Episode 37 — For the Sake of Looking Forward
～ Part 1 ～
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“Are, are you … Goubayashi…?”
To Ryuzaki’s enquiry, that ogre slowly nodded.
“Ahh, it’s me.”
The sound of that voice hadn’t changed at all from the time he last heard it one and a half month ago. It was strong, deep and full of dignity, it was none other than the voice of Ryuzaki Kunihiro’s best friend, Goubayashi Genshuu. The golden energy rising from his body showed that he had overcome many hardships and shifted to .
Ryuzaki wanted to shout in joy, he also wanted to cling to Goubayashi in tears. He also had many stories piled up, and honestly speaking, he also had many resentful complaints. If it was Ryuzaki of a month ago, he might have easily said it.
The hydra’s heads revealed vigilance before the sudden intruder. While the tongues of the remaining five heads slithered, they withdrew into the fog in order to take some distance.
Ryuzaki shelved all of the emotions welling up inside and rebuilt his posture. He looked at Goubayashi, and then turning his eyes over to Zeku, whose body was laid down on the deck. How long would the endurance of an ogre can hold? As long as he believed in the memo Selena left behind, he thought that there should still be some leeway. But still, it wasn’t okay to just leave him rolling around for a long time.
“Uozumi, is your sister okay?”
“It’s no good. Masuyo is completely down now.”
“Is that so, Hakuba is immobile as well…”
What was on Ryuzaki’s mind was that no user of recovery magic was in this place. This would inevitably force them into a worse and worse situation when fighting a formidable enemy.
Kaoruko who was acting together with Goubayashi could use recovery magic as well but her shadow couldn’t be found anywhere.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have kept you waiting, have you been looking for me?”
He heard a pretentious voice and a figure of a black cat wearing leather boots showed up on the deck.
It was Nekomiya Miya the Cait Sith. Behind her, Kaminari Totoha the Thunderbird suddenly peeked out her face from the shadow of the cabin.
“Nekomiya, you’re cool already?”
“I was scolded by Kaminari. If you have time to blame yourself, think about what you can do for Washio.”
Nekomiya shrugged her shoulders at Ryuzaki’s question. For an instant, Goubayashi frowned at the change in the atmosphere but he didn’t say anything.
“Well, it’s just common sophistry though. But if it was said by the easily frightened Kaminari, there’s no way I can just stay idle. I thought.”
This girl is still as troublesome as ever. Still, I’m grateful that she will move for us.
“Nekomiya, I ask for recovery magic. The top priority is Zeku.”
“Class rep? You’re all bloody though?”
“I can still last. Goubayashi, you’ve just returned but I’ll have you work.”
“No problem. I came back for that reason.”
Goubayashi crossed his arms without making any slight movement, but the energy rising from his body was increasing its momentum all the more.
“You got bigger, Ryuzaki.”
And trying to hide his embarrassment, he mention the thing about Ryuzaki’s body.
“They’re coming!”
At the same time Kensaki shouted, four of the hydra heads plunged at this place all at once.
“Kagoi and Kensaki, Okumura and Uozumi, each group takes one!”
After promptly giving out instructions, Ryuzaki fiercely bit at one of the attacking head. Similarly, Goubayashi also caught one of the heads with both his arms. Gofunkawahara instructed the goblins to be ready for the surprise attack of the last snake head.
Immediately after that, Ryuzaki saw Goubayashi, who was right beside him, took an unthinkable action.
“HAAaaaa……————!”
Goubayashi suppressed the head with one log-like arm and then converged the golden energy rising from his body into the other free arm. The energy compressed in his right arm was emitting radiance quite like the sun. That scene burned very strongly into the view on the deck of the heavy cruiser branch school covered with fog.
“Fuun!!”
The moment he struck with that right arm, that energy exploded. The hydra head that Goubayashi was in charge of easily scattered away whether that fist did touch it or not, the impact resulting from that shook the heavy cruiser branch school. The after-effect of that explosion attacked the other heads as well, and naturally, Ryuzaki had also stumbled a few steps forward.
There was one of Goubayashi’s favorite motto, . Ryuzaki, as his friend, intended to grow without deviating from that statement, but it seemed that the same thing applied to Goubayashi as well.
Can we defeat it?
Ryuzaki let his nails bite deeply into the hydra head and drove in a breath a point-blank range. The hideously burnt head that was suffering in agony, was captured in his big jaws and crunched.
Goubayashi turned to assist Okumura and Uozumi who were struggling. Kneading the golden fighting spirit, he kicked and smashed the hydra head that the two people were pinning down with utmost effort. With almost the same timing, Kensaki lopped off one head with her prided single slash.
One left. Ryuzaki glared into the fog but the valley was quiet to the point of being ominous. ∗Zuru, zuru∗, sound like something crawling could be heard from starboard of the heavy cruiser branch school, and simultaneously, the hydra heads abandoned on the deck slipped and fell as if they were being dragged by something.
“Feel like it ran away.”
Nekomiya with her cat ears stretching tensely muttered.
“In the direction of our route?”
“It’s okay. There doesn’t seem to be anything.”
“I understand. Gofunkawahara!”
Ryuzaki shouted while Nekomiya rushed up to him and healed his wounds with her 《Shadow Heal》.
“Ou!”
“Inform Kuremori. Engine at maximum, we’re leaving this valley at once!”
“Aye aye, class rep!”
After suddenly taking a gesture similar to a salute, Gofunkawahara ran out of the deck.
Ryuzaki canceled his 《Complete Dragonization》 and confirmed his wounds again. A part of his scale peeled off and blood was flowing. But well, injuries about this much was a usual thing. Not that it didn’t hurt but there were many things more important than that, and Nekomiya was also healing his wounds at the moment.
Ryuzaki looked at Goubayashi’s appearance. It wasn’t just Ryuzaki alone. Kensaki and Okumura group, as well as Zeku were also staring at the man who had returned.
“It seems that a good deal of different things have happened.”
Said Goubayashi.
“Ahh, there were a lots of fun things, as well as sad things.”
“Really…”
Crossing his arms, Goubayashi silently nodded. While Kensaki put away her sword, she timidly asked.
“Goubayashi, Kaoruko is…?”
“Ahh, there are many things to talk about, including that matter. Let’s organize our information for a moment.”
“Really, Washio is…”
When he heard that story, Goubayashi firstly closed his eyes and then offered a silent prayer. What kind of deep emotions were conflicting behind that expression? It was something that couldn’t be understood just by looking from outside.
For the class that were moping around because of Washio’s dead, the news that Goubayashi had returned was completely a good news. There was also the fact that the news was proclaimed by Nekomiya and Kaminari with a little dramatization about his activity on the deck, and the result was that the fear of death inside some of the students’ hearts were considerably suppressed.
Several students came to see the information exchange with Goubayashi that was being held in the dining room.
This side had mountains of things they had to report to Goubayashi. Not just Washio’s death, but also about the kidnapping of Kogane, the contact with humans. The thought that the class was harboring, how they started to move, and then being shaken.
Goubayashi who was listening to the story seriously, only interposed when it came to the matter of the red winged devil.
Goubayashi said that he and Kaoruko had battled against a monster called Red Wing several times and they were chasing after it. And as the story progressed, they came to the conclusion that the monster called Red Wing seemed to be a Pawn of Blood of Red Moon.
That guy was no more than a mere Pawn, and the appearances of a Knight and a Bishop were also confirmed, finally, when the story reached the point where Washio was killed by the aforementioned Bishop, as expected, even Goubayashi would opened his eyes wide in shock.
So, speaking of the classmates’ concern, it was about Kaoruko.
What on earth happened to Kaoruko who should be traveling together with Goubayashi?
“Rather than getting separated, I let her escape during the battle with Red Wing.”
Goubayashi said that he had been inflicted a serious injury by the Pawn, then he was sheltered and received medical treatments by the human knights for about 10 days, after which he couldn’t see Kaoruko anywhere.
“According to Utsurogi and Rin’s story, the only one being kept captive by Red Moon is Kogane.”
“She has also faced her inner self and acquired new power just like me, so she shouldn’t be caught if it’s just running away.”
That was an overly optimistic observation, but with the current situation, it would be much better to think that way instead of lamenting based on uncertain informations.
And then Goubayashi said that he and Kaoruko had agreed beforehand on the route to take in case of separation. Kaoruko, using her Phase 2 ability to enlist monsters as allies starting with imps, should be heading east.
“That’s right, Goubayashi.”
Ryuzaki said so just as the first stage of the story was completed.
“Mu?”
While drinking the herbal tea that was served in a teacup, Goubayashi raised his face.
“Tomorrow, we’re going to hold a funeral for Washio.”
“That’s important. Hold a memorial service for the deceased and say farewell. It’s a necessary ceremony in order for humans to move forward.”
“Goubayashi, won’t you chant sutra?”
“Mu…”
Putting the empty teacup on the table, Goubayashi’s facial expression became a little confused.
Goubayashi was a son of a temple. I’m not saying I’m a young monk outside the gate, but since I made an effort in ascetic training together with my father and older brothers, I should be able to roughly chant sutra? Thought Goubayashi.
“I can certainly recite sutra from memory to some extent…, but it may not be the same sect as Washio’s.”
“That’s fine. I think form is important in these kinds of thing.”
This is not a joke.
Don’t use the deceased to play make-believe.
There might be people who would rebuke them for doing things in this way. However, Ryuzaki thought that a «funeral make-believe» is necessary.
We are humans, we may return to our world someday. In order not to forget that thought, Ryuzaki had been maintaining various forms of conducts inside the class. Things such as «class meetings in a different world», the name of «heavy cruiser branch school». And then treating Selena and Zeku as transfer students, assigning attendance numbers to them, all of these were done with that intent in mind.
Now that Washio had died, the most important thing was to send him off as «humans». This was for everyone in the class to accept Washio’s dead and bid farewell to his soul. For that sake, he wanted to arrange the outward appearance as much as possible.
“I see.”
It was unknown how much he understood such an intension of Ryuzaki, but Goubayashi nodded with his arms crossed.
“The most necessary thing in mourning for the deceased is condolence. My sutra chanting is clumsy but if it can become an impetus for gathering condolences of the class, I shall undertake this task.”
“Thank you, Goubayashi.”
“Speaking of which, what is Utsurogi doing?”
Goubayashi asked after looking around and round the dining room. Naturally, the figure of Utsurogi Kyousuke wasn’t there.
“That guy should have help you after I was gone. I want to thank him.”
“Utsurogi now is a little…”
Ryuzaki averted his gaze a little.
He heard a little about what happened on the deck from Gofunkawahara. Kyousuke went out to the deck in order to help with the battle and tried to combine with Rin but it appeared that he couldn’t do it. Starting with Washio’s death, various troubles had occurred and caused Kyousuke to receive mental damage, or so it seemed to Ryuzaki, but he didn’t understand it accurately.
Thinking about what to say after this, he was hesitating whether it was okay to inform his various classmates in this place. As Ryuzaki was pondering a little, Sugiura who guessed the situation clapped her hands ∗pan pan∗, 『yes yes, since everyone is a hindrance, let’s go out—!』 , while saying so, she clear out the people.
Sighing, Goubayashi started the story again.
“Goubayashi, what do you think is Utsurogi’s character?”
“It is very similar to yours.”
Goubayashi easily said.
“As for difference, you have self-confidence while Utsurogi don’t. It looks like that to me.”
“How should I put this, most recently, when I look at Utsurogi, I become terribly anxious, or should I say…”
Kyousuke prioritizes others way too much, said Ryuzaki.
He had been feeling a sense of discomfort from Kyousuke for quite some time. Although he might have been worrying too much but Kyousuke’s individuality was too thin.
“There are people who have no individuality, there are also people who prioritize others too much. The problem Utsurogi is carrying doesn’t seem very special to me.”
“Really!”
“That’s right. Anyone would have their worries. We’re in our puberty.”
No way, I didn’t think that the word puberty would come out from Goubayashi’s mouth. Ryuzaki grandly spout out his tea and choke.
“…Did I say something strange?”
“N–no, sorry…”
“Perhaps there is a cause. Depending on that cause, even if the problem itself is nothing special, its root maybe deep. The problem is treated as serious more than it actually is and things will remain as is. Especially for the type like Utsurogi.”
Is this guy really the same age as me? This question that Ryuzaki always felt whenever he talked to Goubayashi, once again appeared inside his mind. But even that thought was nostalgic now.
That reliable man, Goubayashi had come back. But unlike before, he didn’t have any intention to put all the burdens of the class on this guy’s shoulders any more. The excessive work could be done with everyone little by little. Even this guy wouldn’t be able to take on all of that burden alone.
With this, the burden that Utsurogi had been carrying up until now would become one less.
Therefore, he wanted Utsurogi to show a lively figure again if it was possible. Watching Ryuzaki looking up at the ceiling, Goubayashi laughed.
“Ryuzaki, you have become bigger after all.”
For Pete’s sake, even while answering such, he was honestly happy about those words.
To be continued…
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