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Chapter 144: Parting ways
I’m so dead.
I can neither say nor do anything about this predicament.
I can’t do anything but stare dumbly at the Hero that’s about to strike me down in rage.
I only got a glimpse of Souma-kun’s sword approaching me, at least, I think I did. Ahh, so that’s a hero’s sword, it suits him.
“Momokawa! You, you killed Rei––”
Souma-kun’s wail was silenced by a deafening sound of metal hitting metal. It was a high pitched sound very familiar to anyone who’s lived long enough in the dungeon. It was the sound of blades clashing.
Large, brilliant sparks danced in the air. It’s beautiful, I thought nonchalantly.
“Whaf!”
I was hit by a gust of wind. My hair was flung back, and I closed my eyes on reflex.
“–– Kotarou-kun”
And when I opened them again, there she was.
“… Mei-chan?”
“Yes, Kotarou-kun, I’ve come to save you”
Her smile was that of an angel, nay, a goddess. That beautiful smile, that gaze filled with kindness was directed only at me. Is this how the devout feel towards their God? It must be, I’m certainly a believer now.
But the girl standing there was neither an almighty god, nor the goddess of beauty.
“Yeah, It’s… It’s been a while, Mei-chan”
Futaba Meiko. Calling : Berserker. She was the one person I could trust with all my heart.
“Futaba-san, what are you doing!”
Souma Yuuto bellowed.
Just now, I was about to be cut down by him. He saw Reina’s corpse and decided that I must be the killer. I am, though.
And as if trying to follow after her by killing me and dying from Pain Return, he swung his sword. But Mei-chan interfered. She used a huge black halberd and came at him from behind, fully intent on killing him.
But as expected of a hero, he sensed the danger, and swerved around, right as his sword was about to hit me, and parried the blow. He succeeded in defending, but because of his bad posture, he wasn’t able to brace his legs. Souma-kun was thus sent flying by Mei-chan’s attack. And again as expected, he landed flawlessly on the ground.
Anyway, this is how I avoided instant death.
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The only reason Souma-kun didn’t do a follow-up attack was because Mei-chan had placed herself between us, protecting me. She held the black halberd in her right hand and a black wall-shield in her left. She rooted her shield on the ground as if to hide me.
So I was now behind Mei-chan, literally the safest place in this whole goddamn dungeon. And now that I was safe, as in not petrified in the face of death, I sanely evaluated the situation.
“Futaba-san! I knew it, she did betray us!”
“W-wait, stop it, Yuuto-kun and Futaba-san, both of you need to calm down!”
Ah, that’s nostalgic, I thought as I verified that everyone had survived.
Looks like the Souma party that had left me to die hadn’t increased or decreased in members. They’re all familiar faces.
There’s your Souma Sakura, glaring at Mei-chan, and me behind her, as if we were her worst nemeses. Then there’s Class Rep, the ever hard working mediator, who was desperately calling for a ceasefire between Souma-kun and Mei-chan. She kinda looks exhausted. Is she alright? Maybe she wasn’t eating properly? I think I’ll treat her to some boar stew later.
A bit behind Sakura and Class Rep, there was the ‘already shaking in fear from the sudden turn of events’ duo, Takanashi Kotori and Natsukawa Minami.
I could also spot Kenzaki Asuna, the culprit behind my attempted but failed murder via pushing me out of the transport circle. She was turning pale when she saw Mei-chan, ready to fight and willing to kill. I see, so her trauma from being beaten black and blue by the berserker is still there.
But isn’t there something she needs to say to me after all this time? Like ‘Sorry’ or ‘Please forgive me’ or ‘It was wrong of me’? I wouldn’t forgive her with just an apology though.
“You three, Ueda, Nakai, and Shimokawa… I see, so you’re the bastards that helped him kill Reina!”
Yamada-kun’s there too. Don’t ignore him please.
And no, they’re all innocent! They tried their very best so that the reclusive NEET would see reality. They fought valiantly to keep the guardian beasts in check. Blaming them is completely and utterly unreasonable.
If you must, then blame me!
But playing attorney comes later.
There’s no longer room to talk once you draw your blades to kill. When there’s a weapon pointed at you, words only act as further provocation. That’s what it means to resort to violence.
“W-we didn’t do it!”
“Yeah, we only wanted to rescue–– ”
“Dudes, this is really bad, we gotta get out of here”
Correct you are, Shimokawa-kun. They’re the type that just don’t listen when they’re angry.
Well, since Reina is already dead, we can’t expect any excuse to pass.
I bet that Souma Sakura, she’d say that I had to save Reina no matter what, that I should have absolutely prevented her from dying and never resort to killing her in self-defense. Heck, she’d say that I should’ve died instead if it was a choice. I fucking bet she’d say all that with a straight face. It was Reina’s life > power gap > my life. For her, it’s a matter of subjective value.
So even say I was in court and the judge deemed it legitimate self-defense, the Souma siblings still wouldn’t have it in them to forgive me.
“I won’t… I’ll never forgive you!”
""
Look, he’s even saying that. His Cross Calibur looks like it’s about to go nuclear.
But now, I wasn’t in imminent danger. I had some time to think, all thanks to Mei-chan protecting me.
Mei-chan, she probably also realized that I was the one who killed Reina-chan. But she still aimed her blade at Souma-kun, her ally just moments ago, without the slightest hesitation. Only because she believes in me. She’s the only one in the world who’d say: My life > power gap > Reina’s life.
I say this every time: having someone’s trust feels absolutely fantastic.
If instead she was someone with a half-assed sense of justice, right now I’d be getting the ‘C’mon, It’s better to confess and atone for your crimes you know?’ treatment, that literally never works in your favor.
That’s how awesome she is. If we can’t get out of this now, we aren’t supposed to.
“Oh-kay people, I’d like to explain how this all happened, so let’s all put the pointy bits down alright? Ayase-san has died. Indeed it’s quite a tragic accident and–– ”
“You have some nerve! Momokawa-kun, I will NOT let you pass off murdering Reina as some kind of accident!”
“Class Rep, would you be so kind as to tell Souma-san to calm down? Otherwise, we simply can’t resolve this matter in peace”
“No Momokawa. I won’t listen to any more talk…”
Souma-kun glared at me in unrelenting hate. Terrifying. If Mei-chan wasn’t here, I would’ve shat my pants under that much bloodlust.
I figured him more reasonable than his hysterical sister –– but perhaps the fact that his childhood friend was killed sent his composure to orbit.
""
“This bitch… Shitting up my life even after death…”
I cursed at Reina who I still hate very much by the way. If only we’d met them at the next fairy square, We could’ve set our stories such that we never saw Reina, and it could’ve been such a happy reunion.
At the cost of her life, Reina had managed to get the Hero to direct his animosity at me. She practically put a curse on me. Me. A shaman. You can laugh now.
But for them to get transported here of all places and at the worst possible timing… I can hardly call it a coincidence. This was likely planned. Like by some mastermind who’s monitoring all of us inside the dungeon, or it could have been the gods. Maybe the god of spirit masters didn’t like that I killed Reina, and fiddled with the Souma party’s transport destination. I could totally believe that.
“No matter what reasons you had, I… I can’t forgive you for killing Reina”
Anyway, I’ll leave the matter of a mastermind for a later thought and should focus on the problem at hand. Souma-kun is serious. And he’s even saying that he won’t hear a single excuse from the culprit.
At this point, I don’t think anyone could stop him.
No, maybe Tendou-kun could. ‘Calm the fuck down’, he’d say, as he’d literally knock some sense into him with his fist?
I glance around to find, nope, no one else popped in.
“So you’re saying I should’ve died instead? She attacked me, and I was about to be killed. It was self-defense”
“Shut up! I don’t need your excuses”
“Stop, please stop this already! We can’t solve this by fighting amongst ourselves!”
“Ryouko, we can’t make amends anymore. Momokawa-kun he, killed Reina. Killing is his nature”
“Hey, I’m not a murderous psychopath alright… I, I had to kill her, it was her or me! If you got a problem with that, then why didn’t YOU come and save her! Don’t push the blame on me when YOU’RE the Hero and Saintess! If you need someone to hate, hate yourselves for not arriving on time, not me!”
Any negotiation would break down anyway. It wasn’t even on the table to begin with. Anything I said now was merely prolonging the inevitable, so I just said whatever.
“Futaba-san, please move out of the way. Let me, let me avenge Reina”
“No, you back off, Souma-kun. You heard what Kotarou-kun said: Ayase-san died by accident. You can’t blame him for it”
“Even if, that was the case… I can’t forgive Momokawa. I can never forgive him for stabbing Reina in the chest like that”
“Don’t do it, Souma Yuuto. Ayase-san wouldn’t want you to take revenge, would she?”
“!!”
He lost his words, not because I got through to him. And certainly not because Souma Yuuto somehow got the mental image of Reina sweetly saying to him ‘Please Yuu-kun, don’t hurt yourself for me.’
I was just adding oil to the fire. Me, the master baiter.
He was just so angry his words got stuck.
“If we really fight here… You will lose at least 3 people you know? Are you really suggesting your friends sacrifice themselves for someone who already died? That’s just too cruel”
Let’s simulate a total war. First, I can take out one of them with Pain Return. With me dead, Mei-chan will snap and use reagent X to go full berserker mode and wreak havoc. She can definitely kill 2 or more. If we played our cards right, everyone except Souma Yuuto would be dead.
But then, Mei-chan and I would die too, so no.
“Futaba-san, I’ll say it one last time. Move. If you don’t–– I will kill him even if I have to harm you”
“I will protect Kotarou-kun. If you mean him harm, then you’re my enemy… I kill my enemies. No exceptions”
It’s the climax. In the next moment, we might be in a no holds barred battle royale.
Which means, it’s now my turn.
“I celebrate your death with a curse upon your shell. In blood of black, meat of mud, head only empty. That shell contains a soul no more, but a false heart of dregs impure. Crawl, emerge, and resurrect –– Corpse-doll of Resentment”
I was out of mainly stamina, so my mana should hold. And look, I just so happen to have a fresh corpse right here.
Reina, if you can curse me even after death, I’ll curse you even if you’re dead. Now I’ll make you work, I’ll use you so I can survive.
“Freeze, you move one step and I cut”
Reina’s corpse reanimated and stood up beside me. I then brought out Higuchi’s butterfly knife that I’d put away, and touched it to Reina the Corpse-doll of Resentment’s face.
And I warned them, with the biggest grin I could muster.
“You wouldn’t want her corpse desecrated now would you?”
“MOMOKAWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
Souma Yuuto roared in ear-bursting rage. As for the little sister, she wore an expression best described as ‘disgust beyond perceivable bounds.’
But freeze they did. Not one of them moved. For them, even the corpse worked as an excellent hostage.
Good for you, Reina. They care so much, even if it’s just your soulless body.
And good for me, I can use that to get out of here.
“You let us go free here, and I’ll leave the body clean. But If I detect even a hint of you tracking us, like with an elemental, I can’t guarantee her treatment. Now, if you don’t want your cute childhood friend to undergo some intense amateur surgery, I suggest you don’t do anything stupid”
They have no way to rescue her. After all, the one under the proverbial hood of Reina’s corpse is none other than my loyal minion Rem, my ever so adorable little mud doll.
And Rem knows exactly what I’m playing at. So there’s no way the hostage will run away. The criminal and hostage are on the same team, so we’ll both be extra careful not to show any openings. Like if Souma Yuuto lunges at me, Rem would gladly use her body to take the damage.
With Rem’s utmost level of cooperation, I’ll have no trouble walking while in the hostage holding pose either.
“Let’s go, Mei-chan. Looks like it’ll be back to just us again. Sorry”
“Don’t be. I’m happy as long as you’re there”
She really annihilated my heartstrings with that one. I’m really gonna fall in love. Nope, already have. It’s to the level where I’m terrified of the mere concept of not being with her.
No, keep it together, me. Stuff like that comes after we get out of here safely.
“Shimokawa-kun, can I get an Aqua Mist?”
“Eh!?”
The guy jumped when I suddenly addressed him. Hold it together man, once I’m out, you’re gonna need to lead the party.
“You guys are innocent, I’m the one who killed Reina. If you come with me, they’ll come after you too. So this is where we part ways. Thanks for everything”
In truth, I would’ve preferred not losing the war-potential, but there’s no merit in them following me while I’m being hunted by the Souma party. Whether they want to prove their innocence through discussion, or also run away because of the awkwardness, I’ll leave it to their discretion.
“D-dude… Are you sure about this?”
“Yeah, I got Mei-chan with me after all. If we ever cross roads, let’s fight together again”
“Yeah… See ya, Momokawa! Aqua Mist!!”
Under the thin veil of mist, Mei-chan and I exit the fairy square.
“Momokawa… I’ll never forgive you for this”
“But I’ll forgive you anytime Souma-kun. I hope you can calm down by the next time we meet. Then we can peacefully talk it out”
Souma-kun’s fiery glare and my icy glance crossed for just an instant. The square was quickly shrouded in mist and we were both out of each others’ sights.
And so, Mei-chan and I, no, I guess Rem in Reina’s body makes three of us; back to the old gang, now that I think about it. And so, the three of us once again entered a tunnel leading further into the depths of the dungeon.