cohorts?"
"Hey, hey, how can she be a normal human with such ridiculous fighting skills?"
"Where the heck is it …. ?"
That woman was tied up with a rope. Her cloak was wide open, and the limbs sticking out were both pale and slim. Could that kind of body perform the kind of attacks we"d witnessed? … If she"s really a normal human, what kind of training had she undergone…….
Noda brandished his weapon with one hand.
"I didn"t run away."
"It"s this guy"s fault for spouting bulls.h.i.t."
"He said that Yurippe was his wife."
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you really think this is a game, huh?"
"Then, you came back because you thought you were the protagonist again?"
"What are you thinking?"
He began to wave his weapon around again.
I don"t understand at all.
What? His objective was Yurippe?
I"m really lost.
Well, to be honest, when I first met her, I thought she was a beautiful girl too.
Anyways, why isn"t she standing with all of us right now?
"That"s right. Yurippe isn"t anybody"s property."
The sound of everyone"s voices…. echoed off into the distance.
I thought about the seesaw dream. Why did I pull apart that subtle distance?
The floor won"t disappear anymore.
"With weapons… here we could build a weapon factory…."
That kind of stuff doesn"t really matter anyways.
No problem.
It was still exactly as it was when she"d given it to me.
That"s one puzzle solved.
In other words, it was a resurrection potion.
I blew into it with a "Hoooo".
"Wah, when did you start standing right here!?"
"Ah, the pinwheel."
Rattle rattle.
"What, you"re creeping me out. When you got stabbed were you shocked back into childhood!?"
"What did you say?"
"You blow it too."
"Hurry and blow."
"No problem, so blow."
"Yep."
"One more time."
Her breath brushed my hand, and it tickled.
"Isn"t it interesting?"
"Good."
"So go ahead and enjoy it."
"Hey, don"t spit on me."
"Pupupu too, you…"
I was able to laugh by her side.
Excellent.
"Next time, we"ll ride the seesaw, hooo---"
"I blew too hard and feel nauseous….."
"There"s no atmosphere at all, what happened?"
"Noda-kun ran away again."
"Sorry, but I"ve got something even more incomprehensible."
"Although Chaa ran after him, right after that, the woman disappeared too."
"Ooyama, what were you doing?"
"You really did a great job out there, huh."
Slap.
"Hurry and go search."
"All of them, ALL OF THEM!!"
"Forward three steps and back two, that"s a song, right?"
"This really feels like that."
"Eh, how did the rest of the lyrics go?"
Ahh… it really is that kind of feeling.
"Hey, Yurippe ran off."
Feeling discouraged, I chased after Yurippe.
---- Continued in Chapter 7 ----
TL note: The character 笑 can mean either "smile" or "laugh" in both Chinese and j.a.panese, so I"ve sort of haphazardly put one or the other in my translation.
The brackets <> just indicate that the line was spoken in English there.