Chapter 6 - And my body falls into that category!?

"Well, let's kill them."

When Yogiri found out that what was flying towards them were his classmates he promptly made up his mind.

"Ah, yes. Who wouldn't choose murder when finding out about their flying classmates…――What the heck are you talking about!?"

Tomochika pulled a noritsukkomi, seemingly in disagreement with Yogiri's proposal.

"Then what? Are you planning to have a nice talk with them and make up again after they left us out here to die?"

"Huh? Wait, you were serious about killing them?"

She thought he was joking, but after realizing he meant what he said she was in dismay.

"Leaving us behind out here is basically the same as killing us. The whole class shares that guilt, they can't really complain if we pay them back, can they?"

It wasn't like Yogiri held some kind of resentment, he just felt he had a right for revenge.

"I can't really agree with you there, even if you weren't talking about killing them…"

"Well, I don't think we could avoid a hostile confrontation even if we approached them peacefully."

"Huh?"

"Why do you think they're coming back, just the three of them?"

"There was something about enemy detection, maybe they found out the dragon died?"

"So they're coming back to see if we're alive and ready to be saved? Wasn't their policy to leave dead weight behind?"

"Ah, it was."

Tomochika recalled Yazaki's words and dropped her shoulders dejectedly.

"That's why I'm thinking these guys are moving on their own. They're probably trying to get the jump on the rest of the class and made the left behind luggage their target, in which case I doubt they'll see us as anything other than an obstacle."

"That's still speculation… right?"

"Right, but it's got a decent possibility of being right. Since I've been thinking about wanting to protect you I'd rather avoid potential risks altogether. But I still value your opinion; let's see what they're up to first."

"If they're only after the luggage then how about running away or hiding?"

"We've probably been spotted already, and I doubt we can run away from someone that can fly. Actually, can you tell me who's who?"

They were now close enough for Yogiri to be able to make out their faces as well.

According to Tomochika, the good-but-superficial-looking one on the left was Ryouda Higashida.

The smaller one in the middle with the brown hair, Sadaaki Fukuhara.

And on the right was the plump Daimon Hanakawa.

A short wait later all three of them landed a couple meters ahead of them.

"Tomochika-tan, thou art alive! H o w!? What an unexpected development this is! My humble plan to turn your corpse into a zombie and that zombie into a slave to unload all my desires on, turned to nothing! Just like that!"

Hanakawa's theatrical voice was thoroughly disgusting. To think someone could make such an unpleasant impression after just a couple words, Yogiri couldn't help but be oddly impressed.

"See? I told you they might be alive. With Charm Up's short duration there's a good chance the dragon simply left."

Now Higashida was talking. It appeared their enemy detection didn't tell them about a detected monster's death. The dragon's remains were on the opposite side of the bus, out of their view.

"What are you talking about anyway, ain't it better like that? Zombie puppets are gross."

The mocking voice belonged to Fukuhara. He had a small frame and a childish appearance in general, but there was something conceited about him.

"Excuse you!? Fukuhara-dono, your power is wasted! A pearl thrown before a swine! Hand it over, I shall utilize it properly and create a harem of zombies!"

"Killing someone just so I can turn them into a zombie is dumb."

"Aha! Well as it happens I had considered a scenario like this; this is why you always carry a collar of slavery with you! If she's alive then I shan't need to rely on you, Fukuhara-dono!"

"That's gross, man. Don't carry something like that around."

"Now he has a point though, if she's against it at first and obedient later then that's double the fun."

"Ah, no, I'm not the rape kind of guy, Fukuhara-dono."

"Then go away or something?"

"Hmm, but I do love netorare. My crush, right before my eyes… there's just something about that, isn't there? Oh, you wouldn't mind leaving the 'gentle shoulder to cry on' role to me afterwards, would you?"

"You're so gross."

"Can you leave it at that, you two? Look at poor Dannoura-san's shocked face."

"That reminds me, Takatou's here as well. Look how he's standing in front of her being all protective, ain't that brave?"

"C-could it be that Takatou-shi already has the role of the netorare'd boyfriend!? I won't allow that! Tomochika has to be mine!"

"Oh, I like that. I was planning on killing him right away but let's go with that instead. He's the guy always spacing out, ain't he? I wanna see what kind of face he'll make while losing his girl."

"Aren't you lucky, Takatou-kun. You get to live a while longer."

The way they acted like everything would go their way was part disturbing and part agitating. Yogiri's standpoint started drifting back towards just killing them.

"Um, I have no idea what's going on, but what I did figure out is that getting along with them doesn't seem doable."

Tomochika got closer to Yogiri and told him so in a whisper.

Yogiri thought about what to do from here.

Killing them was simple enough, but there wasn't anything to be gained in that--given their current situation he'd rather draw out as much information from them as possible.

'Oh well, let's try talking with them,' Yogiri had made up his mind, but Higashida took action before him.

He raised his right hand.

Yogiri determined that his conduct didn't pose any immediate danger. Higashida had no killing intent and his fist wasn't facing Yogiri or Tomochika.

"Fireball!"

His right hand started sparkling and in the next moment something had passed right by Yogiri. That was all.

Usually one would expect a flying globe of fire from a 'fireball,' but Yogiri didn't see anything like that. There should have been the sound of impact from hitting the bus behind them, but he heard nothing at all.

thump

After a short moment's wait the noise of something heavy falling to the ground echoed through the plains. Yogiri turned around and witnessed a bizarre scene.

The bus had lost its back half and the noise he heard just now was made by the remaining bus frame tilting over and crashing into the earth.

A perfectly straight line of the grass-covered plain had been hollowed out, continuing all the way to the forest like a concave road. But it didn't stop there; where the road of nothingness entered the forest a gaping hole had opened.

Whatever Higashida brought forth, it soundlessly erased everything in its path of trajectory.

"Your Fireball's ridiculous as ever, Higashida-dono! Be honest, how often do you go 'ah, but it is no Hellflame, it is a Fireball!'"

Higashida smugly accepted Hanakawa's praise. It was the kind of carefree attitude that made it clear they weren't worried about the possibility of a counter-attack in the least. Then again, with that kind of power one's surroundings might just appear like no more than trash.

"Can only use basic tier magic, after all. All I trained while leveling was this so now it's strong enough to take down demon lords. Oh yeah, guess who blew off the top of Mount Karuone?"

"No! Was that you, Higashida-dono!? Now that's what I call a hero summon. 'As expected of hero-sama,' as they say!"

"Higashida's lucky he got here as a hero, I started out as a soulmancer at the bottom of the demon lord's army."

Yogiri had no idea what they were talking about.

From what he could tell they seemed quite used to this 'System' they had received from the sage, but according to Tomochika it wasn't that long since they left for their first mission. Fukuhara carried on.

"Anyway, did that establish the difference in powers between us? Resistance is futile. Dannoura is coming over here, Takatou will stay and watch from where he is."

They must have thought that giving a demonstration of their power would settle things; the idea of Yogiri and Tomochika resisting them at this point didn't even to cross their minds.

"That's some major firepower."

Yogiri talked with admiration as he inspected the crumbling remains of the bus.

The Fireball must've been a sphere of 10 meters in diameter. Everything it passed through burned down to less than ash, evaporated even, and what was even more impressive was that everything outside its diameter was hardly affected, a clean cut. He tried touching the bus' frame--only a faint heat remained.

"Higashida-kun! Why are you doing this!?"

"Well, we decided we'd live to our heart's content if we ever got another chance, and now that time has come. Gotta do what you gotta do, you know?"

"And my body falls into that category!?"

Tomochika talked with her arms wrapped around her body.

"I'm impressed you can talk like that in this situation, Dannoura-san. You look like you're able to survive on your own even in a different universe."

Yogiri expected her to be petrified by fear after hearing their discussion, but she was surprisingly energetic.

"How nice, when did you two become such good friends?"

Fukuhara talked in a joking manner, but his speech was tinged with jealousy. Warped as it may be, he clearly held affection towards Tomochika.

"For now I'll try making them more cooperative."

Yogiri talked to Tomochika in a gentle tone.

She may have been giving off a confident impression, but she was probably full of anxiety.

Silencing their twisted mouths and giving Tomochika some peace of mind was Yogiri's first course of action.