There’s No Enemy We Can’t Beat! – Part 02
Light from the setting sun slipped through the rift in the clouds, painting the air orange.
I left the general hospital, crossed the road, and headed for the convenience store. Orito was twirling his navy-blue umbrella in circles beside me.
“Thanks, Aikawa.”
Walking along the rain-slick asphalt, Orito pushed up his glasses and let out a sigh of relief.
“For what? I didn’t do anything.”
“Kyouko was happy just to see your face,” Orito said solemnly.
It felt oddly embarrassing, so I averted my eyes from his glasses.
“Hmph. What does she see in this guy anyway?”
Huh? That cute voice.
I turned my head toward the sound. There she was, brows furrowed as always, a pretty girl with chestnut hair and a cowlick bouncing with every step. Today, she wore a dress shirt and pink thongs. Seriously, I needed to buy her some pants or a skirt. And shoes, too.
“Wh-What the hell, Aikawa? Who’s this absolute bombshell?” Orito froze in place, too stunned to even blink.
I couldn’t blame him. She was pretty and dressed like that. Judging from his words, it looked like he really had forgotten yesterday’s crawfish incident. Good, good.
“Hey! Quit staring!”
She clutched her shirt, trying to hide her underwear. If she was that embarrassed, why not just wear pants? Was that my younger brother’s shirt? It wasn’t even covering anything.
“Uh, well… uh… this girl is…”
She probably showed up like this because of something Megalo-related. Which meant Orito’s memories would get wiped anyway, so introducing her now didn’t really mean anything. I had no idea how to explain her to Orito.
“Ayumu! It’s coming!” Haruna ducked behind me and tugged at my sleeve.
Coming? I glanced up. No glowing lights in the sky. Normally they shot in like a meteor, but this time seemed different.
Then I saw it, and my jaw dropped. There was something up there in a school uniform, something that looked just like a Megalo.
Right above the hospital I’d just walked out of was a massive blue whale, easily around 1,830 meters long. It was too damn big.
It stretched horizontally like a blimp, drifting through the cloudy sky. It moved slowly, like a passing cloud, and also gradually descending like a paraglider. Things were about to get very bad, very fast.
“That’s a Triple-A class Megalo, the Ever-Losing Bluey!”
Oh? It was obvious which part she got wrong this time. Lost too many times.
“Wait, no—I mean… uh… Ahem, the Demon Baron Bluey!”
Got it. When in doubt, just call it a Demon Baron.
I, too, was in very serious trouble. I’d never fought something that huge before. I was neither a Power Ranger[1] nor Ultraman.[2] I was a zombie.
Would my attacks even work? No, this wasn’t the time to worry about that. If that thing dropped out of the sky, the whole town would be toast.
“Haruna, take care of Orito!”
“Wuh? Take care of what now?”
“That spiky-haired four-eyes! Get him to safety.”
“Why should a genius like me have to do something like that? I wish everyone in this stupid world would just die.”
“Hey now. That’s a loaded statement. What are you fighting for, then? I thought it was for this world.”
“There’s only one reason I fight Megalo. For credits! If I take down a Megalo, I can graduate even if I don’t meet the attendance requirements. Way better than going to school every day.”
She puffed out her nonexistent chest. I had no idea what she was bragging about.
“Self-centered brat.”
“Don’t call me that. Just hurry up and beat it! For me! Only for me!”
Unfortunately for her, I wasn’t doing this for her.
I took off from the asphalt, climbed onto a wall, scaled a utility pole, then walked along the rooftops back toward the hospital. People on the street were looking at me, jaws slack. They were probably wondering if I was a ninja or something. Too bad the ninja was back at my place. I was just a zombie.
Haruna followed close behind. Apparently, she could do everything I could without even becoming a Magiclad Girl. Then she should fight instead.
But I knew the truth. Only a Magiclad Girl could take down a Megalo like that.
I got it. This thing wasn’t weak enough to be beaten without a transformation. Craw was a Double-A class Megalo, while this one was a Triple-A class.
“Haruna, have you ever fought something that big?”
“Of course. Back in my world, those are pretty standard.”
She gave a smug little grin.
“Right. Honestly, I’m not very confident this time. I’d be fine on my own, but there’s no way I can fight and protect the town at the same time.”
If something that massive moved even a little, houses would collapse. If it landed on the hospital, it’d be a disaster. I didn’t have the strength to keep that from happening.
“You’re right,” Haruna said. “You can’t stop Bluey’s attacks by yourself. I could do it pretty easily, though.”
“Seriously?”
“Duh. There’s nothing the genius and pretty Demon Baroness Haruna can’t do.” She slapped her tiny chest while her cowlick whipped around like a dog’s tail.
Just then, a horn-like blast echoed across the town. A deep, thunderous hum. Vibrations in the air from the whale itself. A purple wind swept past us.
Now that I thought about it, Craw had done something like this too.
“Haruna, that purple wind.”
“Is it not obvious? That’s the Megalo unleashing its mana.”
The purple wind curled around Haruna. Then, her shoulders jolted. She shivered, like something cold crawled down her spine, and after blinking wide, her lips parted ever so slightly.
“Uhh… aaah… ahh…”
Just moments ago she was full of energy, but now she hugged herself tightly. It was the same thing that happened during the fight with Craw.
“Hey, Haruna.”
“Wh-What… is this feeling?”
She trembled like a frightened puppy, biting her lips hard to stop them from shaking.
“Haruna? Haruna!”
She lifted her face in response to my voice. Her eyes were filled with panic.
“What do I do, Ayumu? I…”
Her voice quavered, thin and scared. She barely managed to get the words out.
“I’m… scared of the Megalo.”
That was shocking. I never imagined she’d admit to being afraid.
Another deep, rumbling cry sounded. Haruna froze and bit her lip again. She was doing everything she could to suppress her fear.
“That thing’s too powerful… for a non-Magiclad Girl.”
“You’ll be fine, Haruna.”
“Fine? Are you stupid?! This is impossible! I’m gonna die!”
“You’ll be fine, Haruna.”
“Stop saying crap like that! You—”
“Don’t you know? I’m strong.”
“Don’t be so full of yourself. You can’t protect me!”
“You’re right. But don’t you know? There’s nothing you can’t do.”
“Wuh?”
“Maybe I can’t protect you. And maybe you can’t do anything against that giant thing without turning into a Magiclad Girl. But still, I’m strong. And you can do anything. So what happens if the two of us team up?”
Haruna blushed for some reason, blinking wide before smirking. She gave me the kind of bright, boyish grin that could light up a whole room.
“There’s no enemy we can’t beat!”
“Right? So help me out. I’m counting on you.”
“Hmph, guess I’ve got no choice. But just this once, okay?”
She looked oddly pleased as she stepped in front of me. I could see her panties.
“I can’t use attack magic since I can’t transform, but I can put up a barrier. All I have to do is keep the buildings and people around here from getting crushed, right? One barrier’s more than enough for that. And Bluey uses water-based attacks, so I’ll take care of that too. You just go all out and beat it to a pulp, got it?”
“Got it. That’s more than enough.”
I launched myself at the towering object in front of me. I jumped from a rooftop to the hospital wall, then kicked off and flew straight at Bluey’s face.
“Let’s start off with… four hundred percent!”
With a thunderous thud, my aerial roundhouse kick landed a clean hit on that ridiculously huge face. The force of the blow made its massive body sway like it was about to topple.
Crap! If it fell, the houses would be flattened.
A ripple spread through the air—like when something drops onto water—and formed a wall that caught Bluey mid-fall. Then, it pushed the creature back into position.
So that was the barrier, huh? If you could wrap something like that around yourself, wouldn’t that make you basically invincible?
Bluey’s massive fins swelled even larger. The ripple appeared again to block it, but this time the thing shattered straight through. Pieces fell away like broken glass, vanishing as they hit the ground. So much for containing it in a bubble. That strategy clearly didn’t work.
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