Field Battle (1)

At long last, the day had arrived for my slave battle with Shiraki… the Field Battle.

The inner courtyard of Lurati Castle was packed with a throng of people.

"… What is with this turnout?"

"Welcome, Naoto Akai-sama."

Vyletta came to greet me.

"… Gau."

The Weretiger girl who had apparently shown up just to make a token appearance… her name, it seemed, was Presea.

"Ohh, Naoto-kun, the time has come, hasn't it! I'm rooting for you!"

"… Inasmuch as we are the seconds for this duel, we stand neutral. We must not lend our weight to either side."

… And yet here she was, coming out to greet me. What was up with that?

"Hizaki-san, Himuro-san, hello."

"… Long time no see, Naoto Akai. Are you fully prepared?"

"Sario, it's been a while too."

What was going on? Eclair's whole crew had turned out to greet me. Or maybe it was just that Shiraki hadn't arrived yet.

In which case… she would be here too.

"How are your preparations? Naoto."

The host of the duel, Eclair Feradria, had also come to greet me.

"Yeah, with this huge a crowd, it's all rather grand, isn't it."

"Yes, the number of guests who wished to spectate this battle was greater than expected. Several S-Class Masters have come too… Among them, Ursula Belzebute-sama and others."

Well, I already knew Ursula was here.

Somewhere along the castle wall overlooking the courtyard… ah, that area in the middle was the VIP box. I could spot Ursula.

She and her companions were waving to me, so I waved back.

"You really are drawing a lot of attention. I wonder if it's the magazine's effect?"

Hearing that, Patty was puffing herself up proudly.

"The state of the duel will be conveyed in full by a great number of magic cameras.

"Naturally, since this is an A-Class-or-higher battle, there will be information shielding…

"What gets concealed is only the granular detail of class, element, and skills.

"How much damage is dealt and which side has the advantage, all of that will be conveyed in full, and nothing will obscure any of you in your beauty, charm, and allure.

"… I look forward to a wonderful battle."

So Eclair told me.

"… So no information about the conditions is given out in advance, then."

"Yes, in the interests of fairness. Neither side will know about the destination of the transfer.

"Shogo has not yet arrived, but please go on ahead up to the platform."

Led by Eclair, I climbed up onto the platform that had been set up in the center of the courtyard.

There stood a great gate, and a single woman wrapped in a robe.

"… Why are you here?"

Yuria's face twisted in distaste, as if to say ugh.

"Eclair-sama sent a request to the Magicians' Association for help adjusting the game, and they were short-handed, so I came. Honestly, with two precious UR-Class magicians having just left lately…"

Saying that, she removed her robe, and her appearance was…

A beautiful girl who looked so much like Yuria you could mistake her for her.

If anything she might have looked the slightest bit more grown-up? Well, the difference between sixteen and seventeen was trivial. Beyond that, her hair was a slightly deeper shade of pink.

But other than that, she really did look just like Yuria.

"Yuria, who is this?"

"… Hah, Lyuka, introduce her."

As if she didn't want to touch the matter, Yuria's tone stayed curt.

The other woman, meanwhile, was beaming happily as she looked at Yuria's face.

This attitude…

"This person here is Almaria. The summit of the Magicians' Association that oversees the world's magicians, and the very pinnacle of the seven UR-Class magicians who exist in the world… the legendary 'Witch.' An S-Class NPC.

"And Yuria's mother."

"Hello, my name is Almaria. Yuria has always been in your care."

Almaria-san dipped her head with a smile.

"Ah, no, no, not at all. The pleasure is mine, Yuria-san is always taking such great care of me…!"

I bowed my head in turn.

It had been a while since Patty's Pamela-san. Greeting a comrade's mother, I meant.

"Ohh… so does this mean Naoto-san has caught Almaria-sama's notice as well!?"

Patty butted in.

"My, Patty-chan. Hello. Yes. He is the man my daughter has been so indebted to. I had been thinking I should pay my respects in person sooner or later… so this seemed a good opportunity, and I came myself."

"Huh, Patty knows her too? Or is it because of the magazine work?"

A reporter would visit important people often, I supposed.

"Yeees, I always have her cooperation for interviews～.

"But, since she's Mama's party member, I've known about Almaria-sama for a long time～."

"Patty just has an exceptionally wide network. The first time I met Patty was alongside Naoto. If anything, Lyuka was more familiar with Patty than I was."

Edging away from Almaria-san for some reason, Yuria whispered into my ear.

Almaria-san watched the scene unfold with a smile.

Just like Pamela-san, she had that mom-energy combined with cuteness and an erotic vibe.

… If this person had been the one adjusting the System, then surely she'd built it fairly and properly. I felt convinced of it.

This person could be trusted. That was the impression she gave.

As we were chatting like that…

"Shiraki Shogo-sama has arrived."

So one of Eclair's NPCs reported.

"I see. Then please, show him through."

Za, za, za…

Shogo Shiraki, along with his knights, came through.

Among them were Yumi Tsuchiya… and one more, an unfamiliar figure.

A beautiful woman. Hair the deep red-black of blood. And… her eye. A black eyepatch over the right.

And on her right arm, what looked like a gauntlet… a prosthetic?

How to put it… an unusual Garumon.

A beauty without a doubt… and quite a cute one. On top of that, her breasts were full and bouncy, plump, and erotic.

But her gaze was extremely sharp.

The air of someone who had crossed countless lines between life and death, like a battle-hardened mercenary, something along those lines.

Even so, she was beautiful… cute.

"Heheh… Naoto Akai-kun… I never imagined we would settle things in this fashion.

"I'd figured once Kensei Yamagata got his hands on Kanan Kazami, he would rise to A-Class and we'd settle it then."

Shiraki greeted me with his usual phony cheer.

"Well, on my end, I figured whoever had secured Yumi Tsuchiya was probably you. There weren't any other notable characters worth speaking of."

"…"

Glare. Shiraki's eyes sharpened.

"But hey, weren't you supposed to be a slightly more wholesome sort of character? If you'd been kinder, properly protected Tsuchiya-san, treated her with respect… by now you might've been her boyfriend the normal way? Wasting an opportunity like that… aren't you an idiot?"

"… Shut it… Hoh? You've shed the 'otherworld' tag, have you. Looks like you've duped Kanan quite nicely.

"… Ahaha, in other words, unlike this defective trash-girl, you can have your way as much as you please, huh…! Ahaha, isn't that great! I figured Kanan would be even more useless than Yumi, but as a slave she turned out to be excellent!

"You should learn from him too, Yumiii…!"

So saying, Shiraki grabbed a handful of Tsuchiya-san's breast.

"… Yes."

Yumi was glaring at me with dark eyes.

… What was up with that? Had I said something to make her angry? Well, her being in a foul mood couldn't be helped.

"So, who's that beauty over there? She wasn't here last time, was she?"

"O-Ohh… th-this person is…"

Ton, gui…

The beauty pushed Shiraki aside and stepped before me. She wasn't as tall as I'd thought. Maybe one hundred sixty, if that.

But her breasts were big… wonderfully sexy. Full of flair. Erotic…

And, well, ogling too long would be rude.

"You're Naoto Akai. Name's Griera. Just an unremarkable mercenary.

"In this world there are mercenaries like me who hire out their fighting strength for money. Worth remembering."

"I see… But, I'm not really fond of this 'for money' bit.

"How about getting friendlier first, becoming friends, and then lending me your strength?

"That way I'd spare no expense in repaying you.

"If a friend was strapped for cash: no interest, no collateral, no ceiling."

I tried to pitch a counter-recruitment right out of the gate.

"… Heheh, you're more interesting than I thought! I wanted to see for myself just what the rumored otherworld Master was made of.

"That's why I bought into the pitch of this cheapskate of a man.

"… If, after going to all this trouble, the result turns out cheap and dull, that'd be a serious letdown.

"In that case… I'd just have to make you pay me back with that body of yours."

Glare. Griera glared at me threateningly.

I got a crude, rough vibe off her… but there wasn't any malice.

Why was that? Well, because she was a beauty, no doubt.

Beautiful girls really had it good… no matter what they said or did, just being beautiful got them forgiven.

"… Well, I'd find fighting you a lot more fun than fighting Shiraki anyway. I look forward to it."

"… Haha, listen to him! I like you!

"… I'll seriously crush you.

"If you somehow survive… fine. When that time comes, I'll be your friend.

"After that, I'll take your jobs as a friend."

"Oh, wonderful. Just being able to add Yumi Tsuchiya to my party would be more than I could ask for, and to top it off, becoming friends with this cute girl too. This is the best."

I held out my hand.

"C-Cute, huh… you really are a strange one…"

Griera shook my hand back.

"… Griera.

"I told you before that among the C-Class Masters, there are several individuals with S-Class-equivalent strength.

"… She is one of them."

Lyuka, apparently familiar with her, supplied the explanation.

"… So she's actually S-Class but it'd be too much hassle, so she stays C-Class? That kind of thing?"

"Yes, exactly so."

What was with that chuunibyou-fantasy character…

"She does look strong… so are we talking Ursula-tier?"

"That, I cannot say. However, among the lower S-Class, Ursula is a fair distance up the rankings.

"Even when we say 'S-Class equivalent,' there's almost no gap between the strongest A-Class and the weakest true S-Class. From that angle I'd put her closer to the strongest A-Class…"

… One look had told me she seemed strong, but she was apparently even stronger than I'd guessed.

… Eh, hiring an S-Class-tier mercenary, that was allowed? No, with a whole week of leeway, that much preparation was perfectly possible.

This was bad. I hadn't anticipated it at all.

"Now then… Let us make clear the rewards for each side's victory.

"In the event that Shiraki Shogo wins, he may select up to eight of Akai Naoto's Garumon, starting with Kanan Kazami, and seize them.

"In the event that Akai Naoto wins, he takes Yumi Tsuchiya. Furthermore, the fourteen Garumon from Reido Academy under Shiraki's faction shall be released and returned to a free state. If, while free, they wish to return to the Shiraki faction, an appropriate sum of money will be paid and they shall be returned. If they do not wish it, they themselves shall decide their road afterward, whether to become NPCs, sell themselves to the System, or otherwise.

"Also, the crimes that Shogo Shiraki and his ilk have committed shall be made clear, and atonement made for them.

"… The reason Akai Naoto's Garumon count is capped at eight is that Yumi Tsuchiya and Kanan Kazami are of equal value. The fourteen Garumon owned by Shogo Shiraki's faction were calculated as equivalent to five of Akai Naoto's Garumon. On top of that, punitive authority over a fellow A-Class Master is, by privilege, calculated as equivalent to two Garumon, which yields the totals.

"… Are there any objections?"

"… Hold on a moment. Fourteen for five, that's far too cruel a ratio, isn't it?"

Shiraki voiced a complaint.

"I was not asking you. The market price for a UR-Class with Value 5000 is properly around ten times that of a top-tier SSR. Add the Ultimate Job, and it commands an even higher price.

"I held it down to a mere threefold, just so you would find it acceptable."

"…"

Shiraki could only fall silent.

"I have no objections on my side… I'm going to win anyway."

That was how I answered. By now I'd grown thoroughly used to wagering Kanan.

Ever since coming over to this side, I'd been wagering nonstop.

… And in every one of those gambles, I'd kept on winning.

This time too, I would win. That was all.

It wasn't that I took the chip called Kanan lightly. Losing her would be on par with losing my own life, or even worse.

That was how gravely I weighed it.

… And still I went on betting. For me, who had set my sights on climbing to the top of this world, that was the chip I had to pay.

"I am very much looking forward to it."

Eclair, looking absolutely delighted, had her cheeks flushed.

She seemed to be in quite the high spirits.

… But I was the one in the highest spirits.

The pattern of setting a goal, having a daunting obstacle rise up to oppose me, and clearing it had been repeating constantly.

… And this time too, an obstacle far higher than I'd foreseen had risen up.

What was up with this Field Battle. Who in the world was that Griera? It wasn't supposed to be just a fight against Shogo Shiraki!?

Those were the kinds of things I felt like saying.

But… but, even so.

The stronger the enemy, the more my heart blazed with the thought, "this is going to be fun."

… If it had simply been a fight against Shogo Shiraki as expected, frankly I wouldn't have considered it that tough.

If it had been just Yumi Tsuchiya alone, she might have been a bit of a handful.

But in tactics, combat technique, strategy, all of it, I couldn't see myself losing to Shiraki.

There were almost no opponents at Reido Academy who could stand against me… maybe Eclair Feradria and Sario Shard, and that was about it.

In a normal fight against Shiraki, I'd probably have won easily without much of a struggle.

Eclair Feradria had taken what would have been a tepid match like that and turned it into this much of a tense, exciting battle.

… I felt nothing short of grateful.

Now my fingertips trembled. A chill ran down my spine. My odds were thin. I might lose.

No, in terms of pure combat strength, no matter how I looked at it, I was losing.

Against an A-Class opponent, an S-Class-equivalent had been brought in as reinforcement, you said?

… You had to be kidding. By straight calculation, there was no chance of winning.

From here on, only with luck on my side could I somehow survive… that was the kind of fight this had become.

"Haru, change of plan."

"… Eh?"

Right before going off to the battlefield, the final huddle.

"The signal flares right at the start… I'm the only one shooting them up. I'll draw every enemy onto me. Haru, you just attack.

"I'm going to run. Run and run and run, and think only about desperately surviving.

"Haru, you focus only on bringing down Shiraki. Hunting the knights along the way is fine.

"But run from Griera.

"If you get tangled up with her and the attack team gets crushed, it's all over. Of course, if Griera's team is still scattered and you can pick them off, do that. But if Griera's grouped up with her team, run away."

"… G-Got it."

Haru looked like she had a lot to say, but she swallowed it.

"All right, may I have your team rosters?

"Naoto-san is… Naoto-san and seven others, split apart. Haru-san's knight team is six. Understood.

"Shiraki Shogo-san is… Shiraki and eight, plus Griera and four, split apart. Knight teams of eight in seven groups. Understood.

"… Now then, the main team members first. Please pass through the gate one by one in order. We've adjusted things so you all emerge simultaneously, so go through in good rhythm."

… And so, starting with Kanan and Yumi… they passed through the gate.

"Yumi… I'll save you."

"… What are you saying, talking down to me like that? You're the one who needs to wake up.

"This world… is hell. There is no salvation anywhere.

"… You should lose everything too, and despair."

… So Yumi laughed darkly.

And one by one, in turn, they passed through the gate.

"… Indeed, you've got some lovely Garumon in tow. For someone like Akai…

"Well, from here on I'll pamper them.

"Heheh, plenty of non-virgin Garumon among them, aren't there. That Maika Yukishiro, the first-year's number-one beauty Setsuna Akai…

"Haru, in her current shape I wouldn't mind taking her to bed either. And then… Angel Luna!?

"Heheh, this is going to be fun… heehee…"

Shiraki had cast off his usual mask of a gentleman, laughing crudely.

I ignored him and looked over to Griera's party.

First, Griera…

"… Huh? Curious about my party? Well, let me give a quick rundown.

"This one here is Irana."

A girl with reddish-brown hair, a backpack, shorts, and a T-shirt. Cute.

Her chest was big, so the T-shirt clung to her ample swells in a very erotic way.

Overall, a plump, erotic girl.

"Heya, I'm Irana. Nice to meet ya."

She came across as a cheerful, bright, cute girl.

"Next is Klara."

A blue-eyed blonde with a French-noble-style beauty. The bearing of a chaste, lovely lady.

… Of course, her breasts were big and very erotic.

"My name is Klara. Pleased to meet you."

"Introductions…? What a bother. I am Lizalind. If you don't want to die, do not stand before me."

A silver-haired girl. Her tone was cool, but somewhere about her I sensed a wild aura, like a mad dog. A Beastkin girl.

Her ears weren't cat ears but dog ears. Even so… I had a feeling they weren't the same as Leone's Inugami.

"She's a Werewolf."

Ah, one of the seven top-tier Beastkin subspecies. Calling her a wolf-girl, but that didn't mean she transformed into a wolf; she just looked like a normal dog-eared girl.

"… Inugami, huh. A disgrace to Beastkin who hold almost none of the wild's power."

Lizalind got openly hostile with Leone.

… Were Inugami disliked by other races, I wondered?

… At any rate, the size of her breasts was on par with Leone's. Magnificent.

"The last one is Kishilia. Under this round's rules, she's probably the strongest of us. If you run into her, I'd recommend running.

"If you can run, that is."

Griera, sounding self-assured, gave that advice.

"…"

Kishilia gave a quiet bow. Her brown hair swayed silkily. A fragile, see-through… almost transparent-seeming girl.

Beautiful… but well, the size of her breasts was alluring far beyond fragile.

Counting Griera herself, the overall stockpile of nicely-shaped huge breasts on display here was great. In that respect, she and I would probably get along great.

"… How about it? My companions."

"Yeah, they're all incredibly cute. And they're beautiful, and their breasts are big… it's the best."

"Aha, ahaha! You really get it!"

Griera laughed in good humor.

"Yeah, the breasts on these girls are the best. Of course… that includes me too.

"Will you actually get the chance to enjoy them, I wonder?"

"… So far in this world, every wish I've made has come true. If I keep having all of them come true right to the end… I guess that's how it'll go."

"… Heheh, you're an interesting one! Fine, you're interesting. When I catch you and finish you off, I'll repeat that line of yours back to you while I'm killing you."

"… Heheh."

Inwardly chilled and frightened, I forced an air of composure and laughed an audacious laugh.

… Now, at last… it was the start. I passed through the gate.

And I was alone in the forest.

"… Now then… the transfer of all participants is complete. Beginning now… A-Class rank 118 Akai Naoto and… A-Class rank 34 Shiraki Shogo's…

"Field Battle, will commence."

So the announcement boomed out…

And the game began.

Waaaaaaah…

From somewhere, I heard cheering… ah, that was from the broadcast.

The announcement was probably being relayed from a nearby magic camera.

I checked the system instantly. Maxed out the map… It was set up so you couldn't exit the 100km range, with the bounds shown on the map.

For starters, my position was… roughly in the middle? That might be a help. I could go either north or south, but as planned, I'd direct everyone north.

Red, yellow, red. I shot up the signal flares.

Bashu, bashu, bashu…

Bom, bom, bom!

Far up in the sky, red, yellow, red giant flowers bloomed.

The lights hung in plain sight for a good ten seconds before finally vanishing. Real conspicuous. They'd be visible from far away.

… What if Lyuka missed them…

No, it should be fine. A Garumon could easily leap ten meters with a single jump. Going up that high, I'd already pre-tested with borrowed flares that fireworks of that size wouldn't be missed even from a hundred kilometers off.

Ah, but being alone was uncomfortable.

I'd always had someone right beside me. There had hardly been any time when I was alone. Was being alone really this lonely?

I'd thought of myself as basically a loner type who could stay calm even when alone… but actually, Haru, Setsuna, and Maika had been keeping me company quite often, and ever since I'd come over to this side, Kanan had been glued to me. There had hardly been any time I was alone.

… The wait until Lyuka arrived felt slow as forever…

Then, a gate appeared, and…

"Naoto-san."

"Lyuka…!"

When the familiar form of Lyuka appeared, I instinctively pulled her into a hug.

"… S-Sorry."

"I'm pleased that you'd embrace me, but let us hurry. We will run north."

So saying, Lyuka released something.

"I've planted a decoy that leaves a trace of us hiding in this area. If it can stall them even a little, it'll be worth it."

Next… Lyuka took out a pigeon.

"… Scout the surroundings."

Foo, Lyuka let the white pigeon fly. The pigeons flew off in every direction at incredible speed.

"It's a basic search-spell. Whatever the pigeons see, I can see in real time as well."

"… Whoaaa…"

I let out some kind of dumb-sounding gasp.

What absolute thoroughness. As the first one to rendezvous, hadn't Lyuka been just about the optimal pick?

And then Lyuka hoisted me onto her back, and…

Tan!

With leg-strength unbecoming of a magician, she leapt.

Probably a leap aided by magic. Leaving no footprints, soundless, she tore along like the wind at incredible speeds.

"Amazing…"

"I will protect you no matter what, Naoto-san.

"… Naoto-san's transfer destination appears to be roughly the dead center of the 100km square.

"The easiest spot to rendezvous from, but the easiest to be tracked from too.

"It's the most fiercely contested zone. We need to leave it, urgently."

So saying, Lyuka kept running like the wind.

And without anything in particular happening, ten minutes or so passed. The map was just so vast…

Moving at fifty kilometers an hour for ten minutes, we'd covered about eight kilometers. Had someone arrived where I'd been by now? Or in just ten minutes was it still nowhere close?

That was when it happened.

Bom, bom, bom!

A sound like distant thunder rang out far away.

"Signal flares, Shiraki's side!"

"I'll go look!"

Lyuka leapt up to confirm the situation.

"This is the situation."

Lyuka quickly inscribed colors onto the map.

"Nothing close by… huh.

"In our direction of travel, the yellow's the closest… and even that one's thirty kilometers off."

Ten lights had gone up. More than the seven knights and eight on Shiraki's side… did that mean it was Griera's party?

Or maybe Yumi and the others on Shiraki's party had fired theirs too…

In that case the numbers didn't add up.

"… There's also the possibility, against our expectations, that they're surprisingly close.

"If they had come this far, they'd have enough sense to keep from firing flares."

"I see… what about the pigeons?"

"They are still flying. They have not found anything in particular. Please be aware that letting the pigeons out can also give away our location."

"Right…"

In our direction of travel, one pigeon was still in flight. The fact that it hadn't been spotted, and hadn't seen anything, did mean for now there was nothing that way, but…

"In any case, let's keep moving north."

"Yes!"

Lyuka swept me up again and took off running.

But less than three minutes later…

"… A pigeon's been taken down. If we keep going straight on this course, we'll engage the enemy!"

It was sudden.

"Who is it?"

"It looked like several individuals. Probably one of the opposing knight teams. As for which one…"

"No, who it is doesn't matter."

Knights, huh…

What to do. Could we slip past them? If we didn't keep going forward, our rendezvous point with the others…

But there was no telling how close everyone had gotten.

Could they be there in a few more minutes? Or were they still very far away?

This was way too fast no matter how you looked at it.

The opponents were probably positioned to our north. Seeing that our signal was close, they'd come south. Because we'd kept moving north, we'd engaged this fast.

In short, before rendezvousing with anyone else, we'd already been spotted by an enemy. Unexpectedly fast.

"Knowing we'll engage if we keep going, we can't keep going. Let's change direction."

"East, west, south… which?"

"The pigeons… no problems anywhere?"

"Yes… ah…! West is no good…! It's a dragon! A wyvern… ah, flames!"

"Lyuka!?"

"It's no good. It got shot down.

"That was… probably Kishilia. Kishilia's wyvern… it's flying with Kishilia on its back.

"Already very close! That's probably the fastest thing inside this field! She's a Monster Tamer.

"If we engage her, she might bring out one powerful monster after another…!"

"A Monster Tamer with a wyvern…"

Of all the things conceivable… no, I hadn't anticipated that. A worse opponent than I'd imagined.

We had no choice but to flee east.

… I was being driven into a corner sooner than expected.

Pika! Dogoooo! Dogo! Dogooo…!

Bashu!

A red signal flare went up to the north… extremely close.

That was probably the signal that they'd found a pigeon. Which was to say… the signal that they'd found me.

A signal that I had to be nearby, no doubt.

They were blowing the surrounding trees away, searching for me.

The wyvern would come rushing in.

A wyvern plus a knight, with just Lyuka and me. How far could we keep running?

If it came to that, we'd just have to fire signal flares of our own and bet on our companions making it in time.

But while we hadn't been found by either the wyvern or the knight, firing flares was probably premature.

Just Lyuka and me. If we hid in the shadows of the trees, was there any chance we wouldn't be found…?

"Once they get within fifty meters, the system display will detect us.

"Don't underestimate the Garumon's athletic ability. Just by dashing while bringing up the system display, they can sweep a several-kilometer radius in less than a minute!"

"R-Right, that's right. I can't make rosy estimates…"

No good, I was getting confused too, going faint of heart.

Once the wyvern flew overhead, we were done.

This was bad… they were going to find us…!

"Naoto-kun!"

Just then…

"Luna…!"

Aaah…! She'd made it! She made it…! Aaah, an angel, a real angel, Luna…!

Luna, who came rushing to my side radiating light, looked exactly like an angel.

All right… with this, at least we could put up a fight…!

Knight or Monster Tamer, bring it on!

… Well, no, that wasn't quite how it would go. Especially Kishilia… she was bad. Just how strong were the monsters she had with her, wyvern included!?

The kind of opponent we'd die against unless we fought in top condition.

And on top of that, with a wyvern's overwhelming mobility…! Way too much to handle!

"… Leave it to me. If I hold Naoto-kun and fly with all my strength, even a wyvern won't outpace us!"

"… All right, that's the only option.

"Let's just get away from that wyvern. Worst case… it's fine even if knights tangle with us! Knights, with Lyuka and Luna on our side, we can manage them somehow!"

I returned Lyuka to her capsule once, had Luna scoop me up, and…

Bashu!

Luna flew north at high speed.

Aim for the rendezvous point, just run…!

I couldn't feel like I was alive. How far we could keep running like this, whether before that Haru would actually defeat Shiraki for me.

Or… if Haru got struck down before that, everything would be over.

Hurry, hurry, hurry…!

Cradled in Luna's arms, I flew.

… The softness of Luna's breasts, in that moment, lent me courage.