Field Battle (4)

This chapter shifts viewpoints in the form of:

Naoto's POV

 

*

 

Side: ××

No matter how I thought about it, reaching her at this kind of speed should have been impossible. Not by ordinary movement, anyway.

… I had stuffed Lyuka into her capsule, had Luna activate Angel Halo to double her stats, and let her fly.

That put our speed at around 360 km/h, and the nearly 40-kilometer distance had taken just seven minutes to cross.

"… Even though Colette put her tiny little body on the line, working desperately to keep me from reaching you, the very person she was protecting just shows up. That's the kind of stupid move that pisses me off."

Griera said so as she straightened her clothes.

She glared sharply at me. Beneath her eyepatch was a beautiful eye that shone violet.

Heterochromia. Real chuunibyou catnip… She really was pretty.

"I felt the same, but thanks to her, I made it before Colette could get violated.

"I'm a consensual-sex sort of guy, so I really hate rape."

"It's not like I particularly enjoy rape myself, but that's the victor's right, isn't it? Would be a waste not to savor it."

"Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that one."

I kept my conversation with Griera calm.

"… Well. The fact that you came tearing in for Colette's sake even half-broken… that's not bad. There aren't many Masters like that.

"… But that precious Colette of yours was about to be raped, you know? And you don't get angry?"

"… Well, sure, seeing Colette attacked was a shock, and it did make me angry, but I can tell you only used your mouth on her so far… and on top of that, Griera's nude body was so super-erotic and tempting I'll let it slide."

"… Ahaha. You really are a weird guy. So… did you actually think you could just stroll up in front of me and walk away with no flowers in your head?

"… Luna, Lyuka. Just two of you left. Looks like you've been through some serious battles…

"But you really think those two can beat me?"

Bachi… bachibachi… bachi…

"Well, of course. I came… to save Colette. Coming all this way just to lose wouldn't make any sense.

"… My world has a saying: 'Once you've fought one-on-one, you're friends.' If I'm going to be friends with you, I won't be satisfied unless we settle things first, will I?

"… Even if Shiraki lost on his own and someone tried to tell me I'd won, it wouldn't sit right."

"… Hah. So you intend to win cleanly? Don't look down on me too much."

And then… having finished straightening her clothes, Griera squared up.

If we'd attacked her partway through, she'd have just fought us as she was. There had been no opening, not a hint of carelessness anywhere.

Even so, with her boobs and futanari cock right there, that would have been hugely distracting, so waiting until she finished dressing had been a good call.

"Naoto-san."

"Naoto-kun."

"… Good, Luna, Lyuka… Just like we planned."

"… Yes."

"Yes!"

And so… the bout began. My odds of winning… were real. The opponent was alone, and our side… was three.

"I'll finish this in one strike! Dual Shot. Demon Art - Desperate Magic Bullet!"

Dadan!

"Naoto-sama, no!"

In that instant, Colette cried out.

But even with her shouting, this was the only way to protect Lyuka and Luna!

In this Field Battle, where the battlefield's rules were loose all over, I figured I could pull the same kind of stunt as in an Out-of-Battle Battle!

I leapt out in front, with Lyuka and Luna hiding behind my back. In reality, our speeds were so different that Lyuka and Luna had finished hiding before I even leapt out, but still.

Then I'd eat it on my Master HP! It was the same one-trick-pony method I'd used over and over in our Out-of-Battle Battles!

Dan! Dan!

The bullets hit me with the force of pure impact. I felt like my ribs were going to crack… Even knowing I wouldn't die, it was still terrifying!

Especially this Desperate Magic Bullet thing. I had an absolute conviction that being shot by it meant death!

Twisting my instinctive fear aside to leap in front of those bullets had been genuinely terrifying.

But the damage was only 2.

Thank god.

If they'd hit Lyuka or Luna, it would have been instant death. If that had happened, we'd have lost, so I'd had no other option, but still.

Thanks to my hefty 30 Master HP, I could afford some recklessness.

"All right, Luna, Lyuka, I'll protect you from everything, so take Griera down!"

"Yes! Angel Halo!"

"Light's Blessing…!"

"… Impossible, the Master is shielding the Garumon!? … No, well, with that Master HP, I guess it works. But it's way out of common sense! Besides… against my technique, that's a bad move on your part."

Griera pointed out.

"…!?"

The two bullets embedded in my chest didn't lose momentum. They kept shoving forward, trying to pierce my heart.

1pt, 1pt of continuing damage was set to tick every following turn. 26/30.

"… Dual Shot, Demon Eye of Lightning, Infinite Bullet!"

Dadan!

24/30

What was this, way too fast! Luna and Lyuka couldn't get out in front of me in time.

"You really intend to take it all head-on! … I'll tell you this much: my Desperate Magic Bullet doesn't stop until it reduces the opponent's HP to 0, even if I myself become incapacitated. You're done. Four minutes left… no, you've taken two hits, so two minutes."

"… I see."

I forced a strained smile, my one bit of bravado.

Eeeeeeeh!? She had a technique like that!? This was a huge failure!

I'd messed up plenty of times before, but this was a worst-ever-level catastrophic failure.

… No, if I hadn't taken the hits, Luna and Lyuka would have gone down and that would have been game over. Just buying two minutes was a win in itself.

If Haru could take down Shiraki within those two minutes, I'd win!

… Impossible, right, things wouldn't go that smoothly. But if Haru had been heading straight for Shiraki this whole time without trouble, then by now… by now she ought to be on the verge of taking him down!

"Two minutes is plenty to take you down! Luna, Lyuka!"

"I won't let Naoto-san's HP drop any further! Divine Art Cláu Solas!"

"This is how I make a multi-target attack land a critical. Shining!"

The instant Luna sliced Griera, Lyuka closed the distance and detonated her area-effect magic right at Griera's chest.

"Gah! Cough!"

Griera was blown backward. Solid damage. Her HP plunged below half in one go.

Lyuka's Shining was now out of charges, but Holy Light might still get the job done.

"… Not bad, you all. It's been a while since I got rattled enough to take a hit cleanly.

"… Shadow Hide."

Suuu…

"… Eh?"

But the next moment, Griera's figure had vanished.

"A concealment skill!?"

What was this, how was I supposed to land hits on her?

There were no footsteps, no breeze. Of course there were no footprints either.

I had no idea where Griera was.

"… Luna, if you turn off the guaranteed-hit on Light's Blessing, will it land!?"

"… It's no good. I can't tell where to swing."

"What do we do, what… the moment she attacks, she'd have to show herself, surely."

"You want me to react to an attack at that speed by sight? I really don't have the confidence for that…!"

"No, we still have to try. Lyuka, Light Protect!"

"… Yes!"

Lyuka put up Light Protect.

"… Naoto-sama, Griera's Demon Eye of Lightning grants piercing…!"

Colette gave me her desperate advice.

"I know. Leave it to me."

The three of us, me, Luna, and Lyuka, stood back-to-back-to-back and waited for the moment Griera attacked.

… Wait, hold on, what if Griera didn't attack?

If left alone I'd lose 2 HP per turn and fall in two minutes, right?

What was the point of taking a risk and attacking? She could just keep waiting and win as is.

… Damn it! Don't doubt! Griera would come, she would absolutely attack!

So I had to focus every nerve I had and let no anomaly slip past me…!

And then… right before the turn ended.

Pishi

For an instant, I felt a faint tremor in the Light Protect Lyuka had cast… no, not even a tremor, just the faintest ripple that might have been its precursor.

"To the left! Luna, use me as a shield!"

"…!"

It wasn't the kind of order you'd ever normally give. But Luna did exactly as told, grabbing me by the collar and thrusting me out in front of her.

Dan! Bariin! Dan!

The bullets Griera fired shattered Light Protect and came rushing in to hit Luna and Lyuka, but my body stopped them.

HP 20/30

"Haaaaaaaa!"

Just like that, Luna leapt over me, thrusting Cláu Solas forward with a sharp fencing-style stab…!

This thrusting motion alone, thanks to her fencing experience, was at a level that surpassed even Suzanne!

"!? Gah!"

Luna's blade caught the unseen Griera perfectly!

"Holy Light!"

Aiming at the tip of that blade, Lyuka slammed down a beam of light!

"…! Gah… no… way… You used the shield as a sonar…

"… Looks like I screwed up."

… Dosa.

Griera… fell.

Yeaaaaaah! I won, won, won! … Well, fine, three on one. The opponent wasn't in anything close to top condition either, but still!

I figured I was allowed to brag a little, to be a little proud! She had been seriously strong! Insanely strong!

"… Didn't you think you could win by just staying hidden the whole time?"

"… Hah. Same goes for you, doesn't it? If you'd abandoned Colette and stayed hidden, that cute Haru girl would have taken that Shiraki bastard down clean and proper.

"… You didn't abandon her, you came out for her, so against an opponent like that, how could I pull such a sleazy stunt…"

Griera smiled wryly.

"Guh."

HP 18/30

Crap, this wasn't the time to be smiling and chatting.

"… But I've considered the options. Luna. Use Divine Art Cláu Solas to cut off these bullets."

"Y-Yes!"

"… Wait, better not. An explosion-type attack that blows them away would be fine, but with a cutting attack, the Desperate Magic Bullets just split into fragments that each fly forward.

"The damage will only increase."

Griera offered her advice.

"… Eeeeeeeh…?"

"… Cure Shine!"

"Lyuka…!"

Just then, Lyuka poured light over me.

"If a Master can be damaged, then surely a Master can be healed too…!"

HP 19/30

"Ohhh, amazing, it works! I didn't know that… Wonderful! All right, when I want to keep going after we've already had sex 40 times, all I have to do is get Lyuka to heal me and we can keep going!"

"Honestly, you really are…"

"… Saint Mist!"

Luna also used a healing skill on me. But…

"… No good, this small, non-recovery heal isn't enough…"

HP 17/30

"… Cure Shine! … No good, only one use left…!"

HP 18/30

"What about Holy Light!? That's a medium heal…!"

"But that's a skill that damages an enemy and heals an ally. Without an enemy to deal damage to…"

"Hit me with it!"

Luna didn't hesitate to make herself the sacrifice.

HP 16/30

"… Forgive me. Holy Light!"

"… Use Saint Mist on yourself…! Please…!"

HP 17/30

"You can keep going, Naoto-san, Holy Light works as a heal too! … Of course, this isn't something I'd use in the bedroom!"

"… Sorry, Lyuka, Luna… I'm putting you both through a lot…"

Holy Light wouldn't deal that much damage to Luna, and we could keep this up for as many charges as Holy Light still had.

After that, all of it… rode on Haru. About… three minutes left.

 

*

 

Side Haru

The time went back to right after the battle began.

"Good, everyone's together."

Haru, Yuria, Setsuna, Suzanne, Sawako, Patty.

"The outcome of this fight depends on how quickly we can take down Shiraki-kun.

"… Let's give it our all!"

Their current location was… around the southeasternmost edge of the map.

And then…

Bon, bon.

"A signal flare went up. I'll go take a look."

Suzanne flew up to check.

"A red signal flare in the center of the map. Naoto's at the central part of the map.

"… And to our north, in the eastern part of the map, a green signal flare just went up."

"… Eh? Green… I didn't fire one. We called that off…"

Haru was visibly shaken.

"It's Colette. That girl's no fool. She thought about how she could be useful, and she did it."

"… No way! The enemy will gather around Colette! … We have to go save her!"

"Haru, wait… If I were in Colette's position, I would do the same thing.

"And in that case, I'd want Haru to put off saving me and focus on taking down Shiraki to settle things faster.

"What about you?"

"… I-I'd think the same, I guess."

"If anyone here would, in that situation, want to be saved, then it's fine to go."

At Yuria's words, no one spoke up further.

"All we need to do is take down Shiraki quickly. Then Colette and Naoto-onii-chan will both be saved.

"… Let's go, Haru-san."

"… Yeah!"

Even so, with no other landmarks, their initial guideline was to aim to link up with Naoto.

The center of the map was a good signpost for moving on to the next destination too.

… However, after about ten minutes of moving at roughly 100 km/h…

Signal flares went up all over the place.

"… There was a white signal flare," reported Suzanne.

The whole party turned their attention to the southwestern part of the map.

"Is he really going to choose the white signal?"

"Based on the profiling of Shogo Shiraki we got from Naoto, yeah, the chances are high.

"He's needlessly self-aggrandizing, his pride runs high, and he likes to seem dignified.

"And he'll think, 'I'm being so dignified here, but my opponent is sneaky, so they're sure to pick a different color.'

"And he'll also think, 'A sneaky opponent like that won't expect me to dignifiedly choose white.'

"… That's the kind of guy he is. He gets caught up in those misunderstandings. I got the same impression myself."

"… I think so too. All right, let's hurry to the white one."

The plan was set.

… But of course, the road would not be smooth.

"… Oho, if it isn't Haru! Heheh, you always seemed like a fag, but you really have turned into a girl, huh! Not bad, it suits you better that way!"

"… Shikura-kun."

"We'll smash him fast. Patty! Suzanne!"

"Yes, Yuria."

"Yeesss!"

"Hahaha! For an opponent like you, I've been told to defend tight and stall for time.

"Now, defense it is!"

"Heeeere I gooo! Barrier Crush!"

"Dark Saber!"

"Tempest!"

Zugaaan!

Not smooth…? They'd answer that with a "so what" and smash it flat.

Patty broke the shield, Yuria or Setsuna boosted, and Suzanne flattened him with Tempest.

Of course, Setsuna's Underworld Requiem would also have worked.

In just a few minutes, Shikura was annihilated, barely able to stall for any time at all.

"… Let's hurry!"

"Haru, the fastest way is to put everyone back in their capsules and have me carry you while I fly."

Going with Suzanne's suggestion,

"… Sounds good, let's do it."

… But this turned out to be a bad move.

"Demon Art - Silver Dragon's Magic Bow."

"!?"

"Earth Barrier!"

Haru tried to draw the attack to herself, but apparently the shot had been guaranteed-hit. The arrow tore through Suzanne.

Pierced by the arrow, Suzanne was shot down.

"Agh, ugh…!"

And just like that, the two of them were forcibly dragged into the battlefield.

"… Hmph, I don't go easy. They say Yoshii from Wanda's place is the best in one-on-one… but the strongest in team battle is me!"

"… Tch, here we go."

"Are you okay!? Suzanne!"

"Suzanne, are you all right?"

"… Being worried about is offensive. I'm fine, fine…"

Suzanne put up a brave front, but after taking nearly 100 damage, she was on the brink.

"… All right, let's go. For Naoto-kun's sake, we cannot afford to lose."

"Of course!"

"Yeess～!"

Haru, Patty, and Suzanne began battle as is.

"Here I go… Summon Dryad!"

Gogogogogo…!

It was Haru's skill. A massive golem appeared from the earth… or so it had seemed, and then it cracked open with a paka.

Sara… sarasarasara…

Green hair stood in for grasses and flowers, brown skin for tree bark.

But that was the only plant element.

A perfect, beautiful girl… with features that somewhat resembled Haru's, an adorable young girl.

This was the form of the evolved Wood Golem… Dryad, Ameri.

"Let's go, Ameri!"

"… Mm."

Ameri answered quietly, in her adorable voice.

"Spirit's Droplet."

Pichoon…

Ameri activated her healing skill, and Suzanne's HP recovered nearly half.

"… Thank you, Ameri. Now then…"

Suzanne would wait for the other side to move.

"Here we go. Ryuko-chan… Set High Control. Set Striker. Set Energy Boost. Set Dual Shot."

"…!?"

How many skills was she using!?

"Just by being there, Nemu enhances Dragon-element and grants buffs to bow units. It's a niche class. But… her effects peak when paired with that exclusive partner class! Earlier I was rushing, so I could only apply guaranteed-hit. This time, it's the full loadout!

"Demon Art - Silver Dragon's Magic Bow!"

"Overcharge!"

This is impossible, Suzanne realized, and committed to an Endure tactic.

Zan! Zan!

Two arrows skewered her… well, not quite, but she Endured at HP 1. Dragon-element was already super-effective against God-element on its own.

On top of that, doubled attack power, two-hit, plus piercing and guaranteed-hit. Absurd.

"… Pretty tough, huh!"

"!? She's not dead!? Looks like she's using some skill!"

"Hmph, she won't last long.

"… Either way, you can't get past Irusha's defense! We'll just whittle you down at our leisure."

"… Yes, I shall protect everyone!"

Clad in Dragon-Scale Armor, Irusha stepped to the front.

"Dragonic Protection!"

It was a powerful defense skill that doubled all party members' defense and drew all attacks to her.

Even guaranteed-hit attacks aimed at other members were still subject to the doubled defense.

"Troublesome on a normal read. But how about status-ailment countermeasures? Patty!"

"Yeess～! Binding Curse!"

"…! Such things won't work on me!"

It had no effect on Irusha.

But Ryuko and Nemu were stunned.

"Tch… we'll have to take down that Guardian Dragon either way."

Next turn

"Green Wall!"

Haru shored up the defense.

"Angel Halo!"

Suzanne stacked her buffs again.

"Doubled defense, plus that troublesome Dragon-element. Normally she'd be more than we could handle… but now we can manage."

"Mm. I'm counting on you, Ameri!"

"… Mm. Hundred-Leaf Wild Dance."

Basa, basa… basabasabasa, basabasabasabasa…!

"!? W-What… what is this…!?"

A massive amount of leaves filled the air around them.

Every one of them taking on sharp, blade-like shapes…

And raining down all at once.

"Wha… aaaaaaa…!"

Bishibishibishibishibishi…!

Each one chipped away an HP dot at a time, with terrifying intensity.

1 damage × 100 hits.

This was actually more troublesome than 100pt damage. The minimum unit of HP reduction, 1pt, couldn't be reduced any further.

In other words, no matter how high you cranked your defense, it was meaningless. You took the 100 damage all the same.

"Ah, gh, gguuhhhh!"

"Binding Curse!"

Patty's Binding Curse again.

"… T-That many times…!"

"As if it'll keep working on me!"

This time it didn't land on anyone.

"S-Sorry～…"

"It's all right. Next…"

"Mm. Hundred-Leaf Wild Dance."

"… Y-You… aaaaaaa…! I-I have my ultimate trick, Seven Lives… the seven-fold Endure…!"

"Sevenfold Endure? In other words, an HP-7pt buffer. My condolences."

Zuun. Just like that, Irusha collapsed.

"Wh-What did you say…!?"

By normal logic, the Dragon-element was strong against nearly all elements except Ice and Demon. A Defender that revived seven times even after being killed would be frighteningly tough.

… However, the fatal flaw of having less than 193 HP meant she vanished in two turns.

"… A-Anyway, even if it's just one, we'll take one down! Just rob them of their mobility… no, we'll target the leader Haru!"

"Y-Yes! Set High Control. Set Striker. Set Energy Boost. Set Dual Shot!"

"All right, good. Eat this. Demon Art - Silver Dragon's Magic Bow!"

"Divine Art Flamberge!"

Zan!

It came in the very moment Ryuko drew her arrow back.

At the same time as cutting through the bowstring, Suzanne was slicing off Ryuko's head.

"!?"

Of course, no head was actually flying. But the strike, delivered with the same momentum as severing the very neck of a human's vital point, dealt a near-100% guaranteed critical.

Dragon-element was the weakness of God-element, so it didn't take her out in one hit.

Also, canceling an attack with another attack was, in principle, impossible.

Even if a Garumon entered a skill animation and you struck her from the side, the skill would still activate.

But the shock and disturbance pulled the damage coefficient, normally 0.5—2.0, as close to 0.5 as it could go.

"Ugh, ah, c-calm down. Even if my bowstring is cut, this isn't Earth.

"I activate the skill, I think 'I will activate it,' and if I do, it activates. C-Calm down and shoot the arrow…!"

… However, with her extensive experience in Japanese kyudo, Ryuko Takatori couldn't bring herself to perform the impossible real-world act of shooting an arrow with the bowstring cut, and so…

The skill ended in a misfire.

"My, she seemed pretty confident in her Defender, so I figured if I could just rattle her enough to halve her damage I'd call it a win… but she rattled even more than I expected."

"Y-You…"

"Thank yoouu, Suzanne! Patty and Haru'll finish her offff! Frenzied Beatdown!"

Dogo! Dogo! Dogo!

"Flower Drain!"

Zugaaan!

"… Curse you, that I… should…"

"Takatoriii! Damn iiiiit!"

"Member change, perhaps?"

"… Fight to the bitter end, Hatori! Buy us even a little more time!"

"… Yes!"

"… Leaving a Supporter with no fighting power on the field to the very end? Are you serious? Well then, allow me to take the chance to heal."

In that one moment of carelessness…

"Now, go, Hatoriii!"

"Yes! Self-Destruct!"

"… Eh?"

Dogooon!

Suddenly, Nemu Hatori threw herself onto Suzanne in a hug, and just like that… she went off in a huge explosion.

"Suzanne!"

"Suzanne!"

Both Haru and Patty were stunned. Even Suzanne, the veteran acting as leader in Haru's stead, hadn't seen this surprise attack coming…

"Hahahahahaha! You let your guard down because all four of her skills were filled with support skills, didn't you!

"I had Nemu carry a Self-Destruct Ring! It's an item that turns a Garumon into a bomb!

"Couldn't see it, you say? Of course you couldn't! She normally keeps it hidden so it can't be seen, tucked up her ass!

"Ahahahaha! Funny, isn't it!"

"To do something like that, Hatori-san… Suzanne…"

Suzanne was incapacitated…

"… Member change, Yuria, Setsuna-chan, Sawako-san!"

"Calm down, Haru. Yes, leave the rest to us."

"Dual Boost!"

"Underworld Requiem!"

Fortunately, Tsushima's second party had little in the way of defensive ability, and was easily wiped out.

"To think that even Suzanne would fall…"

"Haru, get a hold of yourself. Suzanne is certainly strong. But me, Haru, Setsuna, Sawako, and Patty, all of us are properly strong too!

"… Or rather, our levels are higher than hers.

"It's all right, let's proceed without getting careless.

"… But it's true we were leaning on Suzanne too much.

"That mode of transport really was fast, but there was the risk Suzanne would be targeted.

"We should have considered that more."

"… Yeah. I, too… if I'm to become a knight who protects Naoto-kun, I have to grow properly stronger!"

"That goes for me as well.

"… From here on, let's keep growing stronger together. For Naoto's sake."

"Yeah, for Naoto-kun's sake!"

Taking that as their watchword, the five of them pushed onward.

But once again, in their way stood…

"Ha-ha-ha! Don't think you can escape the eye of Youshichirou Sebu!"

"Barrier Crush!"

"Underworld Requiem!"

Skip.

"But we used up quite a few skills, huh…"

"You took down three, didn't you? With seven knights, splitting Griera and her four into three pairs, that's about four each.

"Should be near the end… Or rather, we haven't even fired any signal flares ourselves, so isn't it strange how many enemies we've been running into?"

"… And we've used up a lot of time, so they probably aren't still at the same point…"

"… True. If they regroup with their allies and conceal themselves… that's the worst case. It would take even longer to find them."

"But he's full of himself, isn't he? If he's regrouped with his allies, won't he come out to settle things?"

"That's… iffy. He didn't make it up to A-Class on stupidity alone.

"He doesn't fight opponents he can't beat, and steadily targets and takes down opponents he can.

"Shiraki is thought to run an Earth-element party centered on Yumi Tsuchiya.

"And Shiraki's predecessor, the previous A-Class rank 34, ran a Thunder-element party that's the worst possible match-up against Earth-element.

"He prepares thoroughly, then steadily strikes when his opponent is at their weakest.

"That's the kind of capability that lets him hold A-Class.

"We're missing one, but apart from Patty and Setsuna, we have a roster mostly strong against Earth-element.

"… He won't want to fight us.

"If our opponent runs and hides, we'll have to disperse to scout for him.

"In which case, there's the danger of being picked off one by one. Of course, it would also lure the enemy in, so it cuts both ways."

… And eventually, they arrived.

"… As I thought, they're not here."

"We're going to disperse to search. The instant you find an enemy, fire a signal flare.

"Be ready for one of us to be the sacrifice. The remaining four will take them down. However, Haru, our knight, absolutely cannot be defeated.

"… But if we slow our search, it'll take time to corner the opponent…

"Naoto might still be in the middle of a brutal pursuit, suffering through it.

"To take down Shiraki as quickly as possible, all of us will disperse!"

"Yes!"

And so, Haru's group of five scattered… If Suzanne had been with them, scouting would have been much easier…

Time ticked on, and on.

Just as her impatience threatened to outrun her, in that very moment…

"…!"

Haru's system gave a response.

Bashu, bashu!

Haru fired off a signal flare.

Everyone would gather quickly, surely. But Haru had to corner her opponent to keep him from slipping away.

Shiraki's group seemed to have all six of their members gathered. Either the remaining two had been taken down on the way, or just hadn't been able to link up yet.

Still, six should be enough.

After pursuing for a while, Shiraki halted. He seemed to have realized that only Haru was chasing him.

"… Well now. If it isn't Haru."

And so, Shogo Shiraki, Yumi Tsuchiya… and the other Garumon all showed themselves.

"Shiraki-kun. Tsuchiya-san."

Haru spoke up… boldly.

"Oh, your attitude has changed quite a bit. You used to be the type who'd bend at the waist, all twitchy and nervous, like you were trying to hide behind that Naoto Akai's back.

"The current you stands tall and proud, totally changed. Just like those breasts of yours. Hyuh…"

Shiraki leered at Haru's beauty.

"… Haru. Why are you so dignified? You're Naoto Akai's slave too, aren't you?

"… Surely you must be tormented? You must be suffering through indescribably humiliating things, hating life, hating to live? It has to be like that! Why am I the only one who has to suffer like this!

"All I did was follow Father's instructions exactly! I did everything right! More than Kanan, even Eclair-sama recognized me, the slaves all idolized me, I… was always, always doing well!

"… And all of it, all of it, has been ruined! Am I to blame? Whose fault is it? What… what is to blame? Who am I supposed to resent?"

"Tsuchiya-san."

… Yumi Tsuchiya, who had previously seemed to have stabilized even within her despair…

Now seemed mentally unstable.

Shiraki paid no particular attention to Yumi's state, instead chatting with the other Garumon about how splendid Haru's breasts were.

"… I won't accept it. There's no way 'becoming a Garumon brought me happiness' could ever be true! I'll prove it for you! Everyone, everyone… should just be unhappy. Haru, you'll be the first!"

"… Heheheh… that's right! Haru, the current you is worth making mine! Now, become mine!

"Come, Skira, Aiola, Miu!"

And what appeared was…

"Gugyagyagyagyaa!"

Clearly, monsters!

Two snake-people with snake lower halves, and a beautiful girl who looked like a Beast Tamer, Miu Aihara.

"… Until everyone gets here, on my own…"

Fuu…

Haru steadied her breath… and glared at Shiraki.