Step Forward If You Want to Die! – Part 06

After we finished tidying up to some extent, we went home. Haruna, who hated cleaning, and Eu, who wanted to watch her variety show, left first, so I walked home alone.

The moon was full. Unlike the sun, moonlight was a friend. Under its glow, I could use my zombie powers to their fullest.

Whether we were currently in the eye of the typhoon or it had vanished completely, I couldn’t tell. The rain had stopped entirely, leaving only a strong wind.

I parted ways with Orito as I exited the school gate, looking up at the moon. I walked along the wide sidewalk beside the four-lane road. No cars drove past, and almost no pedestrians were around. The school festival cleanup probably wasn’t finished yet. The Japanese language teacher, who had come to replace our suddenly missing homeroom teacher, let Orito and me go home first. That was thanks to Hiramatsu, the straight-A student.

“Ayumu and Orito worked really hard,” she had said.

I hadn’t refused to help, but I was unusually tired and decided to accept the offer.

I thought I’d stop by the cemetery before heading home. The festival was fun, but a lot had happened. I planned to swing by the convenience store first.

“Mr. Pervert,” a pretty voice called from a deserted alley. It was familiar. Or more like, I’d heard it countless times.

“What’s up, Sera?” I answered as I turned around. There stood a beautiful girl with a ponytail.

She wore a knit turtleneck and cardigan. Her bottom wasn’t a red skirt like Hanako of the Toilet, but jeans.

“This incident has made me understand Miss Hellscythe less.” Sera crossed her arms over her soft chest with a frown.

“I understand Eu very well.”

“She was supposed to be the kindest person in the world. That’s what I believed too when I came to know her. But when she saw Haruna suffering, she did nothing. Well, if helping meant she would suffer again herself, then perhaps doing nothing was the right choice, but still.”

“She wasn’t acting like herself, is what you’re saying.”

“Yes. As far as I knew, Hellscythe was always a bundle of self-sacrifice.”

“So, you hate Eu now?” I asked.

Sera shot me a glare. “I didn’t say that.”

“Do you resent that Eu didn’t sacrifice herself? I don’t. Maybe she just wanted to be selfish for once. Just for today. No, just during the school festival. Look, I want Eu to get her emotions back. That would’ve been impossible with the old Eu. But the current Eu—the Eu who actually has things she wants to do—I think one day she’ll be able to. So—”

Again, Sera pressed her long forefinger against my lips.

“I understand. I fully agree with your opinion. You’re saying you’ll clean up after Miss Hellscythe’s and Haruna’s actions yourself.”

“Exactly. Pretty impressive you got that.”

“May I be a part of that?”

“Of course. When you have something you want to do, just—”

“Not that. I mean, I’ll help clean up with you.”

Right. Sera seemed more suited to that. In fact, working for someone else was probably what she wanted to do.

“Got it. I’ll count on you from now on.”

“Yes, Mr. Pervert.”

“Call me by my actual name, will you?”

Sera and I laughed out loud together. It was rare for us to laugh like this.

“You two are as close as ever. It makes me a little jealous.”

Saras appeared, wearing a sailor uniform and holding a bag in one hand.

Sera’s smile instantly vanished, replaced by a dignified expression.

“Is your house this way?” I asked.

“Am I not allowed to go to the convenience store?” Her eyes gleamed so sharply she looked ready to cut me down.

“All right, my bad.”

“It’s fine. Besides, there’s something I wanted to tell you.”

“Me?”

“In that case, I’ll be going.” Feeling uncomfortable, Sera gave a small bow and started walking away.

“I know you’re Maelstrom’s husband. So I’m going to steal your lips right now. If you don’t want to become my husband, then defend them with your life.”

Sera whipped around, her ponytail swaying. Her face was frozen in shock. “Saras! Do you even understand what you’re saying?!”

“Of course I do, Seraphim. Who do you think I am?”

“Wait, wait, wait! What the hell is going on?!”

“To sum it up, I love you.”

What… the fuck?

“Don’t worry. I won’t do you any harm.”

Her lips came closer. My body locked up. Just looking at those soft lips in front of me made my heart pound like a drum.

“Saras!” Sera yanked her back by the shoulder.

“Are you trying to interfere?”

“What on earth could you possibly find appealing about this man?”

“She’s right. You’ve got no reason to like me.”

“Do you really want me to say it? I love the shape of your buttocks. There, you happy? Pervert.”

“That’s your reason?!”

“People’s reasons for falling in love are always trivial.”

“I never thought you could be this foolish,” Sera said.

“This has nothing to do with you, Seraphim, does it? Unless…”

Saras pulled a water bottle from her bag, then tossed the bag aside. A black cape flared out, and her eyes turned red.

No way. Was she planning to fight Sera here? But my guess was wrong.

“Seraphim!” Saras yelled.

But before it reached her, Sera had already leapt to the side.

The wind howled. The wind again. It had been tormenting me all day. It tore up the asphalt, snapped the guardrail like twigs, and rushed straight toward us.

I… I alone couldn’t move.

“You fool!”

Before Saras’s voice even reached my ears, I was already crushed by the air itself. My bones snapped one after another. My organs ruptured, and I vomited blood.

“Wooow. You two actually dodged it.”

The assailant appeared, clapping. A tiny girl dressed in a white Gothic Lolita outfit.

Chris. The most powerful Magiclad Girl, who had just vanished moments ago. What was she doing here?

“I didn’t expect you to actually be here,” Saras said, shocked.

I frowned. “You know her?” I forced the words out with a ragged voice.

“I’ve mentioned it before, haven’t I? How I once fought a legendary demon.”

Her? A legendary demon? Wait. Was this the trial Sera was supposed to overcome? Defeating the strongest Magiclad Girl was her trial? Seriously?!

Chris met Saras’s piercing glare with a smile. “I don’t remember you at all. Have we hung out before? Well, whatever. Let’s have some fun! You’re the strongest one around here, right, Kirara Hoshikawa?”

Saras’s eyebrow twitched. Before leaving, Chris had said she’d kill the strongest person nearby for rehab. So she meant Saras.

“Can you move?” Saras asked, but I couldn’t answer. My body was too broken to make a sound. She clicked her tongue, eyes never leaving Chris.

“Saras.”

“Seraphim, take this eyesore somewhere else.”

The pretty lady who had just professed her love to me now called me an eyesore.

“I am not touching something that gross. Besides, this is my trial.”

Sera put on her black cape, her jade eyes blazing crimson. Fresh green leaves swirled around her. She plucked a leaf, so green as if it was the middle of summer and not late autumn, and turned it into a sword.

“You still disobey orders at every turn. Unthinkable from the old you.”

Saras pointed the bottle’s mouth at the asphalt. Water gushed out, forming into a sword in her hand.

“Here I come.” Sera charged first, circling to the side. She was too fast even to my zombie eyes. “Secret Art: Swallow Reversal!”

Chris couldn’t follow with her eyes. An untransformed Magiclad Girl with no Magigear was just a normal girl. Haruna was about as strong as a pro wrestler. If Chris was on the same level, Sera could take her.

Sera’s Swallow Reversal was a technique that began with a shallow cut, then finished with the returning strike. But at that first shallow cut… her blade froze.

“I give your speed about eighty points. Everything else is around forty. Hmm, weak.”

Chris touched Sera’s shoulder, and Sera’s arm was torn off. Her scream ripped through the night.

Showing no mercy, Chris held her palm out toward the wide-eyed Sera. But before the same wind attack could strike, water shuriken blasted like bullets and knocked Chris’s arm away.

A crater formed in the ground next to Sera, as if a massive steel ball had been dropped from a rooftop.

Sera grabbed her severed arm, pressed it back into her shoulder, and leapt away. Apparently, Vampire Ninjas could reattach limbs too. That’s an undead for you.