Chapter 98: He Bullied Me!

By the next day, Poison Island Saeko, who was accustomed to rising early for training, was already awake. The very first thing she did was prepare to wake Tachibana Kanade.

Today was the day Night Star and everyone else had agreed upon to wipe out the zombies across the world. If this had been before she met Night Star, Saeko doubted she could even have believed in something like zombies.

But after meeting Night Star, her entire view of the world had been quietly rewritten. By now, even beginning preparations to save the world felt perfectly natural. If she had heard such a thing in the past, she might not have dismissed it outright, but she would at least have thought the speaker was riddled with delusions of grandeur. And yet now she herself had become part of it.

Putting aside her wandering thoughts, Saeko found herself with an uneasy feeling for reasons she could not explain. Shi藤 Koichi and the others being dead should have meant there was no more danger, and yet she still felt that something unpleasant was about to happen. She pushed those thoughts out of her mind and looked around, only to find that she was alone.

“Could Kanade have risen even earlier than I did?” Saeko murmured in confusion when she could not find Tachibana Kanade in the bedroom.

She herself was already considered an early riser, so it was a surprise that Kanade had gotten up even before her.

After washing and dressing, Saeko tied her hair into a fresh ponytail, took up the wooden sword Night Star had given her, and stepped out of the room. There she saw a silver-haired girl standing by the window. The first ray of morning sunlight streamed through the glass and made the girl’s saintly bearing seem even more serene. Even Saeko, as a girl herself, could not help staring for a moment.

“Saeko, you’re awake?” Sensing Saeko’s gaze, the girl turned around, and Saeko then noticed that she was holding a small flowerpot in her hands. Several unknown blossoms were in full bloom, matching her temperament perfectly.

“Yes, I am. But why didn’t you sleep a little longer? Waking up this early, aren’t you sleepy?” Saeko asked, roused by Kanade’s voice.

After setting the flowerpot back in place, Kanade answered simply, “Not sleepy.”

Before today, Kanade had slept for several days in a row. After sleeping so much, getting up a little early was perfectly normal. Saeko, who had more or less figured out Kanade’s personality, nodded. Although Kanade rarely showed emotion and spoke very little, Saeko could still tell that her heart was very kind.

She brought Kanade along to meet up with Night Star. Night Star, who had already finished eating, leaned against the wall and waited for the two of them. Seeing them arrive, he nodded and said, “Eat something first. We may need to keep this going for a long time, and it’ll take a fair bit out of us. If nothing goes wrong, once we finish, we’ll leave this world.”

The two nodded to show they understood, then quickly finished the meal prepared for them. The food suited their tastes very well. Saeko silently thought that Night Star was actually rather gentle, otherwise why would he have gone to the trouble of preparing meals for her and Kanade?

Night Star, Kanade, and Saeko arrived at a spacious open area. Having prepared ahead of time, Night Star followed the information provided by Ruo Star and Ruo Dawn, and drew a massive pattern resembling a magic circle on the ground. In the very center were two symmetrical rings.

Those two rings were where Night Star and Kanade would stand later. Only within the circles could they be affected by the enhancement of the magic formation.

“Saeko, I’m counting on you from here on!” Night Star said after stepping into one of the two rings, which stood not far apart. A sense that he was about to lose something precious suddenly came over him. He had never doubted his intuition, so he turned to Saeko and said, “There may be some accidents. If you can’t handle it, leave first. Kanade and I both have the ability to revive.”

Kanade also stepped into her circle and tilted her head slightly toward Saeko. “Sorry to trouble you.”

“Please rest assured, I understand!” Saeko responded respectfully, inwardly overjoyed. The reason was simple: in the tone Night Star used to speak to her today, there was no trace of distance or coldness. She thought, Could this mean Night Star has already started treating me as one of his own?

Kanade brushed a lock of hair aside and looked at Saeko’s expression, which seemed to say that she would rather die than fail to protect Night Star. Then, bewildered, she looked toward Night Star and wondered whether Saeko had really heard what Night Star had just said. Why did she seem a little strange?

“Forget it. In any case, your first priority should be your own safety. You still haven’t become a member of Starborn yet.” Seeing Saeko’s reaction, Night Star could only shake his head helplessly. Although she had always obeyed his orders without complaint, on certain matters she had an unusually strong will of her own. Even if he tried to stop her, she would still do it.

“Please, help us. If something really does happen, you must save her!” Realizing that changing Saeko’s mind was impossible, Night Star had no choice but to seek help from another angle. He turned to the two little girls whose real strength was not even on par with his own and made his request.

“Heehee—Night Star, haven’t you always been rather cold toward other people? Yet now you’re asking us to protect her. Looks like you’re the sort who is cool on the outside but warm on the inside!” Ruo Star giggled, covering her cherry-colored lips with one hand as she studied Night Star with amused eyes, as though seeing him anew.

“Shut up! I just don’t want my subordinate to die. If she dies, it’ll be troublesome, and I’ll lose face too!” Night Star said stiffly, suddenly feeling a little flustered under her gaze. He snorted in denial.

“Oh my, oh my, Night Star is blushing! You’re actually quite cute like this. Looks like I’ve raised you pretty well!” Hearing that, even Night Star’s rather cool temperament darkened. No matter who it was, no one could calmly accept a lively, adorable little girl pinching their cheeks while talking about having ‘raised’ them. The roles had been completely reversed!

Ruo Dawn, who was always gentle by nature, nodded in agreement. From the very beginning, when the two of them had started interacting with Night Star, they had intended to change his personality. The results over this period had been quite significant, though neither of them really knew exactly what they had done.

After a while, Night Star realized that Ruo Star seemed to have become addicted to pinching his face. She showed no sign of stopping, and instead seemed to be getting more and more enthusiastic. At first he had let her be, thinking that she had helped him many times and was someone he could trust.

But now he had run out of patience. He flicked her lightly on her fair forehead with a bent finger. Ruo Star immediately let out a pitiful cry like some small wounded animal: “Meow!”

Clutching her head with both hands, with a faint red mark appearing on her white forehead, she pointed at Night Star with tearful eyes as if he had done something unforgivable and cried out in anger, “You! You really hit me hard! Ouch, that hurts!”

She glared fiercely at him, though there was not the slightest hint of menace on her cute little face. Just when Night Star thought the aggressive little girl was about to retaliate, she suddenly spun around and threw herself into the arms of Ruo Dawn, who had already opened her arms to receive her, then complained in the voice of a child tattling to her parents:

“Waaah... Ruo Dawn, he bullied me~”