3 - The Three Keys

The reason all the students had gone to the same place was that only one spot on the map was immediately identifiable: the underground crypt.

“So the other two places are marked, but the mark covers such a wide area that you’re not sure where they are?” Akuto asked.

“That’s right,” Hiroshi said. “This one’s a forest, and this is an old town.”

Akuto looked down at the map he was holding while comparing it with the aerial photo of the academy in his student handbook.

“But this crypt is big, so you were able to ID it. If we’re gonna have to look for the other two locations, we might have a mess on our hands.”

Akuto pointed at the crypt with a finger. There was a tiny park above it. In the park was an entrance to the underground; which was probably used for memorial ceremonies for the people who died during the Great War.

“And then there’s this text.”

《For Boichiro Yamato》

That’s what it said in tiny letters under the mark on the map. There was nothing written beneath the other two marks, so the only choice was to head here.

“Do you suppose this Boichiro Yamato guy is one of the people who died in the war?”

“There’s graves that hold people’s ashes there. If there are names there, it’ll probably give us some kind of hint,” Hiroshi said with a nod, only to be interrupted by a high laugh from his side. It was Eiko.

“You’re so stupid. If you thought about it for a second, you could figure it out.”

“We won’t know until we look!” Hiroshi yelled.

They’d been like this the whole time. Akuto’s head was starting to hurt.

“Hey, but what if Boichiro isn’t dead, huh?”

“Don’t be stupid. If his bones aren’t there, we just have to assume that the hint means something else.”

Eiko and Hiroshi were probably going to keep at it all day if he didn’t interrupt, so Akuto pointed and said,

“Look, there it is. The park.”

They’d been able to reach their first destination before noon.

They went through the gate. The place didn’t look like it had been maintained very well. There were weeds breaking through the bricks on the path, and the tree branches had been left to grow wild, giving the whole area a dark ambiance. Akuto saw what looked like a rest area, with benches under a roof, but it looked so dilapidated that he didn’t feel like going in.

“I guess they only clean it when it’s time for a ceremony,” said Hiroshi.

“It’s been over a century since the war, so I guess that makes sense,” Akuto said.

Now it was Hiroshi’s turn to point forward. He was pointing at a building which still looked neglected, but was slightly cleaner than the rest. “Great War Memorial Building,” read the sign, and through the windows he could see a display of paintings and uniforms from the period. This place seemed like it was cleaned once a year.

“There’s an entrance in there to the underground crypt.”

Hiroshi must have participated in a ceremony before, because he took the lead and opened the door. The display room was on the right side past the entrance, and straight ahead was a large door.

“The stairs are past the door,” Hiroshi said.

“Then we might get jumped any second now, huh? Let’s be careful.”

Akuto told Hiroshi to put down their bags, and looked towards Eiko to tell her to stay here. But before he could, she wrapped herself around his arm.

“Of course I’m going with you!” she said.

With her clinging to him like this, he couldn’t exactly tell her to stay here.

“...Fine. Just get off me. There’s a good chance this is going to get dangerous.”

—But I can’t let a girl get hurt...

Akuto gripped the handle of his Incantation Gun. With his other hand, he opened the door.

The stairs were big enough for five or six people to stand on at once, and there were lights at regular intervals. It felt less like going underground than the labyrinth beneath the school. But the stairs stretched on for a long way, and they probably went a good distance underground.

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, it opened up into a fairly wide area, large enough to fit an entire soccer stadium. The ceiling was quite high, too, enough to fit a five story building. There were lights there as well, but they weren’t bright enough to clearly illuminate the whole place. The opposite side of the room was dimly lit and hard to make out. The floor looked like it was made of blue artificial turf. There were rows of square boxes lined up upon the ground, and the room was devoid of anything else.

When they stepped onto the artificial turf, they realized that the boxes were plastic graves. Each one was about 30 square centimeters, which would mean that the remains of many people were resting here. Each box had a name on it, and it seemed like they were in alphabetical order.

“There’s a lot of them, but if it’s alphabetical we should be able to find what we’re looking for fast,” Akuto said as he started to look for the name “Yamato.” The “A’s” were near the entrance, so the “Y’s” were probably on the other side.

“If someone’s waiting to ambush us, they’re probably hiding further inside,” Akuto said, motioning for Eiko and Hiroshi to get behind him.

After a bit of walking, they saw stains and scratches on the floor. That was proof that a battle had occurred here. There were tiny scraps on the ground, little pieces of cloth with blood on them.

“Oh jeez, they made a mess. Don’t they know how to behave around the dead?” Akuto whispered. Eiko let out a low gasp, sounding genuinely confused.

“Why do you care? You’re the Demon King, aren’t you?”

“I’m not the Demon King, and I’m never going to be,” Akuto said immediately, but Eiko shook her head.

“But what fun is that? You know what your problem is? You don’t try to have fun. Why do you always try to make things so boring?”

“I don’t like the school of thought that says you need to live in the moment,” Akuto said. He felt like he was being blamed for something he didn’t entirely understand, and he didn’t like it.

“That’s no good, though. If you don’t change, I’m not going to be able to stay in love with you, okay? If you don’t make things more fun, I’m going to betray you!”

Eiko leapt forward and spun around in a circle, stretching her lips out in a pout. She looked so serious, like a little girl throwing a tantrum, that Akuto wasn’t sure what to do.

—Betray me? You were never on my side to begin with... But even if she’s playing me all along, what am I supposed to do about it?

“Why are you hanging around me all the time, anyway?” Akuto asked, and suddenly Eiko became angry.

“I told you, because I fell in love with you!”

Even Akuto was stunned by this.

“Hold on. We’ve never even really met each other, have we?”

“That’s true! The first time we met was during that homeroom speech! But what’s wrong with that? You know, sometimes you can tell a lot about somebody from just a single glance!”

“Yes, I know that you can do that sometimes, but this still doesn’t seem right.”

“You know what your problem is? You keep talking about what’s wrong and what’s right, when it doesn’t even matter! Why are you like that?”

“Because it’s important to put daily effort into making sure everybody can live peacefully, of course. If something’s causing problems for other people, it’s wrong,” Akuto said, his tone making it clear that he was serious. But that only made Eiko’s tantrum bigger.

“That’s wrong! That’s totally wrong! I’m here because you’re supposed to be the Demon King! Why are you so boring?”

Eiko continued to yell, but Akuto didn’t say anything. He’d seen a shadow moving behind Eiko.

“Behind her! It’s behind her, boss!” Hiroshi pointed behind Eiko, but she was still throwing a tantrum.

“Don’t you need me on your side? I’ve spent my whole life thinking of nothing but offering my life to a strong man! And I’m telling you that I’m willing to fall in love with you!”

“Tell me about it later,” Akuto said as he pulled out his Incantation Gun.

There was a shadow in the shape of a human getting closer and close to her. It was thin, and moving slowly. That’s all he could tell.

“Move, and I’ll shoot,” Akuto said, and when he saw that it only accelerated, he fired.

There was a loud bang. The shadow tried to dodge, but he maneuvered the bullet to follow after it. When it made contact, he caused an explosion big enough to blow them away.

There was a flash of light the size of a basketball. The impact should’ve been hard enough to knock the target down.

But the shadow just dispersed around the ball. When the light disappeared, the shadow still had a hole in it, like you’d thrown a ball clean through something soft. But the hole quickly filled. The shadow seemed to be made of countless tiny beads, which would change their shape when you threw something at it.

—So it’s just like everybody said, huh? I’d hoped an explosion could take it out.

Akuto loaded the next round as he tried to come up with a plan, but Eiko jumped between them.

“You’re annoying me!” she yelled as she quickly pulled a dagger out of her jacket. She held it an underhand grip, making a shallow swipe at her target.

The blade cut through the shadow just like Akuto’s bullet, but it just flew backwards and reformed a few feet away.

Akuto gasped, more surprised by Eiko’s movements than the shadow’s regeneration.

—I guess she really is something special after all.

But that didn’t mean he could let Eiko do the fighting. He wasn’t sure whether to tell her to fall back or not. In the end he decided that she wouldn’t listen, and ran forward himself.

He could see now what the shadow was. It was a thin person, clad in black. He couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman — their face was covered with a white mask. They looked like a human, probably. And when he got close to them, they spoke.

“Leave this place, and forget about this. If you don’t, I can’t guarantee your life.”

“I’m glad we can talk about this. Honestly, I’d love to go home,” Akuto said, entirely serious. The shadow’s shoulders slumped in confusion.

“Then leave. And never come back...” The shadow tried to continue, but it was cut off by a yell.

“Die!”

Eiko jumped up and brought her dagger down hard on he shadow’s head.

Akuto thought the mask might break, but he saw it turn into fog. Was that part of its body too? Or was it capable of turning everything in its immediate vicinity into fog? Or maybe was he just seeing an illusion?

—There’s no sense in thinking about it. I need to stop her, now...

“Stop! Get back!”

“No way!”

Eiko ignored him as she launched another flurry of attacks. It didn’t seem to hurt the shadow, but maybe its foggy body could feel exhaustion, because it fell back, seemingly irritated.

—Does that mean it’s not an illusion, and it’s turning itself and the things around it into fog? That means it must be burning mana...

That was Akuto’s guess.

—Then when the shadow gets tired, it will switch to attack instead of defense!

“Watch out! Get back!” he yelled, but of course, Eiko ignored him.

“What makes you think you can tell me what to do?! Nobody who isn’t in love with me gets to give me orders!”

—What’s this girl’s problem?

And then Akuto’s fears were realized.

The shadow’s arm turned into fog, and instantly reformed as a sharp silver blade. Eiko must have been caught off-guard by this, because she failed to completely dodge the weapon.

“Gyaaah!”

She was blown backwards and landed on the ground. She’d held out her dagger to dodge the worst of it, but there was a red cut along her arm.

“I’m telling you to leave,” the shadow said in a low voice, then it rushed towards her. Again and again it attacked with the silver blade.

Eiko rolled and blocked with her dagger, just barely managing to protect herself.

—If it can’t turn into fog when it attacks...!

Akuto tried firing at the shadow when it attacked Eiko, but the shadow either quickly blocked with its blade, or turned a portion of itself into fog.

“If that’s how you want to play this, then fine,” Akuto said to himself as he quickly chambered another round. This bullet carried a spell that would cause a small tornado. He fired it at the shadow just as it struck at Eiko again.

The shadow thought it was the same type of bullet as before, and tried to turn into fog to avoid being hit. But when the bullet burst, it created a whirlwind that dragged the fog inside it. And then Akuto used his power to make the whirlwind stronger. Instantly, the whirlwind grew to two times the shadow’s height, blasting it away.

—It’s not that powerful on its own, but with proper control, it really worked out, huh?

Akuto ran over to Eiko.

“You okay?”

He reached down to help her up, but immediately regretted it. Eiko was looking up at him with reddened cheeks. He’d seen that look on girls in middle school many times before. And each time, it meant something bad was going to happen.

—Now what do I do? I don’t know why, but whenever I’m dealing with this type of girl, and I try to explain things so they don’t get the wrong idea, they always get really mad and start to cry...

“You saved me! You saved me, didn’t you!”

Eiko’s voice was full of excitement.

“Anybody would’ve saved you. It doesn’t mean what you think it does.”

Akuto tried to pull back his hand, but Eiko grabbed it before he could.

“Don’t be so embarrassed! I know what it means!”

Eiko was now extremely happy. Akuto turned away and called out to Korone, who was watching from a far distance away.

“Hey, can you patch her up?”

Korone wordlessly pointed behind him.

“Huh?”

Akuto looked back and saw that the shadow had reformed itself. It looked like it was pissed. He wasn’t sure if the thing was human, or if he’d just unconsciously decided to treat it as human.

—Either way, I don’t want it coming after us hard.

Akuto loaded another whirlwind bullet, but instead of running away, or running towards them, the shadow simply spread out its hands.

He had a bad feeling. His hunch was right.

Akuto heard the sound of wings from above. He looked up and saw what looked like black clouds.

The clouds were rumbling and roaring. He couldn’t tell if the wings belonged to birds or insects, but there were countless numbers of them, overlapping into a low bass sound.

“You’re kidding me...” Akuto said.

He had once seen a bird migration. There’d been hundreds of birds, all traveling together in a giant flock. He didn’t know if was birds or insects above him, but there were just as many now as there had been in that flock.

Akuto finally realized what it was that had taken out the other students. There was no question that the flock was being controlled by the shadow.

“We’re getting out of here!” Akuto yelled to Eiko.

But Eiko’s response was stubborn.

“No! My Akuto Sai would never run away!”

Eiko held her dagger in an underground grip. It looked like she was insisting on fighting the shadow.

—Why is this so important to her?

He felt something strong in her, something that definitely wasn’t madness. Akuto had already realized that there was more going on with this treasure map than meets the eye, and this probably meant Eiko knew what it was. But he didn’t have time to think about it.

The black clouds fell down from the air. It was a horde of bats. Sinister black shapes were flitting across his vision, one after the other. The sound of their wings filled the air.

Akuto fired several shots from his Incantation Gun, but no matter how carefully he controlled the bullet’s path, it could only take out one or two of the bats at most. And when he was firing at one, another one would attack from an angle he couldn’t see.

“Damn it!”

Each attack did little damage. But there were so many of them. His clothes were ripped open, and little spots of blood began to appear on his skin. The longer he stayed here, the deeper they would start wearing into his flesh.

Eiko and Hiroshi were experiencing the same thing. Eiko was taking down every bat she could see with precise strikes, but there were far too many of them. And all Hiroshi could do was curl up into a ball.

“Korone!” Akuto screamed.

“Yes? Please don’t ask me to help you. This situation is clearly your own fault, so helping you would not be in accord with observing you to see if you’ll become the Demon King, and keeping you safe from unnecessary harm,” Korone answered calmly. She was standing alone, far away from any bats.

“That’s not it! Take Hiroshi and get out of here!”

“That, I can do,” Korone said, and she began to rummage through her bag.

She took out a pair of shoes with small tires attached, and for some reason held them up high before she put them on her feet. They were basically roller skates with engines, and when she crouched down and activated them, they flung her forward at incredible speed, bridging the distance between her and Hiroshi in an instant. Korone forcefully grabbed Hiroshi by the neck, turned, and quickly sped away, leaving behind the smell of burning rubber. It was all over in seconds.

—I feel like I should compliment her on her skills, but for some reason, I just don’t feel like it. Why is that, I wonder...?

Once he saw that Korone had made it to safety, Akuto turned back towards his opponent. His opponent, of course, was the shadow, as it was obvious that it was controlling the bats. Each individual bat was an artificial life form — when he looked down at their corpses on the ground, he could tell. They were very simple devices, but that made it hard to seize control of them. You could say that the shadow had tamed these artificial creatures. Moreover, creatures like these could be mass-produced. If the shadow was human, it had to be incredibly talented, and it wouldn’t be easy to defeat.

But he knew at the same time that if he ran away, the shadow wouldn’t follow. And it felt like it was trying to avoid dealing him a fatal blow. But since Eiko had no intention of retreating, of course, she was being attacked without mercy. Things were just getting worse and worse. Even now he could see the number of tiny cuts and scrapes on her body growing in number. There was a chance she might eventually die.

“This isn’t good at all. There’s something wrong with me...” Akuto whispered. It was a bad habit of his to always think calmly and clearly in situations like these.

He had an idea of how to end this. It would be difficult, but for some reason, he felt like he could do it.

In the end, being around Eiko was starting to have an effect on him. She was trying to accomplish something, even at the cost of her own life. Whether that came from trust in him, or from the importance of her goal, he didn’t know, but he had a feeling that he needed to see this treasure.

Of course, it was dangerous to help Eiko in her goals. It was clear she was planning something. But instead of being used, and not knowing why, he would rather know the reason and choose his path for himself.

Akuto shouted towards the shadow.

“Sorry, I’ve changed my mind! I’ve decided I’m going to look at what you’re protecting! I’m not going to do anything really terrible to you, so please don’t hate me!”

The shadow seemed surprised for a moment, but then the bats started to attack him with greater intensity. But Akuto was calm.

—I’ll use this...

He took one of the whirlwind bullets that he’d used a moment ago, and snapped it in two with his fingers. The magical signal activated, and a small whirlwind appeared in his hands.

—I was able to control this mana. Which means that my own mana must be so powerful that I can’t control any magic that’s physically close to me... And if that’s the case...

Akuto strengthened the whirlwind in his hands. The sound of the wind was like the sound of an explosion now — it was like a typhoon had suddenly sprang up in the room. The spiraling torrent of winds spread out in a circle around Akuto.

The wind caught up all the bats as it traveled, and the artificial turf on the floor was ripped off the ground and flew upwards. The plastic graves went too, scattering the bone ash from the pots inside.

“Aaaah!”

The shadow let out a very human-sounding scream.

Just like he thought it would, the whirlwind around him had gone out of Akuto’s control, and it was tearing up everything in its path. It was now strong enough that it reached the very corners of the room, and the shadow could no longer escape it by turning into fog. It was lifted up and blown about in the air.

—I guess that’s enough...

Akuto tried to lessen the power of the mana, but a moment later, he realized he’d failed. He heard an awful creaking noise amidst the howling winds. He looked up and saw that there was a crack in the ceiling. He didn’t even have time to panic before it started to cave in.

There was a loud rumble as the earth began to roar. Rocks and display items from the museum above fell downward, and were caught up in the whirlwind.

A few minutes later, Akuto finally managed to calm the wind. But by that time, the Great War Memorial building had been completely destroyed. Akuto and Eiko had been at the eye of the whirlwind, and so were unharmed, but a spiral of rubble spread out from them in all directions. The ceiling was now totally gone, and he could see the sunlight pouring in.

—When I said to myself that I thought I could do it, this isn’t what I meant...

Akuto regretted his choice, but at this point there was nothing he could do about it.

He heard a chipper voice next to him. Eiko had gotten up.

“Wow! Amazing! You did it!”

“I’m not happy about it. What’s fun about breaking things?” Akuto answered, annoyed.

“It’s fun! And it’s not like you need a reason.”

Eiko didn’t seem to be concerned about her wounds, because she smiled with her face covered in blood.

“...So, what’s the point of making me do all this?” Akuto said. In his mind, this had gone far beyond a joke, and his face was stern.

Eiko tried to answer with a smile, but his stern expression remained unchanged. When she saw this, her smile vanished too.

“What do you mean, ‘What’s the point?’” she said, pouting.

“You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”

“Sure I am. But this is for your sake...”

“I don’t care. You want me to go looking for this treasure no matter what it takes. Until now, I thought it might’ve been some kind of prank, but you could’ve gotten killed back there. What’s going on here? What is that treasure?” Akuto asked, and Eiko silently averted her gaze.

But before she could answer, she dropped to her knees. She had too many wounds.

Akuto wordlessly put his hands on Eiko’s body. He tried using magic like the first year students had been doing in the cafeteria yesterday. He was just working off memory, but this time, his mana didn’t go out of control. Healing magic was probably one of the types of magic that wasn’t his specialty. But it worked well for exactly that reason.

Eiko looked surprised for a moment, but suddenly she spoke to him in an upbeat voice.

“Hey, how about we make a deal? If I tell you, will you fall in love with me?”

“If you ever turn sane,” Akuto answered as he looked at her wounds. Eiko’s face suddenly brightened.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. I’m perfectly sane.”

“You are not,” Akuto answered immediately, and her face clouded.

“Then I just have to be sane from now on, right?”

“That’s right.” Akuto nodded.

Once he was satisfied with what he saw, he took his hand off of Eiko. She looked a little disappointed. And then, as she began to check her wounds herself, she started to speak calmly. As calm as she was, though, what she said was terrifying.

“The treasure is something belonging to the last Demon King.”

“Is that true? Where did you hear that?” Akuto was surprised at this.

“I can’t tell you. But I want you to get it and become a real man.”

“How does getting something from the last Demon King make me into a real man? That’s a stupid way of thinking. Are you a black mage?”

“Please don’t compare me with those people. I’m not one of those types who can never think outside the box.”

“Then why...?”

“You’re destined to get your hands on it. That’s all I was told.”

“Destined?”

“That’s right. The person I swore my loyalty to told me that. Something about how either they or you will be destroyed, and the survivor will control the fate of the world.”

“That sounds like some kind of joke to me.”

“It’s not a joke. I’ve never seen them be wrong about anything. And what’s more, they’re like you. That’s why I fell in love with them.”

“I see. At least I know what’s going on now, and what some random person thinks of me, too.” Akuto sounded annoyed, but Eiko laughed sweetly.

“Don’t be so mean to me. I’m telling you, I’m serious!”

“If you’re serious, then why do you keep talking like you’re comparing me with another guy? And anyway, if I’m really destined to get this thing, you shouldn’t have to do anything.”

Eiko’s expression suddenly darkened.

“That’s just how a girl’s heart works. Any man who doesn’t know that is pathetic.”

“I know that. I guess I’m just not good with women.”

Akuto decided to just get away from this conversation, and began to walk away from Eiko, kicking aside the rubble as he moved. But Eiko followed him anyway.

“Hey, how about I teach you about women?”

“I’ll pass. Once I know the situation, you’re going to be nothing but a nuisance to me.”

“Aww, knock it off. You don’t have to be so cold.”

Just as Eiko said those words in a pouty voice, Akuto found what he’d been looking for beneath his feet.

“Boichiro Yamato...”

That’s what the name plate read. By the time he realized he’d said it aloud, it was too late to regret it. Eiko was already crouched at his feet.

“It’s inside here, right?!”

She’d already opened the grave marked with that plate.

There was no pot of ashes inside. Instead, there was an old figurine of some character. It was just about the size that would fit into a palm.

“A figurine...?”

Eiko picked it up. It looked like it had been torn from a keychain.

“There’s a button on the back side.”

Eiko flipped it over and pushed the button. On its back, there was a hole that looked like it was for a speaker. It began to speak.

“The shelf in the back of the Knight Equipment Research Lab... When all three are ready, play the audio...”

That was all Akuto could make out. It was followed by what sounded like high-pitched static. Eiko handed it to Akuto.

“A keychain recorder for children, huh? That last sound...”

Suddenly he heard an explanation from behind him.

“It’s part of the language used for programming artificial intelligences. A mage with the right knowledge can create that noise with his voice.”

He turned around and Korone was there.

“You scared me. You should’ve said something if you were there.”

“I was too busy running away when the ceiling started to cave in. Was that your doing?”

“Umm... well... It was the result of legitimate self-defense,” Akuto said. He decided to ask her about the keychain so she’d drop the subject.

“So somebody recorded this message and put the keychain here?”

“Obviously. Regardless, I’m willing to admit that this was self-defense, but I can guarantee everyone else is going to think that you desecrated the graves of the victims of the Great War.”

“That’s... yeah...”

—This is probably going to lead to even more weird rumors.

Akuto looked up at the sky and tried to figure out what he should do next.

○

Fujiko was in her secret room looking into a crystal ball, her mouth agape at what she was seeing.

—That keychain!

She was looking down at Akuto and the others from above. Fujiko had placed a transmitter in the Incantation Gun she’d given Akuto, and she’d been using it to track him with a small flying relay device called a “Monitor.”

“This is impossible... But this time, you won’t be able to deny it!”

Fujiko grabbed the jar that held her brother’s head and showed him the footage in the crystal ball.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” he said, “I really don’t remember. But that keychain is definitely ours. We used to use that to leave messages for one another all the time. Mother told me that when I was gone for a long time, you preferred messages recorded with that to video letters...”

“Don’t lie to me! If you remember that much, then why don’t you remember recording the message? Your memories are lies too, right? There’s no way I could ever have looked up to you! I’m starting to understand that!”

Fujiko’s hair was flailing about as she shook her head in confusion. Her brother furrowed his brow, but all he did was attempt to console her.

“Don’t get mad, Fujiko. It’s my fault.”

“How can you say that stuff when you know you don’t mean it!”

“Because I can only give you pre-determined answers,” he responded. Dead spirits were honest creatures.

“That’s not what I’m talking about! Can’t you tell how disturbing this is for me? If your past is different than what I believed, then everything I’ve believed in...”

Fujiko was frantic, but her brother was unmoved.

“Don’t cry, Fujiko.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be weak and pathetic? The guy who ran away from his work without a trace of shame? But if that message was yours, then...”

“Fujiko, I’m pathetic, and weak, and shameless, and I ran away from my work. I’m also a lolicon.”

“Enough! What’s really going on here...”

“Kyaaah!”

Clatter-clang!

There was suddenly a scream and the sound of something falling behind her. Fujiko turned around in surprise and saw Keena, who had tripped and been covered with books from the bookshelf.

“Keena Soga!” Fujiko yelled. Keena stood up with an awkward laugh.

“How did you get in here?! When did you get in here?!” Fujiko yelled louder, and Keena flinched. But her eyes quickly welled up with tears, and she kneeled before Fujiko, begging.

“I’m sorry! My rice ball fell in a hole, and I ran after it and it came out here! I didn’t mean to bother you, but...”

Fujiko face-palmed in exasperation.

“You can’t honestly expect me to believe...”

But in the next moment, Fujiko saw a dirty rice ball in the corner of her vision. It was covered with dust that it had clearly accumulated during its fall down the stairs. When she saw that, Fujiko decided that it would be stupid to get mad.

“...Well, whatever. I’d forgotten that you knew about this place. Now get out of here. I’m busy...”

Fujiko tried to wave her away, but Keena quickly leapt on the crystal ball.

“Oh, it’s Ackie! Hello!”

“Get off that thing!”

“B-Big sister...” Keena suddenly looked up at Fujiko.

“Wh-What is it? And wait, ‘big sister?’”

“That’s right! Please let me call you big sister! Oh, I know it might be rude, but I keep meaning to apologize for what happened earlier!” Keena said, her eyes strangely serious.

Fujiko couldn’t keep up with Keena’s rapid changes of pace.

“W-Wait a second...”

“I-It’s okay! You don’t have to forgive me! But please forgive Ackie! If you’re watching him like this, it means you really hate him, right?”

“W-Well... yes, I do. Of course I do.”

“Yes, of course! Maybe you can’t forgive him. But Ackie doesn’t mean any harm. So why don’t we go chase after him together!”

“Ch-Chase after him...?” The idea hadn’t occurred to Fujiko.

“That’s right! Let’s go, big sister!”

Keena said it again. What Keena was saying didn’t make any sense, but Fujiko found herself wavering. She’d been wanting to go on her own. And the way Keena was begging her made it hard to turn down.

“Y-Yes, if you think that’s for the best...” Fujiko said softly. Keena clapped her hands together with a loud “slap!”

“Hooray! Let’s get ready! I’ll bring us plenty of rice and things to eat! So just wait for me at the Tree of Confessions in the woods behind the school! Oh, I’m so happy! Now maybe we can find out about your brother, too!”

—Huh? Wait...

Fujiko tried to ask Keena what she meant, but by that time Keena was already gone.

○

“I said I’m not going, and I meant it. I’m going back to the Academy and telling the student council,” Akuto said stubbornly.

He was sipping tea from a kettle heated by an outdoor stove. The tent had already been pitched and he was relaxing by it.

Eiko didn’t look like she’d given up, but when Akuto had started to threaten her, she finally fell completely silent with a pout on her face.

Before long it was dark outside, and time to sleep. Akuto called Korone over and told her to watch Eiko during the night, then went into his tent. They’d pitched three small tents. One for Akuto, one for Hiroshi, and one for Korone and Eiko.

—I just don’t know how to handle girls like her...

He grumbled inwardly as he fell asleep.

But when he woke up in the morning, he noticed that it was strangely silent. He left his tent, and saw that Hiroshi’s tent had disappeared.

—Don’t tell me...!

Eiko’s tent was still up. He went inside and saw Korone standing there with her arms crossed, as if she were embracing someone. But Korone was alone, and completely motionless. She looked like some kind of surreal statue.

“She got me...”

Korone had been shut down. That much was obvious. Eiko must have persuaded Korone to give her a hug, and then pulled on the tail that was the power switch for artificial humans.

Akuto wrapped his arms around the frozen Korone so she wouldn’t fall over when she was reactivated, and then plunged his hand under her skirt and searched around for her tail.

—I hate doing this. I feel so embarrassed...

He somehow managed to stretch his hands behind her hips, trying as best he could to avoid touching her soft behind, and then touched her round tail. When he pulled it, he heard a low whir, and the light returned to Korone’s eyes.

“Now quickly, give me that special ningyo-yaki... huh? You’re not Eiko Teruya, are you?” Korone voiced her surprise expressionlessly.

“You were shut down.”

“Oh dear. So this wasn’t an attempt to use magic to change places with her, and then play with my body.”

“...Where did you get that idea? We don’t have time for your jokes.” Akuto pulled Korone off of him.

“So she must have...” Korone looked around the tent.

There was a letter placed on top of a small backpack. Akuto picked it up and saw that it was from Hiroshi.

《I realized that you’re only saying you’re going home to test us, boss. I promise you we’ll find the treasure on our own.》

Akuto put his head in his hands.

“Eiko completely conned him...”

“He’s an idiot, isn’t he?” Korone said.

Now Hiroshi was practically her hostage. Akuto opened the backpack and saw his share of the food and water. He put it on his back and started to fold up the tents.

“Are you going after them?” Korone asked. Akuto nodded.

“...Yeah, whatever. Their next stop was the Knight Equipment Research Lab, right? Do you know where that is?”

“Its location is recorded in the old files.”

“Then let’s go.”

Akuto started to walk. They had a head start on him, and he couldn’t imagine that he moved that much faster than they did, so he’d be arriving several hours after them.

“There must be something else protecting the treasure, right?”

“Most likely, yes.”

“That girl wants me to be the Demon King no matter what it takes, I guess. She was saying something about how it was fate.”

“It’s another sign that that everyone is expecting a lot from you.”

“Stop joking around.”

Korone’s tone was the same as ever, so he thought it was a joke, but Korone denied it.

“No, it’s not a joke. People expect this of you.”

“I don’t want to be the Demon King, though.”

“Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you want. It’s a problem of the ego, I suppose.”

“I don’t want you making this more complicated than it has to be. I want to make the world a peaceful place, and right now I think that’s going well.”

“Many humans would say the same thing. But even so, it doesn’t always go well. That’s what it means to be human. We artificial humans are all jealous of that.”

“That it doesn’t go well?”

“Indeed. Something like that.”

“Huh...”

For a fairly long time after that, the two of them walked in silence. They traveled down an unmaintained mountain road, and at the end of it they found an abandoned town. It had been destroyed in the war, and no one had ever bothered to repair it. Akuto had never seen an entire town in ruins before, and it was eerie enough that he was a little hesitant to go inside.

“Why didn’t they repair the damage to the town?” he asked.

“It appears that they didn’t have the funds. It’s on Academy grounds, so in theory, the Academy would need to fund the repairs.”

“And so they just left it like this, huh?”

Akuto started to walk down the city’s main street. The damage was horrendous, but he felt better when he realized that there were no signs of casualties.

“Two armies collided here after the residents were evacuated,” Korone explained. “The Demon King’s army was after the knights’ lab in this city, so the knights evacuated the residents and used the building we’re heading towards as a base.”

“I see,” Akuto said.

But just as the words left his mouth, there was a shaking like an earthquake and a low noise reverberated through his body.

“Looks like my bad feeling was right.”

Akuto put his pack down and started to run. Korone followed him and explained where they were going.

“I’m sure you already noticed, but the sound’s location matches that of the Knight Equipment Lab.”

“I know that.”

He turned the corner and emerged onto a large street. In the center of a plaza a little further down, he saw a half-destroyed five-story building. It was an old building made from concrete, which was a rare and valuable material now. The roof over the entrance had collapsed, and past it he could see a wide space that was probably the front hall.

There was a monster there.

—You’ve got to be kidding me, right...?

Akuto could see what looked like an iron giant. The humanoid figure must have been at least three meters tall, and it was wearing immense full-body armor. There were flashes of light appearing on its body, and when he heard Eiko’s shouts, he realized that they were her attacks.

With each strike there was a metallic clang, and sparks flew along the armor’s surface. He caught glimpses of Eiko as she moved — she seemed to be dashing around the giant, attacking it with her dagger.

—She’s not even scratching it.

Akuto was struck by the realization that he had no idea what to do. He couldn’t come up with any kind of plan at all. But he knew he had to save her.

“What am I supposed to do against a monster like that?” he complained to nobody in particular as he readied his incantation gun.

Suddenly the giant froze.

—Huh?

Akuto couldn’t imagine that it had heard him from out here, but he was fairly certain that the giant had noticed him. It spun around and began to walk towards the collapsed entrance. The opening was too small for it, so its shoulders smashed right through the rubble as it came outside. It ignored the falling concrete pieces, kicking up dust as it walked.

Even Akuto couldn’t help but feel fear at the sight of the colossal giant shaking the earth with each step it took.

It was three meters tall, fully covered in armor, and the gauntlet on its right hand was massive. It held an axe the size of a full-grown person.

—No way. I’m not fighting a monster like this! Maybe I can just stun it for a minute and give them time to get away...!

Akuto fired the Incantation Gun. Of course, he aimed for the chinks in the armor. There was a gap on the backside of the knee to give it space to bend. It was too dark to see past the giant’s face guard, so he couldn’t tell what was inside. But whether it was human or machine, it was sure to take damage from an attack to the back of its knee.

He controlled the bullet’s flight path to make it strike there. But just when it looked like it would hit, the giant moved its knee the side and blocked it with the armored front plate.

“What!?”

Akuto couldn’t believe that thing was capable of something so fast and precise.

—How could that huge body’s senses be so sharp?

He remembered that it had just heard his tiny whisper, too. It would be harder than he thought to break through its defenses.

Then he heard another shout. Eiko had jumped out from the building and tried to attack the giant from behind. But of course, the giant could sense this. Eiko was aiming for the gaps in the armor too, but it dodged out of the way at the last second once more.

The giant swung the axe at her as if it was swatting a fly. Eiko dodged it easily. The giant didn’t seem like it could be that precise in battle — it kept trying to swing its axe at Eiko, but she leapt from one spot to the next before it could hit her.

Since dodging was so easy, the idea of running didn’t seem to occur to Eiko. At this point, Akuto was ready to knock her out and run, but he quickly realized that this would do no good. Someone else had run out from the building.

It was Hiroshi. Akuto had no idea why, but he was holding an electrified baton like the ones modern knights used when patrolling the town, and trying to attack the giant.

“Hiyaaah!”

—Well, damn... Hiroshi’s not going to run either, huh?

Akuto finally decided that the best course of action was to keep firing his gun at the giant to distract it. It was either annoyed by the bullets, or decided that Hiroshi wasn’t a threat, because it turned its face towards Akuto just like he’d hoped.

But the giant started to walk in broad strides, moving much faster than before. Akuto tried to run, but given the length of its stride, there was no way he could outrun it. Now it was Akuto who was in trouble.

—Man, this isn’t funny at all.

The giant was almost on top of him. But even as Akuto panicked, he was able to come up with a plan. The giant’s only weapon was its axe. Eiko was dodging it easily, but even if the giant was slow, it was only slow until it actually started to bring down the axe. Once it started to come down, it came down fast, and it was too big to dodge by jumping out of the way. Akuto just wasn’t fast enough to try.

—So I’ll just have to...

Akuto loaded the most powerful explosive bullet into his Incantation Gun. If he manipulated the mana to make the biggest explosion he could, he should be able to blast away the giant.

He readied the gun, and didn’t bother to aim. He knew the enemy would try to block it with its armor.

The giant raised its axe as it charged. Akuto could hear the sound of it ripping through the air.

—Now!

Akuto pulled the trigger.

At the Academy, this bullet was only used by students brawling with each other. But the instant the bullet hit, Akuto filled it with mana from the surrounding air. The explosion quickly swelled up to ten times its normal size.

A ball of light swelled up with a roar at the impact point on the giant’s chest.

The light engulfed the giant and kept spreading.

The shock wave raced through the whole town, momentarily shaking the surrounding rubble.

After he’d blown up the classroom last time, Akuto had investigated the force of the explosion he’d caused as part of an effort to keep it from happening again. The result, he’d found, was that it was between five and seven kilos of force per square centimeter. Without something to protect you, the explosive pressure alone could just about kill you. Even as the explosion was dispersed through the air, this direct hit to the chest should still be enough to take down the giant... or so he’d thought.

—Wha—!?

Akuto was astonished.

The ball of light faded away. And the giant was unharmed. The only sign that it had been hit at all was the steam coming off the heated metal.

“No way...” Akuto said.

The giant raised its axe again.

It was too late to get away.

The axe started to come down, aiming straight for Akuto.

It sliced through the air straight towards him.

And then there was the awful wet sound of metal slicing through meat.

“Boss!” Hiroshi screamed as he ran towards the giant’s back.

“Kyaah!”

Even Eiko screamed as she looked up at the giant’s back.

But—

—Oh, I see. So that’s the trick. This is what it means to be good at some things, and bad at others. I guess it was a good idea I went to talk to Fujiko.

Akuto now realized how valuable that information was.

He’d thrown the Incantation Gun down at his feet. And with his now-free hands, he’d grabbed the giant axe that was as big as he was. He’d grabbed it just before it hit his forehead, and was trapping it with his palms.

—Damn it. I’m the reserved type, so I never would’ve thought I’d be good at something as risky as this.

His muscles were bulging up so much, you could see them clearly through his clothes. He’d filled his muscles with mana, and now he was many times stronger than before.

—And unlike other magic, I can tell the power’s completely under my control!

Akuto looked up.

The giant was clearly uncertain of how to deal with this. It couldn’t push the axe or pull it, so it was just shaking its body violently. No matter how strong Akuto was now, his weight hadn’t changed. This meant all the giant would have to do is lift Akuto up in the air, but Akuto had dug his feet into the ground, and was using the strength of his legs to stay there.

“Don’t resist, please...!” Akuto said as he twisted the axe.

The giant pulled harder to get it back. It was a test of strength between Akuto and the giant.

But the battle was over quickly. Since the giant refused to let go, its arms twisted with the axe, and finally its whole body was flung to the side.

The ground shook once more. Hiroshi and the others even jumped a little.

Akuto took the axe out of the giant’s hand. He tossed it up in the air, let it spin once, and grabbed by the hilt, then began to swing it around as if it were a quarter the size it really was.

The giant didn’t speak, but it began to crawl away from Akuto with sluggish movements. Then it stood up, turned, and began to walk away. Its movements felt less like fleeing than an admission of defeat.

—Why do all the guardians of the treasure have such distinct personalities?

Akuto wondered. But Hiroshi ran up and yelled, as if trying to interrupt his thoughts.

“Wow! Way to go, boss!”

Akuto tossed the axe aside. This time Hiroshi had done something he couldn’t just shrug off.

“Don’t even start. What were you thinking, going someplace so dangerous?”

Hiroshi didn’t seem to understand what he was saying.

“Huh? I figured that as your first student, boss, I had to get stronger.”

“Why? It’s not like there’s ever any real point in fighting. Did this last fight actually get you anywhere?”

“You can only say that because you’re strong, boss! You need to think about how we, the weak, feel!”

—Suddenly he’s the one who’s mad at me?

This didn’t seem fair to Akuto, but since Hiroshi seem excessively mad, he decided not to say anything.

“Okay, I get it. But I’m telling you, I don’t really understand who’s weak and who’s strong either.”

Akuto shrugged his shoulders and turned to look for Eiko. She was looking at Akuto with even more excitement than Hiroshi.

“You really did come! I knew it!”

Eiko ran up to him expectantly, but he walked straight past her towards the lab.

“You’re going to try and force me to get involved in this no matter what, right? So I’m willing to play along and see where this goes. Just don’t forget that this is because you’re holding my conscience hostage.”

“Aww, why are you acting like such a goodie-goodie? I know you’re not!” Eiko said angrily.

—I just don’t know how to deal with girls like her...

Akuto went inside the ruins of the lab. He was a little curious about what they’d been researching there, but it had been totally stripped clean. He checked each of the rooms that led off the front hall, but all of them were empty. The only one with any furnishings at all was the room in the far back.

—Come to think of it, the message only mentioned the back shelf.

The only furnishings in the room were some steel shelves. He opened all the drawers on the shelves, but all he found was a tablet about the size of a notebook. He picked it up and saw that it was an old electronic toy. You could take photos with it, which would then appear on the screen. Then you could draw or make notes on them with an attached pen.

—Another toy, huh?

Akuto turned on the tablet, feeling a little confused. The stored picture was a scene of a cave entrance surrounded by trees. There were words written on the side.

《Behind the shrine in the back. If all three are gathered, use this tablet to photograph your palm as identification.》

Akuto put the device in his pocket.

—I don’t know why, but... something seems terribly sad. It feels like this is more than just a treasure hunt.

○

“The ‘Finding Groundwater!’ device!” Korone said as she held up the two bent-metal rods she’d taken out of her bag. “Now we can track the flow of the underground water.”

Korone held the rods in both hands and started to walk, the rest of the group following behind her. At first the rods swung randomly from left to right, but after they’d walked for a while, both of them turned in the same direction. Korone said she was using them to detect mana, but Akuto wasn’t sure he believed her.

“We’ve been wandering the woods for a pretty long time now. Are you sure about this?” he asked, worried. Korone nodded.

“It’s just fine. We just have to follow the flow of the underground water.”

Nobody had seen the cave in the picture before, but Hiroshi had suggested it might be the limestone cave in the back of the forest, which he’d heard rumors about before.

“Limestone caves are only formed when there’s a source of underground water, so if we find one in the area marked by the map, it will lead us there,” Hiroshi had suggested.

“Why are there rumors about this cave?”

“They say there’s a hot spring there. Sometimes when people go to look for it, they can’t find it. So the rumor is that it’s some kind of phantom hot spring.”

“They should just have the people who did find it tell them where it was. Or maybe it’s not someplace you want to go more than once?”

“Probably not. But I haven’t heard any rumors about a monster. It’s possible that the forest itself is more dangerous.”

“There may not be monsters, but I bet there’s a guardian now.”

“Why do you say that, boss?”

“Think about it. Why do you think there was a guardian in the underground cemetery?”

“That’s right... So the guardians appeared only after the map was discovered...” Hiroshi’s expression clouded.

“Either way, something’s going on that has nothing to do with me... And yet I’m sure my actions will be held against me again,” Akuto muttered.

“Oh!” Korone interjected.

“What is it?”

“I found it.”

Akuto looked in the direction she was pointing and saw the cave from the photograph. It was half-buried by the surrounding trees.

“I didn’t honestly think we’d find it,” Akuto said. Korone shoved the two metal rods in front of his face.

“The ‘Finding Groundwater’ device is a very reliable magical tool. Plumbers use it in their work.”

“Oh, I see...” said Akuto, mostly uninterested, as he put down his bags.

He called Hiroshi and had him light a mana torch in his hands. Then he looked at Eiko. Of course, she was eager to go inside, and Akuto had already given up on stopping her.

“Let’s go,” he said, and he led them into the limestone cave.

The entrance was low enough that he had to duck to get in, but once he was inside there was plenty of space. The stones beneath his feet were slick and damp. It was humid inside, and it seemed that there was water flowing somewhere nearby.

“This is quite a sight, huh?” Hiroshi said, impressed.

His light was shining on a tunnel that was big enough for a bus to pass through. The tunnel walls were glistening with a strange light as water trickled down them from the ceiling. At the bottom there was a mound of melted rock, like ice cream dropped on the side of a road.

“There’s only one path, huh?”

They went in further. The path seemed to be tilting downwards slightly. At the end, there was a dark hole where the light wouldn’t reach. When they arrived, they saw that it was an opening to a vast hall.

Hiroshi made the light stronger so they could see the whole thing. It was the size of a school gym. There were several limestone stalactites pointing down from the ceiling, and anthill-like stalagmites of varying sizes dotted the floor. In the far back were several depressions in the floor that looked like unfinished bowls. All of them were filled with water. It was like someone had lined up a bunch of small swimming pools.

They followed the walls around the hall. There were small depressions in the wall, but no tunnels leading anywhere else. The limestone cave seemed to come to a dead end, here in this hall.

—Is this really a dead end? But I don’t see a shrine... Wait, these pools are pretty deep. Maybe they lead somewhere.

Akuto went to the furthest pool in the back and knelt down. Just like he’d thought, the far wall wasn’t a dead end at all. The pool continued below it, and there was a gap between the wall and water of a few dozen centimeters. If he went in the pool, he could go deeper into the cave.

Akuto put his hand in the water. It was warm — this must have been the hot spring he’d heard the rumor about.

“I guess we’ll have to swim, huh?” Akuto said. Hiroshi looked scared.

“To tell you the truth, boss, I’m a little scared to get in the water.”

“Yeah... It’s definitely dangerous. Okay, why don’t you wait here with Korone?”

Akuto stripped down to his underwear and took the ball of light from Hiroshi. If he said the wrong thing, Hiroshi might start talking about how he “needed to become stronger” again, so he said nothing as he got inside the pool.

The water was surprisingly shallow. He was able to crouch down and go forward with his head sticking out of it. It didn’t go very far back, either. After a few meters, it suddenly opened up into another hall.

This hall was considerably bigger than the one before. And there was a light shining down from the ceiling. Part of the roof seemed to have completely melted, and the forest was visible above him.

Akuto was still crouching on the limestone, but some of the rocks in the pool were rough instead of smooth. It felt more like a typical forest hot spring now. There were probably several different hot springs here, connected together at the source but separated by the rocks. He could imagine animals coming here to heal their wounds.

—It’s kind of relaxing. Not that I’ve got time to relax...

He was about to stand up to look for the treasure when suddenly someone grabbed him from behind.

“Uwah!”

It was Eiko who’d attacked him. It wasn’t that Akuto had been careless — part of the reason he’d let her get so close was that she was good at moving quietly, but mainly it was that he was trying his best to ignore everything she did.

Akuto could feel something soft pressed up against his back. He was naked from the waist up, so he could feel the sensation of skin pressing against skin.

“Hey...” Akuto tried to run, but she held him tightly from behind.

“We’re finally alone, you know. It wouldn’t kill you to relax a bit.”

Eiko wrapped her arm firmly around Akuto’s body. She pulled him towards the water, like a ghost trying to drag its victim to their doom.

“Fine, I’ll calm down, so get off me.”

“No way. If I do, you’ll run away.”

“Of course I will. You’re not wearing any clothes.”

“Nobody wears clothes inside a hot spring.”

“So what, you took your clothes off and chased after me back there?”

“I’m pretty fast, you know. Your friend didn’t even notice. I’ve been waiting for this chance for a long time,” she said in an alluring voice.

“Chance? You’re trying to kill me...?”

“No! Man, you really don’t understand anything, do you?”

“Anything about what?”

“I keep telling you I’m in love with you, right? So of course I’m going to do things like this.”

Eiko leaned into Akuto’s body and grabbed his hands from behind. She guided them towards her own body.

“L-Like what...?” Akuto’s voice was shaking.

“You know, you shouldn’t make a girl say things like that.”

She pressed her breasts into Akuto’s hands.

Akuto’s hands went rigid as she began to pull them further down. They went past her stomach, and even further below...

○

—It’s important to train the mind.

Junko was now more keenly aware of this than ever. She’d been able to follow their tracks from the cemetery to the abandoned town, but once she’d gone inside the forest she’d lost Akuto and his group.

—This is something a first-rate shinobi should be able to do easily. Maybe I’m just too distracted to focus...

The “distraction” she was referring to was her own mind, which was constantly questioning whether Akuto was doing naughty things with the mysterious girl he’d been traveling with. She was fine as long as she maintained her focus, but whenever she let her guard down, even for a moment, the thoughts had come rushing to the forefront. A few times it had been so bad she’d screamed. And after screaming, she’d found herself looking around to make sure nobody had heard her.

—Gah! Calm down, Junko Hattori! What’s important here is that if that girl is Eiko Teruya, Akuto might be in danger.

“But now that I’ve lost them, I’m not sure what I can do...”

At this point, Junko was just wandering the forest blindly. But just when she’d thought about leaving it entirely to try and pick up the trail again, she found a spring. When she dipped her finger in the water to see if it was drinkable, it was warm.

—Come to think of it, I haven’t taken a bath in three days. Maybe I’ll take a break and calm myself down.

She put down her pack, checked around her to make sure no one was watching, and began to remove her clothes. Each time she removed an item of clothing, she would fold it up and place it on her head. Then she tied the bundle of clothes to her head, along with her katana sheathe, to her head with a string called a sageo. It was an old habit she’d picked up that would let her quickly react if she was attacked by the enemy.

Since nobody was watching, she stretched and let out a huge yawn as she stepped into the water.

“Whew...”

She ran her hands over her body as her cheeks began to flush from the heat.

—All the physical training I’ve done has made my body all muscly. Maybe I’d be more attractive if my body was softer, like Keena’s...

She quickly shook her head.

—No, no. This isn’t good at all. I must keep my body toned at all times, so that no one will mock my family for choosing politics over war!

“But still...”

Junko had lowered her face under the waterline to the point where her words were coming out as bubbles, when suddenly she sensed someone’s presence. She poked her head out from the water without a sound, and began to look around her.

Then she heard a scream, and the sound of splashing water.

—Two people?

Junko silently moved in the direction of the noise, which was past the rocks. She could hear voices.

“We’re finally alone, you know. It wouldn’t kill you to relax a bit.”

—What?

The sweet tone of the voice was enough to tell even Junko that it was a man and a woman in the throes of intimacy.

—Maybe I should leave then...

Junko’s face was now bright red, and not from the steam. She turned to go, but for some reason she found herself staying to hear what happened next.

“Fine, I’ll calm down, so get off me.”

“No way. If I do, you’ll run away.”

“Of course I will. You’re not wearing any clothes.”

—That serious, yet blunt tone... That voice...!

Junko couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She drew her sword and poked the end of the blade just a bit past one of the rocks, so she could use it as a mirror to see what was going on.

Akuto was mostly naked, and a girl was embracing him from behind. He was struggling to get free, but the girl was rubbing herself up against him hard.

Junko’s mind was clouded by a mix of embarrassment, confusion, and anger. She pulled the blade back and pointed it straight upwards, and within an instant she was leaping into the air.

“Noooo!”

○

Akuto could probably get her off of him if he tried, but he wasn’t sure he could control his power. If he wasn’t careful, he might send Eiko flying. And once he calmed down a bit, an even bigger concern was that he might piss her off, and somehow end up with more of a mess to deal with.

— If I keep playing along, maybe I can learn something... But I don’t have that much experience, so I won’t be able to keep calm... and I can’t go all the way...

He didn’t want to do anything that would give her any encouragement, so he just kept his hands pressed up against her stomach where she was holding them. His only choice was to keep the conversation going.

“Hang on. Weren’t you saying something about choosing between me and your master?”

“So maybe I end up with both of you. Who cares?”

“What if I care?”

“Aww, don’t be such a wimp.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I want to know more about this other guy. I want to know how much of a man he is.”

Akuto personally didn’t think his own words were convincing, but they were good enough for Eiko.

“Oh, that I can understand! He’s...”

Before she could continue, however, a voice came down from above.

“Noooo!”

Akuto looked up.

Junko was leaping down at him, totally naked with her clothes tied to her head. Her sword was raised and her legs were open.

“Why aren’t you wearing any clothes?!” Akuto screamed without thinking.

It was only then that Junko seemed to realize how she was dressed.

“N-Nooo!”

Still in mid-air, she folded her arms and legs up to hide herself, and then crashed right next to Eiko and Akuto in the water. There was a huge splash. Akuto and Eiko let go of each other and moved away.

“H-Hattori... What are you doing here?” Akuto asked. Junko poked her head and sword up from beneath the water. Her face was a brilliant red, but her voice was sharp and clear.

“That’s not what’s important here! That’s Eiko Teruya! She’s a government spy!”

“A spy?”

Akuto looked at Eiko. She was standing tall, and making no effort to conceal herself. He looked away, and she chuckled.

“That’s right. I’m sure you knew it was something like that, right?”

“Yeah. I figured it was something like that, but I wasn’t able to figure out that you worked for the government. So some government big shot is involved here?”

“That’s right! He wanted to know if you’re a man who can stand up to your fate. And I was sent to help him figure that out. But you know, you’re standing at a very dangerous crossroad right now. If I don’t help you, you might die when you get your hands on that treasure.”

“Die?”

“That’s right. You need to be worthy to possess it, and right now, you aren’t. At least, if you ask me.”

“I’m really not interested in being tested for my ‘worthiness,’ so I don’t care.”

“Stop talking like that!” Eiko yelled. “Okay, do you want me to make this simple? Choose me. If you fall in love with me, I’ll make you a man.”

“Wait!” Junko interrupted. “I don’t know what Eiko’s talking about, but she works for the Imperial Public Safety Committee! They’re in charge of the knights, but they’re a bunch of extremists who want to wipe out black magic and black mages!”

Eiko’s temper flared in response.

“Extremists? Hah! If we let everybody use any kind of magic they want, the whole empire will collapse! Why can’t you understand that?”

“That’s what makes you extremists!” Junko yelled back. “You Teruya are always reckless! And all you care about is learning how to murder people!”

“And the Hattori are just a bunch of wimps who chose to serve the Imperial Cabinet instead of fighting!”

“Shut up! And anyway, the government’s laws say that Akuto Sai is only to be observed. What are you thinking, trying to interfere and lead him to the treasure of the last Demon King?”

“The Public Safety Committee’s following the law too! And Akuto Sai came here of his own free will! I can tell you that for sure!”

“Then leave! Stay away from him!”

When Eiko heard this, a superior smile spread across her face.

“Oh, so that’s it. If that’s what you want...”

She wrapped herself around Akuto again.

“Hey, are you going to choose her? Or choose me?”

“What?!”

Akuto had no idea what to say to that.

“Girls like us work for the benefit of our master. Right now, Junko’s trying to help you, but if you accept me and reject her, she’ll lose the right to complain about anything I do.”

Eiko brought her lips close to Akuto’s ear, but she was speaking loudly enough that Junko could hear her. What Eiko was saying didn’t make a lot of sense, but from looking at Junko’s reaction, Akuto could tell she was telling the truth. She was watching Akuto with a bitter look and biting into her lips.

—I don’t know what’s going on here, but this is a problem... Hattori’s really mad at me, for one thing. There’s no way I could be her master.

Junko, however, was unwilling to wait for an answer. She screamed and ran at Eiko with her sword.

“Enough talking! This is our problem, not yours!”

But when she came out from beneath the surface of the water, Eiko just turned Akuto’s head towards her.

“No!” Junko gasped and dropped back in the water again.

Akuto realized that she was too worried about being seen to come out from the water, so he spoke to her in a timid voice.

“I-It’s okay. I won’t look, so go ahead and do it without holding back.”

“You’re lying! You totally saw me! And when you say ‘do it’ it sounds like you mean something naughty!”

“This is no time to be stubborn!”

“Then get out of here!”

“Sorry, you’re right... No, wait! There’s a reason I can’t move!”

Akuto had just realized something. But at this point, neither Eiko nor Junko were listening.

“This is perfect! I’ve been waiting years for this!”

Eiko ran at Junko. Junko fought back, but she couldn’t match Eiko’s fast movements while trying to cover her body. In the space of a moment Eiko had broken past her guard, struck her wrist, and knocked her sword from her hand.

“Damn it!”

“Ahaha! It’s hard being a shy girl, huh?”

Eiko’s body began to flicker and waver. Clones of her appeared on either side. It was the same skill that was Junko’s specialty.

“Once a girl loses her shame, she’s finished!” Junko yelled back, and cloned herself as well.

Several clones of Eiko and Junko began to scream and punch at one another.

“I taught you that skill when I was little!” yelled Eiko.

“I don’t think so! Everybody in the village knows it!” Junko shot back.

“I covered your ass when Master got mad at you!”

“That’s because you slipped poison in his food and blamed it on me!”

“Shut up, virgin!”

“Shut up, slut!”

It was a petty argument to witness, but with all these Eikos and Junkos leaping around the hot springs, Akuto couldn’t move. And since they were all naked, even if the Junkos were doing an admirable job of covering their privates, it was still really awkward.

But the real reason that Akuto couldn’t move was something else entirely.

There were two eyes that had been staring at them for a while now. They weren’t human. And they were looking down from a tree. He couldn’t tell if they were canine or feline, but they were sharp and wild.

It was a four-legged beast, and a big one. It didn’t seem like the one from before that had caused the mana abnormality. When he tried to manipulate the mana in its body, he felt a power resisting it.

—So that’s the guardian of this place, huh? It doesn’t look like it’s has a human-like mind, though...

The other two guardians had both had something resembling personalities. But this one was pure wild instinct. Because of that, he had no idea what it would do.

Junko and Eiko didn’t seem to notice, and they were continuing their battle. Both were evenly matched for now, but it looked like Junko was being slightly pushed to the defensive...

—What should I do here?

He looked around the vicinity of the beast, being careful to keep an eye on it at all times, and saw a tiny shrine beneath it. It had been buried in leaves so he hadn’t noticed it until he’d looked. That was probably why no one else had found it either.

—So it’ll attack anybody who gets close to that shrine, huh?

That was Akuto’s best guess. Just then, a pair of Eikos and Junkos moved their fight towards a spot near the shrine.

“Watch out!”

Akuto started to run. He could see the beast move out of the corner of his eye. He leapt between Junko and Eiko.

“What are you doing?!”

“Don’t interfere!”

Junko and Eiko yelled, but their voices quickly faltered. A beast, twice the size of a man, pounced down on Akuto.

Akuto grabbed the beast and threw it off of him. It was far stronger than an average animal, but it was no match for his strength. And yet, the beast simply spun in midair and landed on a rock. It didn’t seem to have taken any damage.

“A wolf?” Junko yelled.

“It’s dangerous, so get—...”

The beast didn’t give Akuto time to finish his sentence. It leapt just an instant after it landed, its claws heading straight for Akuto’s face.

“Yikes!”

Akuto just barely managed to dodge it. When the beast landed on the rocks behind him, it spun nimbly and pounced at him once more.

This time, Akuto wasn’t fast enough. The beast’s claw took a chunk of skin off his shoulder.

“Aah!”

Akuto dropped to his knees, clutching his shoulder. But the beast didn’t wait to see how effective its attack had been. It came leaping at Akuto with its claws for a third time.

All of the Eiko and Teruya clones leapt at the beast at once.

“Hiyaah!”

“Kyeeeh!”

They surrounded the beast as they landed, but then they lost sight of their target.

Confusion appeared on dozens of faces. And then all of them were blown back at once. The beast was right in front of Akuto.

By the time Junko and Eiko realized that it had dashed past all their clones and blown them all away, most of their strength was gone and they were gasping for breath on the ground next to Akuto. Damage to a clone was fed back to its creator as damage to their total energy. Both of them were exhausted after just one attack.

—I guess there’s not going to be any kind of miracle this time, huh?

Akuto prepared himself for death. The other guardians were only interested in driving him away, and had avoided any attacks that could prove fatal, but this one was a wild beast. It wasn’t going to hold back at all. If it weren’t for that first attack, he could’ve hit it with a full-powered punch that might’ve killed them both. But now that he was wounded he couldn’t do that either.

The beast attacked again.

Junko and Eiko huddled up against him, terrified.

Akuto lowered his face. Acting on pure instinct, he threw himself on top of them to protect them.

He grit his teeth and waited for the pain of claws ripping through his flesh.

But—

Nothing happened.

The only sound was the sound of the water.

He looked up fearfully and saw the beast floating on the surface of the water. It seemed to be asleep.

—I’m safe, I guess...

Akuto slowly stood up, unable to believe what he was seeing. He realized that he was holding Junko in his arms. She was shaking and clinging to him.

“Hey,” Akuto said, and Junko opened her eyes.

She looked at him, and then at the floating beast, and instantly relaxed.

“W-Whew...”

The strength drained from her body, and she slumped onto Akuto’s chest.

“W-Wait, what are you...”

When Akuto started to panic, she finally realized her situation. She let out an incoherent scream, jumped back, and sunk beneath the waters of the hot springs.

“So that’s it...”

He heard an upset voice. It was Eiko. She was behind Akuto, a little bit away. She had just stood up from the ground.

“What you do without even thinking shows how you really feel, doesn’t it? Junko, it looks like Akuto Sai chose you!” Eiko yelled. And then an evil smile filled her face as she continued. “Then why don’t you just die? Sure, you’ll get your hands on that treasure! And when you do, I hope it kills you!”

Eiko walked through the water towards the shrine, stuck her hand inside it, and pulled out something that she threw at Akuto.

Akuto caught it. It was a key, just small enough to fit into his palm.

—A key?

Eiko then threw herself into the hot springs without a word. Akuto could see her swimming through the water back to where he’d come from.

—Damn it. What the hell’s going on here?

Finally, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

“Owww...” He dropped to the ground as he clutched it. Junko ran up to him.

“Are you okay?”

“It won’t kill me,” Akuto said as he looked away from her.

“I’m sorry. We’ve ended up in such a weird situation...”

When he apologized, Junko’s face turned red as she shook her head.

“I-It doesn’t bother me. If only I’d realized Eiko was here sooner... No, wait, that’s because I wasn’t leaving my room, and the reason I wasn’t leaving my room was that you stripped me naked during class!”

Halfway through her speech, Junko had switched from apologizing to blaming him.

“Sorry. Yeah, you’re right.”

Akuto apologized, and then asked something he’d been wondering for a while.

“Have you known her for a long time?”

“We’ve been rivals for years. You heard her. She’s the kind of girl who never thinks about anything except what she’s feeling in the moment.”

“I got that sense, definitely. That’s how she was around me,” said Akuto, nodding. Junko looked astonished.

“What happened?! I mean, not in a weird way...”

“It was fine. She caused a lot of trouble, though.”

“That’s good, at least. Anyway, she’ll change her whole life to revolve around her man. And her whole idea of ‘serving’ someone is just wrong. So, well, you know. Just be careful, because when she talks about you being her master, it’s all one big fantasy. Also, she said something about you choosing me, but I mean, it’s not like you did that, right?”

Junko became more and more flustered as she spoke.

Akuto thought for a moment before he opened his mouth.

“No, I mean I guess if I had to choose someone, it would be you. But...”

Junko didn’t listen to what came after his “but.” She started to flail her arms in panic and splash hot water everywhere.

And Akuto didn’t get to finish, either. A ditzy-sounding voice from above cut him off.

“Ackie, Junko!”

It was Keena.

He looked up and saw Keena flying down from the sky. She was facing down, with her arms and legs drooping. Bizarrely, Fujiko was on her back, sitting sidesaddle.

“Why are you two just sitting there talking? Didn’t you find it strange that that beast suddenly fell asleep? And what were you going to do if I didn’t show up? You left your gun behind, didn’t you? It was really hard to track you down!”

Fujiko was playing with a vial of medicine in her hands. She must have used it to put the creature to sleep.

“Ackie, you’re really hurt!”

Keena floated down towards him.

“I’m fine. I just need to have Korone patch up my wounds and then get dressed... Um, so does Hattori.”

“I-I don’t need you looking out for me!” Junko yelled back at him.