Chapter 7: Aiko’s Dog is Here

“We... can get out of this, can’t we?” Aiko looked imploringly to Mutsuko as she felt the sweat dripping down from her forehead.

“Hmm, I dunno... This is pretty...” Apparently not even Mutsuko could come up with a plan to get out of a situation like this.

Aiko looked around.

There were anthromorphs everywhere — too many to count at a glance. There were probably at least twenty.

They were barely outside the Kukurizaka mansion.

Aiko was about to suggest going back inside, but just then, they heard footsteps from behind. Apparently someone had realized they had escaped, and their pursuers had finally caught up with them.

“I guess there’s no fighting our way out of this one,” Yoriko said defeatedly.

“Um, what if we just let them catch us again? They did take pretty good care of us...” Aiko proposed, but knew that it wasn’t a realistic suggestion. They had taken advantage of that “good care” to get out once already, which meant that their captors would probably increase security next time, robbing them of a future chance to escape.

“Hey, Noro! You think Yu might just happen to come along and save us at exactly this minute?” Mutsuko asked.

“H-Hey, yeah! This is right around the time Sakaki always shows up! I’m apparently the love interest, after all!”

“Even ignoring that love interest nonsense, my brother would never fail to save his darling little sister!”

The three called out in unison:

“Yu!”

“Sakaki!”

“Big Brother!”

Their cries echoed off the mountain.

Aiko could feel the anthromorphs’ gazes grow one level colder.

“Hey! Why isn’t Yu here? This is gonna be hard to overlook! You’ll be punished for this later! With Yugo-style torture!” Mutsuko declared.

“Sis, if we don’t do something, there won’t be a later!” Yoriko wailed.

The anthromorphs had surrounded them.

“Who are these people?” one of them wondered.

“Oh, I know. We captured them yesterday, the group I was part of.”

“So they escaped, huh? Was their guard asleep on the job?”

“Well, it’s perfect timing, right? We’re going to the festival site either way, so let’s just take them with us.”

They didn’t seem to want to kill them right away, it seemed; they must be too valuable as sacrifices.

What do I do?! Aiko was uncertain.

Should she unleash her vampiric powers? Or should she let herself be caught and wait for rescue?

She could suck Mutsuko or Yoriko’s blood and become a vampire, perhaps... but could she really handle so many enemies? She didn’t know, but she had to try. It was all Aiko could think of. And if she couldn’t beat them all, or they couldn’t get away, then at least she would be the only casualty; Mutsuko and Yoriko would still have value as sacrifices.

Aiko walked over to Mutsuko and whispered to her softly, “Um, Mutsuko... could I suck your blood?”

“Oh! So that’s your plan. No problem! But are you sure?” Mutsuko asked.

Mutsuko gave ready consent with no hesitation whatsoever.

Aiko got around behind Mutsuko, who crouched down. Aiko softly put her lips to her neck...

She was just about to concentrate on extending her fangs, when suddenly, it happened. What looked like the heads of a dog, a weasel, and a bear flew through the air.

“Huh?”

Just as Aiko looked up to confirm she hadn’t imagined it, they were joined by the heads of a cat and a pig. Heads were flying left and right as if in a joyous rhythm.

Aiko watched, dumbstruck. The next thing she knew, all the anthromorphs around her had fallen over. Not one of them still had a head.

“Sakaki? No... it’s not, is it?” she asked. No matter how superhuman Yuichi was, he couldn’t possibly do all this.

Aiko looked around her. There was an anthromorph standing there.

It was a wolf-man. His facial features had a masculine cast to them, and he was about two meters tall, strapping and burly.

It was immediately clear that he wasn’t one of their captors; he was the one who had killed them. He had a presence about him that was lacking in the anthromorphs they had met on this island so far.

The wolf-man walked over to Aiko and went down on his knees. He bowed so low that his nose touched the ground — though he still appeared very large to the petite Aiko.

“U-Um...” Aiko stammered in confusion.

“Noro! I bet you’re supposed to say ‘rise’! He seems like that kind of guy!” Mutsuko declared.

Certainly, it did seem like he might stay that way if she didn’t say something.

“I’m sorry. Could you rise, please?” Aiko asked.

The wolf-man did as he was told, raising his eyes to look up at her. He was truly a beautiful wolf.

“What would you call that, a WILF?” Yoriko murmured as she eyed the werewolf.

“Um, thank you. You did save us, right?” Aiko asked hesitantly.

“I am unworthy of your words...”

Aiko drew back in surprise. The wolf was crying.

“Um... could you please act normal?” she asked. It was hard to know what was normal for him, but Aiko had a hunch that the conversation wouldn’t get very far with him carrying on like this.

“You saved us, right?” Aiko added.

“Indeed,” the wolf-man said. “I saw that harm was about to strike my princess, and so I took their heads without hesitation.”

“Princess? Um... yeah, okay, I guess I see where this is going. You mean me, right?” Aiko asked. She felt a little self-conscious about acknowledging that she was being addressed as a princess.

“Are you saying... you do not remember my unworthy self?!” The wolf pressed closer to her.

Aiko drew back. “No, I do not remember you. I have no idea who you are, and I’m afraid you might have the wrong person.”

“Impossible! I would recognize the princess’s smell anywhere!”

“Smell?” Aiko only grew more embarrassed at the thought of having a distinctive smell.

“So, I’m not following everything here, but is it safe to assume you’re on our side?” Mutsuko asked the werewolf.

“Yes. If you stand with the princess, then I stand with you, as well.”

“If we stand here talking, someone else is probably going to come along sooner or later. Maybe we should get moving?” Mutsuko asked.

The werewolf looked at Aiko again, as if asking permission to stand.

Wait a minute... is he going to keep doing this?!

“U-Um... This woman is our club’s president. She’s higher ranked than I am. So if you could defer to her...” Aiko said.

“I understand. If Your Highness does not give me an order, and I see nothing wrong with it, I shall obey ‘Clubs President.’”

Aiko had her doubts that he really did understand.

✽✽✽✽✽

Yuichi and Natsuki went through the luggage at the harbor, took everything that might be useful, and loaded it onto the mini-truck. Then they checked the map, then headed out to the festival site. It was on the other side of the mountain from Kukurizaka’s mansion, so they went around the coastline from the harbor to the far side of the island.

This part of the island was usually off-limits, and there was even a fence partitioning it off. But Yuichi used his lock-picking skill, and they got through without issue.

Fortunately, Natsuki wasn’t as bad a driver as he had feared. It was just that she ignored all road signs, few of them as there were.

“Takeuchi, where did you learn how to drive?” Yuichi asked.

“I didn’t have to ‘learn.’ It isn’t that hard, you know.”

Once they were on the other side of the island, they could see the back side of the mountain. This side was a sheer cliff, with a few brown rocks jutting out here and there.

There was also something so unbelievable that Yuichi couldn’t immediately believe his eyes.

“That’s... a spaceship, right?”

“Is it? I’ve never seen a spaceship before, so I couldn’t say,” Natsuki said.

“I’ve never seen one either, but...” It seemed to Yuichi very much like there was a spaceship sticking out of the mountain’s face.

It was a shining silver object with an aerodynamic shape, and it was jutting out from the cliffside about halfway up. Yuichi checked the map. The festival site label corresponded with the location of the “spaceship.”

Once they reached the exact opposite side of the island from the harbor, they changed course to head for the mountain.

The roads here weren’t paved, so the truck jostled and rattled as they drove along.

The closer they came, the more the thing sticking out of the mountain looked like a ship.

It was sticking out at just the right angle to have fallen from the sky and crashed there. Yuichi was growing more and more convinced that it was a spaceship.

“If they want to call it a festival site, okay, but...” he murmured.

“Why does it bother you? What does it matter what anyone calls it?” Natsuki asked.

“I guess it doesn’t... but when I get home, I’m checking Google Maps.”

Before long, the car arrived at the base of the cliff. They got out and examined the cliff face.

It was looking like a nearly vertical climb. It wasn’t a very tall mountain — only about 400 meters to the peak — and the spaceship was stuck in about halfway up. In other words, about 200 meters.

“I thought there might be a road to the site or something, but...” He had never imagined the festival site would be a spaceship sticking out of a cliff.

Yuichi checked the map one more time. He was getting the feeling that the entrance to the ship must be inside the mountain.

“I bet the spaceship was here originally, and the mansion was built later to act as... like, a passage or a gateway to get to it,” he said. But just knowing that wouldn’t help them get inside.

“It would take too long to go back around. Should we climb it? That seems faster.” Yuichi took out the spider silk rope he had packed in the luggage and put it over his shoulders.

He looked up at the cliff, determined the shortest route, then jumped to get a grip on the rock face.

“What will you do, Takeuchi?” he asked. He tied the rope off, then looked back down to see if she was following.

She wasn’t there.

“Trying to run off on your own?” Natsuki’s voice said from right beside him.

She was supporting herself from a scalpel stuck into the rock face.

“You can use those like that?” Yuichi stared in shock as Natsuki continued using the scalpels to smoothly climb the rock face.

“Don’t take too long, or I’ll leave you behind,” Natsuki said.

Yuichi quickly moved to follow her.

The rock face was sturdy, with plenty of handholds, allowing Yuichi to climb the whole 200 meters without much trouble.

From afar, the spaceship had looked smooth, but up close, it was quite weathered, with lots of places to grab on to. The two of them climbed around the outside of the spaceship to make it to the top.

“So, is there an entrance or anything here?” he asked.

They looked around on top of the spaceship. From this vantage point, they could see that it was really quite large. It was about 100 meters wide, and the visible part of the length, alone, was about 200 meters. But there was no entrance as far as they could see.

“Sakaki, what about that?” Natsuki pointed to his feet.

He looked, and realized that there were cracks in the chassis here and there.

Yuichi crouched next to one of the cracks, and Natsuki walked up beside him to look, as well. The walls and floor inside were all illuminated, making it easy to see what was there.

“Huh?” Yuichi gaped as he saw an unexpected sight.

Yuri Konishi was inside the ship, and she was furious.

The spaceship interior visible through the fissure was a round hall. It was about 50 meters in diameter, and 50 meters to the ceiling. No one was looking their way, but they could probably be seen if they weren’t careful.

Across from the entrance to the room was something that looked like an altar. A golden-colored mass was curled on top of it.

Its label was “God.”

Yuichi wasn’t exactly sure which part of it was the head, but he had to assume it was the part under the label.

“...Wow. I finally get to see God...” he whispered in a dumbfounded voice.

If Soul Reader was to be trusted, this was the ritual site, and the golden mass was The Head of All.

Yuichi tried to estimate its size. Its exact silhouette was hard to ascertain due to the way it was curled up, but it seemed about the size of an African elephant. Six meters long, three meters tall.

The altar was surrounded with screens to keep it from being seen from eye level, and in front of the altar were a small group of people who seemed to be in the middle of an argument.

“What is the meaning of this?” one of them demanded. This was Yuri Konishi, wearing a flashy summer dress. Above her head hung the label “Anthromorph (Cat),” and she was clearly in a fury about something.

Behind her stood a boy dressed in a kimono. His label was “Anthromorph (Wolf),” and he looked vaguely familiar. Yuichi realized it was the boy who had tried to ask Natsuki out.

“I believe his name was Takashi Jonouchi,” Natsuki said. She had claimed to have forgotten it before, but it seemed she remembered it now. Maybe explaining things to Aiko had been too much of a bother at the time, or perhaps she just had wanted to act disinterested in front of Yuichi.

The target of Yuri Konishi’s ire was a small old man in Japanese-style clothing with the label “Anthromorph (Baboon).”

This must be Dogen Kukurizaka, the island’s chief.

Judging from his comportment and the fierce atmosphere around him, he was the strongest person in that room. According to Rion, the pecking order among anthromorphs was decided based on strength, which meant he must be the supreme authority on the island. That authority was further asserted by the group of men standing behind him.

“What do you mean?” Dogen asked Yuri, seeming unimpressed by her disrespectful attitude.

“Aiko Noro, the girl I captured! She’s escaped, hasn’t she?” Yuri snapped. “This wasn’t what you promised!”

“Ah, she escaped, yes. So I’d heard.”

She escaped? That was good news for Yuichi. It meant he wouldn’t have to rush in there half-cocked.

“You heard? How can you be so calm about this? You need her for your sacrifice, don’t you?” Yuri snapped.

Yuichi wondered about that, too. Dogen seemed extremely calm; it was as if he didn’t even care that his sacrifices were loose.

“Sacrifice?” he asked. “Ah, yes. It’s true, the sacrifices are important.”

“Is that all you have to say?!”

“Just because they’ve escaped the mansion doesn’t mean they’ll escape the island. We’ll catch them sooner or later.”

“I’ve had enough! I left the job to you, and you let her slip through your fingers! The minute you catch her, I’ll finish her myself! Do you understand me?”

“Hmm. Unacceptable. We can’t afford to lose any more sacrifices.”

Yuri had turned around and prepared to go, but a group of men blocked her way.

“The virgin sacrifices are to be used after The Head of All’s revival,” Dogen said. “They add flavor to the festival of rebirth, but they’re not necessary for it. To heal The Head’s injury requires something else...”

“What are you talking—”

Dogen’s subordinates surrounded Yuri.

“It requires anthromorph sacrifices,” he said. “We have served The Head of All since ancient times, and while I’m ready and willing to offer myself up to him... it’s human nature to want to use as many outsiders as possible, don’t you think?”

The golden mass on the altar moved. It lifted its head and poked its face over the screen.

As Yuichi watched, he felt a shock run through him.

Its face was human.

The Head’s tongue snapped out and wrapped it around Takashi. In an instant, Takashi was in the thing’s mouth.

“Warrrrgh!” Takashi screamed as he was seized, and instantly transformed into a beast — a werewolf.

But the transformation was futile at this point. Takashi’s body had already begun to fuse with the mouth area of The Head.

He wasn’t swallowed down or chewed up — he was being absorbed directly into it. His body gradually grew smaller and more featureless.

Yuri watched it all, speechless. It wasn’t until Takashi was over half absorbed that she snapped back to her right mind.

“You tricked us!” she screamed, and took her own beast form. This wasn’t the half-beast form that Yuichi had seen before, but a true cat anthromorph, body covered in golden fur.

Was the transformation meant to flee, or to fight? Whichever it was, Yuri never had a chance to try it, as she was immediately pushed to the floor by anthromorphs who appeared behind her.

“You’re a lucky one. It seems you’ll be a sacrifice for after his revival.” Dogen walked up to Yuri and smiled down at her.

“Lock her away until the appointed time,” he commanded, and Yuri was dragged away.

The Head apparently had no interest in Yuri. Once it finished absorbing Takashi, it huddled back down, with an air of satisfaction. Then it turned its face up toward the ceiling.

It looked at Yuichi, and it smiled. Its enormous face contorted, smiling a smile broader than any human face ever could.

That was when Yuichi started thinking about ways to kill it.

✽✽✽✽✽

The werewolf led the way down the mountain, followed by Aiko, Yoriko, and Mutsuko. Fortunately, no one was following them at the moment, and they didn’t run into any villagers on the way, either.

“My name is Aiko Noro. These are Yoriko and Mutsuko Sakaki,” Aiko said, introducing him to the sisters. She had found the werewolf a little frightening at first, but she was gradually starting to get used to his presence.

“Lady Aikonoro... so that is your name?” The werewolf did speak their language fluently, but occasionally, his intonation was a bit off.

“What’s your name?” Aiko asked.

“You truly do not remember, then...” The werewolf lowered his face sadly.

“I’m sorry. I really don’t...” Aiko was certain she had no memory of the werewolf, but she still felt bad about how sad that made him.

“You need not apologize!” he declared. “It is natural to forget the name of a nothing such as I. Your Highness is not at fault!”

“But not knowing your name is going to get very inconvenient, so could you just tell it to us already?” Yoriko interrupted, annoyed by the stalled conversation.

“My name is Nero,” he said. “It is the name that Your Highness gave me.”

“Okay, Nero,” Mutsuko butted in. “What brought you here all of a sudden? You saved us, but we’re pretty much in the dark as to why!”

“I had been traveling the world searching for the princess, when the other day, abruptly, I sensed her power,” he explained.

“Ah! I bet that’s when Noro transformed!” Mutsuko cried.

“Transformed?” Yoriko tilted her head in confusion.

Aiko realized that Yoriko didn’t know much about what had happened the other day. She might not even have known that Aiko was a vampire.

“I-I’ll explain another time!” Aiko said, trying to deflect it. It was too much to go into right now.

“It was clear that the princess was in Japan,” the werewolf said, “and when I arrived there, I met a strange woman. She told me that I would find you here.”

“I wonder who that woman could be,” Mutsuko said. “Hardly anybody knew that we were scheduled to come to this island during our training camp... And why are you a princess, anyway, Noro?”

“Nero!” Aiko suddenly interrupted. “Um, I really have no clue as to why I’m your princess, and I don’t think I want to know, either. So um, could you just...”

Aiko felt anxious. She didn’t know what to do about being called a princess in some context she knew nothing about. No matter what this man said, she couldn’t believe it had anything to do with her.

“I understand,” the werewolf said. “Your Highness... Lady Aiko, you have your own life now, and I have no intention to threaten that. From this moment forth, I swear my loyalty and service to Lady Aikonoro.”

“You ‘swear your loyalty’?” Aiko was relieved that he seemed to understand that much, at least. She felt embarrassed about the oath of loyalty, but she had a feeling that arguing about it wouldn’t do any good, so she decided to leave it alone.

“Well, if that’s all settled for now, let’s think about what we’re gonna do next!” Mutsuko broke in.

“But what should we do? Just get off the island?” Aiko asked.

They had originally come to the island for their training camp, but they were definitely in no condition to do that now.

“Good question,” Mutsuko said. “The best way to get out of here would be to call Akiko back...”

“But how do we get in contact with her?” Aiko asked. “They took our cell phones.”

They hadn’t had time to get their cell phones back during the escape.

“Let’s break into one of the houses and use their landline!” Mutsuko declared. “I memorized her phone number, so it’s all good!”

Maybe it was pointless to worry about breaking and entering on an island where everyone was out to kill them, but Aiko still felt a little guilty about the idea.

“Anyway, where’s Yu at a time like this?” Mutsuko wondered.

“What if... he really didn’t make it to the island?” Aiko asked worriedly. They still had no confirmation that Yuichi had made it to the island, after all.

“Yu, you say? Another of your allies?” Nero asked.

“My little brother,” Mutsuko said. “I pushed him into the ocean, so I knew he’d be a little late, but...”

“...Was he, by chance, with a woman?” the werewolf asked.

“Did you run into him somewhere?” Mutsuko asked.

“On my way to this island, I spotted a young man carrying a woman in the water,” he responded. “This island appeared to be his destination.”

“I see!” Mutsuko cried. “Which means he’s already on the island, I bet! We’ve gotta meet up with him!”

They decided to head for the harbor first. If Yuichi really had come, there would probably be some sign of him there.

✽✽✽✽✽

Natsuki was trembling.

Yuichi held her in his arms.

“I’m sorry. Let me stay this way a little while longer,” she said.

He’d never seen her like this. That “Head” thing must have really scared her. Which was only natural, Yuichi thought.

Still, they couldn’t stay like this forever. If it hadn’t "revived” yet, they still had a chance. They had to meet up with Mutsuko and the others and get off the island while they still could.

“You want to go back, Takeuchi?” he asked.

“Ah?” Natsuki looked up at him, her eyes like those of a frightened child.

“From what they said down there, it sounded like our friends made it out,” he said. “Which means they’ll probably be heading for the harbor. So...”

“What will you do, then, Sakaki?” she asked.

“Konishi’s been captured,” he said. “I need to save her.”

“Why?”

Natsuki’s confusion was only natural. Yuichi had barely even spoken to Yuri Konishi in the past, and she had ambushed him once already. He had no obligation to save her, and doing so might even open him up to future attack.

Even so, Yuichi couldn’t find it in him to just abandon her.

“My sister gave me this weird training that’s made me more powerful than most people,” he said. “I didn’t do it for any particular reason... but as long as I have it, I want to use it to save people. To be useful to people. B-But it’s not... you know... the ‘great power, great responsibility’ thing. I hate that stuff.” Yuichi scratched his head, feeling awkward about saying the words out loud.

“...I’ll go with you,” Natsuki said. “I could be useful somehow. But I would advise against trying to stop that monster. What it is exceeds human understanding. It’s like a hurricane or a tidal wave... It’s not something you can fight.”

Yuichi wondered if Natsuki had fought something like that before, but he didn’t want to pry. She seemed so frightened. It suggested some terrible memory that she didn’t want to relive.

“It’s primarily a rescue mission, so we probably won’t have to fight it,” he assured her. Still, part of Yuichi’s mind continued to consider it, turning over what little knowledge he had, trying to figure out a way to make the thing dead. “Well, for now, we need to find a way inside or we won’t even be able to do that much.”

Yuichi gently released Natsuki and looked around. He quickly spotted a crack large enough for a person to fit through.

Before they went inside, they decided to go back down the mountain and pick up any useful luggage they might need.

✽✽✽✽✽

There were anthromorphs waiting at the harbor, but they were no match for Nero.

His bestial strength was on a whole other level. The anthromorphs on this island were merely humans with fur; no matter how frightening they might look, they could do nothing in the face of a true monster.

Nero faithfully followed Aiko’s “try not to kill them, if possible” request, but given the vast difference in power, it was a little beyond his control.

“Dynasty Warriors: Nero! And it’s so easy mode!” Mutsuko cried, jumping around like an excitable child.

“Mutsuko, this is really not the time...” Aiko said, looking out over the harbor.

There wasn’t a single boat docked there, though Aiko remembered there having been several when they’d arrived.

“Right. First, we need a way off the island, right? Natch!” Mutsuko searched the fallen anthromorphs’ pockets and pulled out a radio and a cell phone. “No service on the cell phones. Landlines might not work either, then. It’s probably microwave transmissions with the mainland, so they can easily cut it off from the control tower...”

Mutsuko continued murmuring to herself.

“Big Sis! Big Brother really did come here!” Yoriko exclaimed as she checked the luggage that had been left behind.

The others gathered around her.

There were signs that Yuichi and Natsuki had changed clothes. The clothing they had stripped off had been cast aside, and there was less clothing in the bags. The sight of the weights Yuichi had been wearing lying on the ground were the greatest proof of all.

“Okay, let’s find a way to meet up and get out of here! We can’t exactly hold a training camp like this, after all!” Mutsuko rooted around in their luggage and produced a cell phone.

“I thought you said cell phones wouldn’t get through,” Aiko objected. Indeed, she had only just said that a minute ago.

“Oh, yeah!” Mutsuko said. “But this is a satellite cell phone, so it works anywhere!”

“Am I the only one who thinks that’s cheating?” Aiko demanded.

Mutsuko called up Akiko at the summer house and asked her to come get them. It was as easy as that.

“Okay, now that we have our way out, we’ve gotta find Yu,” Mutsuko said. “Nero, can you trace his scent?”

“Does this bag belongs to your ‘Yuichi’?” he asked. “Then I can.” Nero immediately began following the scent.

Yuichi had apparently gone to the warehouse near the harbor, then headed into a local’s house a little further away. Then, Nero said, they had gone off in some kind of vehicle, at which point he lost the scent.

“There was nothing in the warehouse, so let’s try the residence!” Mutsuko proclaimed. She was now wearing a silver gauntlet on her left hand, which apparently served as both weapon and armor.

Aiko was carrying a projectile stun gun, though she had her doubts that it would work on an anthromorph.

“There’s someone inside. Take care,” the werewolf said.

“You’re so handy to have around, Nero!” Mutsuko cried. “Hey, can we adopt you?”

Aiko and the others stopped in front of the row house. If Yuichi had stayed there for a while, it might contain a clue as to his current whereabouts.

The nameplate out front read “Takamichi.” Mutsuko rang the front doorbell, and someone immediately came running.

“Yuichi!” the someone cried out as the door was burst open.

“‘Yuichi’?” Yoriko’s eyebrow twitched.

It was a woman’s voice, too. Aiko had a bad feeling about this.

“Huh? Who’re you guys?” the girl said, slumping in disappointment.

She appeared to be the same age as Aiko and the others. She had brown, slightly curly, medium-long hair, and was wearing a simple white camisole and dark blue jeans. The first thing Aiko noticed, though, was the size of her breasts. These seemed to be the biggest yet. Breasts that large inspired less a feeling of envy and more one of awe.

“We’re the Seishin High School Survival Club!” Mutsuko announced.

“Um, Mutsuko, that’s not a useful way of introducing us...” Aiko murmured.

“Oh! Are you Yuichi’s big sister?” the girl asked.

Somehow, Mutsuko’s thoughtless introduction had proven extremely efficient.

“Does that mean Yu really did come here?” Mutsuko wanted to know.

“Yeah. Wanna come in?”

The group accepted the girl’s invitation, and entered her house. Just to be safe, though, they asked Nero to stand guard outside.

They all sat down at a low table. The girl, Rion Takamichi, brought drinks and sat down across from them.

“Yuichi said he went off to save you guys. Did you miss each other?” Rion asked with a wince.

“Looks like it,” Mutsuko said. “Do you know where he went?”

“The festival site, probably. I told him it’s where they’d take sacrifices.”

“Hmm, what to do?” Mutsuko pondered. “If we go after him now, we might miss him again...”

The island was quite large. If they acted too haphazardly, there was a good chance they would pass each other by again.

“Why not stick around?” the girl suggested. “Yuichi told me that if the ritual started and you weren’t there, he’d come back here. We had a deal.”

“You’re awfully informal with him, aren’t you? Using his first name and everything...” Yoriko said, not trying to hide her irritation.

“Huh? What’s got you all pissy?” Rion snapped back. She must have found Yoriko’s attitude incomprehensible.

“Yoriko, you’re being very rude,” Aiko admonished her. Even so, Rion’s tone had set her on edge, too. The thought of her and Yuichi spending time together caused a twinge in her chest.

“So, what was this ‘deal’ you mentioned?” Aiko asked her, curiously.

“I didn’t want to be sacrificed, so I asked him to take me when he ran away,” Rion said. “One of those elopement kinda deals, y’know?”

“Ah! That’s simple, then,” Yoriko announced. “If you die before you’re sacrificed, that solves everything. Shall I help you?”

“What was that, brat?” Rion snapped. “I’m getting pretty sick of your crap!”

Aiko watched the two fight, disoriented.

Mutsuko sat the radio she had taken from the anthromorphs on the table. “Rather than sitting around here, it would be easier to meet up again if we keep moving, but left clues behind. I’ll leave this radio here, so if Yu comes, let him know, okay?”

“Sakaki went off in a car, right? Could we catch up to him on foot?” Aiko asked. While the island wasn’t very large, the festival site must be far enough away that he’d felt he needed a car.

“There are plenty of other cars!” Mutsuko exclaimed.

“Could you please not propose stealing so casually...” Aiko murmured.

Mutsuko didn’t seem to feel any guilt about the thought at all. She hadn’t shown any compunctions about taking that radio before, either.

“It’s an emergency, so what choice do we have?” she asked. “The law makes allowances for emergency evacuations, too! It’s Article 37 of the penal code!”

It seemed to Aiko that she had to be careful about giving Mutsuko just causes like “emergency evacuation” and “legitimate self-defense.”

As they left Rion’s house, Aiko immediately noticed something amiss.

Nero was howling.

She didn’t need to ask why; she immediately realized what Nero was trying to warn them about.

It was a monster.

An enormous human face was looking down at them from above. It had the body of a quadruped, wings on its back, and a snake for a tale. It was a great golden beast of the sort you saw only in fiction, never reality.

Aiko’s legs had gone numb. She was finding it impossible to move in the face of its overwhelming presence.

“The Head of All...” Rion, who had come to see them off, whispered the words partly in terror.

“Oh? The Takamichi girl. I was sure you were dead.” The voice came from the monster’s feet, from what looked like a baboon dressed in Japanese clothing.

“Elder, um, this isn’t...” Rion was in a total panic. The baboon anthromorph must have been the island’s leader, Dogen Kukurizaka.

As for Mutsuko’s reaction...

“Another incredible thing! A sphinx? A nue? A cherub? A lammasu? A manticore? A chimera? Well, whatever you are, Nero’s got our back! Come on, Noro, don’t be scared! This is where your white knight does his stuff! Okay, go on!”

As usual, she was fearless before the monster. She pointed right at it, left hand perched on her hip, and gave the order as if she was Nero’s owner.

“Yes ma’am!” Nero dashed along the ground, as ordered.

The match seemed like it might end before Aiko could even react. Nero wasn’t letting his guard down. The monster brandished its own claws, but Nero dodged through them to strike first with his own.

Nero’s claws dug deep into the monster’s flesh. The blow should have scattered the monster’s brains on the pavement.

But that was not what happened. The claws stopped halfway, unable to continue or retract. They simply remained stuck where they were.

His claws — his arm itself — were merging with the monster.

“Your Highness! Please, ru—” Nero cried as he realized he had lost. But his words were cut off as the rest of his body was swiftly absorbed by the monster.

“Uh?” Mutsuko’s voice leaked, dumbstruck, from her throat. But an instant later, she pointed her left hand back at the monster.

A disc flew forcefully from the gauntlet on her hand. It bounced uselessly off the monster’s stubborn hide.

“Drat... I thought it was pretty powerful, but that thing’s muscles are so thick it doesn’t seem to do any damage,” Mutsuko muttered. Her proud tool, the chakram shooter, had had no effect.

“Nero!” Aiko screamed in agony.

“Now, the festival hasn’t even begun yet,” Dogen said. “Could you sacrifices please remain quiet until we need you? Bring them.”

At Dogen’s order, more anthromorphs appeared.

“Hey! Why is the god walking around before its ritual of revival? That’s against the rules!” Mutsuko shouted.

Even as she was being caught, Mutsuko continued to protest.