There’s No Enemy We Can’t Beat! – Part 05
In the living room, Eu sat watching a variety show while sipping tea, just like always.
“Everything okay today?” I asked.
She glanced at me without even turning her head and gave a single nod, the usual, subtle dip of her chin.
Haruna had already gone upstairs. Sera sat across from me at the table, watching TV alongside Eu.
“Eu, I’ve got something I want to ask.”
Responding to my words, Eu turned her body toward me. My tone might’ve come off a little forceful. But I had no intention of holding back.
“The day we met, you saved me, right?”
Her silver hair moved up and down. That meant yes.
“Are you sure? You weren’t the one who tried to kill me?”
Her hair shook side to side. A firmer denial than usual.
“After you saved me, some time passed before I regained consciousness. What were you doing during that time?”
Her gauntleted hand tightened around her pen.
“I stayed by your side.”
“I was with you, big brother.”
“Really? I heard someone say you killed their family. Doesn’t that sound strange? Who do you believe: someone who suffered the loss of their family, or someone with strange powers? Eu, please tell me the truth.”
She shook her head more strongly than ever, insisting she wasn’t lying.
“Ayumu, you’re being too harsh. Miss Hellscythe would not lie.”
“You’re right. I pushed too hard. I’m sorry, really. Sera, you be the judge. Why would the victim be able to identify Eu’s appearance? Come on, answer me. Whose words hold more weight?”
“Ayumu, calm down.”
“I am calm. I just want the truth.”
“I’m not lying.”
“Big brother, believe me!”
“I want to believe you. So don’t just give me a statement. Give me something solid. Some kind of proof that you didn’t kill anyone!”
I raised my voice without realizing it. My thoughts were in a mess. The words poured out faster than I could stop them.
What finally brought me back to my senses was seeing Eu’s tears.
Tears flowed freely from her blue eyes, rolling down her cheeks in a stream of sorrow.
After seeing that, how could I say another word?
Damn it.
“Ayumu, I’m hungry. Let’s have dinner now. This time, I’ll cook. Go call Haruna.”
Sera gave me a cold glare, basically telling me to back off from Eu. I agreed and left the living room.
Taking a deep breath, I started up the stairs beside near the front door, when I felt something off.
Hm? What is it?
Oh, the chainsaw I’d left by the door was gone.
I climbed the stairs and stood in front of one of the second-floor rooms. It used to be my younger brother’s, but since he ended up as a victim of an eternal honeymoon, Haruna was using it now.
The second floor had three rooms—this one, mine, and what used to be my parents’ room, which Sera now used. Eu rarely left the living room, but we’d turned Dad’s old study on the first floor into her room.
Knock, knock. I turned the doorknob as I rapped lightly on the door.
“Who is it?!”
“It’s me. Sera asked me to come get you.”
“What?! No way! Wait, stop!”
I went to open the door, but something tugged from the other side. Not like that would stop me. I was stronger.
Behind the door stood a naked Haruna, her face burning red, mouth wide open. She let out a squeak like a startled seal, blushing all the way to her ears.
Her skin looked milky and soft. Wait, why was she always naked?
“I told you to wait, you pervert! Deviate!”
Thunk! A brutal heel drop straight to the shin. If it were anyone else, they’d be rolling on the floor in agony. And what did she mean by deviate? Was she trying to say deviant?
A chainsaw lay in the middle of the room. It looked like she’d tried to transform into a Magiclad Girl and failed. She had a lot going on too, huh?
So that was it. Haruna, who overreacted to anything obscene, was always naked because she’d been practicing her transformation. When Megalo showed up and she appeared in some weird outfit, it was probably because she’d failed the transformation again and just threw something on in a hurry.
“How long are you gonna keep staring?! Get lost already, you stupid deviate!”
She kicked me out and slammed the door with ridiculous force.
Okay, fine, I was the one who barged in. But hey, this used to be my brother’s room, right? It was just a force of habit. My hand just opened the door on reflex.
With no other choice, I gave a quick apology to the probably-still-blushing Haruna behind the door and told her to come downstairs.
Oh, yeah. I completely forgot. Was Haruna connected to the serial killings? At the very least, I had to ask how she knew I was stabbed to death.
“Haruna.”
“Hey, Ayumu. I… I don’t want to do this anymore.”
A despondent voice came from behind the door. I leaned against it.
I’ll ask her next time.
I couldn’t help it. Her voice was quavering, like she was about to cry.
“I finally got my mana back, but I blew it all again on that barrier. I couldn’t transform. When I’m a Magiclad Girl, I feel like I’m the strongest in the world, and I’ve beaten so many Megalo.”
Yeah, I get it. I felt that same rush whenever I transformed.
“You’ll bounce back soon. You’ll be fine, Haruna. I know you will.”
“That’s not it. It’s not just about not being able to transform! If I’m not a Magiclad Girl, I get paralyzed just from being hit with a little mana. That’s what I hate!” Her voice started to tremble harder.
I searched for something to say, but everything felt too hollow. So I opened the door.
“H-Hey! Don’t open it!”
The red-eyed, naked girl quickly covered her face. I reached out to place my hand on her cowlick and give her a pat on the head, but Haruna suddenly wrapped her arms around my waist.
She pressed her tiny chest against me, buried her face in my chest, and squeezed me tightly.
“This way, you can’t see my face or my body. I… win.”
Yeah, sure.
With nowhere else to put my hand, I rested it gently on top of her head.
“I’m so frustrated. I’m so, so frustrated! I want to get stronger! I want to be able to fight without transforming. Like you, Ayumu!”
“I heard somewhere that crying your eyes out makes you stronger.”
She buried her face deeper into my chest and tightened her embrace.
In my arms, a warrior cried.
Fifteen minutes later.
In front of me sat a home-cooked meal by Sera. What kind of meal, you ask?
Hah, I’d like to know that myself!
All I saw was a black liquid that looked like pitch-dark coffee.
The pot was filled right to the brim, surface tension barely keeping it from spilling. I didn’t even recognize the pot itself. Did Sera bring it? Some kind of ninja food? Wait, was this even food?
“Go ahead. Eat.”
Her jade eyes bore into me, so I turned away slightly and glanced at Eu. She didn’t even look at the dish. Maybe she knew it wasn’t actual food.
Or maybe she was just ignoring me. Well, that sucked.
“Miss Hellscythe. Please, you go ahead.”
“Wait! I’ll eat it.”
No way I was letting a girl eat this stuff. I scooped some of the black liquid with a ladle to pour it into a bowl.
Sizzle. The ladle melted like it had touched lava.
“Ayumu, something that weak won’t even survive contact with my cooking.”
What power! Was she a monster or what?!
So this… this was supposed to be food? Why put the ladle there if she knew it was gonna melt anyway?
“Just to check, you did put in seasonings, right? You know, for flavor?”
“Seasonings? Do you truly believe such trivial things could affect this dish?”
They wouldn’t work? What insane power!
Sera calmly scooped some of the black liquid with a sketchy little sieve and poured it onto a plate in front of me. It looked terrifying. No visible ingredients, just an ominous, pitch-black soup.
“Ayumu, you’d better hurry. Look, your plate is starting to melt.”
You want me to put something that melts dishes into my body?
Still, she made it for me. I had no choice but to eat it. I was already dead. What’s the worst that could happen?
With the kind of resolve you’d need to buy a house on a minimum-wage job, I poured the whole thing into my mouth in one go, then immediately spat it out.
My mouth went wild. I felt awful. Even without the ability to feel pain, my entire mouth was stinging like crazy.
Nope. I bolted to the kitchen for water.
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