Chapter 8: The Divine Trial
Chapter 8: The Divine Trial
Traveling to a parallel world was a little different than my other world-crossing adventures. The feeling of moving through space-time was similar: my vision failed me, but my mind was sharp and clear. Incongruously, however, I still retained a sense of my body. And it felt like I was submerged in mud. I could only move my limbs slowly, unable to control them the way I wanted to. It was even hard to breathe. According to Yuuhi’s explanation, this was the empty space between worlds... The void of the rift.
Feeling such resistance when there isn’t anything here is a little uncanny, I gotta admit...
One simply drifted in outer space because it was a vacuum that provided absolutely no resistance. This felt like the opposite—a thick, boggy nothingness. I mean, it wasn’t like I’d gone out in space without a suit before, but still...
All I could feel for certain right now was the oppressive sensation of not being able to move the way I wanted to, and Yuuhi’s hand holding mine.
“...”
While it was calloused here and there, her feminine hand was much smaller and softer than mine.
“We’ll be arriving soon. It’s a hard landing on the other side of the barrier, so be ready.”
“R-Right!”
Surprised by Yuuhi’s voice, I could only reply in a fluster. Despite her warning, however, I couldn’t see the barrier. Or anything else, for that matter. Just as I was wondering how this was all going to go down...
“?!”
My vision suddenly went (even though I hadn’t been able to see anything in the first place), and I felt like I’d been sucked into a violent whirlpool. It was like my body was being pulled every which way. My sense of direction was instantly gone, giving me serious vertigo. I felt like I was being pummeled all over with sandbags, the dull pain crescendoing until it was too much to bear. And then, just as quickly as it had set in, the chaos was gone. Gravity was restored, and I could see again.
“!”
And the first thing I saw was the ground. It was right in front of me—literally.
“Bwuh?!”
Of course, I smashed face-first into it.
“Oww...”
My poor nose... Tears welling in my eyes, I lifted my head to take a look around. A barren wilderness spread out around us. So this is what the parallel world looked like...
“You all right?” Yuuhi, who’d landed gracefully, asked.
“Y-Yeah. I’m fine. No nosebleed or anything.”
“You really aren’t very athletic, huh?”
“Leave me alone.”
“It’s a stark contrast to your future self.”
“Everyone’s said that.”
My future self must be pretty incredible. A vampire-demon cyborg or something... He was definitely superhuman.
“Wait, have you fought my future self before?”
“It was only a surprise attack.”
Yuuhi had the ability to negate all supernatural powers. She also had the know-how to operate the doctor’s time translocator perfectly.
“Though I have to admit my ambush only worked because he didn’t know about my breaker ability. I shoved him into the rift the first chance I had. I doubt things would go so smoothly a second time.”
“Hmm...”
It was almost like she wasn’t talking about me... I mean, she wasn’t. She was talking about my future self, but hearing her say all this made me feel the divide between us all the more.
“Well, what do we do now?”
“We head for the divine trial.”
“And where is that?”
“Hang on.”
Yuuhi pulled a compass-like object out from the inside of her jacket. But it wasn’t merely a device with a needle to point us north. It displayed a confusing string of numbers overtop a simple map.
“It’s about ten kilometers east of here. That’s our destination.”
“Huh... And how are we going to get there?”
“How else? We walk.”
“Seriously?”
“Get moving already. We can still make it to a nearby town before sunset.”
“Roger that.”
“Walking all that way sounds exhausting, Rekka.”
“I don’t want to hear that from the person who can float,” I half complained to R and stood up with a sigh.
It was then, however, that I noticed something.
“Huh?”
When I stood up and looked at the sky, I couldn’t help remarking at what appeared to be a black, gaping hole in the air. It was above the cloud line, so I couldn’t accurately say how big it really was. But just by eyeballing it, it looked like it was easily fifty meters across.
“Yuuhi, what’s that dark spot?”
“That’s a hole that opened in the world.”
“A hole in the world?”
“You remember how I told you that the unhappier world would be destroyed?”
“Yeah, that’s the price for losing the game.”
“Well, that hole is proof this world is on the verge of losing. Once that hole becomes big enough to consume the world, it’s game over.”
“...”
I looked up to the sky once more. Staring into the hole was like staring into the very maw of darkness.
Literally being able to see the end of the world coming... This is a lot like what happened to Kult.
Kult was a magical scientist from another world who I’d met while trying to save Hibiki. He wanted her powers to save his own world, which was on the verge of complete and total heat death because of a demon named Zolphiakd. This world was similarly on the brink of catastrophe; it just needed happiness instead of energy.
“...Hm?”
“What’s wrong, Yuuhi?”
“Nothing... It’s just that the black hole seems to be a little smaller than the last time I was here.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve been gone a while, so maybe I’m just imagining things,” Yuuhi said, sounding a bit puzzled.
As for me, I laughed a little.
“Hey, that’s great news! If it’s getting smaller, isn’t that what we want?”
“...I suppose.”
“This is a good start. Let’s keep the momentum going and get into town, shall we?”
“Yeah.”
And so we set off on the next leg of our journey.
▽
Somehow, we managed to make it to the town near the divine trial and find an inn before dark.
“M-My legs are killing me...” I groaned from where I lay face-down on the bed.
Yuuhi wanted to set out for the trial first thing tomorrow morning... But could I even pass the trial in this condition?
“You should really work on building your stamina, Rekka.”
“I tell myself that every time, honestly,” I admitted as I started rubbing my calves and doing some light stretches. “But man... Yuuhi walked all that way too, and she didn’t even bat an eye. I guess I really am out of shape...”
“Well, I’m sure Yuuhi’s done her share of training. You, however, are a lost cause,” harped R.
“How many times have we had this conversation?” I asked.
“Dunno,” she said with a shrug.
“Depending on how things go, this might be the last time...”
“We’ll see.”
There was the question of whether or not I would pass the trial in the first place, but even if I did and managed to meet with the goddess of this world... No matter how it went, things would probably come to an end one way or another soon. And that included the War of All. Once that was resolved, R’s mission would be over, and there would be no more reason for her to follow me around. My longest-running story yet would finally be over.
Thinking about it that way is a little sad...
I got lost in my thoughts for a moment. But unable to stand the silence, I opened my mouth.
“What will you do once your mission is over, R?”
“Well... I’ve never considered that before.”
“Will you go patch things up with L first?”
“That will be my highest priority, yes.”
“What about afterwards?”
“Like I said, I haven’t thought about it.”
“There must be something you want to do.”
“You realize you’re talking to a workaholic, don’t you?”
“You’re pretty lazy whenever we have time off. Always watching TV and stuff.”
“TV, huh? Yeah, actually... Spending my days lazing about in front of a television sounds pretty good.”
“So you’re going from workaholic to couch potato?”
“Well, I’ve been working since the day I was created, so I think it’s high time for a vacation.”
“But who’s gonna take care of you? The doctor?”
“Good idea. L and I will live with the doctor and have her look after our every need.”
“That sure sounds nice.”
Hearing R talk about L took me back to when they were first reunited in my room that night. L had come to assassinate me, but R protected me. So much happened after that... The summer festival when R bared her heart and shouted at L was particularly memorable. It was clear she’d always been worried about her older sister. That she’d always cared for her. If the two of them could live together with the doctor, their creator, I’d say that was a pretty happy ending.
“Ah, but I still have all those foreign soap DVDs in your room that I haven’t finished yet.”
“Can’t you just watch them in the future?”
“I don’t know if the appropriate media players still exist in the future.”
“Good point.”
“Rekka, will you still let me come visit you every now and then once everything’s all said and done?”
“Sure, I don’t mind,” I said with a nod. “But try to limit visits to when I’m at home, okay? If you suddenly appear while I’m in class, I might scream out loud.”
“I doubt something like that would do anything to jeopardize your already compromised reputation.”
“Just how much of a weirdo do people think I am?!”
“Oh? Do you really want to know?”
“No. Never mind. I didn’t ask that,” I protested, sticking my fingers in my ears.
And so my trivial conversation with R continued into the night. When I thought about how it might be our last chance to chat like this, I didn’t want it to end. Looking back on it now, everything began when R first appeared out of the blue during my high school entrance ceremony... We’d been talking ever since.
But as we continued to tonight, the door to the room eventually swung open. It was Yuuhi.
“What’s up, Yuu—WHA?!” I stammered, falling right off the bed in a fluster.
“What’s with all the racket?” she asked, unperturbed.
But I didn’t get it! How could she be so calm like this?! She... She was...
“Why aren’t you wearing any clothes?!”
“What are you talking about? I’m wearing underwear.”
“That’s not enough! And what’s with the towel?! Did you just get out of the bath or something?!”
“Yeah, there’s a communal shower here. It’s just down the hall.”
“You walked down the hall like that?!”
“And?” she replied unflinchingly.
She made no attempt whatsoever to cover herself. Everything important was just barely covered by her towel, but her toned figure was freely on display.
“Did you leave your sense of shame in the shower, then?”
“I don’t have time for things like shame.”
There, Yuuhi walked inside and shut the door behind her without any hint of blush on her face. She walked over to the bag of things we’d picked up before settling at the inn and pulled out a shirt.
“Please put something on downstairs too...”
“My jacket and pants are in the wash.”
Despite my protests, Yuuhi sat down on her bed in only a shirt and underwear.
“Why don’t you go shower too, Rekka?”
“I will. Later.”
I honestly wanted to get out of the room as soon as possible right now, but there was something I needed to do first. This was my chance to get some answers.
“For now, let me ask you something, Yuuhi.”
“What?”
“Why did this world’s happiness start to decrease in the first place?”
Really, that was the biggest question.
“Well, several thousand years passed after the goddesses began their little game, and not much happened. The happiness levels of each world remained constant. I mean, there were some fluctuations along the way, certainly. But there was never any sort of mass event that sent one world leaning one way or the other.”
That made sense. The game would’ve been settled long ago otherwise. It was only because the worlds were neck-and-neck in happiness levels that the game continued to this day. But something had to have happened eventually to put Yuuhi’s world at such a disadvantage after all that time. We needed to figure out what it was.
“I mean, I guess the margin could have just widened slowly over thousands and thousands of years and this is the result, but... Can you think of anything, Yuuhi? Anything that might have caused this?”
“Well...” Yuuhi paused there for a moment before asking me, “What do you think the Namidare bloodline really is, Rekka?”
“What? Why bring that up now?”
I didn’t get it, but Yuuhi glossed right over my questions.
“We Namidares are a sort of system.”
I couldn’t help cocking my head to the side at those words.
“Wait, a system? What do you mean?”
“You compared the goddesses’ worlds to a sandbox game where we’re the characters, remember?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. That’s just what it seemed like to me.”
“Well, that analogy was surprisingly on the mark,” Yuuhi said, looking up at the ceiling. “The system I mentioned just now... Rekka, you know how characters require a role in order to proceed in a sandbox game?”
So far, I was following along. In, let’s say, a village-building sim, you’d have to assign your characters roles or jobs. You’d need a village chief, villagers, workers, etc. That was how you built up your village and made progress in the game.
“As for the role of us Namidares... We’re like the jokers of this world.”
“The jokers?”
The analogy took a sudden turn from video games to playing cards, but I got the gist of what she meant. The joker in most games was a card with different rules from the others, often meant to be used as a secret weapon or to shake things up.
“You mean to say we Namidares are wild cards?”
“Yeah,” Yuuhi nodded. “When the goddesses... When Sith and Maine started this game, they made an agreement.”
“An agreement?”
“About the fairness of the game.”
“What about it?”
“Did you not find it strange how similar this world is to yours? Surely you now see why they’re called mirror worlds.”
“Well, now that you mention it... Yeah.”
The people here all looked Japanese. The language they spoke sounded like Japanese too. I’d been able to understand folks walking around town earlier, and more impressively, I was mostly able to read the signs and things in shops. Then there was Yuuhi. Just looking at her... Yeah, everything here felt an awful lot like it did back home. It was easy enough to forget we were actually in another world right now.
“The two worlds really are surprisingly similar for being... well, for being different worlds. You’re suggesting there’s a reason for that, Yuuhi?”
“It’s in the interest of fairness.”
“Meaning?”
“How should I explain it? Let’s see... Do you think a human and a grasshopper feel the same amount of happiness?”
“What the heck?”
“It’s just an example. Now, you’d be happy to see a naked woman, wouldn’t you?”
“N-No!”
“He’s lying.”
“Shut up, R!”
Yuuhi couldn’t hear R, but I still felt the need to defend myself.
“Well,” Yuuhi continued. “Most men would. But do you think a grasshopper would experience the same happiness upon seeing a naked woman?”
“I, uh... kinda doubt it.”
“Exactly.”
“Huh? What’s your point?”
“In short, creatures that are vastly different experience happiness in different ways and on different scales,” Yuuhi explained as she drew a grasshopper in the air with her finger. “This becomes somewhat inconvenient in a competition over happiness levels.”
“Inconvenient? How so?”
“The more intelligent a creature is, the more complex its own personal happiness scale is. Compared to a human, it would be a simple matter to create the happiest possible world for a grasshopper. So in order to win the goddesses’ wager, it would be all too easy to cheat. By forcibly putting a stop to the evolution of intelligent life or delaying the development of civilization, for example.”
“Ah, I see.”
While I couldn’t testify to the happiness of grasshoppers versus humans, it was clear enough even to me that trying to compare the two was indeed inconvenient. And since this contest was all about comparing happiness levels, it would be something of an issue to leave that unaddressed. Moreover, if that created a loophole wherein either goddess could win by stopping the growth of their world, it would defeat the whole point of a game centered around building worlds.
“That’s why Sith and Maine discussed it and decided to limit the scope of their wager to the happiness of humanoids.”
“Humanoids?”
“Living beings that resemble humans, basically. That means it includes humans like us, as well as mermaids like Rain, demons like Corona, and so on.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“And so Sith and Maine began their game with that in mind... but another problem cropped up.”
“What?”
“Perhaps it’s because they’re sisters, but Sith and Maine would copy the good parts of each other’s worlds.”
“...What?”
I dumbfoundedly cocked my head to the side in absolute puzzlement, but it was really quite simple. The sisters were playing a game of copycat. For example, when Sith’s world began to develop after her people discovered fire, Maine stole the idea and encouraged her people to do the same to promote a similar development. And when Maine’s world hit the Industrial Revolution, Sith copied her. Rinse, repeat.
“Okay, so that’s how they created worlds that mirrored one another?” I asked.
“Pretty much, yeah,” Yuuhi confirmed with a nod.
If that’s the case, then what about outside?
When we’d first hit this world after exiting the rift, we fell into a barren sort of wilderness. I hadn’t exactly traveled all of Japan myself, but...
Do we really have wastelands like that back home?
I had my doubts, but I decided to hold on to that question for later and continue the current conversation instead.
“If the goddesses just keep copying each other, the game will never end, right?”
They were battling it out to see who could make the happier world, but if they made sure their worlds closely resembled each other, then there wouldn’t be much of an overall difference between them—happiness included.
That said, maybe it’s better if the game never ends...
“We can only assume they eventually came to recognize that glaring flaw,” R sighed in exasperation.
Even she seemed fed up with how poorly planned this little wager was.
“To that end, the goddesses created the Namidare system,” Yuuhi explained, finally getting back to her point.
We Namidares were the wild cards of the game, and she seemed to know why.
“The copycatting I mentioned earlier... That actually has consequences.”
“Like what?”
“Forcibly altering a world causes distortions, scattering fate in uncertain ways.”
“In layman’s terms, please. Another example would be good.”
“Okay... Let’s say the world is a perfectly serene lake. If you throw a stone in it, you’re going to cause ripples. Those ripples bump into things and bounce back, some bigger and some smaller, affecting the surface of the water in different ways.”
“Uh...”
I understood ripples and all that, but I didn’t totally see the connection. Meaning it was time for me to turn to my trusty companion.
“R, do you understand what she’s talking about?”
“In short, when highly influential events like the discovery of fire or the Industrial Revolution are forced to happen, they have other unintended effects. And based on the way Yuuhi’s talking about them, they aren’t good.”
“Okay, Yuuhi... So you’re saying that if the goddesses interfere too much, bad stuff happens? Is that the short of it?”
When I rehashed R’s explanation, she looked exasperated.
“I’m glad the guardian you were sent with has a good head on her shoulders,” Yuuhi remarked.
“I can’t help being stupid.”
“To put it as bluntly as possible, the goddesses’ overreaching can damn their own worlds.”
Wow... Okay, so that’s what she meant. This really was bad.
“Direct interference causes calamity that ripples throughout the entire world. The discovery of fire on Earth, for example, could have consequences in a totally different corner of the galaxy.”
“You mean to say another planet might pay for what happens on Earth?”
“That’s exactly what I mean. The distortion and dispersal of fate can have consequences elsewhere on the timeline too. It might be the past or future that pays for it,” Yuuhi explained.
“Wh-What...? Why...?”
“Just so you know, Rekka, this is universally true. It may have been meddling on another planet, for example, that wiped the dinosaurs off the face of planet Earth.”
“She’s right, you know? That’s not what you should get hung up on right now.”
“I know...”
With both Yuuhi and R admonishing me, I was forced to come a reluctant acceptance. Yuuhi then continued to explain things for me.
“Because Sith and Maine repeatedly copied each other, they caused countless problems in their worlds. Solving said problems with more interference only beget a multitude of other problems, creating a vicious cycle.”
“So what did they do?”
“That’s where the Namidare system comes in,” Yuuhi said, flopping backward on her bed and staring up at the ceiling. “It’s sort of like how Doctor Laputa made you change the past yourself. If a deity interferes from the outside, it causes problems. So the answer is just to change things from the inside.”
“What?”
“The divine ability to alter the world and change fate... That is the true nature of the Namidare power.”
“What?!” Yuuhi’s words left me reeling. “Y-You’re saying we have the power of gods?!”
“A small fraction of it, but essentially, yes,” Yuuhi said, sitting up once again.
When she did, I realized something. She’d been refusing to make eye contact with me for a while now. But more importantly... she looked angry. Her eyes with filled with rage that seemed to be directed at me.
“Though I called it the Namidare power, it isn’t really limited to us Namidares. There are other people blessed with similar divine powers.”
“R-Really?”
Thinking about it, I did know people like Hibiki back in my world. That had to be what she meant.
“You could say we’re a way to clean up the goddesses’ mess. We’re drawn to calamities that occur from distortions in fate—stories en route to bad endings—and we act as special characters to help fix them.”
“Wow...”
This time, I was the one flopping over on the bed. To finally learn the truth about my bloodline... The shock of it all made me a bit dizzy.
“Rekka, this isn’t the time to flake out,” scolded R.
“What do you want from me?”
“She still hasn’t answered your initial question, you know. About what tipped the happiness scales between the worlds. About why this one is doomed now.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
Everything Yuuhi had said so far had thrown me for enough of a loop that I’d gotten completely sidetracked. Remembering my original question, however, I sat straight up and looked right at Yuuhi.
“So how did your world end up like this? Does it have something to do with the Namidare power?”
“Surely you’ve figured it out by now, but this game lives and dies by the Namidare power.”
“Umm...”
“She means that you have the power to undo the damage the goddesses wreak and thusly turn negatives into positives. And in a game where victory is determined by happiness, you could say that’s a huge plus. Get it?”
“I see...”
This time, R explained things for me before I even had to ask. Yuuhi seemed to expect as much, so she moved on without so much as slowing down.
“Unfortunately, however, that brings us to a different problem.”
“What? Another one?”
“Yes. As it turned out, we Namidares were doing too much.”
“Too much?”
I could understand how us not doing enough might be a problem, but how could we possibly do too much?
“The Namidares of both Sith’s world and Maine’s were too good at undoing the calamities of fate brought on by the goddesses’ meddling, putting the two worlds back into a deadlock, albeit a happier one.”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
So it was a problem for the goddesses. Not my biggest concern right now.
“So? If the game ended up back at a stalemate, what caused the decline in happiness in this world?”
“Eventually, you see, the sister goddesses grew impatient with their little game and made a bet.”
“A bet?”
“That’s right.”
“Another one? What was it for this time?”
“That should be obvious,” Yuuhi stated a little curtly. “They staked the reason for the game’s stalemate: the Namidare power.”
“What?!”
Just how many surprises were there in this story? I was used to twists and turns, but this was taking it to a new level.
“I can’t believe it... I guess that’s just how badly they wanted to end the game, huh?”
“It’s torture for those of us who are mere cogs in the grand scheme of things...” Yuuhi lamented with a sigh.
“Okay,” I said. “If this is going where I think it is, then that bet...”
“Sith lost.”
“I was afraid of that.”
“Of course, Maine didn’t take everything, but Sith’s world had to surrender nine tenths of its Namidare power.”
As a result, Sith’s world lost the ability to resolve most of the calamities inadvertently caused by divine intervention—past, present, and future. But if Sith stopped intervening in her world after losing its Namidare power, then who was there to calm the ripples? The effects of past interventions were still being felt, and they would only add up to more calamity. The end result of that was the black hole in the sky outside—the black hole that signaled the endgame. When it got big enough, it would swallow up this world.
“You saw all the wasteland on the way into town, right?” Yuuhi suddenly asked me in a murmur.
“Yeah, I did.”
I’d wondered about it earlier, in fact. I didn’t really think there was anything like that in Japan.
“That’s a side effect of the happiness level decaying in this world.”
“What?!”
I’d lost how count of how many surprises that made...
“I’ve been saying ‘happiness levels’ and such to make it easier to understand, but in reality, we’re talking about an energy that moves the world along its proper path. In a positive direction, you could say. Losing that energy means losing momentum, and the world stagnates or takes a negative turn.”
“So that’s how you ended up living in a wasteland?”
“That’s right. The lack of positive energy has had effects all over the world. Really, things here in Japan aren’t so bad. There are some countries that are completely uninhabitable now.”
“...”
Based on what I was hearing, the situation was a lot more dire than I had imagined. Countries where no one could live? Just how much of the planet was barren rock and sand now? And we were just talking about mirror Earth here. What was the damage on the scale of the solar system, or even the universe? I had to wonder how far the destruction went. But as my thoughts turned dark, R tugged on my sleeve.
“I have several questions I’d like to ask. Will you relay them for me, Rekka?”
“Oh, sure,” I agreed. “Yuuhi, R says she has some questions for you. Is that okay?”
“What are they?” Yuuhi asked, seemingly receptive.
“Earlier, you said this world lost most of its Namidare power, but you still possess yours, don’t you?” I asked, repeating R’s question for her.
“What I possess is basically the gathered scraps of the power left in this world. It’s just barely enough for me to call myself a Namidare.”
“I see. Next, what did Maine do with the Namidare power she acquired from Sith?”
Once again, I parroted R’s question for Yuuhi.
“You can pretty much guess, can’t you?” she replied.
Nope. I was totally in the dark. R, however...
“So that’s what it is,” she said with a knowing nod.
Both girls then looked at me.
“H-Hey, I don’t know what’s going on...”
“No one’s looking to you for an answer,” R scoffed.
“Then what is it?”
“This means,” R said casually, “that you possess the Namidare power from Sith’s world.”
“Excuse me?”
“Maine took the Namidare power from Sith’s world and stuffed it into her own. That means, presumably, that it all ended up with the current Namidare. In other words... You.”
“...”
This time, I didn’t even have words. I was left completely speechless. But when I thought about it... I did remember my dad saying something about how I’d gotten caught up in stories at an abnormally high rate. The doctor had also mentioned that I was “a remarkable case” or some such.
“So I’ve gotten caught up in stories so rapidly because of that? Because of the extra Namidare power I have?” I muttered.
“That’s right,” Yuuhi said with a nod and a somewhat pained expression.
No wonder Yuuhi was upset talking about this.
The Namidare power had been stolen from this world, sending it spiraling toward its doom... If I had that stolen power, I could understand why Yuuhi was mad.
“I see. I understand now. But there’s another possibility,” said R.
“And what’s that?” I asked.
“Touko Iwazu,” she replied flatly. “The power of words she possesses is extremely similar to the fate-altering power Yuuhi mentioned. Really, it’s far more direct than the Namidare version. It’s possible she’s the inheritor of the excess Namidare power from Sith’s world.”
“Yeah, I guess she could be.”
Touko’s power was incredible. She could change the world with mere words. Surely she had the power to correct calamity too, but I looked to Yuuhi for confirmation.
“No, Touko Iwazu’s power is simply a glitch.”
“A glitch?”
“You could say it was an unintended result of messing around in the sandbox game... Kind of like the alchemist’s homunculus.”
Apparently, the perfect homunculus surpassed its creator in intelligence. It was created by man, but outperformed him. Touko was similarly overpowered.
“Now, I wouldn’t go as far as to say she surpasses the goddesses, but her power is extremely close to reaching divine levels. That’s why I hoped...”
“Hoped what?”
“I hoped that perhaps I could use her power to take back my world’s Namidare power from you.”
“Is that why she’s the only one of the everyday heroines you kidnapped?”
“I kidnapped her in order to copy her power with the Doppel Stone. The attack on your hometown was just a front, really,” Yuuhi sighed. “But her disappearance is what alerted your guardian to my interference.”
“...”
That got me thinking.
“Say, Yuuhi...”
“What?”
“You came to the past in order to abduct the heroines, right?”
“Of course. I couldn’t leave that job to anyone else.”
“Then is there any chance you intended on retrieving L and taking her back to the future with you too?”
“!”
R looked between me and Yuuhi with a gasp.
“L had a weird conversation with one of the robot pilots that didn’t make sense to me. L didn’t know about the attack, and the pilot was confused that she was helping me out. That’s been bugging me this whole time.”
When she and I first had our standoff in the basement of the extremists’ hideout, Yuuhi said something about L betraying her and becoming a heroine. But if that was the case, then the pilot’s reaction to L didn’t really make sense. I could connect the dots, however, if Yuuhi had meant to collect L as part of her plan.
“Well?”
“Yeah... You’re right,” Yuuhi admitted reluctantly, awkwardly looking away. “I was the only one aware that L had become a heroine. And because I knew that, I knew there was a possibility she’d sell us out if she was informed of the attack ahead of time. That’s why I was going to nab her and bring her back to the future by force, but...”
“But?”
“Your guardian was onto me the moment Touko disappeared, so I couldn’t touch any of the other everyday heroines. L somehow ended up in that category, and thusly eluded my grasp.”
“I see... So that’s how it happened,” R murmured with a smug nod.
Apparently the measures R had taken to protect the everyday heroines was what had resulted in L being functionally abandoned by the extremists. The only thing I could say to that was...
“Yuuhi, when this is all over, I need you to explain that to L. It’d be a sad story if you didn’t.”
“Yeah...” she said with a small nod.
There, our long conversation drew to a quiet end.
“I guess I’ll go take that shower now.”
I’d gotten pretty much all of the answers I needed for now. All that was left was to prepare for the divine trial in the morning.
▽
The next day, Yuuhi and I checked out of the inn first thing in the morning. We were finally ready to set out for the divine trial. My hands were already shaking a little from nerves.
“Rekka.”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
But just as we were about to leave the inn...
“Hey, wait up a second,” the clerk called out.
“Huh? What is it?”
“I have something for you.”
“For me?”
What could it be? I couldn’t think of anything I’d left behind.
“Here,” the clerk said, handing me an envelope. “A guy who stayed here previously asked me to give this to anyone who looked a lot like him if they stopped here.”
With that, the clerk returned to the front desk.
“Someone who looked like me...?”
I exchanged a knowing glance with R and then Yuuhi before opening the envelope. In it was a letter.
Whether the person reading this is the girl who sent me to this world or a different version of myself, I’m writing this to inform you of my current situation. I believe you’ll make it here eventually.
That was how the letter began. It never specified who the “me” who actually wrote the letter was, but we had a pretty good idea.
“My future self came to the trial too, huh?”
“...”
“Then maybe...”
“No, your future self wouldn’t be able to take the trial.”
“Really?”
“Originally, the purpose of the divine trial was to bestow power upon those who overcame it.”
“Power?”
“Yeah. Those who successfully rise to the challenge of the divine trial are bestowed with a power of their choosing... Not that Sith would grant any powers clearly requested with ill intent, mind you.”
“Hmm... So why can’t my future self take the trial?”
“Because your future self is already too powerful. I can’t disclose the nature of the trial here, but... simply put, if you’re too strong, then there is no trial.”
“I see.”
I nodded in acknowledgment and continued reading.
It seems I am not qualified to take the divine trial, so I will do what I can alone. A gloom weighs heavily on this world, and I aim to lighten that burden.
“A gloom? Wait, is he talking about the calamities caused by divine intervention?”
“Must be,” R confirmed.
There, I looked up at the sky. The ominous black hole was still lingering over us, but...
“Come to think of it, Yuuhi, when we first got here, didn’t you say the black hole looked a little smaller than you remembered?”
“I did, now that you mention it.”
“Could that be because my future self has been resolving stories here?”
“It could be.”
Just doing what he can, huh? Wow, my future self sure was a real bro.
“Being so proactive even after being thrown into a different world... My future self is pretty amazing.”
“I believe that could also be said of you as you are now, but nevertheless, being able to do the same or better alone is indeed impressive.”
While I hadn’t met future Rekka personally yet, I was already getting the feeling we were wildly different. But if Sith’s world was in a slightly better place just for having him around, then I was glad he was here.
“...”
If my future self had tried to take the trial, he and I had probably had the same idea. If only he’d been able to meet with the goddess... No, there was no point in dwelling on that. My future self was already doing what he could, and I had to do the same.
“Okay, then... Shall we set off for real this time?”
“Let’s go.”
And so we at last departed the inn for the divine trial.
▽
The trial was, apparently, located at the top of an absurdly long staircase.
“Hahh... Hahh...”
“What’s wrong, Rekka? You’re out of breath.”
“Of course I’m... out of breath... after hundreds... and hundreds... of steps...”
“Really? I don’t think it’s been all that many.”
I was very sure that most people would give up on the divine trial here on these stairs. I, for one, know I would’ve turned back if I hadn’t had a reason to press forward.
“Hahh... Hahh...”
But eventually, after an hour or so of climbing, we reached the top.
“Hahh... Hahh...”
“Good work, Rekka.”
“This... This wasn’t designed to use up all of your stamina before the trial, right?”
Because I was just about at my limit...
“Don’t worry. The trial is held in the spiritual realm. It won’t actually test you physically.”
“R-Really?”
“That said, your form in the spiritual realm is based on your body in this realm. It’s not like you’ll magically be stronger there or anything.”
“Ah, okay.”
As I nodded, I looked up past the top of the stairs. At the apex of everything was a ridiculously large gate. While the staircase we’d just ascended was clearly constructed with no regard for the laws of physics—being a floating staircase and all—there was something clearly abnormal about the gate. It was so tall that the top of it was obscured by clouds. I couldn’t even tell how something that big even fit on top of the stairs. It was a rather surreal piece of architecture in that sense, but at the same time, it made it very easy to believe that we’d reached an otherworldly place.
“Well, you’re on your own from here.”
“What about you?”
“I told you earlier. Those who are already too strong cannot take the trial. So I won’t be able to accompany you on yours, but I’ll go ahead and wait for you at the end where you’ll find Sith.”
“Hey, if you already know how to get to her, you should just take me with you.”
“No can do. In order to reach the realm of the gods, you must rise through the spiritual realm. That’s what the trial is designed to encourage.”
“Okay, okay. So no cheating allowed. Got it.”
I’d figured as much, but I still had to ask. I was a little bitter after hiking up all those stairs, so I felt like I deserved a shortcut right about now. If cheating was allowed, though, it probably would’ve been the first thing Yuuhi suggested.
“All right. Time to go try this trial thing.”
“Be careful.”
“I will... Wait, how do I open the gate?”
“Just imagine it opening. The gate will respond to those who are qualified.”
“Gotcha.”
The goddess’s automatic door, I see. I approached the gate as instructed, chanting “open sesame” in my head. And, sure enough, the doors swung open with a low rumbling sound.
“Guess I’ll see you later,” I said, turning back to Yuuhi.
“I’ll be waiting on the other side. Make sure you get there.”
“Sure thing.”
I waved to her one last time before stepping through the gate.
“Everything around us is gradually getting brighter.”
“How far can you come along with me anyway, R?”
“I was reprogrammed to overlap your axis of existence as closely as possible in order to fool the world barrier, so I suspect I may be able to follow you through the trial as well.”
“Huh...”
“The price was that my entire physical being had to be reduced. As such, I no longer have a single piece of useful equipment installed. And as I am now, I won’t be able to prevent your assassination.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about that anymore.”
Yuuhi was no longer an enemy. And besides...
“This’ll all be over soon.”
“Right,” R said with a shrug rather than a nod.
I too gave a quick shrug before proceeding. As R had said, our surroundings were filling with a bright, white light that gradually made it harder and harder to see.
“I can’t tell what’s in front of me at all.”
“Do you want to hold hands? I can do that much for you.”
“There’s no point if you can’t see anything either.”
“Oh? Passing up the opportunity to hold hands with a girl, are we? How very wasteful of you, Rekka.”
“You joke like that so often that I’m starting to get desensitized, you know?”
“That takes all the fun out of teasing you.”
“Whatever. Considering your age, you’re out of the question anyway.”
“Then how old would a girl have to be for you to consider her a potential romantic target?”
“Well... My age, I guess.”
“I see you haven’t really given this much thought.”
“Shut up.”
“But if you think about it, Lea is tens of thousands of years old. Rosalind and Suzuran are over a century old too, so it doesn’t seem like age is really much of an object for you.”
“Then don’t ask me stupid questions like that in the first place.”
“Let’s decide your type instead. Go ahead and fess up already. Which do you prefer: well-endowed girls or flat-chested ones?”
“Nope.”
“Don’t be like that.”
“Not happening.”
“If you’d like, I can ask the doctor to upgrade my bust to a size of your liking once we return. How about it?”
“Give it a rest.”
“Hmph, how stubborn. What about personality, then?”
“Personality? Well, for starters, I don’t care for anyone who takes pleasure in tormenting people.”
“Oh? Is there someone like that among the heroines? Ah, I guess you must mean Sherlyn.”
“I’m talking about you, R.”
“No way.”
“Yes way.”
While I was bantering back and forth with R, I’d gone from practically being able to see nothing to literally being able to see nothing. Everything was bright white now, even when I closed my eyes. Was it just that strong a light? It was so blinding that I raised an arm in vain to try and shield my eyes, but the light suddenly vanished. The air suddenly felt colder, too.
“Huh...?”
I fearfully opened my tightly-shut eyes, and before me was...
“Is this... the spiritual realm? It looks like a castle.”
“It sure does.”
R and I took a look around, and like we’d both noted, it really did seem like we were inside a castle. A hall with stone walls and floors. Ornate pillars and other decorations. A long, plush runner. I was fairly familiar with this fantastical setting by now.
“What’s going on? It’s so dark in here...”
Wait. Come to think of it, I’d specifically been to a dark castle like this before. One where the only light was from the torches on the walls. A castle so creepy that it had to have been made that way on purpose. It was just like—
“Who goes there?”
“?!”
I couldn’t help flinching when I heard that low voice from the darkness. It practically rumbled the whole castle... Whatever it was, it sounded like it must be pretty big. And, actually, it sounded familiar.
“Rekka!” R suddenly shouted, pointing down the hall.
“Don’t tell me the human hero dares to set foot in my castle a second time.”
“That’s...”
When I looked in the direction R was pointing, I saw...
“The Demon Overlord?!”
Yup, there was no mistaking it. That was the Demon Overlord who was trying to destroy the kingdom of Aburaamu in Harissa’s story.
I thought I defeated him! Why is he here?!
I wanted the details, but it wasn’t like he was about to sit down and explain them to me.
“Curse you... I’ll destroy you for certain this time!”
“Waaah! No! You’ve got the wrong guy!”
An obvious lie, but still! I didn’t have the Hero’s Sword or a laser gun or anything else on hand right now! I couldn’t play the part of a hero even if I wanted to! But the dragon wasn’t about to have pity on me...
“Ugh!”
I took off in a sprint, fleeing as fast as possible. We were in some kind of hallway, but there were no doors on either side. It just connected to the next hallway, one after another like they went on forever.
“Wh-Wh-Why is the Demon Overlord here?!”
“Who knows? Maybe this is your trial.”
“I can’t slay a dragon barehanded!”
“You saved all those stories, but beating up a dragon is out of the question, huh?”
“I couldn’t even beat up a goblin!”
“Too bad, I guess,” R muttered.
Urgh! This was no time for gallows humor!
“Hold it right there!”
“No thank you!”
I ran straight down the hall in a panic, chased by the Overlord and his angry roar. When I glanced over my shoulder, I could see him stomping along on all fours with terrifying speed.
“He’s fast for a dragon!”
“Well, his stride is much larger than yours.”
“How can you be so calm right now?!”
I was running with all my might, but I was still so slow. Like Yuuhi had warned me, I hadn’t suddenly gotten stronger just because I was in the spiritual realm.
“Oh, looks like Mr. Dragon here’s about to breathe fire.”
“WHAT?!”
R’s warning made me pick up the pace a little.
“Raargh!”
When I saw the next upcoming turn in the hall, I threw myself around the corner in desperation. Not a second later, a blast of flame roared down the corridor where I’d just been running.
Oh my god... I was nearly a human barbeque...
Happy to still be alive, I heaved a sigh of relief. It was premature.
“Rekka, watch out!”
“Huh? Uwah!”
I dove to avoid the bolt of lightning that was sailing towards me out of nowhere, rolling along the stone tiles several times before coming to a stop. Wait, lightning? If memory served, the Demon Overlord didn’t have any lightning powers... So what was that attack just now? I raised my head and looked in the direction the bolt had come from.
To my surprise, a large, wide-open field spread out before me. The stone hallway of the castle ended abruptly, opening to the outdoors. When I’d come to the Demon Overlord’s castle with Harissa originally, we’d warped straight into the Overlord’s room. I wasn’t exactly familiar with the layout of the rest of the castle, but this design was just too nonsensical. And, if I wasn’t mistaken...
“This field looks familiar.”
“It sure does.”
I was hoping it was just a trick of the light, but there was no fooling myself about that bolt of lightning just now. It was definitely an electric magical attack, and this field was...
“So you finally deigned to make an appearance, boy.”
“Oh no...”
A chill running up my spine, I turned to see who it was... And there he stood. The villain of Satsuki’s story, the ultimate mage, Messiah Kyandistrapps.
“Now let us settle our duel over the girl with the Omniscient Magic,” Messiah scoffed, his theatrical cape fluttering in the wind along with his blond hair.
Ah, damn it... Even his laugh was the same. This was definitely Messiah.
“Groooh! Heeeeero!”
Lucky me. That was when the Demon Overlord caught up to us. For some reason, however, Messiah didn’t seem to think anything of a dragon arriving on the scene.
“Come at me, boy!” he shouted, trying to start the duel as though nothing was out of the ordinary.
A mage at my twelve and a dragon on my six? Wait, don’t tell me I’m supposed to take them both on at the same time! Or are King Satamonia’s meteor, Behemoth, and Zolphiakd all going to show up too?!
“It seems this is what you might refer to as the boss rush right before the final boss.”
“These guys are plenty of end-game content on their own!”
I knew R was right, but I wasn’t happy about it. I didn’t even have any heroines here to help me out.
“What am I supposed to do?!”
▽
Back in Maine’s world at the extremists’ hideout...
After Rekka departed for Sith’s world, the girls who remained behind began cleaning up the current situation, which involved dealing with the Greater Galactic Federation fleet still surrounding the extremist base. But despite all the tension, it was a peaceful encounter. Iris was leading the fleet, after all, and she knew what was really going on behind the scenes.
Hibiki—still acting as a higher-up of the extremist faction—issued a fabricated order from Yuuhi for the extremists to surrender to the Greater Galactic Federation forces. Not all of the extremists were willing to go quietly, but there was no disputing the fact that they were outnumbered and outgunned right now. It wasn’t too hard for Hibiki to convince everyone that their best option was surrender. And so, after informing Iris of the extremists’ cooperation, Hibiki brought Iris alone to the secret underground basement of the hideout, and the doctor got her up to speed on everything that had happened. And that was when the real trouble began...
“Why did you let that Yuuhi woman escape?!”
“We didn’t let her escape. Rekka took her back to her world so they could end the goddesses’ game.”
“I don’t care about that! She killed my father!”
“...”
The doctor was speechless before Iris’s rage. There was no denying what Iris had said, and there was no denying her anger. Yuuhi was an enemy Iris would never forgive, and the doctor couldn’t offer even the slightest objection to that. Neither could the other heroines.
“...”
Iris fell quiet, but her heart was still stirring. No matter how upset Iris was, Yuuhi wasn’t here right now. There was no one for her to take her anger out on. But it wasn’t like she could just let go of her emotions... Instead, she turned them in a different direction.
“Also... was it really okay to let Rekka go?”
“What do you mean?”
“Rekka from the past isn’t as strong as the Rekka we all know, right? Does he really have the power to solve a goddess’s problems? If Rekka from the past goes and dies in another world, what’s going to happen to this world?”
Neither the doctor nor the other heroines could offer Iris an immediate answer. Their belief in Rekka Namidare was absolute. But like Iris had said, the Rekka they’d sent to another world wasn’t the Rekka they all knew. He didn’t have any power to speak of; certainly none compared to future Rekka. They’d only let him go in the first place because, somehow or another, he had managed to stop the extremists. That gave the future heroines a reason to trust him. A reason to believe that he was really Rekka Namidare after all and that things would turn out okay. But confronted so bluntly by Iris, they all began to question themselves. Would it really be okay?
Future Rekka and past Rekka were different people. The doctor thought she knew that better than anyone, but had even she let her biases influence her? Perhaps she should have done a little more research before letting past Rekka go to Sith’s world... That nagging regret grew louder and louder in the back of her mind. But, suddenly, even it was drowned out by the sound of someone stomping and shouting.
“Shut up, you old hag!”
▽
Back at the divine trial...
The place called the spiritual realm was amorphous, changing at a dizzying pace. It went from an open field to another world, another world to a modern house, a modern house to a cave, a cave to the ocean, the ocean to space... All settings I’d visited in previous stories. And each time the setting changed, a new bad guy appeared.
“Damn it!”
The villains from almost every story I’d ever saved were all here, each one hard-targeting me alone. I was pretty sure the Demon Kings should probably be duking it out, but they’d somehow settled on a temporary ceasefire to band together against me.
“Come on! They should at least be attacking each other too!”
I’d tried provoking it several times, but it seemed there wasn’t any hope of me turning them against each other. It was like the friendly fire setting had been turned off... Wait, settings?
“So the trial is just another game, huh?”
Was that putting it too simply? Whatever. If this trial was a quest, then there had to be a clear condition. (Whether or not it was reasonable was a different matter altogether.) The first step to getting out of here would be figuring out what exactly that was.
“A clear condition... I wonder what it could be...”
I was currently hiding within the crumbling temple of Atlantis. The ultimate mage, a dragon, a floating skull, and a warped monster were all prowling around outside. I needed to figure this out before things got any uglier.
“Wouldn’t it normally just be to defeat the bosses?”
“I’m hoping it’s something else...”
My shoulders slumped dejectedly at R’s suggestion. I was afraid that honestly might be the answer.
“That’d be impossible for me!”
“...”
R quietly looked away as I clutched my head. She didn’t even have to say it. I knew I’d always relied on the heroines to solve stories. In other words, I was powerless on my own. So how the hell was I supposed to overcome this boss rush?
“...”
I stared at my hands.
▽
“Shut up, you old hag!”
The sudden outburst of outrageous shouting made everyone, the doctor included, freeze in place. Many of the future heroines had preserved their youth or extended their lifespans through various means. Because of that, well... The subject of age was considered extremely taboo among them.
“...Who was that?”
Future Iris, who had been yelling herself until mere moments ago, hissed in a terribly low voice. Her tone alone was enough to give some of the other girls chills. For someone who was usually primed to explode, it was rare to see Iris turn so icy. And that only made it all the more terrifying. But, seemingly unafraid, her accuser stepped boldly out in front of the other girls. It was none other than Iris’s younger self from the past. She and future Iris locked eyes in a mutual glare.
“Your nonstop bitching and moaning has been grating my nerves for too long now, so shut your trap already!” Iris declared in an angry huff as she crossed her arms.
“Excuse you! Why should I listen to you of all people?!” Future Iris put her hands on her hips and spoke in an even harsher tone of voice. “You don’t get it, do you? She’s the reason Daddy’s dead, you know?”
“I know. Trust me, I want to punch her too.”
“Then—”
“But you didn’t believe Rekka when he said he’d solve everything, did you? That’s the bigger problem right now!”
“It’s like I said! He’s not the Rekka I know!”
“So what?! Rekka is Rekka! He’s still the coolest boy in the world and the one who saved you all those years ago!”
“...!”
Future Iris was rendered speechless by her younger self’s outburst. And in her stupor, younger Satsuki and Harissa stepped forward.
“I know he can seem a little unreliable at times... But he’s my childhood friend, and I trust him more than anything. If he says he’ll do something, he absolutely will. That’s just the kind of person he is.”
“It’s true that Sir Rekka doesn’t have any special powers. But what he does have is admirable courage, and that hasn’t waned since the day we first met. That’s why I’ll always believe in him.”
Hearing her friends’ support, younger Iris nodded with a big smile.
“That’s right. So just be patient. Until Rekka says he needs our help, we’ll wait here for him... Believing in him.”
▽
As I hid in the interior of the temple of Atlantis, I looked down at my hands. I then turned to my companion.
“R.”
“Yes?”
“Are you sure there isn’t anything we can use here?”
“Hmm, let’s see... I considered the possibility of space, but I’m not sure if outer space even exists in this mental world.”
This “mental world,” as R put it, seemed to be made from my memories. All of the stories I’d ever been a part of were jumbled together. Earth was connected to other worlds and planets, making me think that R’s concerns were valid about what really lay beyond the sky here. Well, even if space did exist, there would still be a question of how exactly to launch the dragon into it... I wasn’t even sure if he needed to breathe air or not.
The more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that all I could really count on for sure here was myself.
“I guess I don’t have a choice...”
I gave in and stood up. R gave me a funny look as I did.
“Rekka?”
“If all I have is myself, then there’s only one option.”
Seeing my serious expression seemed to clue R in as to what I was thinking.
“Don’t tell me you’re going in for a suicide attack.”
“No, I don’t have any plans of dying today. I’ll just be charging in.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“It’s similar, sure. But I’m not charging in blindly, mind you.”
I took a quick survey of things from the shadows and located my target.
“I’m going to aim for the Gold Yaksha. I’ll take the Mask of Greed from him and turn myself into a demon. From there, I’ll figure out what to do with the rest of ’em.”
There were several reasons I was gunning for the Gold Yaksha first. He was comparatively less threatening than the other bad guys hanging around, for starters, and didn’t have any special abilities to wreck me with. And despite being huge, he was still at least humanoid. That made the task at hand seem just a little less intimidating.
“However, the Mask of Greed is stuck securely on the target’s face. How do you plan on ripping it off?”
“The Gold Yaksha carries a hatchet with him. I’ll use that to get the mask.”
“...”
“Don’t make that face. I know good and well it’s a crazy plan.”
While he didn’t have any special abilities, the Gold Yaksha had tremendous strength. He was no dragon or demon, but he was a frighteningly formidable opponent for an unremarkable human like me. On top of that, it wasn’t like the other bad guys would just sit around on their hands while I attacked the Gold Yaksha. I’d have to figure out a way to get his mask off before they interrupted us. No matter how you cut it, it was a reckless plan. My odds of succeeding were practically nil. But still...
“There’s no other way. If I’ve considered everything, and this is the only option available, then even if I have less than a one-percent chance of succeeding... I at least have to try, don’t I?”
“Good grief...” R sighed again as she pulled the brim of her hat down over her eyes. “The fact that you don’t hesitate at times like these is both endearing and insane.”
“Sorry for worrying you all the time.”
“I’m glad you knew that was a compliment.”
“Hahaha.”
After a good laugh, I steeled myself. I then took another quick look around from the shadows.
“!”
There he was. The Gold Yaksha. Seeing him, I clenched my fist. Fortunately, there were no other villains hanging around too close by. Only Demon King Grausam, the guy who tried to destroy the spirit world, hovered in the sky overhead. It would be difficult to evade his notice, but this would all be for naught if the Gold Yaksha wandered away while I waited for Grausam to leave. Exactly how long it took Grausam to notice me... That would all be up to luck. And historically speaking, my luck wasn’t so hot. I crossed my fingers and said a little prayer inside.
“!”
I took a deep breath... and then took off running. Without even looking anywhere else, I made a beeline for the Gold Yaksha. At some point, I think I even stopped breathing. I poured every ounce of my strength into my legs. All I was doing was running. Running with everything I had.
It was like my vision narrowed as I went. I could no longer see anything but the Gold Yaksha. Had Grausam already noticed me? What about the other villains? If they had, I didn’t know it. And even if they came after me right now, I had no spare energy to deal with them. I was already lacking in strength as it was. If I didn’t focus everything I had into a single point ahead of me, I would never be able to break through. And so I looked at the Gold Yaksha and the Gold Yaksha alone, prepared to do whatever it took to get his mask. If focus alone could raise my odds of success by even a tenth of a percent, I’d take it.
“!”
When I got close enough, the Gold Yaksha locked eyes on me. Perhaps it was because I was so hyper-focused on him, but his movements seemed slower than I remembered. He turned to face me. I closed in. He raised his hatchet. Its dull blade would drop into my skull any second. I wanted to avoid that, but I had so much momentum that I couldn’t stop running now even if I wanted to. Instead, I clenched my fist. I was just gonna have to hit him first. If I could divert the trajectory of the hatchet and deflect the blow, I’d count myself lucky.
It really felt like I’d been leaving everything up to luck lately, but who cared anymore? There was no way I could win this by anything other than a fluke. I’d known that from the start. All that was left now was to follow through and swing my fist for all I was worth. Either my fist or the hatchet would be faster. Either the Gold Yaksha would be thrown off by my punch, or I was a dead man. It was that simple. The results would soon be apparent enough. There was no point in thinking about it further. And so, with all my might, I raised my fist.
All I was thinking about was this punch, seeing it through, and getting the Mask of Greed. That was it. That was all I needed to do now. There was no other way for me to pass this trial. It would be up to luck, but I would do everything in my power to persuade my fist to make up the difference. I put all the strength I had in my right arm and swung... only to catch empty air.
“?!”
With the momentum of my swing, I tumbled forward and rolled across the ground once or twice.
“Wh-What?!”
The Gold Yaksha hadn’t tried to dodge. There should have only been two possible outcomes here: either my punch made contact, or my skull was split open. So why was I on the ground? Unable to understand what had happened, I sat up and looked around... to find I was above the clouds.
“Heaven...?” I muttered without thinking. “Did I just ascend in a single punch?”
“Don’t be stupid,” a familiar voice replied.
I turned and saw Yuuhi standing there with her arms crossed, looking down at me with an exasperated expression.
“Yuuhi... Where am I? What happened to me?”
“You passed the trial, so you were brought here to the highest level of the spiritual realm.”
“Highest level...? What...?” I clutched my head in my hands, unable to process the situation. “But I still haven’t cleared the boss rush yet...”
“Boss rush?” It was apparently Yuuhi’s turn to tilt her head in confusion. “Well, the nature of the trial differs from person to person, but it generally looks at one’s disposition.”
“Their disposition?”
“Those who pass the trial are granted supernatural powers, so their character is what matters most. So the trial might test, for example, to see if you have a heart that never gives up even in the most dire of situations.”
“...”
All right. It was a difficult trial, but the difficulty level was appropriate.
“In other words, bravely facing the boss rush was the clear condition,” R rehashed, sagely nodding.
Come to think of it, didn’t she say that people like my future self who already had too much power couldn’t take the trial?
That was probably because someone’s disposition, as Yuuhi put it, couldn’t be accurately measured if they were too strong.
“Anyway... Judging from your expression, your trial must have been quite the ordeal. Good job getting through it. If you hadn’t made it here, we’d be totally screwed.”
“Yeah.”
It still didn’t quite feel real, but as long as I’d passed, I was okay with that. This worked out in my favor, after all.
“Follow me,” Yuuhi said shortly, urging me to stand.
I got up and followed her lead. There were no identifiable roads here. Just endless clouds in every direction. No matter where I looked, there were no signs of buildings or any other structures. We were really just walking on the clouds.
“Where are we going?”
“To meet Sith.”
“The goddess of this world herself, huh...?”
I was still a little unsteady on my feet, but hearing that we were about to meet a deity forced me to pull myself together. This was an important step toward our goal.
But wow... Angels, spirits, demon kings, and now a straight-up goddess. This bloodline of mine sure gets me involved with all kinds of powerful figures.
It wasn’t really the time to be having such thoughts, but I couldn’t help feeling like I’d reached the end of something. However...
“I know you said this was the highest level of the spiritual realm or whatnot... But really looking at it, it is exactly what I thought heaven would be like.”
“That’s because it was made in that image. You could say it was meant to meet your expectations.”
“Huh...”
I nodded as we kept walking, and eventually a door came into view. It rose up from the clouds, standing alone in the middle of the sky. It was rather surreal.
“Is this it?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s a door but no building...”
“Just open it.”
“Okay...”
At Yuuhi’s behest, I skeptically opened the door. I thought there was no way it wouldn’t just lead through to the clouds on the other side, but...
“Whoa!”
I couldn’t help shouting out in surprise. There was an entirely different scene beyond the door. I double-checked to make sure, and it wasn’t like a building had appeared or anything. The door just... opened straight into a vast room. What was going on?
“Don’t fuss over the details. I told you this was modeled after our imaginations, but the goddesses are rather carefree with their creations.”
“It’s perhaps best to think of this as a set for a TV show or movie, Rekka.”
“Right...”
Half exasperated, I walked through the door with Yuuhi and R. Once we were inside, the door shut of its own accord. And then, all of a sudden...
“So you made it.”
“Wah!”
A woman appeared out of nowhere. She had stark red hair and wore an elaborate outfit adorned with all kinds of peculiar ornaments. But most notable of all, she had a sort of mystical aura about her.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
She didn’t seem to understand my surprise, cocking her head to the side.
“It... It’s nothing...”
It was too troublesome to explain, so I took a deep breath to calm myself and got down to business.
“Are you the goddess of this world?”
“That’s correct. I am Sith,” the woman—the goddess—said with a small nod before frowning. “But, my gosh, the mortals from Big Sis’s world are so uncouth. Addressing a deity so casually...”
“S-Sorry?”
I was at a loss for how to respond. What exactly was she so bothered by? Her own manner of speaking was rather casual... if not outright childish compared to her appearance.
“Now’s not the time for that,” Yuuhi snapped.
“N-No! You too, Yuuhi?! I-I’m a goddess, you know!”
“The goddess of annoyance, maybe.”
“N-No, I’m a creator...”
Yuuhi’s sharp tongue left Sith quietly mumbling to herself. And, I... I, uh...
“She’s less majestic than I imagined.”
“I know, right?”
I agreed with R’s blunt assessment in a whisper. Based on everything Yuuhi had told us about the goddesses, I didn’t exactly respect them from the get-go. But Sith turned out to be a lot more, well, pathetic than I’d expected. A lot more human.
“The whole world’s about to be destroyed because of your thoughtlessness. Have some shame.”
“Nuuu! Not the cheeks!”
Yuuhi continued to harangue a teary-eyed Sith, tugging her cheeks this way and that. I didn’t bother to stop them. I simply waited for them to finish, and it took a few minutes.
“Waaah... You’re gonna stretch my cheeks out like that...”
“So be it.”
Yuuhi was unrelenting with Sith, who was pouting and holding her cheeks. It seemed, however, that they were done now.
“So, uh, can we talk?” I asked.
“Sure,” Yuuhi replied.
“Why are you answering for me, Yuuhi?!” Sith shouted.
She objected to Yuuhi speaking up on her behalf, but at least she seemed open to talking to me.
“Well, um, I already know about the state of this world and why Yuuhi caused the War of All in mine.”
I started by telling her what I already knew to get us on the same page. In response, Sith nodded.
“Yup. I’ve heard lots about you from Yuuhi, too.”
“Oh, so you already know what I want?” That made this much faster. “Then let’s just cut to the chase. Can you take us to the goddess of my world... Maine, was it?”
“Yup. That much I can do, but...”
There, Sith hesitated. What was bothering her?
“Is there a problem?” I asked.
“Not exactly, but...” After another moment of hesitation, Sith asked worriedly, “Big Sis has a pretty short temper... Do you think she’ll be mad if I take you to her?”
At that, I had to fight back a sigh to reply...
“I have no idea, lady.”