Chapter 83 - Hyakka and Chihiro
When we returned to the church in the evening, a message from Hyakka was waiting for us.
"Waiting at the Wanderer's Inn. Come alone?"
Fam nodded at my words. It sounded like a summons to a duel. The Wanderer's Inn was the name of the place she was staying.
"Speaking of which, Mizuki. Hyakka said she knew you. Apparently, you went to the same elementary school for a year."
At the mention of her name, Mizuki touched her chin and tilted her head, searching her memory.
"Someone from Kansai... with a Kansai accent... Could it be... Hii-chan... no, Hida-san?"
She looked at me, seeking an answer. But I hadn't heard Hyakka's surname either.
"Beats me."
This time, it was my turn to tilt my head.
"...Honestly, what is wrong with you?"
Mizuki's shoulders slumped in disappointment.
"Hmm, but that has to be her. She had short, black hair back in elementary school."
Her current red hair probably wasn't dyed, but a change that occurred when she came to this world.
"Is that so? She said you helped mediate a dispute for her, even though you were in a different class."
"It wasn't like that. She seemed a little isolated since she had just transferred, so I just went up and talked to her. Hii-chan just kept talking and talking to me. I don't remember what we talked about, but I think a lot of it was about Osaka. Whenever we were together, she just talked nonstop by herself."
"And then?" I asked.
"After that, everyone else started listening to her talk, too."
Hyakka had mentioned that Mizuki was the one who approached her, but it was Mizuki who created the opening. From there, Hyakka must have just talked her way into fitting in. Mizuki had also said she was popular and well-liked by everyone. She must have been a beautiful girl even back then. She likely understood the influence she had on those around her and, rather than mediating, simply changed their impression of Hyakka by being with her. As a result, Hyakka was able to fit into her new school without anyone getting hurt. Was that really a method an elementary school girl would come up with on her own?
"...You're pretty incredible, you know that?"
I kind of wished she had thought of that kind of mediation method during the groper incident. Still, something felt off. If she was capable of thinking like that, Mizuki should have been able to demonstrate more leadership. Yet, she has low self-esteem and never tries to take the lead. I'm sure her fear of men is part of it, but I felt like there was more to it than just that. Was this the feeling Hyakka was trying to describe when she hesitated?
"I'm not. Hyakka solved it all by herself."
"No, that's not true. As a reward, I'll give you some stollen."
As I took out the stollen we had received earlier, Aira shot me a glare.
"This stollen is a gift from Aira-san. She said she wanted everyone to share it. In the meantime, I'm going to go see Hyakka."
"Mmph! I said the three of us—including Cecily—were going to eat it together!"
I pretended I didn't hear Aira's protest and left the church.
Fam walked beside me, her mouth full.
"Hyakka said to come alone, didn't she?"
"The two of us are a single unit."
Fam presented a logic I didn't quite follow. I didn't know what Hyakka's objective was, but I figured the two of us would probably be fine. We headed for the Wanderer's Inn.
"Master. Let's buy a lot of stollen before we go to Hyakka's."
She's a gourmand. Her palate is definitely refined.
"Unfortunately, it's not for sale. The people at a house we happened to stop by gave it to us."
"Is that so..."
Fam's shoulders slumped.
"I don't know if it'll work out, but I'll ask for the recipe and we can try making it."
"But it's difficult to bake bread while traveling."
She must have helped bake bread at home before.
"Then we'll do it after we get to Migul."
"Yes."
Fam nodded. As we talked, we arrived at the Wanderer's Inn. It had a similar feel to the inn we had stayed at in Richelle. When we entered, the tavern was already bustling. The drunkards who saw my face started clamoring that the hero had arrived. I pushed my way through the gathering crowd and headed for the reception desk.
"I'm here to see Hyakka."
"A secret rendezvous... doesn't seem like it. She should be in her room."
The man at the desk gave me a teasing look, but after seeing Fam with me, he seemed to lose interest. I got the room number and headed to her room. Before that, though, I left a gold coin and asked him to buy a round of drinks for everyone in the tavern. I was feeling a bit hungry, so I also got some bread and a non-alcoholic drink.
"Wh-Why did you bring Fam with you?"
Hyakka greeted us with a look of surprise. She was alone.
"Don't mind her. The two of us are a single unit."
I patted Fam's head.
"Of course I mind!"
Hyakka retorted. So Fam's logic didn't work after all.
"Where's Chihiro?"
It looked like a twin room, but I didn't see him.
"H-He's in a different room today."
Was this a conversation so important that even Chihiro couldn't hear it?
"By the way, Mizuki remembered you too. Hii-chan."
Hyakka's expression brightened as if a light had just been switched on.
"I see... So Yamase-san remembered me too, huh..."
She pressed her hands to her cheeks, smiling gleefully.
"So, what's this about, Hii-chan?" I asked her.
"...I dunno, I don't really like it when you call me that, Mash. Chihiro calls me that too. If you're gonna use a nickname, I'd rather you call me 'Momocchi' or 'Momo-chan'. I got called Momocchi because I'm small. You can give me a cute nickname you like, too, Mash."
I thought about it for a moment. A term of endearment, she said, but no matter how good I thought a name was, there was no telling if she'd actually like it. It was like stepping on a landmine.
"Got it. Momonga. Why did you call me here?"
"...You know what, Mash, just call me Hyakka. Anyway, the reason is... that. About the sword Uta had."
"You mean this?"
I took the double-edged sword Uta had been holding from my storage.
"Isn't it weird? The legends say she used a katana."
"There's an inscription on the blade. Maybe it's for ceremonial purposes?"
I might be able to find out more about this if I check the diary-like memos left on Uta's smartphone.
"That's true, but while you're trying to connect it to monotheistic myths, it makes me think of the myths from my own country..."
"...You're right, this sword could be seen as the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi from mythology. And the mirror, and her crystal core..."
Hyakka nodded. Uta's burial goods could be compared to the Three Sacred Treasures of Japanese mythology. The sword and mirror would be the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi and the Yata-no-Kagami, and the crystal core that created that space would be the Yasakani-no-Magatama. It probably wasn't a case of it being tied to one myth or the other, but rather that the myths themselves shared a common origin and were mixed together. I could probably take this as a message she left for us.
"So?"
"What do you mean, 'so?'"
I wanted to hear her conclusion, but she just asked me a question in return.
"You're from Kansai, aren't you? If you're going to set something up, you have to deliver a punchline."
"It was just a thought! Thinking is your job, Mash!"
"..."
"Is this why you called me here?"
I asked Hyakka. If this was all, there was no point in summoning me here, nor was it a reason for Chihiro to be absent. Hyakka kept glancing at Fam, looking uncomfortable. I looked at Fam too, but she was just listening to our conversation with a prim expression.
"I wanted to be alone with you. I-I wanted to thank you!"
"With a kiss?"
Her face turned bright red and she averted her gaze.
"You should've known that the moment I told you to come alone! Why did you bring her?"
That's what I'd hoped was the case. Fam had undoubtedly figured it out, too. That's why she came with me.
"...It sounded like a challenge to a duel."
"If that's what you think, then I'll give you a fight. If I lose, I'm yours. You can do whatever you want. But if I win, I'm taking Yamase-san."
What was she planning to do with Mizuki?
"Hold on, you've got a handicap of over a year in experience. And, though it's nothing to brag about, I'm weak. I've never seen you fight, but I don't feel like I could possibly win."
"I wonder about that..."
She eyed me doubtfully.
"You're changing the subject. You're the one who said you'd give me a kiss if I protected the city, Hyakka."
"...I just said I'd think about it."
Hyakka fidgeted as she spoke. She'd been planning to do it if I came alone, but now her resolve was wavering.
"Besides, you don't need to worry about Fam. From now on, she's the cameraman."
I took my smartphone out of storage and handed it to Fam.
"No, I didn't get it at first, but Fam is your number one girl. I get it now, okay! What are you trying to make someone like that do?!"
I wasn't consciously thinking of it that way, but had my attitude over the past few days been obvious enough for her to be so certain?
"You seem to think you've got a poker face, Mash, but it shows on your face more than you think. And there's the way Fam moves. She's always trying to stay in the spot closest to you, and both you and the other girls allow it."
Just as she pointed out, I had thought of myself as someone who didn't show his emotions. So that's how it was. Even though I wasn't aware of it, my thoughts were written all over my face. Now that I knew, I still thought Fam's intuition was uncanny, but she too must have been reading my expressions. Fam and I looked at each other. She averted her eyes awkwardly.
"Fam won't do anything. She'll just check the pictures with Chihiro afterward."
I brought the conversation back on track.
"Don't do that!"
Hyakka panicked.
"Why not? It's your sister's big moment. Don't you two get along?"
I knew that wasn't true, but I asked anyway. Hyakka and Chihiro were summoned to this world as partners. There was no way they didn't get along.
"Talking to you is making my head spin! If your girlfriend isn't going to get mad, then just kiss me already. If that's what you want, Mash, we can even go all the way."
"For real?!" I was so excited I accidentally slipped into a Kansai dialect. "But why?"
"I've been thinking about it a lot, too. 'Is it really okay to give myself to an old guy like this?' But you're from the same world, you saved our city, and even that Yamase-san is with you..."
Hyakka started saying something unsettling. I had a bad feeling about this. I wanted to hold her before Fam could stop me.
"Hey, you haven't been forcing yourself on Yamase-san or doing anything horrible to her, have you?"
My eyes darted away. There was no way Hyakka wouldn't notice. She sighed.
"The Master has indeed done horrible things to Mizuki, but it was what Mizuki desired."
For some reason, Fam threw me a lifeline. However, I sensed a hint of malice in it.
"What's that supposed to mean? Then again, if Yamase-san didn't like it, she'd do something about it herself..."
Hyakka seemed to convince herself. In any case, it seemed she held Mizuki in high regard. As if she'd made up her mind, she drew closer to my side.
"Mash... we might only have ten years left. That's why I don't want any regrets. I'm going to start falling for you right now. So I want you to treasure me, too."
Hyakka looked me in the eyes as she spoke.
"Are you sure? Is there no one else you like? Like Chihiro?"
"Wh-Why did you bring up my little brother's name?!"
She took a step back, looking at me. She was clearly flustered.
"You don't know? The goddess summons the two people with the best compatibility. Also, when you transferred, your bodies changed a little to adapt to this world, right? At that time, you're altered to become closer to your partner's preferences."
"...Is that what happened? So, is this red hair what Chihiro likes?"
She tossed her ponytail.
"I wouldn't know about that..."
"But there are same-sex pairs, right, both girls and guys. Not all of them are couples, are they? Me and Chihiro... we just showed each other our parts when we were kids, that's all."
"You don't say! Tell me more about that."
My Kansai dialect slipped out for the second time today. Hyakka realized her slip of the tongue and covered her mouth, but it was too late.
"...Chihiro found a dirty magazine on our dad's bookshelf. We looked at it together. That night, in the bath, we showed each other. After that, I couldn't take baths with Chihiro anymore."
Compared to this world, my original world was a highly advanced information society. I was surprised that someone would hide a dirty magazine on a bookshelf instead of just keeping it as data. Chihiro's father must be a true man of culture, valuing old-fashioned paper media even at the risk of his children finding it.
"Did your parents find out?"
Getting caught by your parents would have been the most embarrassing and awkward thing imaginable.
"No, I just got too embarrassed to take baths with him."
"Oh, so that's not it. Did you really just show each other?"
"...In exchange for me touching Chihiro's, Chihiro touched mine. We washed each other after that, too."
"Tell me in a little more detail."
"Well, it wasn't like in the book. So, I rubbed his to make it bigger and pulled the skin back. He did the same thing to me. He said a little red bean-like thing came out when he pulled mine back. He played with it, but I couldn't see it from where I was, so I didn't know what he was doing."
Was it a foreign magazine?
"You didn't check in a mirror or anything?"
"I got so worked up at the time that I got scared afterward. I never checked it or touched it myself."
So Hyakka was the type who didn't masturbate.
"W-Well, maybe once a month, around before my period," she corrected herself when I stayed silent.
"...You do it more often than that, don't you?"
"Ugh... but since coming to this world, Chihiro's always been with me. So I haven't. Really."
She spoke while fidgeting, rubbing her fingertips together. Fam was also staring intently at Hyakka, listening to her story. Every now and then, her ears would twitch. She was at that age where she was curious about lewd things.
"Let's get back on track. Who started touching first?"
"That was me..."
"Did he put it in?"
"H-He just touched me! I'm a v-virgin, so if you end up liking me, Mash, you can check for yourself later. ...Hey, can you just let me off the hook already? Once I'm your girlfriend, I'll tell you again..."
She covered her face with both hands. Her words and gestures had been fanning the flames of my sadistic streak this whole time, but it was probably best to stop here.
"Alright, last question. Did it feel good?"
"Honestly, I couldn't really tell, but I think I was wet. I just pretended it was bathwater."
"That's a fantastic story. I'm deeply moved!"
I placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it firmly.
"What part of that was fantastic?!"
"Fam, let's take a nude photo of Hyakka. We'll have Chihiro look at it and tell us what's changed."
"You idiot!"
Hyakka's scream echoed through the room.
Thank you for reading. To everyone who has liked, bookmarked, and rated this story, thank you very much. It encourages me, and I'll keep doing my best. I'm also grateful for any corrections on typos.