Amidst the howling wind, the two of them continued to collide in a tense, relentless battle.
“I’ve been thinking this for a while now! You always try to handle everything by yourself!”
“Objection! I’ll wrap that statement in fancy paper and ribbons and hand it right back to you, Kaguya!”
The giant lance and the weighted end of the chain slammed together, producing a sharp, metallic shriek.
“Both of you, please stop!”
I shouted as loudly as I could, but my voice didn't seem to reach them. They just kept fighting.
Of course it didn't. They were fighting in midair.
I had no way to fly, so I needed something on the ground to draw their attention.
“What can I do...!”
I racked my brain, searching through my memories for a solution.
Miracle: Lightning Arrow? No, that wasn’t a good option.
They moved too fast; I might not even hit them. Since it was a precision strike rather than a wide-area attack, it probably wouldn’t be enough to grab their attention.
[Incarnation of Kings]? That was out too.
If I messed up, I might end up burning them both alive.
“Not this, not that... then what the hell do I have?”
No matter how hard I squeezed my brain, nothing came to me.
Up in the air, they clashed, and I had no way to stop them.
Even as I felt pathetic standing there helpless, I kept digging through my memories for something—anything.
“The sun will shine upon the Lord of Cinder.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean...!”
As I kept searching, I remembered Siegward’s cutscene.
Normally, I would have skipped right past it, but then I remembered the weapon in his hands.
“Storm Ruler!”
The weapon used to take down Yhorm, one of the Lords of Cinder. A greatsword whose “storm” technique drew lightning and wind together to unleash a massive slash.
In the game, it was a weapon that didn’t really show its full power outside of Yhorm’s boss fight, but here, who knew?
“Please, just this once!”
Praying the Storm Ruler would work, I pulled it from my inventory and equipped it.
I took my stance and activated the lightning. The wind whipping around us began to be sucked into the blade.
Whoooooosh!
Before long, the blade glowed a brilliant white.
“Got it! Now!”
Fwoom—!
I brought the Storm Ruler down in a powerful arc, unleashing a gigantic storm strike.
The storm slash announced its presence with a roar, cutting through the chaotic winds and revealing the moonlit sky above.
Thanks to that, Kaguya and Yuzuru’s attention finally turned to me.
“Both of you! Please stop fighting!”
“What are you talking about now? This has nothing to do with you anymore!”
“Agreement. Do not interfere.”
With that, they turned back to each other, preparing to resume their duel.
But I didn’t have the patience to just stand there and watch.
“I haven’t said who I choose yet!!! So! I’ll say it now!! My choice is both of you!!!”
This time, my shout seemed to get through, and their eyes snapped back to me.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Don’t be ridiculous!”
“Disdain. That answer is below elementary school level.”
I knew even as I said it that it sounded like a misunderstanding waiting to happen, but if it brought their attention back to me, that was fine.
“Whether it's Kaguya’s charm or Yuzuru’s charm, what difference does it make? You care about each other, and you love each other! What could possibly matter more than that?”
“But!”
“Yes! One of you may disappear! That’s exactly why I said it! My choice is both of you!”
“Question. Your intention is unclear.”
I took one deep breath and declared, “I have the power to seal both of you and let you live together from now on! I can save you without sacrificing either of you!”
“Don’t talk nonsense! A mere human—”
Could I really be called a “mere human”?
My answer was no.
“A mere human, you say!? Then who was it that split this wind apart? Who keeps coming back even after dying? Do you really think that’s something a ‘mere human’ can do!?”
If someone could cut through the wind with a storm slash, fire lightning arrows, and revive no matter how many times they were killed, calling them a “mere human” made no sense.
So.
“So please, just believe me once! Don’t you care about each other? Don’t you love each other?”
When I finished speaking, the two of them looked at each other, exchanging a silent understanding.
Then, tears spilled from their eyes, and just as they reached out toward one another—
Kiiiiiiing—!
With the roar of engines, a huge airship appeared between them.
“What the hell is that now?”
From the way it was closing in, it definitely wasn’t the [Fraxinus], and it looked hostile.
“Bad timing.”
Anyone who ruins the mood gets kicked out.
I readjusted the Storm Ruler in my hand.
I took my stance and gathered the storm into the blade.
As the energy collected, the steel turned a brilliant, blinding white.
“Now!”
I brought it down once more.
The storm slash unleashed from the Storm Ruler split the massive airship in two and kept going.
““[Raphael (Wind Knight)]! [El·Kanaph (One Who Runs Through the Sky)]!””
And with Kaguya and Yuzuru’s combined attack, the airship was completely obliterated.
*****
“Hieta! Sachi! Are you okay?!”
“Itsuka-kun? What’s that in your hand...?”
After everything was over, Shido and Tohka emerged from the forest near the beach.
But in Shido's hand was Tohka’s angel, [Sandalphon].
“I don’t know why, but [Sandalphon] was suddenly in my hand.”
“What on earth happened?”
Shido answered my question in detail.
He and Tohka had come out because the wind had suddenly picked up at night, and then a photographer and a bunch of unidentified robots appeared from nowhere and tried to drag them away.
While resisting, when Tohka was captured, he desperately wished to save her, and [Sandalphon] was summoned into his hand.
“What about Kaguya and Yuzuru!?”
“Ah, they’re coming down over there now.”
Right on cue, the two of them descended from the sky.
“Now then, Hieta. What is this method that will keep both of us from disappearing?”
“Question. What is that method?”
As soon as Kaguya and Yuzuru landed, they pressed me for an answer.
I looked at them and thought, I’m glad they believed me, then opened my mouth.
“It’s to seal both of your spirit powers at the same time.”
“Seal?”
“Yes. Seal.”
“Question. How do you seal them?”
“...Huh?”
Come to think of it, Shido’s sealing method was a kiss, but I didn’t actually know my own sealing method.
When I sealed Yoshino, I’d just gone along with it without thinking.
“What is it...!?!”
“Why are you suddenly going quiet?”
“Ugh...”
As I sweated bullets and agonized over a sealing method I had no idea about, a window popped up in front of me.
“Uh, d-do either of you happen to have spare clothes right now...?”
“Negative. We don’t.”
There was an item acquisition window in front of me for the soul of [Berserk], but I couldn’t take it yet.
The moment that item entered my inventory, Kaguya and Yuzuru’s physical bodies would disappear, leaving them naked.
“Kind one? Why are you sweating so much?”
“Well, you see...”
I whispered to the Fire Keeper beside me and explained what would happen if I sealed them.
Her face turned red, and she muttered, “Th-then we’ll need clothes...”
“Everyone! Are you okay?!”
And then Rinne appeared, carrying spare clothes.
“Rinne?”
“The wind stopped, so I figured Hieta must have succeeded in sealing them, so I brought clothes.”
Thanks to Rinne, we had spare clothes after all.
So I told Shido to turn around, then I turned around too and obtained the soul of [Berserk].
“Kyaa!”
“Kyah!”
From the screams I heard, it seemed their physical bodies had vanished.
“H-Hieta, you pervert!”
“Disgraceful. You’re a pervert!”
“Huh?!”
I’d deliberately turned around before sealing them, and now they were calling me a pervert out of nowhere.
I was about to argue back, but then I remembered they were naked and stopped.
“So, kind one. When will you answer my confession?”
“W-What?! Confession?!!!”
The confusion only worsened when the Fire Keeper suddenly revealed her feelings.
“So in the end, Sachi-san was the one who confessed.”
“Considering Hieta’s reaction, it seemed like confessing was the only way to get through to him.”
I could hear every whisper between Shido and Rinne, but I ignored them and said, “I... don’t think I can accept the confession.”
“...I see.”
As the Fire Keeper forced a bitter smile, tears began to fall one by one from her eyes.
“Ah, ahhh. S-sorry.”
The Fire Keeper wiped her tears and bowed her head, and Shido grabbed me by the collar, shouting, “Hieta! No! Why did you reject her!”
“It’s not because I dislike her! It’s not because I dislike her, okay!?”
Honestly, I knew the Fire Keeper and Yoshino both had feelings for me.
If I couldn’t see that much, then I was just an idiot.
But I’d been pretending not to notice.
I kept lying to myself, telling myself there was no way they could like me.
What I am now is a lie piled on top of lies.
“The way I am now is made of lies.”
“...What?”
“For one thing, I don’t even look like this normally, and at my core I’m just a weak, pathetic human...!”
They may like the person I am now, but that person is built on falsehoods.
So was it really okay to accept their love while wearing a false face?
I’d worried over that question dozens of times, and that’s why I’d deliberately kept pretending not to know.
“......”
When I finished speaking, the night beach welcomed us with a heavy silence; not a single voice spoke.
“A false face? So what?”
“...Huh?”
“Agreement. Even if that’s a false face, Hieta still saved us.”
It was Kaguya and Yuzuru, now fully dressed, speaking.
I had saved them, yes, but only because I didn’t want them to lose each other.
“Kind one. The kind one I’ve seen is not weak. And not pathetic either. If you were, you never would have linked the fire in our world.”
I linked the fire because I clung to the hope that I could go home.
If I hadn’t been able to go home, I would have given up long ago.
“And! We fell for your inner self, not your appearance!”
“Agreement. If it had just been a flashy outer shell, we wouldn’t have fallen for you.”
“......”
I couldn’t say anything.
I had never once imagined they would think that way.
I’d only ever shown them a false face.
“Please don’t put yourself down so much. Kind one saved me, and many others too.”
“......So that’s what everyone thought.”
Honestly, I still didn’t know.
Whether it was okay to accept their love as I am now.
But if they were saying that, what was I supposed to do?
“...Right. Understood.”
I should accept it.
“Then!”
The Fire Keeper’s face brightened at once.
But then—
“Uhh... it feels a little weird to suddenly accept a confession when Yoshino isn’t here...”
Come on, that would be awkward.
“There was... another one?”
“Ah.”
“A.”
I hadn’t told the Fire Keeper about her.
“Hmm. So that’s how it is...”
It was a little scary how the light vanished from the Fire Keeper’s eyes.
Huh? Why is she coming closer?
“Eek!”
The Fire Keeper hugged me tightly anyway.
“W-what!?”
“I’ll make sure you only look at me! And then I’ll make you accept my confession!”
Her confident declaration left me speechless.
“Ha! Fine! I’ll accept that challenge! Hieta is going to become my familiar anyway!”
“Affirmative. Yuzuru will win the Hieta contest.”
“...Haha. What a mess.”
I found myself thinking about a whole different problem now.
--------------------
[Berserk]'s Soul
One of the twisted souls imbued with power.
A soul glowing green, carrying an inexplicable wind within it.
Using it allows you to seal [Berserk]'s spiritual power within your body.
[Berserk] is a spirit with the power to control wind, and the twins are said to cherish each other most of all.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register