VOLUME 7

Chapter 3: Part 5

After filling my belly up with those awful pieces of wasabi eggplant, I left the sus.h.i.+ restaurant with the others and we headed for Harajuku station. We strolled down Meijidoori, which was so in the Christmas spirit that even the traffic lights seemed like part of the Christmas decorations. I stopped when I came across Sera and Yuu.

“Ayumu.” Sera’s beautiful voice called out to me. Her voice was beautiful… but it was also scary.

“What’s up?”

I watched the girls walking in front of me and responded to Sera without turning to meet her gaze.

“Yuki-chan, that was really good, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah! Let’s come again!”

“…… Sus.h.i.+ is a rare treat… and that makes it even more delicious…”

Mihara, Tomonori, and Hiramatsu were happily walking as a group, while Saras followed them silently from behind, and Orito hobbled along as well with drooped shoulders.

Orito looked seriously dead. Almost like a zombie.

“Well, your face is disgusting so I don’t mind if you don’t look at me, but… exactly why did you not call out to us back at the sus.h.i.+ restaurant?”

“Where’s Haruna?”

The silver-haired girl in front of me suddenly slipped to my side.

Ayumu did not seem to want to pay attention to us, so she went home. = “Ugh, oniichan! Pay more attention to us!!”

T-That was her way of telling us she wanted attention?

“Well, there was a bit of trouble at our table, and there was another reason I didn’t want to bother Haruna too much.”

“You certainly have quite a bit of luggage there. Is that the reason you’re talking about?”

“Yeah… pretty sharp, Sera. So, I know that Haruna still believes in Santa.”

“I see. So you did not want her to realize you had bought her a present.”

She got all that from the little I told her. Vampire ninjas were definitely the masters of perception.

“Ah, we also bought stuff for you two. Just pick out something you like.”

There are so many presents. I am unsure how to respond.

“He zombies up to everyone around him, so he probably plans to distribute what we don’t choose to everyone else.”

Well, yeah that’s what I planned to do, but what the h.e.l.l does “zombie up” mean? Isn’t the idiom “cozy up” or “buddy up” or something?

“I think… Haruna really wanted to see snow, though.”

I looked up at the night sky. There wasn’t any sign of snow falling.

The Tokyo sky was devoid of stars even at this time of year. It was just a bit bright, probably from all the lights around us.

If it weren’t for that sky, I might not have noticed.

There was someone on the roof of a building. If that someone hadn’t been wearing a white outfit, I probably wouldn’t have noticed.

That someone was atop a nine-story building… no, it was ten stories.

It was… Chris. I couldn’t see her face, but I could see that she was holding onto something.

What was that? It didn’t look like a sake bottle…

Her face quickly slinked back into the shadow of the roof, almost as if she didn’t want us to see her.

“Is something wrong?”

“Hm? Ahh, uhh…”

Sera called out to me but I didn’t really know how to answer her. But then, I saw Sera’s pretty jade eyes bleed crimson, and her face stiffen in surprise.

“T-That is…”

Well, I wasn’t surprised she figured it out. “Yeah, it’s Chris,” I wanted to answer, but before I could…

“A magical bomb,” she muttered. I blinked a few times and stared Sera in the face when I heard her say that.

Magical bomb… did she mean those items that Dai-sensei made? Dai-sensei, Haruna’s homeroom teacher and also the one Chris wanted revenge on… she made these magical bombs that could blow away everything in a one-kilometer radius. I had been reduced to fine powder once by one of her bombs too…

I looked up at Chris again.

I really couldn’t see her well. But Sera was a vampire ninja. Her sight was probably better than mine, and I also remembered something Chris had said before.

“Oh oh. Also, Chris found something suuuuper interesting.”

“Yeah yeah. It goes boom! and all the things come sprinkling down~~. It’s a super super fun item.”

I was possible she had meant one of Dai-sensei’s magical bombs.

But, we couldn’t let her set one of those things off.

“Hey, you all!” I yelled at the group that was walking farther and farther away from me.

“What’s wrong, Aikawa?”

I probably looked pretty serious, since Tomonori looked at me with a worried expression.

“I just remembered I had to do something, sorry. Just don’t mind me and go head.”

Saras’s eyebrows twitched. Did she figure it out?

“Aikawa does up and suddenly disappear sometimes. He also went off with Haruna-sensei that other time.”

Mihara shook her head in resignation. Hey, you should try and be a zombie too. The troubles honestly never end.

“Okay… then… see you at school.”

Hiramatsu let a small chuckle spill from her mouth and waved at me. She took Mihara and Orito along with her and headed for Harajuku Station.

Tomonori and Saras just stood there, still.

“Yuki-chaaan~~. Let’s gooo~~.”

“O-Okay. Umm, Aikawa…”

“Just go. Get them home safely as fast as possible, okay?”

“But… I’m… I can… with Aikawa…”

She looked like she wanted to say something but couldn’t. Saras raised her hand, blocking Tomonori from speaking further. Having lost her chance to speak, Tomonori gave me a sad look before das.h.i.+ng off towards Mihara and the others.

“Darling, is there anything I can do?”

“Can you evacuate all the normal people?”

“… Evacuate…”

“Yeah, we’re dealing with a magical bomb.”

Saras fully understood the situation after hearing me say those two words, and gave me a firm nod.

“But this place at this time makes things quite difficult. Getting all these people to safety is most likely impossible.”

That was true. If you tried to evacuate people during Christmas in Tokyo, then you’d probably just end up causing panic.

Chris probably deliberately picked this date just because of that.

“Excuses. We vampire ninjas exist for the sole purpose of protecting people. So we will manage.”

“Thanks. Of course, I plan to stop her, but… just in case I fail, yeah?”

“Yes. I am counting on you.”

“I am too. Come, Sera. While she is still unaware of our presence.”

If that magical bomb really went off, then I knew of no way to defend against it other than Sera’s Dragon Fang Thunder G.o.d Thrust technique.

What about me?

“Yuu, you should get out of her too. You won’t be able to do much if you’re holding onto this.”

I pa.s.sed her the paper bags I was holding onto. But, I still didn’t want Haruna to find the stuffed horned owl, so I decided to keep one of the bags myself.

I mean, if it was just one bag, then I could just toss it somewhere when I had to fight.

I started to proceed into the building, wanting to go up to the roof quietly so as not to attract attention, but Sera grabbed me by the collar as if she was catching a cat and then kicked off the asphalt.

The couples on the road around us looked up dumbfounded at the ponytailed beauty and high school student as they suddenly flew up into the air.

“Hey, Sera! People are looking at us funny now!”

“We should act quickly here. Do not worry, there are not many normal people who will understand what they are seeing.”

After we had landed on the roof, Chris caught sight of us and gave us a smile.

“It’s oniichan and his friends. You always show up with such great timing. It’s almost a bit too convenient.”

“We do know someone with the power to change fate and bring about events such as this.”

Sera glanced down at Yuu. But that was only for a moment, and in the next moment her crimson eyes were once again looking at Chris. Chris was holding onto an alarm clock.

n.o.body walks around randomly with an alarm clock. That was definitely the magical bomb.

Sera’s black mantle draped around her as she looked me in the face.

Her eyes were telling me “we should only aim for that magical bomb.”

Yeah, I agree. Our first priority here wasn’t defeating Chris.

“What exactly are you doing around here? Or rather, what are you trying to do?”

“Hm? The way you say that… it’s almost like you know what this is.”

Chris tossed the alarm clock up a few times into the air. I felt my heart race, wondering when that clock would explode, while Chris seemed to be enjoying the look of worry on my face.

“Kyaha! So oniichan does know what this is! Chris wanted to use this bomb and make a big boom and kill lots of people, but there aren’t actually that many people here… mmm… what should Chris do…?”

Chris began to say some awful things like they were nothing.

“What exactly do you hope to accomplish with that?”

“If something awful happens, I can pretend like it was Ariel’s fault. And then the Queen should go and kill Ariel for me.”

The one who had created these magical bombs had been Ariel… in other words, Dai-sensei. She had been forced to make them by the King of the night, but it’s true that Chris might be able to push the blame onto Dai-sensei… so we couldn’t just stand by and let her commit an act of wanton terrorism.

“Ah, right. Let’s start with the puppy.”

Puppy? Chris turned around, still smiling.

She was facing… s.h.i.+buya. Wait, she didn’t mean Hachiko, did she?! (1)

Even though it was Christmas, s.h.i.+buya was always bustling with people. You could get there by going just a bit South on Meijidoori. It was pretty close. It’d probably take masou shoujo or vampire ninjas just a few minutes to get there.

Chris broke out into a sprint. Her cute shoes clattered against the rooftop as she kicked off into the air.

“Sera!” As if responding directly to my voice, Sera also began to run. She had leaf swords in both hands.

When it came to speed, n.o.body in the universe could hold a candle to Sera.

“Here I go. Hiken, Tsubamegaes.h.i.+!”

“Ahaha! Pretty quick, pretty quick!”

Chris dodged Sera’s blade extremely easily. In her position, I would’ve found myself missing an arm already at this point…

Another attack, and another. Sera ran alongside Chris as she sent attack after attack at the masou shoujo.

Sera didn’t manage to make a single mark on Chris, but she at least slowed Chris down plenty.

I caught up to them two and launched myself at Chris like a cat, aiming for her right arm.

She nimbly dodged me as well, and I found myself on the verge of doing a cordless bungee jump off the building when Sera grabbed me.

“Ayumu, this is not good.”

“Hm? What happened?”

“She has already pushed the detonation b.u.t.ton on the device. The bomb will probably explode after five minutes or so.”

Seriously?! I felt a s.h.i.+ver run up my spine. A nauseous feeling began to form in the pit of my stomach.

That sudden nausea was almost crus.h.i.+ng.

Sera and I both desperately attacked Chris, but she lightly dodged everything we threw at her.

I also tried waving the bag with the stuffed animal in it around in the air, but none of my attacks landed.

A bystander might say that we looked like we were just playing a game with each other.

Sera’s sword pa.s.sed centimeters from Chris’s hair.

“Wooow! You got faster, didn’t you? Too bad it’s still too slow for Chris!”

Sera made a face, as if she was chewing on something bitter. She continued to attack.

The minute hand on the alarm clock continued to move.

This was getting worse and worse. Wasn’t there anything we could do? The cold and my nerves were making it hard to think.

I couldn’t do anything more but dance around and jump at Chris. I must’ve looked like one of those daimyo in those old j.a.panese movies wearing a blindfold and chasing a girl around with both his hands thrust out in front of him.

Chris leapt from the roof onto a pedestrian bridge. s.h.i.+buya Station was already in sight.

Sera also jumped for the bridge, and I followed her.

Krchh! I was a bit too in a rush, and I felt my ankle twist. But I couldn’t fall over here!

Hyahh… hyahhh! I spun around and tried to minimize the shock to my body. But I also wanted to desperately retaliate against Chris, and threw the bag I was holding at her.

Chris chuckled mockingly at me and dodged.

“Dragon Fang, Thunder G.o.d Thrust!”

Noooo! Don’t yell that out! Don’t make the person who came up with that name feel any more embarra.s.sed!

At that moment, a miracle occurred.

The paper bag flying through the air suddenly stopped.

Sera also stopped, in the middle of her sword stroke.

The lightning coming from her blade also seemed frozen in midair.

And I also stopped, my body on one knee with my hands both thrust out in front of me.

The only person who could still move was Chris. Her eyes widened in shock, as she let out a small “ah.”

Chris was moving based on what she expected her opponent’s movements to be. And now that something completely unexpected had happened and screwed up her timing, she couldn’t stop the lightning that had come from Sera’s Dragon Fang Thunder G.o.d Thrust attack from shooting straight through the magical bomb.

This was… the time-stop technique I had learned just the other day.

I see, so I had unconsciously input the commands that activated that technique.

However, I had failed. Chris could still move… and I couldn’t.

“Hm? It’s not moving anymore… oh, this thing is weak to electricity ,isn’t it? Ugh! Oniichan, you’re so mean! Chris is gonna kill you!”

I could almost see steam rising from Chris’s head as she pushed Sera’s frozen body out of the way.

Boing.

Sera’s amazing b.r.e.a.s.t.s fit right into the palm of my hands.

So soft….. oh G.o.d, so so so soft…..

If I could move my fingers I’d take full advantage of this situation, but…

“We could’ve set off some really fun fireworks too…”

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t move a muscle.

Chris pointed her right hand towards us.

This was bad. She was going to kill us. But just when I thought that…

“I got you!”

Another girl wearing a black mantle appeared behind Chris. Just like the first time I met that girl… she was holding onto a bowl of tonkotsu ramen.

It was Tomonori. Tomonori, weren’t you supposed to have gone home with Mihara and the others?

Chris threw herself over the side of the pedestrian bridge, trying to evade the ramen.

She still had a daring smile on her face, but then she realized that a bit of the tonkotsu broth had gotten onto her sleeve.

“Ahh, this is the worst! Chris doesn’t wanna play anymore. She’s going home!”

Stains showed up really well against her white clothes. And her mood probably did a complete one-eighty at seeing that stain on her favorite outfit.

Chris vanished, and I sighed a sigh of relief. I wanted to thank Tomonori for saving us, but I couldn’t get my mouth to move.

Also, Sera was sending me a fierce glare. “How long are you planning to fondle my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, you rotten little rag?” her eyes were saying to me.

Well… I mean, I don’t exactly know how to cancel out this technique.

After we finally regained our freedom and I got my face beaten in, I went over and picked up the magical bomb that Chris had casually discarded a few moments ago.

Sera’s Dragon Fang Thunder G.o.d Thrust had completely broken through the clock and we had managed to somehow save the day, but Chris was probably going to try something like this again. Ugh.

“Tomonori, thanks. You seriously saved us.”

“… I got kinda tired of Aikawa just saving me all the time, you know? So I wanted to help Aikawa just today. I mean… it’s Christmas too.”

Tomonori blushed a bit, while Sera let out a small chuckle.

What the h.e.l.l was up with this awkwardness in the air?

I turned around, wanting to run away, and saw the paper bag with Haruna’s stuffed owl in it.

… It was burnt black.

I saw a paper bag there that had been burnt to a crisp.

I timidly took the stuffed animal out of the bag, and saw that the owl had been poked full of holes by Sera’s attack.

“Ah, that… that’s Master’s Christmas present, isn’t it?”

“I guess it’s a bit late to be saying this, but I probably shouldn’t have brought this along.”

I scratched my head and let out a huge sigh.

My sigh misted white in front of me and dissolved into the air.

“We could go back and buy another one?”

“Nah, they’re already closed. If only I could get it to snow… that would be the best present I could give to her.”

I looked up at the Christmas sky. It showed no signs of snowing.

What should I do here? Maybe G.o.d could do me a favor here and just let it snow…

… Wait.

Was there something I could use in place of snow? I could take something like cotton and make it seem like it was snowing for Haruna…

But, exactly where was I expecting to get so much cotton at this time?

Oh, wait. Yeah, there was definitely a bunch of cotton back there.

If I tried this now I might miss the last train back home, but…

I set off back to Nene-san’s place to try and bring my last, desperate plan to fruition.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) A famous statue of a dog in s.h.i.+buya, right in front of s.h.i.+buya Station. A very popular meeting spot.