kscans

Chapter 140 - Chapter Six: Prologue

The training ground for Awakened Persons in the next town over, the one I usually used... was no longer available thanks to the Cuelebre. So, this was a training ground in yet another city.

There, a beautiful woman with silver hair tied back in a ponytail was running.

"Hup!"

That was Aira-san, dressed in a jersey and shorts, running a hundred meters in the seven-second range.

Her bouncing breasts were a magnificent sight. And the thighs peeking out from her shorts were, in my opinion, a font of wisdom.

"Hnngh!"

That was Aira-san again, her face flushed as she lifted a barbell weighing over 500 kilograms.

I did not fail to notice her chest jiggling as she lifted it.

"Atatatata! Fwatah!"

And that was Aira-san facing a punching bag, throwing a continuous stream of jabs at over fifty kilometers per hour and sending the sandbag swinging like a pendulum with her finishing blow.

Her chest wasn't just filling out her shirt; it was practically pitching a tent. A perfect ten. The glint of her sweat was beautiful, too.

With her gloves still on, she turned to face us. Her expression was the textbook definition of smug.

"Hah... hah... Well now, my friends. What do you think? Feel free to give me your unvarnished opinions!"

I hesitated for a moment, but then Erina-san, Mia-san, and I—who had all been observing her—nodded to each other.

"One point!"

"Three points."

"Four... no, I'll give you six points."

"So harsh?! Gweh!"

The swinging sandbag hit her in the lower back, and Aira-san collapsed with a splat.

Thanks to her level, she was probably uninjured, but she didn't get up, instead lifting her teary-eyed face from the floor.

"This is ridiculous! I had a whole speech planned! I was going to strike a pose and say, 'It would seem... I've become faaaar too powerful!'"

"It's nice you got to have a pleasant dream, Paisen!"

"So mean!!"

Struck by the sad truth delivered with Erina-san's innocent smile, Aira-san started slapping the floor. Bam, bam, bam.

It was fine since no one else was here, but it was a pretty pathetic sight. Especially since she normally looks like such a cool beauty...

"And what's the score out of, anyway?!"

"Don't worry, Paisen. It's out of ten!"

"Oh, good. So it's not out of a hundred. Wait, that doesn't help! If anything, yours was the worst score, Erina-kuuuun!"

"Well, I mean, it can't be helped."

"Kyou-chan-kun? What do you mean, 'it can't be helped'? I've obtained all this incredible power...!"

"I know, I know. It's certainly impressive for a non-Awakened Person, but..."

I scratched my cheek as Aira-san, now with a runny nose, wallowed in her frustration.

"You were the one who asked us to grade you as a 'C-Rank adventurer,' weren't you?"

"I did, but! I did, but I never thought it would be this bad! Can't you at least score me on my potential?! There's still a huge level gap between me and you guys!"

"Oh, sorry. That score was considering your potential. In fact, I think I was a little lenient."

"My apologies, sister. Me too."

"What... did you say...?!"

Mia-san slipped her hands under Aira-san's arms and helped her to her feet.

Her younger sister then held a tissue to her nose and said, "Alright, now blow." The disappointing college student, her pride wounded, furrowed her brow.

"Grr... I knew it. I knew that my stats weren't growing nearly as well as yours...!"

"Yeah, well. I guess this is just a matter of talent, so it can't be helped."

"I can't believe I'm being lectured about talent by Kyou-chan-kun, the lust-filled pervert demon...!"

"I'll knock you flat, you disappointing college student."

"I-Is Kyouta-kun really that much of a pervert...?!"

"Mia-san, please don't take anything that failure says seriously."

You're the perverts, you whole perverted family.

"Hmm. For me, it was your 'form' that lost you the most points."

"My form? Are you suggesting there was something wrong with my perfect technique?"

"As expected of you, Paisen! Even your jokes are top-tier!"

"Hey, is it okay if I cry now?!"

"Huh? But that was a compliment...?"

Oh, Erina-san...

I couldn't help but shoot a look of pity at Aira-san, who had started to sob.

"Sniffle, sniffle, sniffle... Thirty-six!"

"Is your sense of humor third-rate, too?"

Give me back my sympathy.

"So, Erina-kun. What exactly was wrong with my performance?"

"Everything."

"Wow. That one hit right in the heart."

"First off, your running form is way too clunky. At one point, your right arm and right leg were moving forward at the same time, weren't they? I don't think you're used to running at all."

"Hau..."

"And with the weightlifting, you were trying too hard to look cool, right? Your posture after you lifted it was just asking for a pointless back or knee injury."

"Agu..."

"The final rush was the worst, I think. Not only were you just punching with your arms, but halfway through you were concentrating so hard you closed your eyes, didn't you? Those weren't punches; you were just flailing your arms back and forth."

"Afun..."

Aira-san, completely sunk!

She now wore a peaceful expression, cradled in Mia-san's chest. And Mia-san, for her part, was making a face no maiden should ever make. What a pair of unfortunately beautiful sisters...!

That said, I'm jealous. I want Aira-san to press her body against me, and I want to rest the back of my head on Mia-san's chest.

"Kyou-chan's form is pretty bad too, but yours is just out of the question, Paisen."

"Stray bullet...!"

Hey, it can't be helped! I've never been properly taught by anyone.

I'm just relying on what I've learned online, mimicking what I see. I practice against my golem, sure, but my style is almost entirely self-taught.

If anything, I'm worried my swordsmanship is getting warped by real combat instead of being polished.

"That's what makes it so strange. When you were fused with Sana-chan, your movements were so precise, almost... 'mechanical.'"

"Erina-san."

I instinctively glanced around, but she just waved a hand with a carefree smile.

"It's fine. No eyes or ears around here."

"If you say so."

I wanted to avoid talking about Sana or the Minotaur's dungeon as much as possible.

Never mind the fact that I possess a spirit, information about a marine dungeon is something everyone would be desperate for.

Getting mobbed by the press is the last thing I want. I wouldn't mind being fawned over, but I'll pass on the price of fame.

"Oh, the reason for that is simple. All I had to do was visualize the movements."

"What do you mean?"

Aira-san's reply made Erina-san tilt her head.

Lifting her head from Mia-san's chest, she continued.

"At that time, both my consciousness and Sana-kun's were trying to move the body. It's the phenomenon Kyou-chan-kun mentioned before."

"Ah... the one that breaks a golem's joints."

It's the primary risk that comes with fusing with a spirit.

Two brains, one body. If both try to move the body independently, unless their thoughts are perfectly aligned, you'll just end up with bizarre, flailing movements.

For example, one might want to walk forward while the other tries to move sideways. The result is that both actions fail, putting strange stress on the limbs.

"So I decided to just leave the 'moving the body' part entirely to Sana-kun. I only gave instructions on 'how to move.'"

"Wait a minute. Is that even possible?"

"I'm alive, so clearly it was."

I couldn't help but interject, but Aira-san just shrugged.

"The fusion temporarily allowed me to perceive her, too. I proposed the idea to Sana-kun in my head. She accepted surprisingly easily. I was able to send a direct 'telepathic' message to her mind, not with words. Man, that was a new sensation."

"You could do that...?"

To be able to communicate flawlessly with a spirit while in a fused state...

That should be impossible. The consciousnesses should either clash chaotically or fail to connect at all.

And yet, Aira-san's smooth communication with Sana might have been possible thanks to her [Telepathy] skill.

"...Sister. That was an incredibly dangerous thing to do, wasn't it? What if Sana-san had malicious intent... or even if she didn't, what if she simply desired a physical body...?"

"I would have been taken over. I had entrusted the body's control to her, after all. Well, it was a life-or-death situation. I was lucky just to be in a position to take that gamble."

Aira-san stated it so calmly that Mia-san's eyebrows drooped into a sad V-shape.

But everyone here understood how dire the situation had been. We couldn't blame her for that decision.

"Thanks to connecting with her, I was able to view my own body objectively... It was like my perspective shifted from first-person to third-person, I guess? In that state, I visualized the movements from a video game and conveyed them to Sana-kun."

She says it so simply, but I feel like she's describing something utterly insane.

Who remembers video game movements that precisely? And even if she did, it was her own body moving, not a game character. The skeletal structure is completely different.

She would need the imagination to bridge those differences and the mental processing speed to do it in the middle of that battle. Simply sending a vague image wouldn't have allowed Sana, who doesn't know how to move a human body, to perform those kinds of movements.

To put it mildly, she's nuts.

"I see. So that's why your movements were so clean back then, Paisen."

"Indeed. Next time I fuse with her, I'll be sure to give you a good show."

"No, please don't ever do it again. Seriously."

"She's right! It's too dangerous!"

Mia-san and I both shook our heads at Aira-san's foolish suggestion.

"The backlash from fusing with a spirit isn't just because of strenuous movements. The bigger problem is having a different type of mana surging through your entire body! Your nerves would be shredded by the rejection. It wouldn't be strange if you died... no. It would be strange if you didn't die."

"You only got away with serious injuries last time because Sana-san took on a huge amount of the strain. There's no guarantee it'll be the same next time, and if it is, Sana-san might be the one to be annihilated."

"Hmph. If you two are going to say it like that, I suppose I have no choice..."

I breathed a sigh of relief that Aira-san had backed down.

It would be a problem if she started thinking of it as some 'convenient power.' Fusing with a spirit is doping, and a seriously cheap trick at that. You might as well call it a slow-motion suicide.

"Well, there's no guarantee Sana-san will take the backlash for you next time, but..."

"No, I think she probably will. At least, for anyone you think of favorably."

"Huh?"

I had mumbled the last part to myself, but Aira-san answered nonchalantly.

"What do you mean?"

"When I fused with Sana-kun, she definitely saw me as a 'target for protection.' And through her, I could feel something like affection coming from you."

"Uh, huh..."

I feel like she's saying something really embarrassing.

I was aware of my cheeks turning red, but Aira-san paid it no mind, raising an index finger with a smug look.

"In other words, it's no exaggeration to say that your favorability rating equals Sana-kun's favorability rating! And since Sana-kun seems to have a survival instinct but no concept of pain, she'll shoulder the backlash right up to the very limit! As long as it's for someone Kyou-chan-kun truly doesn't want to see die, that is."

"I-I see..."

Emotions can carry mana.

It's the same principle I explained to her about kotodama, the power of words. And I periodically give Sana a not-insignificant amount of my mana. Her body—I'm not sure if you could call it metabolism—is almost entirely composed of my mana.

Therefore, my feelings of goodwill towards others are also transmitted to Sana...

I'm going to stop thinking about this. My heart is screaming. And my face is hot.

As I was stewing in my awkwardness, Erina-san asked me a question in her usual manner.

"Hey, hey, Kyou-chan. We'd have the same risks if we fused, but what would happen if you fused with Sana-chan? Her mana is pretty close to yours, right? There wouldn't be any 'mana rejection,' would there?"

"No, I think the problem is that there's too little rejection."

I firmly shook my head at Erina-san's question.

"At first, I thought I'd face the same risks as anyone else if I fused with her. But after seeing her fuse with Aira-san, I changed my mind. If Sana-san were to fuse with me, she would melt and disappear."

"Melt?"

"Yeah. A spirit's body is made of mana, not flesh. And if she entered my mana, which is nearly identical to hers, they would fuse too completely. She'd likely be erased, becoming one with me."

"I see. So it's not such an easy power-up, huh?"

Erina-san crossed her arms under her chest and nodded thoughtfully.

Well, in terms of a power-up, it's possible it could trigger a 'level up' for me.

"In that case, if Sana-chan is going to fight, I guess she'll need a dedicated golem body after all. She might have learned how to move a human body from fusing with Paisen."

"Actually, I'd rather you not bring a precious research subject to the battlefield in the first place..."

Aira-san said with a wry smile as she accepted the towel Mia-san offered her.

Wiping the sweat from her brow after the unaccustomed exercise, she looked at me.

"Sana-kun's assistance was certainly tremendous. I was even able to temporarily use some of your skills, Kyou-chan-kun."

"Ah, so you really did..."

"Indeed. I was able to use [Spirit Eye] and [Mana Conversion]. On top of that, my stats must have increased, though not as much as yours. There were merits worth risking my life for."

After saying that much, Aira-san shook her head.

"But more than that, Sana-kun is a precious existence. She's not more valuable than you all, of course, but that's a separate issue. She's not someone to be sent into a dungeon without good reason. Unlike me."

"I agree with everything except that last part."

"Yeah. I agree with everything except that last bit, too."

"Same here."

"Hahaha. You three have some scary looks in your eyes, you know?"

Erina-san grabbed the shoulder of Aira-san, whose cheeks were twitching.

"Paisen."

"Y-Yes?"

"You need to level up, for self-defense if nothing else, okay?"

"No, no, no. I'm strong enough as it is, aren't I? My level is higher than the average adventurer's."

"Only your level is high. Your stats are low."

"You'll have to make up for those low stats by raising your level even more."

"Sister. Let's train."

"...Hmph."

Aira-san tried to run away!

But Erina-san circled around to block her path!

"N-No, I won't! I acknowledge that fieldwork is important, but my specialty is intellectual labor!"

"Now, now, now."

"I will not yield!"

As Erina-san closed in with a smile, Aira-san retreated an equal distance.

Mia-san was also creeping up from behind, so there was no escape.

If we're going to level her up, the first step is adventurer registration. Before, she was guaranteed to fail the physical exam, but at her current level, she should easily start at 'E-Rank.' Depending on the schedule for paperwork and interviews, she could probably get to 'D-Rank' in no time.

"Your summer break is starting soon, right, Paisen? That means you'll have time to get your license."

"Don't underestimate how busy a 21-year-old's summer break can be, Erina-kun!"

"But sister, didn't you say you were planning on going to grad school and freeloading at Grandma's place instead of looking for a job? And when it comes to your studies, you have no problems at all, in fact, you have plenty of spare time, right? ...Other than your research, do you have anything else to do? And even that research would be more productive if you actually went into a dungeon. Probably."

"Curses! My own excellence has backfired!"

She's saying things that would probably send every diligent college student into a collective rage... Though it might be a stereotype, I have the impression that most college students have a fair bit of free time.

Still, summer break, huh...

It's late July now. At a normal high school, this is the time when everyone would be getting excited for summer vacation.

Our own early summer break was about to come to an end.

From a distance, I could hear the chirping of cicadas.