Chapter 16 — This Is My Princess Paradise
Alice’s Another Kingdom skill gave her the ability to create a small world of her own that perfectly adhered to her desires. It seemed for now that Hanakawa had achieved some level of safety.
“Well...I am most grateful for your assistance,” he said, “and would be even more so if you could do something about that Demon Lord’s army...”
“How shameless can you be?” Alice replied. “I saved your life. Be glad I did that much for you.”
“I suppose so! Above all, thank you, Alice!”
“Besides, I don’t even know if I’d be able to beat them. Why is Shirou on their side anyway?”
“Is he an acquaintance of yours?” he asked.
“He’s a Sage, so of course he is. That Demon Lord must have some power that lets him control Sages.”
“But if you were to draw him into this world...”
“I can’t force people to come here,” Alice said.
“Was I not brought here rather forcibly?” Hanakawa asked.
“Yeah, that was a bit of a trick. I made a door on the ground below you. You falling through it counted as you choosing to go through of your own free will.”
A door was created, opened, and the moment someone was through, it disappeared. She could trick someone who wasn’t paying attention into entering her kingdom like that, but someone who was alert could simply avoid the door.
“If you had left the door there, might he not have entered of his own accord? You are invincible within Another Kingdom, as I recall.” Since Hanakawa had suddenly fallen into the door, it would only be natural that his opponent would chase him through. From their exchange up until that point, he couldn’t imagine the Demon Lord letting him try to escape.
“I used to think that,” Alice replied. “I’m...not so confident anymore.” Apparently her experience against the Omega Blade had scarred her somewhat.
“So then, what am I to do next?” Hanakawa asked.
“No idea. By the way, you can’t stay here. This is my princess paradise. It’s supposed to be filled with hot guys, not ugly nerds like you. Though if you really beg, maybe I can give you a hut in the rotting village on the edge of the kingdom.”
“Are we not being perhaps a bit overly discourteous here?!” But Hanakawa had no room to argue. Everything in this world went according to Alice’s whims.
Alice went quiet for a time, so Hanakawa decided to do likewise rather than dig his hole any deeper by trying to speak.
“Van’s made a claim on you.”
“Can you not come up with some sort of excuse for me?!” Despite losing according to the rules he had agreed to, Hanakawa had fled the game rather than face the consequences. It only made sense that the guy running it would complain.
“He’s saying he wants me to send you back.”
“Wait, wait, wait! There is nothing there for me but death!”
“Ah, you don’t have to worry about that. Your party already lost, so the Demon Lord’s party has moved on to round three.”
“Huh? How did that happen?”
“No clue.” Alice pointed at a nearby wall, where a door suddenly appeared. It was all but an instruction to leave. “That Friendship Counter thing was a power given by the Great Sage, so I can’t just ignore it, but I still have my position of Sage to take into account.”
Beside her throne, a number of knights in full plate armor appeared. Lifting their spears, they slowly started approaching Hanakawa.
“U-Umm! I seem to remember you only being able to create doors on the outside leading into Another Kingdom!”
“Van has a similar power, so if we work together, we can figure it out.”
Hanakawa was slowly pushed towards the door by the oncoming wall of knights.
“Urgh...fine! I will leave, then!”
The door opened, and Hanakawa stepped through.
The next moment, he was floating in the air. Naturally, this was followed by a quick fall and a sudden stop as he hit the ground. Though it hadn’t hurt much, the sudden change in the direction of gravity left him a little confused.
“Oh! Hanakawa! So you were okay!”
Looking up, he saw Carol and Ryouko standing above him.
“Where are we?” he asked. Looking around, he saw they were at the edge of a lake, the same place they encountered the Demon Lord’s army.
“We were thrown out of the battle channel,” Ryouko said. “It looks the same to me, though.”
“How did the rock paper scissors match go?” he asked.
“We gave up right after you left,” Carol replied offhandedly.
“Huh? If that was an option, why did we not do it from the start?”
“You’re the one who suddenly challenged them to rock paper scissors.”
“I suppose that is true...but what are we supposed to do now?”
“Half of the teams move on to the next round, so technically we might still have a chance, right?” Ryouko suggested.
“I see. Since we lost the first encounter, we were returned to the matching room. There were thirty-two parties in round two, correct? That would mean sixteen parties may move on. Perhaps we still have a chance.”
As a battle royale tournament, losing once didn’t mean instant elimination. They still had a chance to get back in the game. However, most other parties were no doubt already engaged. They didn’t have time to lounge around and wait if they wanted another shot at moving on.
“No time to waste, then!” Carole exclaimed.
With no real plan, Hanakawa felt nothing but unease about their prospects.
◇ ◇ ◇
Sora Akino was a high school student and a pop idol, and had received the class of Idol from the Gift. She was wearing a similar stage outfit as before, so she had likely received the same class upon entering Cavern Quest.
“I didn’t expect one of our classmates,” Yogiri said, shocked.
Tomochika felt the same way. If anyone, she would have expected it to be Hanakawa, Carol, or Ryouko, who would just be attempting to meet up with them. She didn’t know why Sora of all people would go out of her way to find them.
Sora stepped into the park, space flickering around them as she approached, signifying their shift into a battle channel.
“Hello. I see you’re here too, Dannoura.” Sora continued walking until she was standing just in front of them.
“Yeah...is there a point in asking why you’re here?” Tomochika replied. She had long since lost the optimism to feel happy about being reunited with her classmates. Anyone participating in the final stage of Cavern Quest must have heard the message from the Great Sage. It was obvious that Sora was here to kill Yogiri.
“I am more than happy to talk things through with you two. In fact, the main reason I’m here is to try and convince Takatou of something.”
“So, you’re not planning on fighting us?”
“Not without due warning, at least.” Although her phrasing was strange, it seemed she was at least willing to talk.
“Convince me of what?” Yogiri asked with a frown. “You want me to give up on going home?”
“Let me be blunt. Please kill yourself.”
“Well, that was definitely blunt!” Tomochika commented.
“Ryousuke Higashida. Yoshiaki Fukuhara. Yuuki Tachibana. Yukimasa Aihara. Romiko Jougasaki. Ayaka Shinozaki. Do these names sound familiar to you?”
Yogiri thought for a moment. “Are they all classmates of ours? I remember Tachibana and Aihara, at least.”
Though it seemed he was having trouble recalling, Tomochika understood immediately. At the very least, five of the six names she mentioned were people she knew Yogiri had killed.
“Is that all you can remember of them?” Sora seemed disappointed. “How dare you! Can you not at least remember the names of the people you’ve killed?!”
“Why would I? All I’ve done is kill the people who tried to kill me.”
“They were your classmates, people who suffered and celebrated alongside you! Do you not feel any guilt over having taken their lives?!”
“I mean, it’s not like we were all that close.” Though Yogiri took his studies seriously, he didn’t interact all that much with the other students. Even Tomochika had never spoken with him before coming to this world.
Now that she thought about it, that was likely due to his ability. If he got close to people, he might accidentally get them involved in his situation, and it would be more difficult for him to cut them off if they turned out to be enemies. At least, that was her guess.
“I’ve only done what I could. Are you saying I should have let them kill me?”
“Yes,” Sora replied instantly, catching Tomochika off guard. “If you had died, those six would have been saved. It’s rather simple logic, don’t you think?”
It seems this one would have no difficulty with the trolley problem, Mokomoko mused.
“From the outside it’s easy to make a decision based purely on numbers,” Yogiri said, “but it’s different when you’re on the scales yourself.”
“Of course not. If I were in your place, I would have killed myself long ago to avoid causing problems for others.”
“I see. I guess our values are too far apart for us to come to an understanding.”
“What do you believe, Dannoura? We now know that if he dies, the people he killed will be returned to life. Do you not think that to be the correct course of action? Shouldn’t you be trying to convince him of the same?”
“Oh, so it’s about me now!” The sudden shift caught Tomochika off guard again. “Well...I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before: when I decided to support what Takatou was doing, I agreed I was equally responsible for it. If I didn’t agree with what he was doing, I would have stopped traveling with him. But I’m still here, aren’t I? I came to terms with facing the consequences of that choice a long time ago.”
“I see,” Sora replied. “So that is your answer, knowing he killed not only six innocent classmates, but sixty million innocent people besides. You seem to take this all so lightly. How can the two of you bear the weight of such sin alone?”
“Who knows? If we can’t carry it, it’ll just fall off our shoulders, right? Don’t expect it to crush us or anything.”
“Ootori did mention you were abnormal. I had hoped I could convince you to see things my way, but it appears he was correct. You two are quite mad.”
Five men appeared at Sora’s side. She must have used her power somehow.
Yogiri Takatou vs. Sora Akino: FIGHT!!!
It seemed their appearance was enough to trigger the start of the battle. The five men in full concert gear charged as one, and likewise collapsed as one due to Yogiri’s power.
“I am quite surprised. You really have no qualms killing innocent people, do you?”
“That’s pretty bold, coming from the one who sent them to attack me.” Yogiri sighed. If Sora had summoned them and instructed them to attack him, it was technically her responsibility.
“What do you mean? They are simply my fans, acting of their own free will.”
“You can’t actually believe that ridiculous logic, can you?!” Tomochika exclaimed. But since Sora hadn’t been controlling them directly, the fans had died and she had survived.
“You know my power, right?” Yogiri said. “You don’t actually think you can win, do you?”
“I am aware of the situation,” she answered. “So this will be a war of attrition. I understand your mentality is thoroughly warped, but how many innocent people can you bear to kill?”
More fans appeared, men and women of all ages, eyes brimming with bloodlust. Though Sora gave them no instructions, they bore a clear hatred towards Yogiri.
“What you’re doing is way worse, isn’t it?!” Tomochika said. “What happened to the idea of killing people in droves being bad?!”
“I am only working to make everyone happy,” she replied. “My fans are happy to die for me, and if Takatou dies, everyone will be happy. Where is the cruelty in that?”
“Okay, it’s useless! This girl is a lost cause!”
“If Takatou dies, the world will be reset, and everyone who died will return to life,” Sora continued. “What meaning is there in being selective about the process required to accomplish that?”
“Too bad. I’m not going to die to save a bunch of strangers.” Despite saying that, Yogiri made no move to attack. She still had yet to try and harm him directly. However, he couldn’t leave the situation to develop.
“Should I fight her?” Tomochika asked.
Do you think you can kill her? Mokomoko asked. It appears to me that those “fans” appear spontaneously around her. I do not think knocking her unconscious will make them stop.
It wasn’t a question of whether Tomochika was physically capable of taking another person’s life, but whether she was mentally ready to do so. The thought of actively attempting to kill a person was a particularly heavy one.
“Gaaaaaaah! Of course! I knew something like this was bound to happen!”
As Tomochika hesitated, a hysterical yet all-too-familiar voice filled the air.
“Why are you here?” Yogiri sighed.
“How should I know?! More importantly, I thought you said your fans were illusions created from magic, Sora!”
Standing in front of Sora, wearing a common cheering outfit and holding a set of glow sticks, was Hanakawa.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login