My Vampire Older Sister and Zombie Little Sister

Everything had happened in such quick succession that my mind was nearly overloaded, but I couldn’t just stand around forever.

The first battle began at 10.

That was when a public execution would be broadcast live nationwide.

“Right now it’s…just past 8.”

I had less than 2 hours until it began.

Where was this crucial match being held?

Itou Helen had been walking out in the open not long before. Even if the Bright Cross had taken her away, they couldn’t have taken her too far. And that blue bunny girl had said their home ground was Kukyou City, so they had to be nearby. The Bright Cross still had its roots in this city.

Where had Itou Helen been captured and where had she been taken?

“Maxwell, call the police.”

“No. And send them where? We do not know where the victim or perpetrators are, so no police officers can be sent in.”

“You saw what they were showing on TV! There had to be more than 100 million witnesses. How can they not stop this!?”

“No. They cannot be accused of anything if this is a recording pa.s.sing itself off as a live broadcast or if it is entirely fictional. It could also be a live broadcast from outside the country while only pretending to be inside j.a.pan. The police would first have to do some investigation to determine whether or not j.a.panese law even applies to those ‘on the television screen’.”

“We only have 2 hours.”

“Sure. And that is likely why they felt comfortable announcing this so boldly. They decided that no one can stop it now.”

“…Dammit.”

The Bright Cross was not just some insane moron uploading videos to the internet, so they would think about how to cover their a.s.ses.

So if they’re going this far, did it mean they had a system in place to make sure they couldn’t be charged with a crime?

…Wait, uploading videos?

“Maxwell, can we leak the data of the true Colosseum onto the internet? Do that and everyone should be able to tell how horrific this really is!”

“No. What you have is merely simulation data and not actual witness information. In other words, it does not qualify as evidence. …And the underground facility was cleared out.”

The Bright Cross covered everything up in reality while we had divulged the truth in virtual reality.

If the two came into conflict, the Bright Cross would win.

And yet they were the ones that abandoned their underground facility because they knew it was inconvenient for them!

I couldn’t rely on the police.

Leaking the truth onto the internet would accomplish nothing.

No one was on my side.

“What do I do?”

The Bright Cross had surpa.s.sed our simulation.

They had upgraded their cruel Colosseum to the level of national authorization.

And one of the combatants there would be Itou Helen, an undercla.s.sman from my school.

“What can I even do now…?”

What could I do?

I didn’t need unrealistic heroic fantasies here. I could wait until later to complain about how weak and powerless I was.

What was truly within my grasp? How far would my hand reach?

I didn’t know where the Bright Cross’s new headquarters were or where Itou Helen was being imprisoned now that she had apparently been captured.

What I wanted was information.

If I could locate either the Bright Cross or Itou Helen, I could find the other. That undercla.s.sman who was apparently a witch had been abducted by the Bright Cross, so she would have been brought to one of their bases or hideouts.

I didn’t have much time.

I didn’t want to waste any of it.

So even if it was a roundabout route, I had to take the definite course ahead of me. That way I wouldn’t run into dead ends later and have to make pathetic U-turn after pathetic U-turn.

Which meant…

“…Erika and Ayumi.”

Those two had once overcome the Bright Cross’s final test and been given the freedom to live in human society. They had a connection to all this, so they might be able to give me a hint if I asked.

However.

Once I returned home and opened the front door, Erika and Ayumi both immediately attacked me.

“Orahhh! What happened to my melon bread, Onii-chaaan!? Fuguuu!!”

“Oh, dear. This is a problem. Your big sister prefers to avoid these more inappropriate methods, but you leave me no choice.”

Yes.

I had never resolved the melon bread issue back home!

“Gyaaahh! If both of you perform a cross armlock on an arm, I can never escape! I can’t even tap out!!”

And you both know that performing an armlock means holding my arm to your crotch, don’t you? I’m not letting you do additional damage by going all ‘kyah, pervert!’ after the fact! Especially you, negligee big sister. Based on the feeling on my arm, you aren’t wearing any underwear, are you!?

“Huh? Onii-chan, what’s this plastic bag?”

“This aroma… Why is there Asamiya melon bread here!?”

L-looks like I have to explain.

“It’s true that Asamiya’s melon bread is a super rare limited product that they only sell 20 of each day, but they also send some to regional retail stores. And for some reason, that somewhat expensive organic vegetable convenience store called Natural Seven is registered with them and gets some of Asamiya’s melon bread! You can thank Maxwell for all that information!!”

Those magic words dispelled the curse of the double armlock.

“Ohhh! So this is the limited edition bread I dreamed of…”

“Oh? You even bought 2 of them. How adorable of you.”

From their perspective, the single bread they had been willing to perform wrestling moves over had doubled into 2. I could only pray it didn’t taste weird to them.

But then Erika and Ayumi both split their melon bread in half.

“Wait, what are you two doing? Can you not fit that much in your mouth?”

“Eh? Well…”

“With only 2 of them, there’s none for you, Onii-chan.”

I was caught off guard by that one.

“Wait, wait. This was a purification ritual to wash away my own sin. I already ate the first one.”

“That doesn’t matter. Your beautiful, kind, and smart big sister has a heart as big as her b.o.o.bs, so she could never eat this while leaving you with nothing.”

It didn’t really add up right. When both sisters handed me a half, I ended up with a whole one. Nevertheless, they both began eating the melon bread with the biggest smiles imaginable.

They may have been more upset that they couldn’t share the bread with everyone than at having it taken from them.

But now that the tense atmosphere was gone, I felt like I could bring up the real topic at hand.

“Erika, Ayumi. I’d like to discuss something with you.”

“Wut ih it?”

“Ayumi-chan, don’t talk with food in your mouth. So, Satori-kun, what would you like to discuss?”

“Well.” I nodded. “Um, about the Bright Cro-…”

Two pairs of glowing eyes seemed pierce my soul.

“Kah…hah…?”

My breath caught in my throat.

They were still only eating melon bread in their pajamas, but the look in their eyes had entirely changed.

“Hmm. If possible, I never wanted to hear that name from your mouth, Onii-chan.”

“There’s no helping that. The pandemonium is out in the open now. It was even playing on our living room TV.”

Yes. That broadcast had played on TV.

That meant my sisters would know about it. They would know the Level 4 Colosseum hidden deep underground had mutated into something else.

Trapped by the brightly shining light in their eyes, I sat down like a frog cowering in front of a great snake.

“U-umm. An undercla.s.sman at school was apparently captured for this Colosseum, so I’d like to do something about that before the match begins…”

“Ohh? Now that’s interesting. So my super indoorsy and scrawny Onii-chan is going to pick a fight with the great Bright Cross? When did you turn into a warrior of justice chosen by heaven?”

“That’s right. If anything, I think letting Ayumi-chan and me go on a rampage has better odds. Eh heh heh. Not even the Bright Cross’s plans could continue if Kukyou City was filled with vampires and zombies.”

Wait, wait, you idiots.

Aren’t you getting everything backwards!?

“This isn’t a virtual reality built in a disaster environment simulator! There are no continues here!! You can’t fill the real world with vampires and zom-…!!”

As I shouted, my sisters placed their index fingers on my lips.

I stopped speaking and they took over.

“Do you understand that, Onii-chan? We’re talking about real lives here.”

“…”

“Oh, dear. And unlike a vampire or a zombie, a human like you has even less of a chance. I bet you haven’t even imagined what failure means when you’re dealing with the Bright Cross.”

Yes.

Of course they understood.

Those two had survived the true Colosseum in that h.e.l.lish subterranean world, so they knew firsthand how cruel the Bright Cross was.

Would the Bright Cross go easy on me because I was a human like them? Would they overlook me?

Of course not.

If “something” happened, would I be the only one harmed? What about my sisters and parents back home? What about my school and neighborhood? Even the Cla.s.s Rep might be used as a shield. They would go that far.

Itou Helen was an undercla.s.sman from school.

That was all.

If I weighed her against my sister sand the Cla.s.s Rap, it was obvious who would win out.

Was it really worth going this far to rescue her?

What did I want to do?

I thought.

I contemplated.

And then I raised my head again to face those two who knew true h.e.l.l.

“That’s all the more reason I have to stand up to them. If there’s any risk of them laying even a finger on the people I care about, of course I have to destroy them.”

Yes.

That’s right.

The Bright Cross had already done that. They had built a strange execution facility below the city I had been born and raised in, they had mercilessly disposed of countless Archenemies, they had placed Erika and Ayumi on the chopping block, and now they had reached for an undercla.s.sman at school.

Who could say for sure that it would end there?

Tomorrow I might find Erika or Ayumi being threatened on TV. If the Cla.s.s Rep or I became an inconvenience for the Bright Cross, they might claim we were some random Archenemy or another to have us killed in a battle with the undead.

“Anyone who’s willing to abandon someone else will be abandoned by others.”

Heat boiled in the pit of my stomach.

And I let that heat out in the form of words.

“I think an honest person will sometimes run into trouble, but someone who refuses to save anyone will eventually not be saved by others. I don’t want to end up like Itou Helen there on the TV screen. And because I don’t, I’ll save someone who’s in that position now. I have to save her! It doesn’t matter how well I know her!!”

After all, I would never want to see Erika or Ayumi maliciously displayed on the TV screen.

I would never want to see odds placed on their chances as people bet on or against them.

I had no idea if Itou Helen would come to save us if our situations were reversed.

But that was no reason to abandon her.

I wanted to live with pride.

I wasn’t going to live a life where I hung my head and held my stomach whenever I caught sight of the name Itou Helen!

“This time it’s real. There are no redos or continues here.”

Dammit.

It was obvious once I said it. It was so simple.

And that’s why I can’t afford to fail! I refuse to give up on her here! I will not let them drag us away from the path of normalcy! Will I save Itou Helen? If I couldn’t say ‘of course’, how could I call myself human!!!???”

Erika and Ayumi looked dazed.

They might have been shocked at how vague my “plan” was.

“…If only everyone in the world was like you, Satori-kun.”

“?”

Erika muttered something under her breath.

“It’s nothing. Anyway, I refuse to take my precious little brother anywhere dangerous, so I’m not giving you any hints. I won’t tell you anything that would lead you to the Bright Cross.”

“Kh.”

“But, Onii-chan, you’ll still head out alone to save Itou Helen, won’t you?”

“Y-yes. Of course I will. If you two won’t help out, then I’ll go do it on my own! Why wouldn’t I!? How is that girl any different from us!?”

“Then go look into it on your own,” said Erika with a sigh. But she had more to say. “Satori-kun, the Bright Cross is large. Incredibly so. But giant organizations have their own holes.”

“They do information warfare differently, Onii-chan. You can do 3 things with information: gather it, spread it, and hide it. The Bright Cross exists all around the world, so they specialize in gathering and spreading information. But that makes them very poor at the hiding part.”

“Ah.”

Now that they mentioned it, we all knew of the Bright Cross.

The CIA was the world’s largest intelligence agency, but being a household name the world over was a bad thing for them. They had not worked to be well known. They had simply become well known after growing so large.

Why had the Bright Cross left their underground facility?

Because I had discovered it.

They had feared receiving a perfect attack based on ma.s.sive simulation data.

They had feared it?

Such a large organization had feared me?

“…”

I couldn’t let them distract me.

I had to look back over the situation.

Who, where, and what had been involved in this incident surrounding Itou Helen? What was the deepest darkness here? My sisters had said the Bright Cross was so large that they could not fully hide their own existence. That was why they had forcibly set up a situation where no one could touch them even if they were seen.

“Thanks, Erika and Ayumi. I’ve finally seen what I have to do.”

My sisters shrugged in an exasperated sort of way.

Sorry I’m such a terrible brother.

But I have to go. I have to stand up to this wicked and unreasonable absurdity.

And so I turned my back on the family waiting back home and spoke two simple words.

“I’m going.”

I left the house.

I was exposed to the night air.

It was a true night where even the moonlight looked sinister.

“Maxwell.”

“Sure. Exiting standby mode. User, give me my orders.”

“Check for any calls from around Itou Helen’s home. Start with any calls to the police.”

“There was an emergency call from her home’s landline at 8:03 PM. The call lasted 2 minutes and 45 seconds.”

Well, it makes sense after their daughter was suddenly placed in the ring on TV.

No.

“Unlike me, they would have no way of knowing that’s a real fight to the death. The bunny girl might have mentioned the loser’s body, but that could have just been talk. Calling the police right away seems sudden.”

“Perhaps they thought she was forcibly recruited or abducted. After the police, they called the general reception desk at Kukyou 1st Broadcasting.”

“The TV station is claiming not to know anything either? But how?”

“They claim to have purchased and broadcasted a foreign TV program and thus have not played any role in the production. They say to direct any questions to Socialist Carnalgrad National Broadcasting.”

So that was why.

And did that country even exist?

“Then that’s where we’ll start.”

I could understand the police being caught off guard. The higher ups might be in the Bright Cross’s pocket, but the workers at the bottom would never believe that anyone would be brazen enough to kill people in the middle of a live TV broadcast.

But the way the TV station was brushing people off was clearly more malicious. I could tell they already had a script to follow.

I doubted everyone working there was also working for the Bright Cross, but they obviously had taken root there.

Kukyou 1st Broadcasting.

I was sure I could find something there.

With any luck, Itou Helen would be there, but if not, I could probably mess with their broadcast equipment to cause a malfunction and perhaps even put a stop to their farce.

“Maxwell, let’s get to the broadcast station. I’ll need your help to get in. Can you do that?”

“Sure. You are the only user I accept.”

I was glad to hear that second par.t

Especially when attacking a TV station could easily get me labeled a terrorist in the newspaper headlines.

It was just before 9.

The trains were still running.

I was on my way to fight an international organization, so it was laughable that I needed my IC card to get there.

It wasn’t even the weekend, but the area around the station was crowded.

The large screen on an electronics store wall displayed a smiling bunny girl colored the bright blue of a rainforest b.u.t.terfly.

“The Colosseum is finally beginning. But, but. I might not know exactly what an Archenemy is, so I wonder if the witch or the mermaid is more frightening.”

“The definition of a witch is too broad to say anything for sure, but a mermaid is much simpler. Unlike in the fairy tales, historical mermaids are man-eating creatures. They sit on stones, lure sailors into the ocean with their alluring song, drag their struggling prey to the bottom of the ocean, and devour them. Truly a stereotypical Archenemy.”

“Oh, my, my. So as most people seem to expect, will the more monstrous mermaid have the advantage here?”

“It’s hard to say. I’ve heard that Itou Helen is a Greek-style witch. More specifically, one based on the Circe tradition. In that case, the more frightening of the two would be…”

It p.i.s.sed me off.

But no one at all was throwing stones at the screen. In fact…

“Don’t push! Please don’t push! The tickets are on sale until 9:50! There’s still plenty of time, so calm down, everyone!!”

A young woman was yelling from a stand much like for a local lottery.

“It’s all or nothing! You bet everything on one of the two. It’s the most basic form of gambling and is far simpler than horse racing or keirin. If you don’t know what to do, this tipster will tell you how it’s done. Don’t you want some information to help you make easy money!?”

There were a lot of voices like that near the ticket stand crowd.

I could even see some uniformed police officers here and there:

“Ksshhh! Yes, yes. All of you good kids follow the rules and enjoy this game meant for proper ladies and gentleman. The dancer police would really prefer not to ruin your lovely evening.”

…They were all like this.

Not all of them would be involved with the Bright Cross. I doubted even that strange tipster man had been informed in advance and then simply kept quiet until today. And this had to have been a complete surprise for those dancer police or whatever they were.

“Beautiful j.a.panese High Vision provides a new age of HD for a new age Colosseum.”

“Hachitama is advertising the Dive Device’s Reading Company. The latest forms of entertainment can be seen and touched. Hachitama Electronics supports the Colosseum.”

They were even adapting to it.

They were riding this sudden wave and even egging it on.

“In a way, this is even uglier than the Bright Cross itself.”

“Shall I bring down the power in this area?”

That would have been oh-so-satisfying but ultimately meaningless.

I entered the station and boarded a train.

The electronic advertis.e.m.e.nt above the automatic door displayed the following text:

“The Circe Witch vs. the Man-Eating Mermaid. The billionaire’s countdown has reached 43:20. Buy your ticket now!”

When had the world gone insane?

I didn’t want to think it always had been.

I wanted to believe something had caused this. That I could fix the broken gear to return everything to normal.

After arriving near the broadcast station, I found a commotion there too.

But it looked different from a simple gambling frenzy. I don’t know where they got it from, but a group had blown up a photo of Itou Helen and placed it all over the panels and placards they held.

“Helen-taaan! Can you hear us cheering for you!?”

“Ohhhh! We’re on your side!! We’re praying for your victory!! Go, go, Helen-taaaan!!”

What do you mean you’re on her side?

If you really were, you wouldn’t push her toward an actual fight to the death!

“User, reaching the broadcast station is easy enough, but how do you intend to get inside?”

“I’ll rely on you.”

I walked right up to the front gate.

The guards on either side naturally glared at me, but…

“Good evening.”

With that, I pressed my palm against the ID panel on the side of the automatic gla.s.s door.

…With my smartphone still in my hand.

It was probably a vein scanner like at a bank ATM, but that didn’t matter with Maxwell’s machine power.

With a standard beep, the entire panel glowed green to show I was approved.

The tough-looking guards nodded at me.

“Good evening.”

“Yes, yes.”

After that, I walked right through the gla.s.s gate.

“It would be best to slip in as a part-time janitor. Labor standards ban anyone under 18 from working past 8, so it would be easiest to pa.s.s you off as a baby-faced college student.”

“Seriously? So in the data here, I’m older than Erika? I can’t imagine living in a world like that.”

What I needed was data on the Colosseum’s live broadcast.

“Hacking station intranet…” said Maxwell.

The results were displayed 30 seconds later.

“There are records of a great quant.i.ty of materials being delivered to the 2nd song hall. The format is much like that of an MMA tournament.”

“Where is the waiting room for contestants?”

“I searched for records of one, but did not find anything. However…”

“What is it, Maxwell?”

“The delivery list contained two large animal cages. They are the type used by vets and circuses and are built to contain even a Bengal tiger.”

“G.o.dd.a.m.n them!!”

At any rate, I had to get to the 7th floor.

If I was lucky, the cages holding Itou Helen and her opponent would be there, but if not, I could still gather information from any computers or phones I found.

Or so I thought.

Until I actually rode the elevator up to the 7th floor, that is.

“Ah.”

I stared blankly for a moment.

It was right there in the middle of the hallway.

As if they had hired a moving company, a girl in a cage had been carried in by attaching wheels and handles to the box.

I didn’t count how many men were standing around it.

My eyes were drawn to the tearful blonde girl curled up in the cage.

There was no sign of the baggy white sweater or chocolate-colored miniskirt from before.

Instead, she wore a short black dress, a pointed wide-brimmed hat, and a thick cape. She used both hands to hold a gla.s.s wand that looked like a complex collection of clear tubes and protuberances. She looked just like a witch from a children’s picture book, but I doubted Itou Helen would choose to dress like that after being abducted.

So what had happened here?

What had happened to her original clothes?

The answer was obvious.

They had been stripped from her.

By the many hands gathering around her.

“Ohh.”

I couldn’t maintain my thoughts beyond that point. In fact, I was amazed I managed it that far.

“Owwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!”

I yelled.

I let out a roar.

The various stubbly men finally turned around to see what was going on, but I was already charging straight toward them. I tackled one of them to the ground, punched him in the face, and bit at another man’s arm that reached for me from the side. The curse in my heart hoped to see the bone.

“What’s wrong with this kid!? He’s gone insane!!”

They kicked me in the back.

As I writhed on the ground, the soles of their shoes pressed down on my gut, my chest, my back, and my head. They pummeled me from all sides.

To be honest, I could not stop the fire burning inside me. So I wasn’t even pretending to be tough; I honestly couldn’t feel the pain.

Before long, I heard a shrill scream. It wasn’t mine and it wasn’t from the sc.u.m kicking me.

It was the girl in the cage.

The witch threw down the gla.s.s wand someone had given her and grabbed the cage’s bars with her small hands as she cried.

Not at her own circ.u.mstances, but at seeing me being punched and kicked.

I learned for the first time that my anger could kick into an even higher gear.

“Maxweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!”

“Sure.”

His response was immediate.

I heard something popping and bursting from the chests and hips of the men around me.

It was the lithium batteries of their radios and cellphones.

The explosion in their pockets and right next to their skin was enough to smash the bone.

As the men screamed and writhed in pain, I slowly stood up.

The cage’s lock…was a.n.a.log. I thought it was called a dimple lock, but I didn’t know the details and I couldn’t just leave it to Maxwell.

Then it didn’t matter who.

I grabbed one of the men by the collar and slammed his back against the hallway wall.

“Gah!?”

“Where’s the key?”

“I-I don’t know. We’re…ow…we’re just bottom level ADs! I don’t know about any key!!”

“Maxwell.”

“Sure. User, please press your smartphone against the target’s ear.”

“Are you going to use ultrasonic waves?”

“No. This is a mobile phone, so I can directly use microwaves,” calmly replied Maxwell’s message. “An international health agency has reported that a conversation of more than 20 minutes increases the risk of a brain tumor. If the microwaves are redirected to focus inside the target’s cranium, we can plant the seeds of the invisible grim reaper there. Let us induce cancer cells in an entirely inoperable location.”

I was pretty sure this was a bluff.

But part of me didn’t care if it wasn’t.

“W-wait! You’re kidding, right!?”

“You can believe it or not. But do you really think this is an innocent prank after I blasted your leg with a cyber-attack?”

“I-I really don’t know! C’mon, I’m sorry! So, waaaaaaait!?”

“Cancer risk…30%...40%...50%...”

“This is taking too long. Maxwell, kick it up to 100% right away. We can have him talk after we’re sure he’s gonna die. Just like a head blinking after being removed with a guillotine.”

I heard a loud thud.

The man’s eyes had rolled back in his head and he crumpled to the ground. I’d prefer to leave out this detail, but he also p.i.s.sed himself.

“He didn’t talk even after that, so he really must not have known,” surmised Maxwell.

“I’m not so sure.”

But even without the key, I had made it to Itou Helen in her cage.

As long as I could keep her from entering the Colosseum studio, I could save her. I could even cart the cage outside of the building.

Itou Helen sobbed in the cage.

“Um, Senpai, um, uh, why…?”

“I don’t know. What do you think? Is this also just like your ‘Onii-chan’?”

“…”

“Anyway, leave the rest to me. Once I get you out of the TV station-…”

I trailed off.

A voice spoke from the broadcast equipment in the hallway.

“Ding dong dong dong. The legal gambling Colosseum will begin airing in 10 minutes. All staff gather in the studio. I repeat…”

I checked my smartphone’s clock and saw it was nearly 10.

d.a.m.n!

All the doors around me opened. Men and women exited them. They all looked at Itou Helen who picked back up the gla.s.s wand and held it to her flat chest as she cowered inside the cage. They were approaching!!

“Maxwell.”

“You are outnumbered. The battery attack is not almighty.”

“I wasn’t asking for that. How far have you made it into the TV station’s system? Can you place a fake ID for me in there?”

“Sure. But you have no time. Make your order quickly.”

That was when I threw my hands in the air and shouted at the arriving staff.

“What is the meaning of this!? Are you even thinking about the condition of my fighter!?”

“Who are you…?”

“Amatsu Satori.”

I was hesitant to use my real name with these monsters, but I didn’t have time to sit around thinking up a cool fake name.

“You can check if you want, but I’m from that witch’s school! I’m here as her second!! I know you’ve probably paid a lot of money to put on this TV show, but don’t you forget that I’ve got a ton of money riding on this too! Don’t treat her so carelessly! How is she supposed to win like this!?”

I had to buy some time.

Until Maxwell could finish his work.

“Or what? Is this whole thing fixed from the start? Ohh, so that’s it. Well, how about I go reveal it all on some message boards, blogs, and SNSs!? If it turns out this new legal gambling was fixed from the very first match, all those drunks spending all their money on tickets are gonna riot, don’t you think!?”

A heard a quiet beep from my smartphone.

At the same time, another staff member sighed after confirming my ident.i.ty on their tablet.

“He really is the Archenemy’s second. We also have a record of him entering the studio.”

“Our apologies.”

As the female staff member relaxed, I clenched and unclenched my hands in front of my face.

“I’m glad you understand.”

“Amatsu-san, the broadcast time is approaching. Please follow us to the stage.”

“Fine. But! Next time!! Don’t you dare approach my golden-egg-laying goose without my permission!”

I grabbed at the handle of Itou Helen’s cage as if s.n.a.t.c.hing her away from the staff who had given me a lame apology.

The small animal style of blonde witch looked confused, so I secretly showed her my smartphone screen.

It said:

“Sorry. I promise I’ll get you out of here, so please focus on surviving this one match for now.”

And…

“We’re in this together. I won’t abandon you. Let’s both get out of here alive.”

The studio was close by.

As soon as the soundproofed double doors opened, I was. .h.i.t by an overwhelming deluge of noise and light.

“Ladies and gentlemen!! It’s time for the Colosseum, the game that is sure to excite any reasonable adult!!”

The backlight was too bright to see anything.

Finally, a square ring came into view through the blinding spotlight.

But it was not surrounded by ropes like for boxing or professional wrestling. It was a giant 15 meter bug cage made of transparent reinforced gla.s.s. That was the stage for the deadly battles.

And the cheers came from the stepped stadium-style seating surrounding it in every direction.

It was not all that different from the setup for professional wrestling or mixed martial arts.

But where had all these people come from?

This was a Colosseum where people would really fight to the death. The location was supposed to be a secret.

My question was answered by the bunny girl standing on top of the bug cage.

Her long hair and the bunny costume were both the bright blue of a rainforest b.u.t.terfly.

She stood tall with microphone in hand and she vied for everyone’s attention as the flood of light seemed to stab down toward her.

“Good evening, all of you who won the strict lottery based on your ticket number! But, but! Are you sure that was a good thing? This gamble is entirely decided on the result of the battle itself. I hope you didn’t use up all your luck just getting here.”

I couldn’t believe them.

There was something wrong with both the blue bunny girl and the cheerful crowd! There were so many of them. When they were sent the location through email or whatever, did none of them run to the police? Really? Not even one!?

“On one side we have the motivated Itou Helen who has been certified as a witch! How does it feel to have deceived all your friends at school for so long? But tonight let’s throw out those lies and fight with everything we’ve got! We need a real battle between monsters!!”

…You!!

My undercla.s.sman cowered down in the cage as the many strobe lights and camera lenses turned her way, but did she really look that wicked?

I clenched my teeth.

“Maxwell.”

“Sure.”

“Turn my smartphone’s HD mode on. It may be silly now that she’s standing in front of the TV camera, but I want to record her face. I’m not letting her be forgotten.”

“Understood. I will also record her behavior and stance and create a color chart for her face. That way, I can search for her even without a front-on shot.”

“And if they’re going to throw out their morals, I’ll just have to do the same. If that domineering bunny is going to look down on me, I’ll just have to get some low angle shots of her crotch!!

Isn’t it strange how the tighter the fabric over a girl’s crotch, the puffier it looks!?”

“User, I must question your character here.”

Meanwhile, the situation advanced.

There was no escape now, so we would have to overcome this rather than avoid it.

“We might have a lovely image of mermaids, but they’re more like the gangsters of the sea. These man-eating monsters mercilessly bare their fangs against drowning humans. Please welcome Kuroyama Hinoki!!”

On the other side of the giant bug cage, an identical cage was carted in. It contained a girl with long black hair who looked the same age as if not a little older than me. And her hair really was long. It looked more than ankle length. That hair was wrapped tightly around her bare legs to create a silhouette much like a fish’s tail fin.

She was not wearing any clothes. Her chest and lower stomach were hidden by the hair wrapped around her torso.

“What…is that? That’s a mermaid?”

“Sure. There are a variety of theories as to the origin of mermaids, but one says they normally wear the skin of a seal and a naked woman emerges when they arrive on land. This may be that subspecies.”

Even if it was a part of her body, this Archenemy covered her body with something other than her own skin to achieve new function while moving through the water.

“And if the seal skin is taken from her while she is on land, the mermaid must marry that person. While naked.”

“Dammit, just a.n.a.lyze this opponent. Dammit!!”

“User, please do not tap the shutter icon so quickly while pointing the lens at a naked hair-wrapped girl. People might question my character as well.”

Among the many staff members on that side, one young man had a tense expression.

That was probably her second.

He was the one and only person who had decided to take the side of the monster in the cage. Unlike the foolish prince from the fairy tale, he had realized what the mermaid was and still accepted her.

“…”

“…”

Our eyes met for just a brief moment.

His eyes showed hopeless panic but also hostility.

“Is everyone ready? Are you clutching your tickets? Then let’s get started! Let’s begin this new entertainment and new industry that is sure to usher in a new age! j.a.pan’s dawn is nigh. Fly into the world, Colosseum! The first battle of that brilliant vision begins now!!!!!!”

“Onii-chan left,” said Ayumi in the entranceway. “Onee-chan, you understand that Onii-chan has no chance of winning, right? He’s almost certain to fail and then his life will be in danger.”

“Well, it is true that real life isn’t like a melodrama.”

But Erika had more to say.

“But how could we stop him? Weren’t we both always hoping and praying for this when we were trapped in that dark s.p.a.ce underground? Hoping and praying that a knight in shining armor we had never met would come to save us?”

That knight had not arrived in time for them.

Erika and Ayumi had bravely paved their own way to survival.

But what if someone was becoming that knight now? And what if there was some other girl who had no choice but to wait for that knight in shining armor?

“There’s really nothing we can do about this.”

“Yeah, but what if Onii-chan is captured by the Bright Cross?”

“Oh? I think you know exactly what we do then, Ayumi-chan.”

The sisters smiled cheerfully together.

And those residents of the night answered in unison.

“If it comes to that, we’ll have to drown the world in a sea of blood.”

“If it comes to that, we’ll have to drown the world in a sea of blood.”