The Other Hero...

The Other Hero...

The clouds, which had been such a deep color, had grown considerably thinner now.

Through the gaps in their pale gray, an astonishingly beautiful blue peeked through. Sunlight streamed down from it, making the puddles sparkle.

If I singled out only this beautiful scene, the events of moments ago might seem like a daytime dream.

But the metallic smell and sour taste spreading through my mouth, along with the bodies of people I would likely be unable to forget for some time...

And the thumb-sized magic stone lying before my eyes all testified that everything had really happened.

The sound of a helicopter echoed in the distance. Then came the sound of sirens, presumably from police cars. Gifted personnel from the Self-Defense Forces and police in other cities and prefectures had come to our aid.

When I glanced over with my Magic Eye, I saw someone jumping from a helicopter far away. With a fearless smile on their face, they were falling toward the city without even a parachute.

What an utterly unreal day this had become. Then again, there was already an SF-like entity behind it all, so I suppose it was too late to be surprised.

"Takanashi-san. For now, shall we move?"

'Yes. It might be somewhat troublesome if someone sees me getting out of Kenning.'

When I stood and turned around, the steel giant was pushing itself upright with only its right leg and left arm.

Its wooden-stake-like right arm was completely gone from the elbow down. Its left leg smelled of something scorched around the knee; roughly forty percent of it had been torn away, exposing severed wires and a crumpled frame.

Even so, it seemed capable of moving. Skillfully balancing on one leg, it hid in a nearby alley, its rollers echoing loudly.

But it really did seem to be at its limit. As soon as it reached a position hidden from the helicopter and gymnasium, it placed its left hand on the ground and sank onto one knee.

The hatch on its back opened, and Takanashi-san slipped out.

"...Once again, thank you. Yahiro-san. If you hadn't come, the evacuation shelter would have collapsed."

"No, I just did something stupid and fled here... Besides, we both saved each other, didn't we...?"

Since I had been the first to run away, I looked aside awkwardly.

But Takanashi-san stood in front of me as though she did not care about that at all.

"And I owe you an apology."

"Huh? No, I'm the one who should be apologizing, if anything..."

"I may have unconsciously conflated you with 'Yahiro Kota'... the hero of my world."

"..."

I raised my head at Takanashi-san's words.

Her amethyst-colored eyes were looking straight at me.

"So, once again..."

She held out her right hand toward me.

"I've learned that 'at times like this,' this is what people in this era do."

"...I suppose so."

I held out my own right hand and clasped hers.

Even through the gloves, I could tell how slender her fingers were. It was hard to believe that the owner of this hand, hardly what anyone would call a warrior, had been a soldier fighting for eight years.

Yet I felt that the heat within it showed the resolve she carried.

"I'm Takanashi Miyu. Please fight alongside me."

"Yahiro Kota. ...I'll try. For what it's worth."

Compared to her dignified voice, mine sounded so terribly weak.

But that was who I was. This incident had made me realize it again. I really could not become a hero like the ones in stories.

Even so, I would try my best. If that didn't work out, I would just have to run away again.

We both wore wry smiles. Somehow, it felt as though we had finally faced each other properly for the first time.

But her eyes suddenly widened.

"Ah."

"Huh?"

"...I'm sorry. But could you fight one more battle right away?"

"What?"

She released my hand and stored Kenning in her item box. In its place, she drew a revolver-shaped staff.

"Another Gifted person was defending the other side of the evacuation shelter. A group of lycanthropes was approaching from the opposite direction, so I fought them on this side without saying anything, but..."

"Seriously...?"

I felt my cheek twitch. I reflexively raised a hand to my mouth, only to realize I was no longer wearing my face guard. It must have come off at some point. Well, I'd been blown away so many times that it was only natural.

I reconstructed my face guard, hand-and-a-half sword, and staff as well. I opened the staff's ejection port slightly and confirmed that a scroll was loaded inside.

But the only combat-ready scrolls I had were six Fire Bullets and six Water Bullets, spells I normally never used. To begin with, I was almost out of the magic power needed to activate them.

Considering what I had just spent on reconstruction, I might be able to fire one or two shots...

If there were only several ordinary lycanthropes, that was one thing. But if there was another Ulvhedin, I would run for my life with everything I had.

With that pessimistic resolve, I looked toward Takanashi-san. She seemed to have finished checking her staff as well and nodded at me.

We ran toward the far side of the gymnasium, kicking up puddles as we went. I prayed that the other Gifted person was safe.

───However.

It was a wish that could not be granted.

A huge number of magic stones lay scattered around us. Almost simultaneously, a lycanthrope that had been cut from head to crotch by a massive scythe collapsed, and a Gifted person fell.

When I saw that scene, I hurried toward the fallen person.

"Are you all right!?"

That was the shout that came out instinctively, but the calm part of my mind told me, Of course not.

The person who had just fallen was missing their left arm and leg. More than half their neck had been bitten away, and I saw their head droop down in front of their chest as they fell.

Anyone could see that these were fatal wounds. Even the 'Blood of Rejuvenation' could not resurrect the dead.

Cold sweat ran down my back at the gruesome death unfolding before me. Even so, I ran over, believing in a miracle.

Even if someone was barely alive, any injury could be healed as long as they were still breathing. That's why───

At that moment, I saw something I could not believe.

The person who had just fallen placed both hands on the ground and raised their upper body.

"Huh..."

Before my astonished eyes, that person... that woman began restoring her own body.

Blood spilling from her wounds moved as though weaving threads, growing a new leg where the old one had been lost.

The same phenomenon occurred at her neck. Her head, which had been connected by only a flap of skin, was pulled back into its original position.

It was as though a human being were being repaired like a teddy bear... No, healed.

While I stood frozen by instinctive fear, the woman sat on the ground without a single wound.

She was beautiful.

Her pale blond hair had been cut to around shoulder length. Her skin was so white it could almost be called bluish, giving her a mysterious air, and her blue eyes made her look like a Western doll.

Her well-proportioned body was wrapped in a deep crimson cape and a black top that revealed her figure. Her gray pannier was miniskirt-length, showing off her beautiful legs without reserve.

Combined with the heeled boots she wore, her standing figure must have been extraordinarily beautiful.

But the woman remained sitting there with a lifeless expression. After shedding a single tear...

"Uboooeeeeeeeeee!"

She let out an incredibly bizarre wail.

Everything that could come out of her face was coming out. Tears streamed across the full width of her eyes like something out of a manga, mucus dripped from her nose, and drool fell in heavy drops from the corners of her mouth.

Both her mysterious air and the instinctive fear she inspired were blown away.

What is this?

"It huuuurts! If this was going to happen, I shouldn't have come out!"

I had no idea what was going on, but she was apparently alive.

She was crying with remarkable vigor. I wasn't sure her mind was doing quite as well, though.

"Bweeeeeee! I don't wanna anymoreeeee!"

Well, I didn't know what kind of Gift she had, but she had suffered injuries that severe... No, fatal injuries. Ten or twenty complaints were only to be expected.

Judging from the situation, she was the other Gifted person who had been defending the evacuation shelter. She deserved nothing but gratitude and respect; I could never call her pathetic for this.

Though she was rather difficult to approach.

"Um..."

I thought I should check whether she had really healed completely, so I spoke to her.

Perhaps only then did she notice that I was there. The woman turned her neck sharply toward me.

Now that I could see both of her eyes, I realized that she had heterochromia. With both eyes opened as wide as possible, she...

"Hup!"

"!?"

Using the springs in both knees, she leaped powerfully to her feet.

I forcibly tore my gaze away from the enormous breasts that had swayed with the motion. What was with this person?

I turned around, hoping Takanashi-san would share my bewilderment. She had to be just as confused.

"...Takanashi-san?"

But her face was horribly tense.

I instinctively looked at Takanashi-san's right hand. The staff's tip was pointed downward, but its trigger had already been pulled. Her thumb was holding back the hammer, preventing the magic from activating.

When she raised her arm and pointed the staff at the mysterious woman, the hammer would fall, allowing magic power to flow into the scroll.

Takanashi-san was directing the utmost caution and hostility toward this woman.

"Hoo-hah-hah-hah-hah!"

When I turned my gaze forward at the sound of that booming laughter, the woman was wearing a fearless grin. Traces of tears and drool still remained, so she had probably wiped her face hastily with her cape.

"From your attire, I perceive that you too are Gifted! But, boy and girl, reckless courage will be your ruin!"

With an incredibly smug expression, she declared this while her knees trembled like a fawn's.

"Leave this place to me───to 'Rosso Vendetta'! Now, swiftly enter the Ark!"

The name of a villain who would take thousands of lives in the future.

Rosso Vendetta flourished her cape and pointed toward the gymnasium—presumably Ishiyama Iwako-san.

I blocked Takanashi-san with my back as she tried to step forward.

Judging from the situation, she did not seem like a truly evil person. She was an unmistakable weirdo, but she was a hero who had protected the evacuation shelter.

With respect and caution in my heart, I questioned her.

"Um... were you protecting this place?"

"Indeed! Do you know the phrase noblesse oblige? A being such as I, chosen by the heavens—no, by the demon realm—must fulfill a great mission with this great power. You too are Gifted, but I am in a different league."

She finished her declaration in one breath—noblesse, or rather, no-breath—presumably Ishiyama-san.

Amazing. She had delivered all of that without taking a breath.

"For now, the 'beasts' are bowing before my radiance, but they must be lurking in the darkness, watching for a chance to strike. We cannot afford to relax, can we?"

"...Uh, well. For now..."

I wasn't sure what to say, but decided to tell her the facts.

"It seems help from the Self-Defense Forces and police has arrived. So I think we're probably all right now..."

"...Seriously?"

"...Seriously."

After several seconds of silence...

"Hoo-hah-hah-hah-hah! It seems the curtain has fallen! I shall take a stroll nearby until the heat of this battle cools! Young ones! Be sure not to overdo it yourselves! Farewell!"

"Huh, wait—"

No sooner had she said it than Ishiyama-san ran off like a hare fleeing for its life.

The great scythe she left behind had apparently been part of her 'Spirit Armament' as well, because it dissolved into particles and vanished.

"That woman..."

"'Rosso Vendetta'...!"

Ignoring Takanashi-san, who was radiating wariness, I stared into the distance.

...That was the future's mass murderer? The dhampir who nearly destroyed the Seventh Fleet?

She seemed like nothing more than a somewhat dimwitted older woman to me. She appeared to be a good person at heart, too.

"For now, pursuing her would be a bad move."

Takanashi-san reset the trigger and directed a sharp gaze toward the direction Ishiyama-san had gone.

"No, to begin with, we have no reason to attack her right now... Is that really her? Isn't she a good person? A weirdo, but..."

"...I cannot say."

Takanashi-san looked at me, her expression turning grim as though she had remembered something.

The 'Rosso Vendetta' she knew and that self-proclaimed 'Rosso Vendetta' were not the same person. They were beings from parallel worlds, and from different eras at that.

It seemed that remembering our exchange had helped her regain her composure.

Just as I was not the 'Yahiro Kota' who had saved her ancestor, that presumed Ishiyama-san was a different person as well.

For now, there was no reason to direct hostility toward her.

"More importantly, what should we do? The police and Self-Defense Forces will be here soon."

"I am withdrawing. This magical artifact itself is valuable, and it would be troublesome if they inspected its interior."

"Yeah..."

I nodded at her as she glanced at the ring hanging from her arm by a cord.

It was not confirmed information, but there might be 'monsters disguised as humans' within the government.

Revealing Kenning and Takanashi-san's existence was far too risky.

"What will you do, Yahiro-san?"

"...No. I'm going too."

To be honest, I wanted to remain here and become a 'hero.'

I wanted to bask in praise and become popular as the hero who had protected the evacuation shelter with his life on the line.

But the price of fame frightened me. No matter how popular I became, I would still receive slander. People's interest would soon fade, my fame would disappear, and there was even a chance that only baseless infamy recorded online would remain.

More than anything.

"Because Takanashi-san and that Rosso are the real 'heroes.'"

Unlike me, who had protected the shelter simply because circumstances swept me along, people who had decided to fight of their own will deserved the praise. I couldn't let my threadbare pride and conscience endure stepping forward here while they received none.

This time, I would flee together with them.

"...Is that so?"

Takanashi-san tilted her head, apparently not understanding what I meant.

When someone with such a cool face did that, it somehow struck me as oddly amusing.

"That's how it is. Let's go, Takanashi-san."

"Yes."

...Though this was only an incidental reason.

Even if I could not become a hero praised by society...

The satisfaction spreading through my chest was enough to fill me up for now. If I took in any more, I was sure I would vomit again.

Crushing puddles beneath our feet, we fled together.