New Companion (2)
Just how much stronger could this technique get?
"Good..... excitement at its absolute peak."
I lowered my stance.
"Then I'll show you what it can really do."
The honey compressed beneath my feet detonated.
—KRA-KOOOM!!
My body sprang off the ground at a speed nothing before could compare to, the great horn shoving the air aside with a deafening roar.
Sapi raised his gun. But he didn't shoot at me — he fired at the honey pillar behind my back.
—BANG!!
The collapsing honey slapped onto my back, and an instant later an extra shove of force hurled me forward. My speed exploded all over again.
"This man..."
Right up to the very last moment, he was making my attack stronger.
Sapi filled my vision. There was no turning now. No stopping. And he had nowhere to dodge, either.
And then he smiled.
"Perfect."
With those words, I drilled clean through that man's chest.
Ah....
"IT'S ELECTRIC!!!!!!!!"
How long had it been since I felt a rush this electric?
"Yes! Now I just have to take down Lebetri and..."
I looked over at the Breeding Uncle.
"Huh?"
A smirk. A good idea had popped into my head, and the corners of my mouth curled up all on their own.
One more time. If I used that technique again... could I get that same electric high back?
"Horn Drill!!"
Let's get as close to that feeling from before as I could. Maximum acceleration — stack the honey layer upon layer, and spin!
"Khack... what the hell are you—"
"Not thrilling."
And just like that, the uncle with the hole punched through his chest went down.
But the thrill I'd felt fighting that man, Sapi, wasn't there.
Just then, I sensed a warm golden glow. My eyes drifted over before I knew it — light was pouring out of his chest, the pierced sternum slowly knitting itself back together. And the moment it was fully mended, Sapi stood up.
—I darted in and threw my arms around him.
"That was a good finish."
"Ah..."
"You really are fun!!"
"Huh?"
"Plenty of guys have told me to fight their way."
"..."
"But you're the first one who's ever gotten me worked up exactly how he pleased."
"..."
"Let's team up!"
"Veto."
"...?"
"You're joining our team."
"..."
"Why?"
"Because I'll let you fight in ways that are even more fun."
"..."
"...That sounds nice. No — that sounds GREAT!!!"
Watching the bee woman hang off Sapi's arm while she talked with him, something about the sight didn't sit right with me.
"Hey, Sapi's clearly uncomfortable. Let go of him."
"Heh~ and who do you think you are?"
"What was that?"
"Don't fight. She's going to be a companion of ours. What good does bickering do?"
"What do you mean, companion?"
"What, you didn't even know what a 'companion' was? Pathetic."
"..."
The bee woman's taunt set me off in an instant. I laid my hand on my sword hilt.
"Pathetic?"
"Yep."
"Say it one more time."
Still hugging Sapi's arm tight, the bee woman flashed me a grin.
"Pathetic."
"......"
"It's not like you can do anything but swing that sword."
My brow twitched.
Sapi sighed.
"Don't fight."
"She started it."
"Lebetri."
"What..."
"Let it go."
"Why?"
Sapi answered flatly.
"Because once she's on our side, it's going to be like this every single day."
"...What?"
The bee woman's face split into a wide grin.
"Yep! I'm gonna tease you every day!"
"..."
"Pathetic little rabbit."
"You..."
My scabbard rose, just a hair.
Sapi slipped smoothly between us.
"No."
"Move."
"No."
"Just one hit."
"No."
Watching that, the bee woman doubled over clutching her stomach and started laughing.
"AHAHAHA!! You two are hilarious!"
"Sapi."
"What."
"Can't we just not take her?"
"No."
"..."
"She's someone we genuinely need."
I glared at the bee woman. She met it without backing down an inch and stuck her tongue out at me.
"Nyeh."
"..."
I really didn't like her.
"Sapi. Explain to me why we need this girl."
"Remember the companion criteria I told you about?"
"Ah..."
The criteria for a new companion that Sapi had once laid out: someone who could reshape the battlefield and pin the enemy down.
And the one who could do exactly that was standing right in front of me — the very girl I couldn't stand.
"In honor of you becoming our companion, let me ask your name. What is it?"
"It's Bitch."
"..."
"...What?"
"Nothing. Looking forward to working with you."
Bitch grinned wide.
"Well, I won't be."
"..."
"...Get me buzzing the way you did back there, and maybe I'll think about it. Nyah~"
I studied Bitch for a moment, and came to one simple conclusion.
I never, ever wanted to get close to her.
We kept walking.
This time it wasn't enemies that came swarming in from every direction — it was monsters.
Eerie cries blanketed the wasteland.
Bitch spread both arms wide, beaming.
"This many opponents at once — I'm tingling all over!"
Honey streamed out of her entire body, the golden flood spreading along the ground and snagging the monsters' feet.
I used my Linear Leap, just like that.
—BAM!
In a blink, one monster's head went flying.
But then.
My footing slipped out from under me.
"...!"
Honey in mid-hardening had glued itself to my sword hilt. The arc of my leap warped — and a monster didn't miss that opening, swinging its arm at me.
—WHAM!
I caught it on my blade, but the impact still knocked me backward.
Bitch didn't even glance back.
"Oh, you were over there?"
"...You're the one who laid it there."
"Ah~ so I did."
"..."
"Next time, dodge it yourself."
My brow twitched.
This time it was Sapi who fired.
—BANG!
The bullet wasn't aimed at any monster. It struck the honey pooled on the ground.
—SPLURT!
The honey burst apart, sending everything skidding in a new direction — three monsters slipped all at once.
Bitch watched and laughed.
"Ooh."
At a wave of her hand, the hardened honey coiled right around the monsters' legs.
"Gotcha."
I leaped again. But once more, a honey pillar shot up without warning.
"...Again!"
I had to wrench my blade off course. I still cut the monster down, but my form was completely ruined.
"Bitch!"
"What?"
"Just a little—"
"Nope."
"..."
"Why should I match you?"
I gritted my teeth.
"Then we can't do teamwork!"
"Then you match me."
"..."
"This is how I've always fought."
Gun still in hand, Sapi quietly watched the two of us.
"...So that's how it is."
I couldn't stand the sight of it and shouted.
"Sapi!"
"Yeah."
"Do something!"
Sapi answered, calm as ever.
"Bitch."
"What?"
"Keep fighting exactly the way you do."
"...?"
My face went stiff.
"What?"
Bitch tilted her head.
"I was going to do that even if you hadn't said anything?"
"Good idea."
Sapi smiled.
"Go on, then. Flaunt that ego of yours all you want."
—BANG!
A gunshot rolled across the field. The bullet hit no monster — it smashed a honey pillar far away.
—KRAK!
The shattered honey cascaded down like a slope, and the monsters began to slide. And at the bottom of it all sat the honey pool Bitch had laid down in advance.
"Huh?"
Bitch's eyes went wide. Every single monster had gathered exactly where she wanted them.
Sapi fired again — this time at a boulder.
—BANG!
The boulder came down, walling off the monsters' retreat. Their escape route was gone.
Bitch's lips curled up.
"Fun."
She raised her hand, and honey pillars erupted one after another. The monsters couldn't get out.
"Here."
Sapi said it simply. Bitch flung her honey without a moment's hesitation, and Sapi fired once more.
—BANG!
The bullet struck the honey; it split open and fanned out to both sides. Monsters who should have been sealed off by her own design were herded instead into an even deeper trap.
Bitch's breath caught.
But the corners of her mouth never stopped climbing.
I was still fighting. Cut down a monster. Leaped again. And once more, Bitch's honey caught my feet.
"...!"
This time Sapi wasn't even looking my way. The gunshots kept ringing out — but every single bullet was completing the battlefield Bitch had built.
For the first time in my life, I felt what it was like to be pushed out of the center of a battle.
Why... does Sapi... fit better with her than with me?
Bitch's heart began pounding as if it would burst. The honey inside her body came to a boil.
Until now, she had only ever thought of trapping her enemies — snagging them, hardening, walling them off.
But Sapi had read her battlefield. And he was completing it for her.
"Ah..."
Golden honey erupted from every inch of her body as if it would explode. It swallowed her feet, coiled around her waist, climbed up along her back. Above her head, the honey began winding itself into a spiral — one layer, two, three, dozens of them, sheets of honey spinning in opposite directions stacked one atop another.
The air began to shriek as though it were being torn apart.
—KEEEEEIIIN!!
For the first time, Sapi lowered his gun.
And then he smiled.
"...It's complete."
Seeing that smile, Bitch broke into a grin of her own.
"This time I'll make it truly electrifying!"
In a single instant, she ground the monsters that had gathered in one place into paste.
"..."
Ah....
Too much...
"I'M BUZZING!!!"
Monster carcasses rained down in every direction.
Bitch laughed through her ragged breaths.
"Haa... haha... so THIS is the good stuff."
She licked the honey smeared across her body and beamed.
"You really are the best."
Sapi holstered his gun.
"Still not enough."
"...?"
"What you just did was simply overpowering them with raw force."
"So what?"
"If it were you," Sapi pointed at the monster corpses, "you could have killed every last one of them with a single strike."
Bitch's eyes sparkled.
"Really?"
"Yep."
"Do you know how?"
"Of course I do."
"Then teach me, come on~?"
"I'll think about it later."
"Meanie. That's exactly why I like you."
Watching all of it from a distance, I silently tightened my grip on my sword.
Something felt off.
Sapi smiles with me too.
But whenever he was with that woman, he wore an expression I had never seen on him before.
Why did that irritate me, even a little?
Bitch latched onto Sapi's arm again.
"Next time, make it even more electric."
"I'll do my best."
"Promise?"
"Yeah."
"Yay!"
Before I knew it, strength had flooded into my hand.
"..."
Without meaning to.
I was crushing my sword hilt.
Sapi noticed it first.
"What's wrong?"
"...I don't know."
"Angry?"
"...No."
"Doesn't look that way."
"..."
"All you've done is stare at her."
I didn't answer. I just pulled away from Sapi and trailed after them from a distance.
Then Bitch strode right up in front of me.
"Pathetic."
"..."
"Why are you sulking?"
"I'm not sulking."
"You so are."
"..."
"Jealous?"
My face went rigid.
"...Who, me?"
"You."
"..."
"Feel like your Sapi got stolen away?"
"What are you talking about!"
Bitch cackled.
"Called it."
"AHAHAHA!"
Heat flooded my face.
"Shut up."
"See? It's true."
"It is not."
"Then why's your face all red?"
"..."
I whipped my head away.
"Hmph."
"She's running away!"
"I'm not running!"
"Sulking!"
"I'm NOT sulking!"
My feelings were a mess.
And then, from far off, Sapi called out to me.
"Lebetri."
"...What."
"You fought well back there."
"...?"
I found myself looking at him. His face gave nothing away.
"Even with Bitch tangling up your every move, you never lost your center. Not once, all the way to the end."
"..."
"Honestly, even I wouldn't have found that easy."
For a moment, no words came out. Then I opened my mouth, quietly.
"...That much, at least."
"Good work."
At those words, the tension knotted into my shoulders loosened, just a little, for no reason at all.
"What about me?"
Bitch thrust her hand up high.
"Praise me too, come on?"
Sapi huffed a laugh.
"You did well too."
"Knew it!"
Bitch pumped both fists and lit up in a beaming smile.
"I'm a genius, right?"
"Yeah. Your grip on the battlefield exceeded my expectations."
"Hehe."
Bitch darted over and latched onto Sapi's arm once more.
"Keep getting me worked up from now on too, Sapi."
"..."
I watched the scene in silence. The knot that had loosened just moments ago cinched tight again — strange and stifling.
...What is this?
Why did I feel like this again?
Pointlessly, I squeezed my sword hilt one more time.