Chapter 57 Toy Box
CHAPTER 57
Toy Box
Explosions echo throughout the spirit world’s plaza as if it has turned into military training grounds. Clouds of dust rise into the air as swords, spears, and magic all clash while occasionally knocking over tables and coffee cups at Café du Cerceus.
“Please stop…! Pleeeeeeeeease…!”
Cerceus is crying so pathetically that I’m actually starting to feel bad for the guy, but Seiya won’t stop training until he feels he’s done, no matter how much you beg, plead, or cry. However…
“Okay, that should be enough for the day.”
Seiya says this just as the evening sun paints the spirit world red. It’s only been around two hours since he started training, though.
Wh-what the…? Is he really gonna stop training already?
I find it unusual. Seiya usually trains deep into the night or until his training partner passes out, so it actually seems like he called it quits a little early today. Still, the deities do seem exhausted. Even the Spear God is out cold. A spear is stuck in his butt. Fraala has tears pooling in her eyes.
“Sniffle! What’s the point of my wind magic if he can avoid it while fortune-telling based on blood type?!”
“F-Fraala! Don’t let it bother you! You didn’t use Order, so you couldn’t use your true divine powers! That’s all!”
I try to cheer her up, but…
Fraala, who’s usually so calm and collected, is crying like a little girl.
Meanwhile…
“Man, that was fun! Time for a bath!”
Valkyrie’s face glistens with sweat and satisfaction as she heads home. The other deities, some wearing expressions of joy and some of sorrow, gradually leave until not a single god or goddess remains. Looking around the plaza, I can see that the ground caved in here and there. I catch a glimpse of Seiya walking toward the sanctuary alone.
Ack! That was a close one! You take your eyes off of him for a second and he disappears!
I chase after him, determined to find out what he’s up to this time.
“Seiya, wait! Where are you going?”
“I plan on training during the day as you saw, but at night…”
“At night…?”
“I have something else I need to do.”
“Something else? Like what?”
“…”
“Come on, Seiya. Tell me. What are you going to do?”
“Stop bugging me. I told you to go play.”
Seiya stops in his tracks, stomps on the ground, and causes something to rise to the surface with his earth magic.
“What the…?!”
It’s a large toy chest. When I peek inside, there are cups and balls, building blocks, spinning tops, Hacky Sacks, and bubble wands with liquid soap.
“I prepared a toy chest just for you. Enjoy.”
“What am I, a toddler?!”
And don’t even get me started on his selection of toys! I’m not a Japanese child from the early twentieth century!
“Seriously?! Seiya, I’ve had enough of you teasing me!”
As I furiously give him a piece of my mind, Seiya mutters:
“Berserk: Phase Two.”
“Eek!”
He’s not gonna punch me in Berserk Mode, right?! While deities may be immortal, a punch that powerful would paint the ground with my brain matter. I grab my head with both hands, cowering in fear…but nothing happens. After another pause, I cautiously take a peek with a half-open eye…only to discover that Seiya’s already gone.
“He disappeared on me again!! Ugh! I can’t believe him!!”
I kick the box of toys out of frustration, and building blocks fly out onto the ground. Not wanting to leave a mess, however, I reluctantly pick up after myself when I accidentally bump into Cerceus. He bitterly yells:
“Get outta the way! Take your toys and go play somewhere else!”
“I’m not playing!!”
Cerceus is cleaning up what’s left of his café’s scattered equipment. His bright-red face makes it clear he’s furious, but I’m frustrated as well. We glare at each other, ready to snap, when…
“P-please, calm down! Let’s just get this cleaned up for now, okay? I’ll help.”
Kiriko picks up a few building blocks and hands them to me. After that, she grabs a broom and begins sweeping the broken café equipment into a pile. Cerceus is moved to tears.
“Kiriko…! You’re such a sweet person, you know that?”
Aria comes walking over and nods a few times as well.
“She’s like an angel. An angelic Killing Machine.”
Cerceus then glares at me reproachfully.
“Rista! You could learn a thing or two from her!”
“Oh, shut up.”
I don’t want to help Cerceus clean up if he’s gonna talk to me like that, so I take a kendama out of the toy box and start playing by myself. I started doing it just to kill time at first, but…
“Ho! Ha! Hm! Ha!”
This is actually kinda fun!
I become obsessed before I realize it.
It’s already dark outside by the time I finally get the hang of the kendama. When I look around, I notice the café’s tables are already back in their original positions, and Café du Cerceus somehow managed to return to normal. Kiriko walks up to me.
“Oh, you wanna try, too? It’s actually pretty fun!”
I chuckle, but Kiriko’s tone is serious.
“U-um… Do you think we could sleep together tonight?”
“Sure, of course… Wait. Do you even sleep?”
Kiriko’s a machine, so she shouldn’t need to eat or sleep. She fidgets like she’s having a hard time explaining herself.
“Actually…Seiya told me that from now on, I should sleep with you whenever I can.”
“Really?! I wonder why.”
“I asked him, and he told me that it’s just in case Celemonic’s curse wasn’t completely lifted.”
“He’s still worried about that?!”
That was quite a while ago, wasn’t it? I feel like he’s worrying way too much about this!
“I’m sure it’s just because he cares about you, Rista!”
“I don’t know. I kinda feel like he’s forcing you to keep an eye on me because he doesn’t want to deal with me himself.”
“Whatever the reason, it would make me really happy if we slept together!”
“Really? Then come on.”
Kiriko and I head over to the room Cerceus loaned us. It’s still too early to go to bed, though, so we end up playing with building blocks and kendama from the toy chest Seiya gave me. I was aggravated when he first showed me the toy box, but watching Kiriko innocently playing and enjoying herself is so heartwarming. It even seems to be taking her mind off of what happened at Fulwahna.
“It looks like Seiya made these himself.”
“Hmm? What makes you think he made these?”
“Look at this.”
Carved into the bottom of the building block is the name Seiya Ryuuguuin.
“Y-you’re right…!”
“Look. Here, too.”
After a closer look, I notice that Seiya’s name is written on each and every toy.
“Ew… Who writes their full name on every toy?”
“Seiya is very methodical, after all! I’m sure he just didn’t want to lose them!”
“Yeah, but this is creepy. This is something an elementary school kid would do.”
“But it’s so like Seiya to do this, isn’t it?”
Kiriko giggles. It doesn’t make any sense to me, though. Why would someone who hates wasting time when he could be training take the time to make these? And when did he make them?
“…Ready to hit the sack?”
Even thinking about it starts to feel absurd, so I crawl into bed with Kiriko and close my eyes.
Day two. Noon.
Seiya’s training hard with the same deities today as well, so I grab a bubble wand from the toy chest and blow bubbles while I watch them. Just like yesterday, Seiya is overpowering and outmaneuvering his opponents. At times, I notice a bolt of lightning or gust of wind shoot from his hands, letting me know his magic training is going smoothly. I look over at Aria, who’s sipping some tea at a table outside the café, and ask:
“Hey, Aria. Did you happen to see Seiya last night?”
“No, I never saw him.”
“Ugh. What in the world is he up to?”
I take in a deep breath before blowing countless rainbow bubbles into the sky.
“R-Rista, what are you doing?”
“Blowing bubbles. Wanna try?”
“N-no, thank you. I’m fine… Anyway, maybe you shouldn’t worry so much about what Seiya is up to. I’m sure that, whatever he’s doing, it’s a necessary preparation for the final battle.”
“I get that. It’s not like I want to pry, but I hate how it feels like something big is happening behind the scenes and I’m not part of it.”
Being so close to the final battle makes me even more curious about his covert actions. I feel useless. Is blowing bubbles really all I can do right now? All of a sudden, I notice the undead getting antsy by my side as well.
“Hmm… I want to train with multiple deities like the Hero as well.”
Jonde must have been inspired by Seiya’s battle.
“Jonde, any deity’s divine aura other than Cerceus’s would destroy you.”
“I have actually grown quite accustomed to the spirit world’s divine energy.”
“Uh-huh.”
I place a hand on Aria’s back and lightly push her toward Jonde.
“Ack! So bright…! My eyessssss! They buuuuuurn!!”
“What did I tell you? Just give up already.”
“I—I will not give up!”
Jonde glances at a goddess sitting at another table.
“Just like Cerceus, I hardly sense any divine aura coming from her! In fact, I figured she was some sort of demon, given her eerie appearance, so I have been avoiding her every time I see her at the café.”
Sitting at the table is the Goddess of War, Adenela, staring at Seiya’s training, enraptured.
“I watched your swordsmanship yesterday. Do you think you could teach me that magnificent skill you used?”
“T-teach Eternal Sword t-to a dead body?”
Adenela eyes Jonde up and down a few times before firmly nodding.
“E-eh, I guess I could. T-training you could help S-Seiya, after all.”
“Wonderful! Much appreciated!”
It sounds like Adenela’s going to help Jonde with his swordsmanship.
“Oh, wow…”
Kiriko stares at them. Is she jealous?
“Kiri, come on. Let’s play.”
I pull a Hacky Sack out of the toy chest, but Kiriko shakes her head.
“I—I want to train, too, if that’s okay!”
“Whaaat? Seiya’s a one-man show, so I really doubt he’d let you help even if you did train.”
“But I can still train myself mentally! I want to be strong!”
Wanting to respect Kiriko’s wishes, I decide to take her with me over to Adenela.
“Hey, Adenela. Do you think you could teach Kiri some moves, too?”
“First a z-zombie and now a K-K-Killing Machine? W-well, I’m already going t-to be teaching him, s-so why not?”
“Thank you so much! Oh, and go easy on her, okay? She’s just a little girl deep down inside.”
Adenela can be scary from time to time, but Aria’s nearby, so I’m sure they’ll be okay.
After leaving Jonde and Kiriko in Adenela’s care, I turn back to Seiya’s training. Each one of the deities is now lying on the ground around him. Seiya sheathes his sword. It looks like he’s done training for the day. But just as I think that…
“Berserk: Phase Two.”
Seiya transforms into a berserker and vanishes into thin air! Aria’s jaw drops.
“D-did he just do that so he could run away?”
But I give Aria the thumbs-up.
“Too bad for Seiya, I saw a red line heading right for the sanctuary! I’ll be right back!”
“Rista! Maybe you should just leave him be?”
“Don’t worry! I simply want to see what he’s been getting into at night!”
I sprint toward the sanctuary. I am almost positive that’s where he went, but the unified spirit world’s sanctuary is huge. Finding him isn’t going to be easy. I decide to ask Hestiaca if she’s seen him when I pass by her in the hallway.
“Hey, have you seen Seiya?”
“Your Hero? I actually just saw him talking with Valkyrie. They seemed to be hitting it off.”
“Thank you so mu—… What?!”
I freeze.
C-could he be doing something weird with her again?! After giving Hestiaca a brief bow, I make a mad dash for Valkyrie’s room.
I barge into her room without knocking and am completely staggered by what I see. Valkyrie, who’s usually only covered with no more than a few chains, is completely naked!
“Ahhhhhh! I knew it! Seiya, come out this instant!!”
But Valkyrie shoots me a quizzical stare.
“Whatcha talkin’ about, Ristarte? I’m the only one here.”
“What?! But Hestiaca said she saw you two talking in the—”
“We were just talking. Seiya went off somewhere after that.”
“Th-then why are you naked?!”
“I’m always naked when I’m in my room.”
Oh… Huh. So this is just who she is. Right as I let out a sigh of relief, Valkyrie glares at me, fed up.
“Are you seriously still tryin’ to get with Seiya? Goddesses aid the Hero, not babysit them. Leave him alone.”
“B-but…”
“He knows what to do, and he’s taking care of it without anyone’s help. You just need to do what he told you to do.”
Maybe it’s my imagination, but it kind of annoys me that she’s talking like she knows Seiya better than I do.
“The only reason you can say that is because you have no idea what Seiya said to me! Get this: He told me to play with toys!”
“Oh? Then that’s probably what’s best for you.”
“What?! That’s stupid! How could playing with toys be what’s best for me?!”
I raise my voice, but the nude goddess slowly approaches me.
“More importantly, Ristarte, you do understand the risk of coming to my room this late at night, right?”
“Huh?”
Before I even realize it, the Goddess of Destruction is already behind me, and she grabs my breasts over my clothes!
“Eeeeeek! H-hey!”
“Wow! You’re even bigger than last time!”
“Q-quit it…!”
The nudist kneads my breasts while whispering into my ear:
“How about I play with you then? I have a few toys of my own.”
“I—I—I—I think I’ll pass!!”
I tear her hands off me and sprint out the door.
Hff! Hff! Hff! Oh, man. That was terrifying! She almost robbed me of my innocence!
While fixing my disheveled clothes in the hallway, I happen to find Seiya, of all people, talking to a goddess who has a cold mist emitting from her body.
Th-there he is!
The goddess he’s facing is the Goddess of Ice, Kiorne, garbed in a glittering crystalline robe.
“Are there any skills that allow you to permanently freeze a target?”
“While you can temporarily freeze something, perhaps not even the highest-level ice spells will allow you to freeze an enemy for eternity.”
Hmm? What in the world are they talking about?
But when Seiya notices me approaching them, he sighs.
“You again?”
“Seiya, your base magic has a fire affinity. You can’t learn ice magic.”
No matter how gifted Seiya may be as a Hero, he can’t overcome his nature. Just like how healing magic is my specialty, fire magic is Seiya’s, which means there is no way for him to learn the opposite element—ice.
“I was only asking her a question.”
“Does this have anything to do with the Demon Lord? Did you want to freeze the Demon Lord forever? That sounds pointless, since we would still need to defeat him.”
Putting on airs as a goddess, I smugly continue.
“Listen, vicious monsters will continue to be born on Ixphoria as long as the Demon Lord is alive. The Dark God’s Blessing will eventually destroy the world if we don’t stop it. The Demon Lord’s demise is the only way to save the planet.”
Seiya suddenly smacks me on the head.
“Ow! What the hell?!”
“I don’t need you of all people telling me that.”
“Then what are you doing talking to Kiorne?!”
Seiya ignores me and pats Kiorne on the shoulder.
“Anyway, could you freeze this goddess for me already?”
“What?! What did I do?!”
Seiya briskly walks away, leaving me with my anger, and Kiorne can’t contain her giggles.
Wh-what the…?! Was he seriously talking to Kiorne because he wanted to freeze me?! Th-there’s no way, right?! I have no idea what Seiya is trying to do. But…now that I really think about it, I’ve never been able to sense his intentions ever since we first met.
Utterly exhausted and defeated, I decide to head back to Kiriko’s room.