The Bracelet and the Mad Manager
That was how our story was supposed to end here.
“No.”
“That thing’s production process is incredibly demanding. Even 100 grams costs over ten million won.”
“R-really?”
I had assumed it was something common because Sorcia had handed it over so casually. “You’re really giving this to me?”
In truth, it was meant to be just for show~ I’ll give you something better later. That was what I had planned to say while taking the bracelet back and handing it to Yu Daye. But I had already given it away, and she had even equipped it. Until I used the [Dispel] magic to erase the imprinting spell, no one else could wear it. And I didn’t have the skill level to cast that spell anyway.
“Of course. I made this with you in mind from the very beginning.”
“You made it for me… and now you’re saying things you don’t even mean…”
Her cheeks flushed slightly as she spoke, then she slipped the bracelet onto her arm.
“It feels like something strange is flowing into me…”
While inwardly mourning the loss, she continued speaking with a perfectly calm expression.
“It’s currently imprinting itself to the patterns of my body. Once the imprint is complete, it will activate functions tailored specifically to me.”
“Wow~!?”
She fiddled with the bracelet in delight before speaking again.
“Haru, thank you so much.”
The way she smiled while saying it with genuine feeling… Yeah. I decided that seeing that smile was enough.
“I received something this incredible, so I can’t just stay still… Oh, right. I’ll give you something of tremendous honor in return.”
“Honor?”
“So… um… m-marriage…”
“Marriage?”
“Ugh! A family registry certificate. I’ll give you the right to put my name in the ‘Spouse’ column!”
“…Is my head spinning?”
“I’m an idol saying this and that’s your reaction?! Besides, it’s not a real marriage. It’s just a fake one.”
“A fake marriage? Why would you do that?”
A desperate look that was hard to describe filled Nagase Yohiko’s eyes.
“There are some problems at home.”
“Then it’s not a reward, it’s for your own sake.”
“…Having someone like me as a wife is a dream every man desires!”
“That may be true, but we’re still students.”
“Don’t you know? Because of the monster attacks, these days anyone over fifteen can get married and have children. If you happen to have a kid, you even get support money and can be exempt from national defense duty.”
“That’s only about a hundred thousand won a month—an amount that can’t even keep the lights on. And you need to have two or more children to get the defense exemption.”
“That’s true, but I can just earn the money myself!”
Well, as a super idol her income must be enormous. But why go so far as to arrange a fake marriage?
“If you get married, won’t your idol career end?”
“We just have to make sure we don’t get caught, right?”
“You have fans everywhere who adore you. You really think it won’t get out?”
“I guess you’re right…”
That was an unusually sloppy thing to say for someone who always pursued perfection.
“Yeah… haa…”
She let out a sigh as if something was weighing on her, then glanced at the bracelet I had given her and broke into a sly grin. Her emotions really swung wildly. So this is what idols are like, I thought.
We were standing there when the school bell rang, signaling the start of class. As we turned to head back to the classroom, someone approached us. Worried they might misunderstand seeing me with Yohiko, I quickly tried to hide.
“It’s my manager, so it’s fine.”
Thinking ‘Ah, an insider,’ I stopped trying to slip away and stood still. The demon manager glanced at me for a moment, then showed Yohiko the next schedule on a tablet.
“Miss Yohiko, you were here? We have the next event soon, so let’s hurry.”
As Yohiko moved to follow her manager, who was urging her to move quickly, I looked at the manager and spoke carefully.
“Yohiko.”
“What?”
“Is that demon really your manager?”
“Yes, why?”
“That demon…”
I glared at him.
“The magical energy coming from inside his body… it’s exactly the same as the beasts that attacked you the other day.”
At my words, Yohiko turned a wary, sharp gaze on the manager.
“Are you saying someone is impersonating my manager?”
“No…”
It wasn’t impersonation. The feel of the magic power residing within the manager’s body was unmistakably the same as before.
“I don’t know who you are, but what kind of nonsense is this?”
The manager spoke with a dumbfounded expression. I replied,
“Let’s call Sorcia, Daisy, and Primrose to check.”
The moment I said that, the demon’s face instantly twisted into pure rage.
“Goddammit!”
The instant the manager crushed something in his pocket, the space beneath our feet twisted, and we vanished without a trace.
The broken body of the manager threw something, and we were enveloped in a strange light. The surroundings suddenly changed into a place thick with bushes.
“Haru, what the hell is going on!?”
Yohiko cried out in shock. I scanned the tense surroundings and met eyes with the manager. Blood dripped from his hand as he stared at us with eyes full of fury. He muttered quietly, almost to himself.
“If Yohiko had just come to me, none of this would have happened. Why…”
“What… did you say?”
“Scouting you! Working so hard for you! Treating you with such devotion!! It was all—all of it—so I could make you my wife! My woman who would only look at me!”
“…Huh?”
When Yohiko looked at the manager with a stunned expression, he shifted all the blame onto her with eyes steeped in delusion.
“How could you ignore my feelings and go to trash like him?!”
“Um, Manager, I’m not in that kind of relationship with Yohiko. We’ve only known each other for a little over a month.”
“Shut up, you human garbage! Yohiko is mine! She’s my woman!”
“Manager, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but please stop right now. Otherwise I’ll call the police.”
“Call the police? Do you even know where we are? This is Alaska—a place where neither humans nor the Serena Union can help you.”
“Alaska? Manager, you suddenly brought us all the way here… Are you insane?”
“If I ever felt threatened, I planned to bring you to this safe place. I spent every single penny I earned to create this instant teleportation orb, and you call me crazy?! Hahahaha… It’s clear now. You’ve completely fallen for that bastard’s filthy lies.”
The man laughed like a lunatic, then suddenly ground his teeth and let out a bloodcurdling scream mixed with bloody tears.
“When I love you this much!!!”
A cry full of madness. Watching the manager, lost in paranoid delusions and spouting nonsense, I replied coldly.
“You spent every cent you earned on it? If that’s true, you should have made it lead to a truly safe location. But anyone can see this was made for ‘kidnapping.’”
“I told you to shut up, you trash! Are you acting cocky because you’re relying on those two high-and-mighty young ladies or your little sister? You don’t actually think they’ll come all the way here to find you, do you?”
“That’s not it, but…”
The moment I spoke, he launched a blade forged of wind at me. I hurriedly ducked to avoid it. The tree behind me was sliced cleanly in two.
“Manager, you’ve lost your mind!”
Yohiko shouted desperately. I broke into a cold sweat as I stared at the spot where the wind blade had passed.
“You suddenly used attack magic?! What the hell are you doing?! Are you trying to kill me?!”
“That’s right. What’s wrong with cleaning up human garbage?”
“…You’re insane…”
The instant I said that, the manager prepared to launch another wind blade. This guy has seriously decided to kill me. If I stay still, I’m dead. The thought made me create a flaming arrow.
“Last time I thought it was magic from an artifact. So that wasn’t the case. How the hell is a mere human using magic?!”
“Let’s call it a secret.”
I fired the flaming arrow. He blocked it with something like a barrier. As expected, basic magic wasn’t enough to deal real damage. In that case…
I cast body reinforcement and agility enhancement, moved quickly, closed the distance, and threw a kick. He blocked it with ease.
“I don’t know why a piece of human trash who leeches off the Serena Union can use magic, but it looks like you only know beginner-level spells.”
Damn it. Looks like basic magic really isn’t enough. But I always told Yu Daye that giving up is something you only do when slicing cabbages. I wasn’t about to give up.
I poured all my strength into an uppercut. The manager wore a mocking expression and blocked with his arm. A satisfying crunch echoed as his forearm bones shattered, and his body shot into the air.
“Guh…!”
The manager clearly hadn’t expected the attack to land. He glared at me with obvious panic in his eyes. A thrill of victory surged through me. I had to press the advantage. I jumped above him and delivered another kick. He frantically deployed a barrier to block it, but the shield shattered like glass, and my kick sent him flying backward.
“Kuek!”
After tumbling across the ground several times, the manager bled from his mouth and screamed at me with an expression of utter disbelief.
“How could a mere human who should be bowing his head to us superior beings break through the barrier of a combat mage like me?!”
I launched another flaming arrow. While he was busy blocking it with a barrier—
“Hello~”
I was already right in front of him. My fist smashed squarely into his jaw. Shattered teeth flew into the air along with a spray of blood.
“Aaaargh!! My face! My handsome face!”
“That oh-so-great face of yours! I was jealous of it, so I’ll make sure it ends up uglier than mine!”
I charged in without pause to prevent him from using magic. The manager tried to freeze the ground to make me slip, but I leaped into the air, rendering his effort useless. When I appeared right in front of him again, he deployed another barrier. Just like before, my fist collided with it. The barrier shattered, and he was sent flying into the distance.
“A mere human! A mere huuuuuman! I’ll kill you!”
With a face twisted by my punches, the manager screamed and then shouted,
“Damn it! To think a monstrous piece of trash like you would force me, a noble being, to fight with everything I have! Consider it an honor even in death!!”
He suddenly whistled. Beasts burst out from the surrounding bushes.
“Kill him!”
At the manager’s command, the beasts’ eyes flashed as they charged at me. I rushed toward the nearest one and threw a punch. Its body tore apart and vanished into the air. But another beast bit into my arm. Flesh was ripped away, and pain surged through me.
The manager laughed as he watched.
“Yes!! Tear that trash apart and eat him!”
I gritted my teeth against the pain, grabbed the beast gnawing on my arm by the scruff, ripped its head clean off, and hurled it away. Then I smashed the head of another beast that was aiming for my neck with a brutal headbutt. Meanwhile, the last one had latched onto my leg. I crushed its skull with my knee.
“You human bastard… How are you killing my precious magic hounds so easily?!”
When I finished off the beasts in the blink of an eye, the manager stared at me in panic.
“Do you even know how I’ve survived until now?”
To feed Hunya and Daye, I had done every insane thing imaginable. And I would keep doing them. If those two could smile—
“If those kids can smile!”
I would endure any pain. I had endured it all.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
A sudden scream from Yohiko. I turned and saw a monster that looked like a giant eagle, drawn by the scent of blood, diving toward her. I immediately spun around, grabbed the monster, and hurled it into a tree, killing it instantly.
The moment Yohiko looked at me with relief, asking if I was okay, I saw something flying straight at me.
And that was the end.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!”
Yohiko’s scream. Why… is the world spinning round and round? Why… is my body down there, and the place where my face should be… empty?
“Hahahahaha!”
As I heard the manager’s victorious roar, I thought,
“I see. So I die here.”
With those words, I closed my eyes.