VOLUME 1
Chapter 2: Part 5
In the living room, Yuu was drinking tea and watching a variety show on television as usual.
“Was everything alright today?”
Without even moving her neck, Yuu ascertained my presence with only her eyes and gave me a single nod. It was the same tiny nod that wasn’t more than a slight dip of her jaw.
Haruna had gone up to the second floor. Sera was sitting across from me under the table, fixated on the television like Yuu.
“Yuu, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”
As if agreeing to my request, Yuu faced me. My voice might have sounded a bit pushy. But, I had absolutely no intention of holding that back.
“Yuu saved me that day we met, right?”
Her silver-colored hair swayed up and down. Affirmation.
“Really? You really weren’t the one who tried to kill me?”
Her silver-colored hair swayed side to side. A stronger negation than usual.
“Well, after you saved me, there was still some time before I regained consciousness, right? What were you doing during that time?”
Her gauntlet-laden hand gripped the ballpoint pen tightly.
I was by Ayumu’s side. = “I was together with oniichan, of course!”
“Really? … Someone told me that you killed a member of his family. Isn’t that strange? Who should I believe? The victim, or the one who has these strange powers? Yuu, I beg you, explain to me what really happened!”
Yuu shook her head back and forth even more strongly than before. She seemed to be insisting that she had not told a lie.
“Ayumu, isn’t your tone a bit too strong? h.e.l.lscythe-dono doesn’t seem the type to lie.”
“That’s true, I may have been too aggressive. I apologize… I’m sorry. So, Sera, you be the judge then. Why is it that the victim could identify what Yuu looked like? Come on, answer me. Whose words have more credibility?”
“Ayumu, please calm down a little.”
“I’m calm. And all I want is to calmly listen to the truth.”
I’m not lying. = “Oniichan, please believe me!”
“I really want to believe you. So, isn’t there some simple way you can prove to me that you’re speaking the truth? Proof that you haven’t been killing humans!”
Completely unconsciously, my voice had increased in volume. I think my mind was just in chaos. Before I could think about what I was saying, the words had already flown out of my mouth.
What managed to calm me down from my disturbed state were the tears that started flowing out of Yuu’s eyes.
Tears dripped ceaselessly from Yuu’s blue eyes. Proof of her sadness continued to run down her cheeks.
Once I was shown something like that, I couldn’t say anything anymore.
Dammit.
“Ayumu, I’m hungry. Let’s have dinner soon… I will prepare it this time. Ayumu, please go call Haruna down.”
Sera glared at me. Implicitly, her words were an order for me to get away from Yuu. Agreeing with her intentions, I left the living room.
Taking deep breaths, I headed for the stairs next to the entranceway when I felt a strange sense of unease.
Hm? What was it?
… Ah, the chainsaw that usually adorned the entranceway was gone.
I went up the stairs and stood in front of one of the rooms on the second floor. This used to be my little brother’s room, but as a result of my parents’ and brother’s honeymoon trip of indeterminate length, it was now being used by Haruna.
By the way, on the second floor there was my room, this room, and also my parent’s room, which was being used by Sera. Yuu almost never set foot outside the living room, but she used my dad’s study on the first floor as her room.
Tap tap. While I knocked on the door I turned the doork.n.o.b.
“Who is it?!”
“It’s me. Sera wanted me to call you downstairs.”
“What?! No way! Just a… wai-!”
When I tried to open the door, I felt resistance, as if someone were pulling it from the inside, but there was no way Haruna was going to win against me in a contest of physical strength.
On the other side of the door was a naked Haruna, flushed red and with her mouth open.
“Ugyahh!” Her cry almost reminded me of a seal, and her blush reached right to her ears.
Haruna’s skin was white and looked quite soft… but more importantly, why the h.e.l.l did she never have clothes on?!
“Didn’t I tell you to hold on?! You hentai! Eroamphitheater!”
Bam! She sent her heel fiercely into my shin. If I weren’t me, I would be writhing in pain, you know. From that one hit. Also, what the h.e.l.l is an Eroamphitheater? Did you want to say Eroseo or something? Or maybe Eroseum? (1)
The chainsaw was on the floor in the middle of the room. It seemed that she had been trying to transform into a masou shoujo and failing. She had it pretty tough too.
I see. Why was it that someone who reacted so strongly against ero things like Haruna was always naked? It was because she was practicing transforming. Even when she would appear in weird clothes when a Megalo showed up, she would unsuccessfully try to transform like just now, and would rush over while putting on whatever she could find.
“How long are you going to keep looking at me?! Get lost! Idiot! Amphitheater!”
Sending me flying with a kick, she slammed the door.
I mean, I was wrong for opening the door so suddenly, but this was my brother’s room, right? It was just from force of habit that I opened the door like that.
Well, what’s done is done… I gave a short apology to the probably blushing Haruna on the other side of the door, and signaled my intention to go downstairs and come back later.
Ah, now that I think about it, I completely forgot.
Did Haruna have some connection to the serial murder incidents?
At the very least, I needed to ask her how she knew I was stabbed to death.
“Haruna…”
“Hey, Ayumu. I… can’t take it anymore.”
A lonely sounding voice came from the other side of the door, and I leaned on the door.
… I’ll wait until next time to ask then.
I didn’t have a choice. After all, a girl’s voice was crying out for help on the other side of the door.
“My magical power finally came back, but it’s dried up again after I made those barriers… I can’t transform again. The minute I become a masou shoujo, I feel like I’m the strongest person in the world, and I had hunted countless Megalo.”
Ah, I understand. I understand that feeling. When I become a masou shoujo, I also feel much stronger.
“It’ll come back soon. It’s alright. Knowing you, it’ll be alright.”
“… No. It’s not that I can’t transform! But if I can’t become a masou shoujo, I become paralyzed just by the magical energy of the Megalo! That’s what I can’t take!”
Haruna’s voice gradually began to tremble.
I searched for the right thing to say, but any words I could think of sounded clichéd, so I opened the door.
“H-Hey! Don’t open the door!”
Her eyes red, the naked girl quickly covered her face. I put my hand on top of her ahoge and tried to stroke her head, but Haruna suddenly circled her arms around my waist.
She pressed her unripened chest into me, and stuck her face into my chest, hugging me more tightly.
“Like this, you can’t see my face or my body, right? This is my win…”
I see.
My hand, having lost its place, found its way in the end over Haruna’s hair.
“I’m so frustrated! Frustrated frustrated, frustrated! I want to become strong! Like Ayumu, I want to be able to fight even if I’m not a masou shoujo!”
“… From what I’ve heard, if you can cry without holding anything back, you’ll become strong.”
With her head buried into my chest, Haruna increased the tightness of her embrace.
And within my arms, the warrior began to cry.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTES
(1) Both references to the Coliseum.