Don’t Worry About Me. Just Cook the Egg! – Part 06

“Yo, Aikawa!” Orito strolled in.

Haruna quickly turned away. “W-Well, then. I’ve got to teach the next class,” she said, slipping past him awkwardly, then hurried out of the nurse’s office.

Orito watched her go, then walked over to me with a big grin. I knew it was too much to ask, but I would’ve preferred if Tomonori had been the one to show up.

“You look fine,” Orito said. “Everyone was worried you’d turn into a zombie from some virus or something.”

“No need to worry about that. I’m already a zombie.”

“You’ve got the frailest constitution ever.” He held out a fist.

“I’m crazy strong. I just don’t go all out.”

I met his fist with mine.

“Haruna and Tomonori were worried too. She’s cute when she’s like that, huh?”

“Yeah, guess so.”

“Speaking of cute, I just saw this insanely cute girl.”

“You say that all the time.”

“I know you’ve got a thing for little girls, but even you would find her cute. She had a pretty nice pair of honkers, too.”

“Uh-huh,” I answered without much interest. If she’d been flat-chested, maybe I’d have cared more.

“But I don’t remember seeing her around before.”

That casual comment made my interest spike instantly.

Orito was basically libido in human form. He’d once bragged about having data on every girl in the school, and I believed him.

A cute girl, and he didn’t know who she was? If it was anyone but Orito, fine. But Orito not recognizing her? Impossible.

“Is she a student here?” I asked.

“Yeah. She was wearing the uniform.”

That only made it more suspicious. She could be a Vampire Ninja or a Magiclad Girl. Either way, it might be a lead on the King of the Night or Eu.

“What was she wearing?!” I was so worked up, I didn’t realize I just asked a question he basically answered a second ago.

“Huh? I just told you. Our school uniform.”

A Magiclad Girl who could alter memories? Or a Vampire Ninja?

“She had about shoulder-length hair tied into pigtails, and looked like a middle schooler. Basically a young girl with a killer rack.”

That description rang a bell. There wasn’t enough info to be certain, but… Kyouko. It could be her.

But why would Kyouko come here? She knew I came to this school. Was I overthinking it? Damn it. Now I couldn’t stop wondering.

“Where did you see her?” I asked.

“Where? In the hallway, right before I came here.”

“I see. Thanks.”

I gave a quick wave, climbed out of bed, and slipped on my indoor shoes.

“You’re really running off the moment you hear the words young girl? Actual lolicon.”

“I am not a lolicon.”

The hallway buzzed with constant chatter, faces I didn’t recognize passing by one after another. I’d never cared who went to this school, so I had no idea who Orito’s mystery girl could be. I wandered up and down the stairs, looping around aimlessly.

Fuck. I should’ve brought Orito with me.

The bell for sixth period rang, and everyone shuffled back into their classrooms like prisoners returning to their cells. I started heading back to mine.

Teachers and students all disappeared into the rooms, leaving just one girl alone in the hallway. And she was someone I knew.

My instincts were razor-sharp today. Maybe I could be a detective. Zombie Detective. It had a nice ring to it.

The girl saw me and smiled sweetly. “Hello, Aikawa. I’m disappointed to see you looking so well.” Hers was the kind of smile you could stare at forever.

I returned the smile with a glare. “Fancy meeting you here. What are you plotting?”

“You already know the answer to that, don’t you?”

“Don’t tell me… the Magiclad Weapon.”

“Yes. It’s complete. You wanted to see it, remember? He told me so.”

Now that she mentioned it, I had said I’d like to see it.

“I personally want you to see it too,” Kyouko added. “I’ll never forget what you did to me, no matter what.”

“Did I do something? I can’t really remember when that was.”

“Don’t pretend you forgot. You swapped the weapon with a dirty magazine.”

Did I? I honestly couldn’t remember.

“So, to see your frustrated face, I picked this place as the weapon’s testing ground.” She chuckled softly, looking genuinely happy.

“So, is the weapon possessing you right now?”

“Possessing? What a strange way to put it. You think it’s a ghost or something?”

Huh? What was she talking about? Wasn’t that guy inside Tomonori a Magiclad Weapon?

“The weapon’s already activated. You’ve got about six minutes left.”

What? It was on a timer? This didn’t match what I thought I knew. Wait… maybe Kyouko didn’t even know what a Magiclad Weapon looked like. If she knew it looked like a ghost, she wouldn’t have taken the porn mag.

“Heh… think you can find it in six minutes? Well, give it your best shot.”

Striking a double fist-pump, she looked like an adorable junior manager of a sports club who looked up to her seniors.

I stepped forward and closed the distance in an instant.

“Let me give you a hi—” Kyouko’s eyes widened, and she tried to leap back.

I grabbed a fistful of her sailor uniform. Her full chest bounced.

“What?!” She shoved me away. “What are you thinking?! There’s almost no time left to find the weapon! You don’t have time to deal with me.”

“I’m not letting you get away. No matter what happens.”

“You’re sick.”

I didn’t want the weapon to activate either. I’d thought this through and concluded that going after Kyouko was the best move.

I was sure she didn’t want to die from her own weapon. If I could keep her here for six minutes, she’d have no choice but to deactivate it herself.

So I stayed on her. I didn’t need to take her down, just keep her in my grip for the full six minutes.

Kyouko darted away from me, putting as much distance between us as she could. I kept right on her heels, no attacks, just pursuit. I’d been thinking of grabbing her arm, but…

No. I couldn’t stop there.

If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have died. If it weren’t for her, Eu wouldn’t have left. Just catching her wouldn’t be enough to satisfy me. I’d smash her face in.

I stepped forward with my left foot, putting every bit of strength into a straight right aimed at her pretty face.

Kyouko snapped her fingers, and a small whirlwind wrapped around my fist. The wind was made of blades.

My skin split, blood sprayed, but I didn’t care. I was going to land this punch at six hundred percent power.

I didn’t hit square, but my knuckles grazed her cheek.

She dodged well. Her crimson eyes blazed at me as she clenched her teeth. Wind gathered in her right hand, twisting into a drill, and she drove it into my stomach.

She’s powerful, all right.

But without transforming into a Magiclad Girl, I should be able to fight her evenly.

Even as her drill tore into my abs, I pushed my right hand forward, shoving at her chest.

“Ayumoron! Down right!”

Down right? The voice came from behind me.

I flicked my gaze down to the right. The air there was swirling. The dust floating in it suggested the cleaning crew had been slacking.

The moment I noticed, the swirl turned into a tornado.

I was completely caught off guard. Kyouko struck from the blind spot created when I extended my right hand.

At this point, I was too busy dealing with the attack to care that someone had just mashed my name and moron together.

“A downward swing from the left!” Haruna cried.

Kyouko froze. There was no downward swing from the left like Haruna said.

I sprang to the left, cutting off Kyouko’s escape. She raised her whirlwind blade toward me.

“She’s coming in low from the right, so watch yourself, ‘kay?!” Haruna shouted.

Kyouko shot her a quick sideways glance, then, for some reason, spun in place. She looked at Haruna again. Then, she raised her right hand.

“Now, Ayumu! Hit her!”

I swung my fist just as told. Kyouko opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but made no move to dodge.

Wait, seriously? I could just punch her like this? That easy?

My fist struck her cheek. It landed perfectly, much to my surprise, and I felt oddly deflated. Maybe that was why I didn’t put much force into it.

“How?” Kyouko turned a sharp glare on Haruna. “How do you know what I’m going to do?!”

Haruna grinned. “We’ve fought many times at this point,” she said, brimming with confidence. “Come on, Ayumu! She’s trying to escape clockwise. Don’t let her, ‘kay?!”

Kyouko froze, scowling.

“Unfortunately for you, Haruna here is a genius,” I said.

“How infuriating. In that case…” Kyouko lunged, coming straight for me.

“Ayumu! Don’t use your right hand, ‘kay?!”

My right hand? I glanced over. There was a whirlwind coming in from the right. If I reached out, I’d get caught in it.

So, it didn’t matter whether Haruna could read her moves or not. A head-on clash against me, with only my left hand.

Fine. Let’s go!

The tornado whirled up before me. I drove my left hand forward—wait, what?

Kyouko was gone. Fuck!

She wasn’t attacking. She was going all out to escape.

“I told you, I can read your every move!”

When I turned, I saw Haruna pinning Kyouko to the floor.

That was smooth and all, but that was actually the first time she’d said that.

“Me, losing to Haruna? A flunker?!”

“Nice work, Haruna. Looks like this grudge match is finally over.”

I grabbed Kyouko’s arm and yanked her hair. I had tons of questions, but first I needed her to stop the weapon.

“Come on, shut it down. There’s almost no time left, right?”

“Ahahaha!”

“What’s so funny?”

“I already told you. It’s been activated. Did you think I could stop it? I can’t.”

“You’ll die too, you know?”

“Have you heard about Life Orbs?”

I’d completely forgotten. She had those miraculous items called Life Orbs. The ridiculous thing let you come back from death. Even if the weapon went off now and killed every student and teacher here, she would revive.

Everyone would die… because of me?

Mihara, Hiramatsu, Anderson, Orito… Tomonori. Even Haruna?

I glanced at her. She was holding Kyouko’s wrists behind her back, palms wrapped around them. Her hands glowed ruby red, and rings of light locked Kyouko’s wrists in place. Some kind of Magiclad Girl handcuffs, maybe.

“Haruna, could you use Life Orbs to save everyone here?”

“You can’t even touch it unless you’re a Magiclad Girl. So me or you could hold it, but…”

She secured Kyouko’s legs the same way. Kyouko just lay there in the hallway, laughing.

“All right, Haruna. Take her Life Orbs.”

“Ahahaha! No way. Haruna doesn’t have that kind of skill. You see, Life Orbs aren’t actual objects.” Kyouko suddenly froze mid-laugh, eyes going wide. “It’s… gone. Not a single Life Orb left. That bitch!”

She stopped, then smiled brightly. That was when the blue mist appeared in the hallway. The King of the Night, here to rescue her?

I pulled Kyouko away from the mist so she wouldn’t escape.

A voice came from within. “I have no more use for you.”

It was, without a doubt, the King of the Night’s smug, mocking tone.

“Wh-What? Why?”

Kyouko thrashed her bound limbs, but he didn’t answer. The mist simply faded away, as if it had only come to deliver that single line.

Kyouko bit her lip hard. “That fucking bitch!” she snarled.

“Well, look who just got abandoned.”

“Miss Ariel must’ve made a deal.”

Blood spilled from Kyouko’s lip.

I see. So we had Big Teach to thank for that.

Rattle.

Every classroom door slid open at once. Students began stepping out, slowly.

What the…? Wasn’t class already in session?

Also, the students were all acting… strange. Swaying side to side, arms hanging limply, they stepped into the hallway, then suddenly perked up and started making animal noises.

The strangest part? Every single one of them had animal ears sprouting from their heads.

It was way too early for the school festival.