Invaders of the Rokujouma!? Volume 38 E-Book

Takehaya

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Invaders of the Rokujouma!?
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 201

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Invaders of the Rokujouma!? Volume 38

Leseprobe

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

Wednesday, August 10th

Koutarou and the girls were now back at Corona House after their beach trip, and even though it had been days, they were still fondly reminiscing about it. It was an eventful and memorable vacation for everyone.

“Come here, Koutarou.” Theia beckoned him with her right hand as she hooked her left index finger around the collar of her shirt.

“Hmm? What for?” he asked, looking up from his homework. Theia was sitting across the tea table from him, and he couldn’t help noting the grin on her face.

“Want to see my tan line?” she asked.

Indeed, Theia had picked up a tan under the summer sun at the beach. The skin underneath where her swimsuit had been, however, was still perfectly pale. The contrast was so amusing that she wanted to show Koutarou.

“Cut it out,” he replied. “I’m not answering an impossible question like that.”

Her offer had him a bit unnerved. If he said that he did want to see, he’d basically be asking her to take her clothes off. And if he said he didn’t want to see, he’d basically be acting like he had no interest in her. It was a dangerous conundrum.

“Ohoho, that was the right answer.”

Koutarou had responded exactly the way Theia’d hoped. Essentially, she just wanted to tease him. She would have been pleased with whatever result as long as it forced Koutarou to look at her and see her as a woman.

“Come on...” he complained.

But in spite of himself, Koutarou understood Theia’s motivations. He wasn’t going to have an easy time picking one girl over the other eight. They’d all risked their lives to show him how they felt, each girl believing they could support one another. Rejecting even one of them would be incredibly painful. Koutarou didn’t think he’d be able to go through with it.

“You could stand to be a bit more cavalier when it comes to simply beholding my body,” Theia scolded him.

“I don’t want to be cavalier.”

Koutarou didn’t think he could reject any of the girls, but that didn’t mean that he could accept all nine of them as girlfriends. It just wasn’t the right way to repay the girls who’d staked everything on him. This was the dilemma of finding himself with nine different people precious to him. It was why he’d even entertained the idea of maintaining the status quo. He thought he would be happy just seeing the girls happy.

“Then continue as you are until you’re satisfied. This, too, is a part of you I love. That’s just how my knight is, and it’s why I’ll wait for you forever. The same goes for the other eight girls.”

“Sorry for being so stubborn...”

“You can say that again.” Theia let go of her collar and laughed. “Hahaha!”

As she did, another laugh came from nearby. “Ahahaha!” This one was from Kotori, who was watching from across the room.

“Kotori?” Nalfa looked up at her friend in puzzlement. The two of them, like Koutarou, were working on their homework.

“I was just thinking how true to form this is for Kou-niisan. Way back when, he’d joke about wishing for a girlfriend. But now that he’s got his chance, he doesn’t know what to do with it.”

Koutarou had always wanted a girlfriend, but he’d never dreamed of actually having one. He figured that it would never happen, or that it wouldn’t work out if it did. Seeing his expectations turned completely on their head, Kotori couldn’t help but laugh. In truth, it was a huge relief to her. She’d been worried about him for some time.

“And the beach?” Nalfa asked. “Was that also because that’s just the kind of person he is?”

“I thought it was strange that he would throw you like that, Nal-chan. He must have been trying to make me angry.”

Unlike Kenji, Koutarou didn’t have a lot of experience with girls, so even his best attempt at throwing a surprise party had been somewhat clumsy. Fundamentally, that was the same problem he was having now.

“Hmph.” Unaware of the younger girls’ quiet conversation, Theia crawled over next to Koutarou and sat down next to him. She then leaned against him to read some manga. “This is acceptable, is it not?”

“I guess.”

“And it would be nice if you’d wrap your arm around my waist.”

“I guess that’s okay too...”

“You never would’ve agreed to that a year ago, you know?”

“Well, you risked your life for me. So easily too. It’d be weird if I didn’t pay you back somehow.”

There, Koutarou put down his pen and pressed his finger to Theia’s forehead. Though he couldn’t see it right now, he was thinking of the red crest engraved there. Given what she’d been willing to sacrifice for him, the ever-serious Koutarou couldn’t just do nothing for her.

“Whether it was an easy or complicated affair is a matter of perspective,” Theia insisted.

“Yeah. That’s exactly the problem,” Koutarou sighed.

“Hahaha.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

Theia set her manga down on the table and began stroking Koutarou’s arm around her waist. After some time in silence, she took his left hand with her right and intertwined their fingers. She then picked up her manga again with her left hand.

“Won’t that be hard to read like that?” he asked.

“Indeed. Just flipping the page is a challenge,” she replied.

“Then just read it normally.”

“I’d like this to be normal.”

“I see...”

“Good.”

“...You know, your scalp got a tan too.”

“That’s a blatant change of topic.”

Theia started reading her manga again with only one hand, but she was up to the challenge.

Since it was the middle of the summer vacation, the Corona House crew filtered into room 106 at different times of day. Kiriha didn’t return until four in the afternoon. By then, Koutarou had reached his homework goal for the day and was reading manga with Theia.

“What an overly complicated way to read a book,” she remarked.

Koutarou and Theia were holding hands, so they were each only using a single hand to read. At a glance, the setup looked remarkably inconvenient.

“See? Even Kiriha-san thinks so,” said Koutarou.

“Surely you’ve gotten used to it by now. Don’t be mean,” Theia replied.

“Well, it’s good to see the two of you getting along so well,” Kiriha giggled.

Thanks to Koutarou and Theia’s conversation, she now had a fairly good handle on the situation and entered the room still giggling. She took a seat at the table for herself and began making some tea.

“It sounded like today’s meeting would be a heated one,” Theia said, stopping what she was doing.

Kiriha shook her head as she steeped the leaves in the pot. The gesture betrayed her exasperation. “Indeed, such conferences are always busy ones,” she sighed.

“There’s the new transfer students in the fall, Ralgwin’s forces, and now Grevanas. There’s a lot on the table, not to mention the fact that everyone else comes to Kiriha-san when they have problems,” Koutarou added.

“If you understand that, go give her a shoulder rub or something.”

“Let go of my hand, then.”

“Hmmmmm...”

Theia reluctantly released Koutarou’s hand. She then went back to reading her manga, this time with both hands, but ultimately closed the book and put it down on the table.

“Kiriha-san, what kind of massage would you like?”

“Let’s see... My shoulders would be lovely.”

“You got it.”

Koutarou moved behind Kiriha. There was nothing wrong with giving a friend a little massage. Kiriha was fully dressed and everything, so Koutarou had no reservations about it. But being bashful was the last thing on his mind once he put his hands on Kiriha’s back.

“Hmm? What’s this...?”

“What is it, Satomi Koutarou?”

“You can’t wait until it gets this bad, Kiriha-san.”

Koutarou was talking about the tension in Kiriha’s shoulders. While he wasn’t as good as Sanae, he could handle spiritual energy to a degree. The instant he’d touched her, he could sense her poor circulation, which compromised both her health and her spiritual energy.

“Sorry. Things have just been so busy,” she apologized.

“You always put yourself last. When it gets this bad, you need to come to me or Sanae,” Koutarou scolded her. He was always polite with Kiriha, but his tone now was especially stern.

“I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful in the future.”

Kiriha understood his sincerity and offered hers in return. She wouldn’t dare tease him for being seriously worried about her. Besides, she had her back to him now. Since he couldn’t see her face, anything playful she said or did might be misunderstood.

“Jeez...”

Koutarou continued to rub Kiriha’s shoulders, pouring spiritual energy into his hands the same way Sanae would. He didn’t have her psychic touch, but it would still help improve Kiriha’s circulation a bit.

As he worked, Theia suddenly let out a giggle. When Koutarou and Kiriha turned to look at her, she was leaning against the table on her elbows and smiling at them.

“What is it?” Koutarou asked.

“You haven’t realized, Koutarou? You never would’ve done this a year ago.”

“Like I said, it’d be weird if I didn’t now.”

In a similar situation in the past, Koutarou had avoided giving the girls massages. He’d counted on the girls to take care of themselves barring extenuating circumstances. In his mind, that was the appropriate thing to do, but lately, that mentality had started to change. He now felt like he needed to repay the girls for everything they’d done for him.

“How considerate of you, Satomi Koutarou. Yet you still wouldn’t touch me anywhere but my shoulders, would you?”

“That’d be the weirdest of all!” Koutarou exclaimed emphatically.

“...That’s a relief,” Kiriha replied with a smile for some reason.

“Huh?” Koutarou was surprised by this.

“I can feel your emotions through the palms of your hands... and I’m relieved.”

Koutarou groaned. He was in the middle of giving Kiriha a massage, meaning he was pouring his spiritual energy directly into her. With it came his feelings, and that was indeed a relief for Kiriha. She now knew what was in his heart, no matter how he might try to deny it.

“I-I really wouldn’t...”

“Of course not. I must have misunderstood.”

“Y-Yeah...”

However, Kiriha didn’t press the issue. She wanted to spare the dignity of the man she loved. She was content to torment him more when it was just the two of them.

Once her massage was over, Kiriha headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Thanks to Koutarou, her shoulders felt lighter as she rhythmically chopped up ingredients. There was a unique joyfulness to the sound.

“She’s like a wife happily making dinner,” Shizuka pointed out.

The other girls had more or less the same impression.

“Veltlion is always soft on Kii,” said Clan.

“Really? I think he’s the softest on you, Glasses,” interjected Sanae.

“I used to think so too, but lately I’ve started to think it’s someone else,” threw in Yurika.

“Who?” Clan and Sanae asked at the same time, turning her way.

Responding to their stares, Yurika pointed over her shoulder. “Nana-san. At least, that’s what it seems like to me.”

Nana currently had several blueprints spread out behind Yurika and was discussing something with Koutarou. They were so focused on it that they didn’t even notice Yurika and the others looking at them.

“You’re the only one small enough to infiltrate through there, Nana-san,” said Koutarou. “My armor would definitely get me stuck.”

“Could you please not treat me like a child?” she replied.

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I know you’re an adult, Nana-san.”

“...That stings in its own way.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Well, I am a woman... so I’d be happy if you appreciated my looks and personality, I think.”

“You’re so cute that I know you can get through an air duct.”

“What?! Now it really sounds like you’re treating me like a child!”

“Seriously, what do you want me to say?!”

With room 106 as packed as it was, Koutarou and Nana were sitting shoulder to shoulder as they looked at the blueprints together. The way they talked made them sound like close siblings, but in reality, Nana was much older. Seeing them together like this, the other girls felt Yurika was onto something.

“You’re right. Veltlion does seem to be soft on Nana...” commented Clan.

“I imagine her looking younger than even Theia-chan has something to do with it.”

“She doesn’t look much older than a sixth grader...” added Theia.

Again, Nana was older than Koutarou and the rest of the Corona House crew. But nevertheless, she was petite and had a remarkably youthful appearance. As Theia said, she could have passed for an elementary or middle school student.

“I think something happened between them at the beach.” When Shizuka said that, everyone turned to look at her. It was simply too loaded a comment for them to ignore. “I mean, didn’t they make all those preparations in secret? That’s the kind of opportunity you need to really get close to someone.”

“It’s not impossible...” Clan murmured.

“Since it’s Nana-san, I think it’s fine,” said Yurika.

“If anything, Nana’s like one of us,” added Theia. “She’s been through a lot.”

Most women would have a thing or two to say about the man they loved warming up to someone else, but the girls’ hearts went out to Nana. They felt no sense of antagonism toward her whatsoever. Especially not after more than half her body had been replaced with machinery. Given how much they’d all come to love her, the girls would never dream of stopping Nana from getting closer to Koutarou. They honestly felt it would be okay if she fell in love with him too.

“Um, so where were we again?” Nana asked.

“We were talking about how adorable little Nana-san can crawl through air ducts.”

“...You can be surprisingly mean at times, Satomi-san.”

“And you can be surprisingly cute at times, Nana-san.”

“Gosh! You’re doing that on purpose aren’t you?!”

“Yes.”

“Satomi-san!”

Nana was particularly cute in the moment, almost like she’d regained a spark of childlike innocence.

“Dinner will be ready soon so— What are you doing?”

The girls continued to observe her and Koutarou until Kiriha walked in to get them for dinner.

The group stopped what they were doing to clean up the inner room for dinner, and by the time they were done, everyone else had returned to the apartment too. Koutarou and the girls made for a party of ten, and lately Nalfa had been joining them as well. Nana was with them tonight as well for a total of twelve people. Room 106 was as crowded as ever.

“You have to eat your vegetables, Yurika-chan,” Nana reminded her.

“Okaaay.”

“Is there anything you don’t like to eat, Nana-san?” Koutarou asked.

“As a former soldier, I can eat anything,” she replied.

Sanae normally sat next to Koutarou, but Nana took that seat tonight. She and Koutarou had been putting their heads together all evening, and they continued to chat away even now with dinner on the table.

“I imagine Maki-san is probably the same way,” she suggested.

“That’s right. My preferences don’t affect my palate. I’ve even taken survivalist training.”

“So how’d Yurika end up hating so many foods even though she’s in the military too?” Koutarou had to ask.

“I’m not cut out for it.”

“Still,” Koutarou laughed, “for being able to eat anything, you sure don’t eat much, Nana-san.”

“How much food do you think this body can handle, Satomi-san?”

“You’ll never get taller if you don’t eat right.”

“I’m already a grown adult!”

Koutarou’s first impression of Nana had been that she was brilliant and levelheaded, but that perception had changed over time. Right now, he felt like she might actually be as young as her appearance led one to believe. Beneath her calm, cool, and collected demeanor was a childish side after all. Of course, being treated like a child still upset her. She was just about to voice a complaint when...

“Satomi-san, what do you think I— Oh?”

“What is it?” Koutarou asked.

“Well, my right hand feels strange.”

“Let me see.” Koutarou eyed Nana’s hand, which she raised for him to get a better look. Since he was sitting to her right, she practically held it up to his face. “It looks the same as always to me.”

“The movements feel unnatural, like there’s grinding...”

Nana set her chopsticks down on the table and made a fist, opening and closing it repeatedly. It appeared perfectly normal to Koutarou, but Nana said it didn’t feel right.

“Hey, Clan?” Koutarou called over to his partner in crime.

“On it. Hold these for me,” she replied, pushing her bowl and chopsticks at Koutarou before fiddling with her bracelet. “Nana, can you do without your right arm for a minute?”

“Sure.”

Nana’s arm abruptly stopped moving and went limp. It was one of her artificial limbs, and Clan had switched it into maintenance mode.

“Hmm, the system’s not reporting any abnormalities... What do you think, Pardomshiha?”

“Looking at the nervous system data, it’s just as Nana-sama says. The feedback is a little different from normal.”

Clan and Ruth worked together to analyze Nana’s arm. Since they were the ones who’d developed the operational system for her artificial body parts, they were more familiar with them than anyone.

“Here, Clan. It’s going to get cold,” Koutarou offered.

He then used Clan’s chopsticks to hold out some food for her. He wouldn’t ordinarily use such poor manners at the table, but she was working hard for Nana’s sake right now. He would’ve felt bad letting her dinner get cold.

“Hom.”

Without hesitation, Clan took a bite of the food she’d been offered. Today’s main dish was Kiriha’s handmade gyoza.

“Homma nomph nomph.”

“Swallow before you talk.”

“Hahh!”

Koutarou fed Clan gyoza after gyoza. Theia did the same for Ruth on the other side of the table. Watching the four of them, Nana suddenly burst out laughing.

“Hmm?” Koutarou perked up at this and turned to look at her.

Their gazes naturally met. Nana smiled, her warm eyes full of kindness. It suddenly dawned on him that she couldn’t use her right arm at the moment.

“Here.”

And so he held out a gyoza for her too. He didn’t know what she was thinking, but he felt it was worth a shot.

“Satomi-sa—” Nana faltered in surprise, but then... “Nom.”

She smiled again and happily chomped down on the gyoza. She looked like a kid being fed, and the sight put a smile on Koutarou’s face.

“Urk... You’re treating me like a child again, aren’t you?” When Nana saw him grinning, she swallowed her gyoza and furrowed her brow.

In response Koutarou shook his head. “I would never. I was just thinking about how cute you are.”

“Like a child?”

“Yes. I mean... no, not at all.”

“I wonder...”

Despite his assurances, Nana only grew leerier. Koutarou decided it was best not to mention that pouting made her look even more childish.

The repairs to Nana’s arm took half an hour from start to finish. Replacing a few parts occupied most of the time, but all in all, it was a quick and easy job. Nana opened and closed her hand again when the work was done and didn’t feel anything strange. Everything was back to normal.

“Thank you very much, Princess Clan, Ruth-san.”

“No thanks required. That was simple customer service.”

“Do let us know if you experience any other problems.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Nana bowed gratefully to the two girls. In spite of her looks, she was incredibly mature. Not only that, but her military background made her especially decorous. Once she’d thanked Clan and Ruth properly, she turned around.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Yurika-chan, Maki-san. Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

“Yes.”

The other two magical girls had been doing their homework, but when Nana called out to them, they closed their notebooks. The three of them would be going out together.

“Meow!” Snoozy desperately climbed up into Maki’s lap. He didn’t want to be left behind.

“We’re not going out to play, Snoozy.”

“Meow...”

“We’re going out on patrol, so wait here with everyone else, okay?”

Indeed, the three magical girls were set to go out on patrol tonight. While Yurika and Maki were assigned to protect room 106, Rainbow Heart’s primary mission was to prevent the misuse of magic. The girls regularly made rounds around town to that end.

“Let’s take him with us. He’s worried about you, Maki-san,” suggested Nana.

“Yeah,” agreed Yurika. “Can’t you use your special carrier?”

They both seemed to be on the cat’s side. They’d feel too sorry for him if he got lonely at home.

“Oh, fine... Can you be a good boy, Snoozy?” Maki asked.

“Meow!”

“Then let’s go together.”

“Meow, meow!”

It was already late and the girls would be out for several hours, so Maki had been planning on leaving the cat at home, but she ultimately relented and decided to bring him along. In the end, Maki was soft on Snoozy.

“Nana-san, would you please forgive me already?” Koutarou called out as the girls made to leave.

“Don’t talk to me.” Nana, however, departed in a huff. She was still steamed.

“Satomi-san, it’s really unusual for Nana-san to get this mad,” Yurika noted.

“I hope she forgives me by the time you guys get back... What do you think, Snoozy?”

“Meow!”

Snoozy ran after Nana, and Maki couldn’t help laughing. “It looks like he’s going to smooth things over for you,” she commented.

“I hope to goodness it works... See you later, Aika-san.”

“See you.”

Thus the magical girls set out on patrol. Most of the time, the job was incredibly uneventful. There were few magicians in Japan and even fewer who would abuse magic. The girls thus rarely had any encounters while they were out, but they did the rounds regardless to keep the neighborhood safe. It was quiet work, and they expected tonight to be no different... Yet they were very, very wrong.

After the magical girls left on patrol, Koutarou brought out a new board game. He wanted to do a test run to get a grasp of the rules.

“There sure are lots of pieces here, Koutarou,” Sanae remarked, touching a plastic bag chock full of parts for the game.

“I think those are for the zombie hordes,” he explained.

“So we’re fighting zombies?” Sanae brought the plastic bag to her face. Up close, she could see tiny human figures with tattered clothing—the zombies.

“No,” Koutarou replied. “Apparently every player makes their ideal zombie village.”

“I can see why it’s called ‘The Afterforest,’” said Harumi, scanning the back of the game box.

Currently, Koutarou was sitting at the tea table with Sanae, Harumi, and Shizuka. The four of them were looking at the game with great interest. Theia, Ruth, and Kiriha were around too, but they were all staring intently at their computers or various documents instead.

“So we build villages?” asked Shizuka. “Sounds pretty peaceful for a zombie game.”

“Well, humans do attack from time to time, Landlord-san.”

“We get to make villages and defeat humans?!” exclaimed Sanae. “Now that sounds fun!”

“A battle between zombies and humans, is it? I’m glad the characters look cute,” commented Harumi.

The theme and main goal of the post-apocalyptic game was survival. Each player made their own zombie village, which would occasionally be attacked by human enemies controlled by other players. Whoever could last the longest and defeat the most humans would be declared the winner.

“It says here that it’s for four to ten players,” said Sanae.

“Then it’s just perfect for us,” Harumi giggled.