Chapter 4: I’m Just a Normal Guy. Can I Defeat the Ultimate Mage?

“Is that you, Satsuki?”

“Rekka! I’m so glad I got through to you!”

I hadn’t really believed it when I’d picked up the phone, but my childhood friend was on the other end of the line. I was a little curious about how I was getting cell phone coverage on planet Finerita... but that didn’t matter. “Satsuki, I’m glad you’re safe.” That, at least, was a relief.

“That’s what I was going to say! You just disappeared, and I was so worried!”

“Um... sorry.” She was right to be mad. I felt bad for mistaking Iris for her in the abandoned factory, so I just apologized.

Satsuki sighed. “So, where are you now?”

“Um... in space, I guess.”

“Huh?” I could tell from her voice that she hadn’t expected that answer.

“It’s been a busy day.” So much had happened that I didn’t think I could explain it all at once.

As I tried to come up with some way to explain things, I felt Iris angrily tugging on my shirt. “Hey, Rekka! Aren’t you talking to me right now?”

And then Satsuki on the phone said, “Huh? That was a girl’s voice. Rekka! Where are you really right now?!” The anger started to come back into her voice. Why? I had girls yelling at me in both ears, and I wasn’t sure what to do.

“Whatever. I’ll be there in a second. Then you can explain.”

“Huh? You’re coming here?” Suddenly, the phone in my hand started to glow a pale blue.

“Follow the voice, to connect here and there, and carry me to him.” I could hear what sounded like Satsuki singing, and the blue glow got stronger.

“Uwah!”

“Eeyah!”

There was a dazzling light, and a blue shadow leaped out of the phone. When the light faded, Satsuki was right in front of me.

“What? Huh?” I was astonished, but Satsuki just started to calmly look around the room. Her eyebrows were raised to begin with, but they got even higher when she saw Iris sitting next to me.

“I can’t believe you really were with a girl. Rekka, you’re going to explain this to me, aren’t you?”

“U-Um...” It had been years since I’d seen her really get mad, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I was sunk too deep into the sofa to get up and run away.

“Ooh, here comes the lover’s quarrel.” Shut up, R!

I needed to come up with a way to get out of this situation. Oh, I know! “Iris! Show Satsuki your tail! Your tail!”

“Huh? My tail?” Iris looked confused.

“Her tail? Rekka, what are you talking about?” She must’ve thought I was trying to con her somehow, because her expression became even fiercer.

I begged Iris to to show Satsuki her tail.

“I don’t mind, I guess. Here.” Iris brought out the tail that had been hidden under her butt and waved it back and forth. It shone a lush silver. Its light seemed to me like the light of salvation.

“Huh? She really has a tail... huh?” Just like I’d hoped, Satsuki’s expression turned from anger to confusion. I piled on.

“Satsuki. First, let’s talk things through, okay?”

“...Fine.”

And that’s how I got through a situation that was, in a way, more dangerous than Demon Overlords or meteors ever could be. Whew.

▽

Satsuki said she wanted to talk to me alone, so I begged Iris into leaving the room. The whole time I was begging her, she kept whacking my thighs with her tail, and she seemed really upset. Since my side of the story was so complicated— and since I still hadn’t come up with a way to get her to forgive me for grabbing the wrong girl’s hand at the factory— I had her tell me her side of the story first.

“You may not believe this, but...” That was how Satsuki began.

“No, don’t worry. After today, I’m willing to believe almost anything.” After all, I’d run into wizards, aliens, other worlds, and people from the future already.

“Hmm?” Satsuki seemed suspicious, but I told her I’d explain later and asked her to go on. “I’m... I’m actually a mage.”

“I see.” I’d already more or less guessed that when she’d come jumping out of the phone. It was probably magic that had let me talk to her on the phone in the first place.

She seemed a little bewildered by the fact that I believed her so easily. “Rekka, you’re acting kind of weird. You hate things that aren’t normal, right?”

“I still like normal best. But that doesn’t mean I have to deny everything that isn’t normal, right?” Even if somebody had a problem that wasn’t normal, they were still normal on the inside, just like Iris and Harissa. “You know I’d never doubt anything you said, too.” Satsuki blinked several times, and suddenly looked away.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“Never mind... just don’t look at me.” I could see, through the gaps in her long hair, that her cheeks were a little red.

“Did I say something I shouldn’t have?”

“No... That just makes me really happy. I kept thinking forever that maybe you wouldn’t believe me... that you’d think I was a weirdo and start to hate me.”

“I’d never hate you. We’ve been friends since we were kids, right? And how long have you been worrying about this, anyway?”

“Since day care.”

“Bwah?!” Why... Why was she so damn stubborn?! Why did she always have to try and keep everything to herself? That settled it. I had to save Satsuki. “So what’s with that Messiah guy? Can he use magic, too?”

“That’s right. Messiah is after the Magic of Omniscience that my family has.”

“The Magic of Omniscience?” Come to think of it, Messiah had called her the Daughter of Omniscience.

“It’s a spell. One that gives me access to the Akashic record.”

“...What’s the Akashic record?”

I could see R looking annoyed at me for interrupting with a stupid question. Sorry I’m not smart like you!

“The Akashic record records everything that’s happened in this universe since the dawn of time. You can use it to explain all of history’s mysteries, and to discover things which have been hidden from history as well. And since things are recorded in it in real-time, you could do things like use it to learn which countries are planning on starting a war.”

I only understood about half of that, but her last example was very clear. It was a very dangerous spell.

“But that’s if you used it for evil. You could also use it to find a tragedy that’s happening somewhere no one knows about it, and put a stop to it. That’s why my family’s passed it down for so long, so if the world is ever about to be destroyed, we can stop it.”

“...Wow.” Talk about a big deal. I could only gasp in amazement.

But Satsuki seemed a little upset. “But I didn’t want this magic. I wanted to be a normal girl. If I were a normal girl, I could’ve lived a normal life, and always stayed by your side. I wanted to experience a normal love, too. If not for this magic, Messiah never would have come after me...”

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” Hadn’t I just said that just because somebody had a problem that wasn’t normal, that didn’t mean they weren’t a normal person? I knew better than anybody that Satsuki was a quiet, normal girl. The Magic of Omniscience was far too great a burden for her to bear.

“No... there’s no reason for you to apologize.” Satsuki shook her head. “It’s people like Messiah, who are trying to use the magic for evil, that are to blame. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have to run and hide. But... I don’t think I can hide anymore. Messiah’s supposed to be the strongest mage in the world.”

Satsuki chuckled bitterly. “It’s said that he killed a god and gained its powers. His magic is strong enough to blow up a mountain and leave no traces left. There’s no way I can beat him.”

“But you managed to escape from him at the factory, right?

“My magic’s specialized for escaping at times like this... But Messiah has far more magical power than I do. I can’t keep running forever.”

“Then why not have them keep you here? We’re off Earth, after all.”

“I can’t do that. Messiah has my mom and dad. The reason he’s not using them as hostages is so that he can enjoy taking his time tracking me down. But if he never finds me, who knows what will happen to them.”

“Hmm... your mom and dad, huh? I see...” I guess she couldn’t just abandon her parents. If she couldn’t run, and she couldn’t hide, her only choice was to defeat him. But he was the strongest mage alive. Just from listening to her, I could tell that there was no hope. “So... what exactly does Messiah want? Is the Magic of Omniscience in a book or something?”

If he was after it... it must be something he could steal. Maybe if I knew what, I could come up with some kind of plan.

“Messiah is after me.”

But I didn’t expect her answer. “Huh?”

I must have had a stupid look on my face, because she continued. “Messiah wants to make a contract with me and become the Contractor of Omniscience. The Contractor is given access to the Akashic record as well.”

“Why did you make it into a system like that? Doesn’t that make it easy to steal?”

“You know how a kid gets half their genes from their mom, and half from their dad? If we wanted to make sure that a child could always use the Magic of Omniscience, both their parents had to be able to use it.”

I see. They really put some thought into it. Wait... huh? Huh? Wait a second. Did that mean that the contract was...

“That’s right. Whoever makes the Contract of Omniscience with me becomes my partner for life.”

“Wh-What?!” Five or six of my blood vessels almost burst. “That fake-ass noble! He’s gonna pay!”

“Rekka, calm down.” But Satsuki was still calm. She motioned for me to relax and continued. “I’m really happy that you’re getting mad over me. But you can’t beat Messiah. You’re not a mage. You’re a normal human being.”

“Grr!” She was right. It was infuriating, but the Namidare bloodline didn’t give me any special powers. I didn’t have any ability that would let me fight a mage.

But that didn’t mean I was just going to give Satsuki to him! “...There’s one way.” Satsuki moved closer to me. I could see there was resolve in her eyes.

We were sitting on a big sofa, but it was still just a sofa. All she had to do to close the distance between us was slide over a little. I could feel her breath on my shoulder.

As she stared at me, her cheeks flushed, my heart skipped a beat. “Wh-What’s that?”

Her cheeks got even more flushed. “You... and me... can make the contract first.”

“Y-You and me? C-C-Contract?”

“My parents lost the ability to use the magic after I was born. In other words, I’m the only person in the world who has it. And there can only be one Contractor. If I make the contract with you before he forces me to do it with him, he won’t attack me anymore.”

“No, wait! I get the idea, but if I’m your lifelong partner, does that mean...” If I started imagining dirty things at that, who could blame me?

Satsuki must’ve been able to tell what I was thinking, too. Her face looked like a boiled egg. “Rekka, you dummy,” she said. “W-We wouldn’t do that right away! I-I’m not some kind of pervert!”

“R-Right. Sorry. There’s a more peaceful way to do it, right?” That made me feel a lot better.

“Tch,” R clicked her tongue.

Seriously, knock it the hell off! I just coughed a little. “So what do we do for this contract?”

“Kiss.”

“Huh?”

“...Kiss.” No matter how many times I asked, the answer didn’t change.

“Kiss... like, the band?”

“No. The other kind of kiss.”

Which one? The one for grown-ups? By now, Satsuki was leaning into me. I was sunk deep into the sofa again, and there was no way to escape.

“Do you not want to kiss me?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s um... uh!” My mind was in chaos as I frantically searched for a way to get her to stop. “You can’t kiss someone like this, right? And if you kiss a guy like me, it’ll hurt you.”

“That’s not true.”

“Huh?”

“I wouldn’t ask anyone else to do this. Only you.” Her face was right in front of me.

“S-Satsuki?”

“I’m okay with this because it’s you...”

“Um, uh... well...”

“I want it to be you.”

My mind was a total blank. What was I trying to do again? Kiss my childhood friend? Huh? Why?

“Kiss! Kiss!” R was clapping and laughing at me.

Shut up and leave me alone, damn it!

Soon Satsuki’s lips were so close, they were almost touching me.

I had to stop her, but I didn’t know how. My mind was too blank for me to come up with any way to stop this, so I was just about ready to give in.

And then the door blew up.

The owner of the room, Iris, came flying in. It seemed that she’d been spying on us, and for some reason, she looked pissed. “Hey, you! What do you think you’re doing, trying to steal my Rekka?”

“...Your Rekka?” Satsuki’s eyes narrowed when she heard Iris’s words.

She moved a little away from me. That was a small relief, but I had the feeling that things were only about to get worse.

“Rekka, what does she mean?” Satsuki had a scary look on her face. It was the exact opposite of how she’d been before.

And then Iris interrupted. “I SAID, what are you doing to my Rekka?!”

And now Satsuki’s rage was directed at Iris. “What’s your relationship with Rekka, anyway?”

“He’s my lover!”

“The Rekka I know wouldn’t make a move on a girl he’d just met! He wouldn’t make a move on anybody, so he can’t be your lover.”

“We’re real lovers now! Rekka put his life on the line for me! And we’re both in love now!”

“Well, then, I’m his childhood friend. I’ve been with him since we were little kids, so I’m above you.”

“What do you mean, above?”

“I mean above. I’ve even taken baths with him.”

“Huh? You can take baths with other people? I never heard about this! Then I’m gonna do it, too!”

No, I didn’t feel like going into Iris’s washing machine-style bath with another person. We’d probably hit our heads together. And wait... “That was when we were little kids, though.”

“Rekka, shut up!”

“Rekka, shut up!”

Why were they both in harmony there? At that point, I gave up. I decided to just let them have at it.

“I’m cuter, so Rekka will choose me,” Iris said.

“Rekka wouldn’t choose someone based on their appearance,” Satsuki said.

“Stop acting like you know everything there is to know about Rekka,” Iris said.

“I do know everything about him. I even know that there’s a hair growing out of a mole on his back,” Satsuki said.

Wait, seriously? I reached my hand around to my back to check.

“You flat-chest!”

“Don’t insult another person’s breasts. Besides, they’re average.”

I didn’t even know what they were arguing about anymore.

“And anyway, you don’t need to kiss Rekka! You just need to beat that Messiah guy!” Iris was throwing a tantrum and pointing her finger at Satsuki’s face while she spoke.

“If only it were that easy. He’s the strongest mage not just because of his attack magic. His defensive magic is even more powerful.”

“...What does that mean?” I interrupted.

“Remember how you flung that pipe at him at the factory and it didn’t work at all? That was his magic wall. It covers his whole body and stops any attack, physical or magical, from reaching him. It’s so powerful that even a hundred mages working together couldn’t break it.”

“I’m not quite sure what a hundred mages would look like... but like, how strong is that?”

“Hmm... for example, if there was an attack powerful enough to destroy Earth, he’d be the only survivor? Though I guess even he would be in bad shape without oxygen.”

So basically, even a bomb that could blow up Earth wouldn’t be good enough? He really was the strongest mage. There was no way I could beat him on my own.

But ironically, that ‘attack that would destroy Earth’ was just what King Satamonia was about to do. One of the two was bad enough. How the hell was I supposed to deal with bo— huh?

“Huh?”

And then I got an idea. It was the one advantage I’d had, which I’d figured out in the other world. I was caught up in multiple stories, and I didn’t need to be bound by the rules of just one.

Just as I’d defeated the Demon Overlord with a laser gun, maybe I could defeat the meteor and the mage by ignoring their rules? I thought back over everything I’d experienced today. The things I’d seen, the items I’d used, the items I hadn’t used, the people I’d met... they were all coming together, like the pieces of a puzzle.

Could I... Could I do it? No, I still didn’t have enough pieces. Was there something I could use? One last thing?

And then suddenly I remembered Harissa. “That’s right! Harissa could help me!”

“Huh? Rekka?”

“What’s wrong?” I realized that both Iris and Satsuki had stopped their argument and were staring at me. They must’ve gotten worried when I stopped talking and started thinking.

I told them I was fine, and asked Satsuki a question instead. “Satsuki, the Magic of Omniscience can tell you about anything except the future, right?”

“Huh? Yeah, that’s right.”

“Then there’s something I want you to look up for me. Thanks.”

“Okay, but... Rekka, what are you going to do?”

I started to explain my plan to them. In order for it to make sense, I explained to them everything I’d experienced today, and the bloodline of the Namidare, too. Suddenly their faces clouded.

“Then you saved me because of that bloodline?” Iris looked a little uneasy.

Satsuki wasn’t saying anything either, but she was looking at me, worried.

Maybe they were feeling guilty that I’d been forced to solve their problems against my will? “Don’t worry about it. My bloodline may have gotten me into this, but I really do want to save you.”

That was true. I had the right to give up on a story. Since I hadn’t, this was my own responsibility. So there was no need for them to worry about it. At least, that’s what I tried to say.

“I see! Wow, you really are cool, Rekka.”

“I’m glad you’re here for me, too.”

They both started to smile again... but was I imagining it, or were they blushing? Well, whatever! I just had to make sure this worked. I asked them both for their opinions.

“I think you can do it!” Iris said, optimistically.

“...It’s going to be close, but it’s not impossible,” Satsuki agreed.

With the two of them on my side cheering me on, I steeled myself for what was to come.

“Okay. Then we just have to do it!”

It was up to me to make these stories have a happy ending!