Shiinamachi-senpai no Anzenbi Volume 2 Chapter 2 Part6

【Episode 2: Heart and Heart, Part 6】

If I still had my heart, then I think it would be pounding violently from the sheer terror of the scene that was right before my eyes.

The inside of the bathtub was filled with countless human legs and feet, and piles of heads and torsos were stacked on top of each other in the corners of the room. But the most terrifying thing about all of this was the fact that all those dismembered limbs looked familiar to me.

Silky-smooth, chestnut colored hair styled into the twin-tails, small chest and overly pet.i.te frame… there was no mistaking it. All of those corpses… they looked just like Yugao-chan!

… No way. Don’t tell me!

「These are all dolls, huh?」

Thanks to Shiki’s calm comment, I was able to regain my composure. Upon closer inspection, she was right. The 「skin」 of all those body parts was too smooth and beautiful to belong to a living being, and there was no cuts or blood marks on them either.

「Dolls? But why…?」

But before I could finish my sentence, I felt something move at the very edge of my field of view. Without thinking, I grabbed Shiki by the waist and jumped away in an attempt to dodge an incoming attack.

*Hyuu!*

A leg was thrown towards where we were standing just a second ago. A whole leg, up to the knee. As if it was a javelin, it crushed into the marble floor and got stuck in it.

「Who’s attacking us?!」

I fixed my gla.s.ses and looked all around us, but there was no sign of other people no matter how hard I tried to spot them. No movement, breathing, smell or sound that could point me in the right direction. If anything, I could feel multiple ominous gazes crawling all over me.

「Can you find the one controlling those corpses, Monjiro?」

Shiki asked while I still held her firmly with my arm.

「I know I can, since I’m in a state where my emotions are not getting in the way, but I’m not feeling anything!」

「What about that secret move of yours, 『Code Calvariae』 was it? Can’t you use it only partially so that your soul won’t disappear? That would be great, you know? And I even have name for it: 『Little Calvariae』.」

「It certainly sounds way cuter than 『Killer Machine Mode』, but unfortunately that’s out of the question. I’m not like S*suke and his Curse Mark, you know? 『Code Calvariae』 is a one way ticket!」

「Then we just have to break through.」

「Thanks for stating the obvious!」

We had to leave this bathroom as soon as possible, but the parts of the corpses were still being flung at us so I had my hands full with just dodging them. After one such dodge my foot slipped on the wet floor, so in order to protect Shiki from the impact I twisted my body in such a way that my back hit the floor pretty hard. And at that moment, more severe arms came flying towards us from the enormous bathtub.

「As I thought, we’re dealing with a 『Puppet Master』 here, but whoever he is, he must be exceptionally powerful to control this many corpses at the same time.」

Even during such a commotion, Shiki was still able to calmly a.n.a.lyze the situation. If I remember correctly, a puppet master is someone who controls puppets or objects by using wires, but that was not the case here, since all those limbs were just flying towards us like missiles that had a will of their own. Those were not the motions that could me imitated by using wires. Instead of moving like normal limbs, they were all just coming straight towards us. Although, that might’ve just been a feint meant to deceive us, and they could actually move like normal human limbs. For now, avoiding getting hit by any of them should be my top priority, and coming up with a counter strategy a close second.

*Hyun!* *Hyun Hyun Hyun!*

Each and every limb projectile was equivalent in speed to that one knife that Kuhoh threw towards me and senpai the other day. And this time we didn’t even have any weapons to defend ourselves with, and honestly, can you really blame us for it? For once, we thought we were going on a perfectly normal summer break trip, and for twice, if we were to have any encounter with the authorities and they found anything even remotely dangerous on us, there’d be no easy way for us to weasel our way out of the unpleasant consequences. So yeah, dodging was our only option here. But if I only avoid enemy attacks, they’ll wear me down sooner rather than later, however, a mindless dash towards the exit was not an option, as we would only end up caught in the crossfire of flying arms and legs.

「Our situation looks hopeless no matter how you look at it.」

Shiki was right. I might’ve avoided every attack successfully up until now, but because of that the entire bathroom was badly damaged. The ceiling and the walls were full of cracks and holes, but fortunately enough there was no water gushing out of any of them, so the pipes must still be intact. At least the footing won’t get any worse than it already is.

「But I think I found a way for us to get out of this mess. Monjiro, when the next attack comes your way, please avoid it by jumping into the bathtub.」

「Jump in there?! But if I do that, then… okay, I trust you with this, Shiki.」

If we do that, our movements will be heavily restricted and we’ll have no way to avoid incoming attacks, but now that I said I trust her, there was no turning back for me!

*HYUBA!!!*

I jumped towards the water surface as another set of limbs came flying towards us at an even greater speed than before. There was no stopping now that my body was already set into motion, all I could do was to try and bend it slightly, but even then, I think we’re still going to get hit.

「Try not to move around too much, Monjiro. I don’t want to hurt you with my wires.」

*ZAPAN!*

Just as we were hitting the water, I heard a sharp sound and saw wires extending from each of Shiki’s fingers. That was her very own method of fighting that utilized the properties of her Gift, 『Demonic Gift Satori』. By enhancing all of her senses with it, it was possible for her to manipulate the wires with surgical precision and use them to both attack and seal the enemy’s movements.

She moved her fingers with an astonishing speed as I held her in my arms, and her wires enveloped the limbs that were about to pierce into us, but of we were to avoid the rest, we had to get out from under the water as soon as possible, or else we won’t be able to move fast enough because of our wet clothes.

「Puha!」

「Ghaaa!」

Immediately after we got our heads from under the water and catched our breaths, I fixed my gla.s.ses with one hand while my other hand kept Shiki close to me the entire time.

*BASH!*

Then, with a loud rattling noise, the torsos and heads piled up in the corner of the room were blown away by the wires. And underneath all of them, we saw an astonished face.

「We’ve found you, Yahata Yugao.」

「Shiki… sama…」

Apparently she hid herself under all those body parts by concealing her presence. But now that she was out in the open, there was no doubt about it, it really was her. Those big, round scared eyes and that shaking voice, they were the same as when she was killing me. She looked at me with glossy eyes, then at Shiki, then at the whole mess around the bathroom, and then at the two of us again.

「I’m… I’m so sorry!」

And she ran out of the bathroom with tears in her eyes.

「Ah!」

We have to go after her! That’s what I initially thought but going after her in our current condition can prove quite problematic.

「Remote control… no, it’s better to say that she can take control of objects and operate them automatically.」

Shiki a.s.sessed the situation calmly within my arms. Her wet Yukata was totally disheveled, and was sticking into her slender body, revealing a lot of her fair skin. And if I remembered correctly she said she was not wearing anything underneath it, so that means that by holding her around the waist and chest areas the entire time…

「Uhm, Shiki…?」

「I won’t mind it if you want to have your way with me right here, right now, you know? The circ.u.mstances make it kind of exciting, actually.」

I might’ve mentioned this already, but that’s not the issue here. The positioning of my hands was. I know I did this with no ill intentions in mind so technically I’m in the clear, but the fact remained that I basically groped her small yet elastic and springy chest this entire time. Not to mention her waist… what am I even saying? I thought all of my emotions were supposed to be dulled?!

「I know that you’re excited by the current situation, and when you’re excited, you can turn into a real beast, and I’m fine with it. If you want to use me to calm your boiling desires down, then do so, I’ll be more than happy to help you.」

「You really mean that?」

「Yes I do.」

「You know what? I my heart was in its rightful place right now I think it would be beating the fastest it ever was in my entire life. After all, right now I’m having my first ever experience with touching a girl’s precious parts directly, and its all thanks to you. Thank you, Shiki, I will treasure this memory in my mind forever.」

Man that was awkward as h.e.l.l to say! It’s a good thing that Shiki is… wait, what?! Why is she of all people getting red in the face now?!

「… I’m happy that I made such a precious memory with you. It’s embarra.s.sing for me as well, but I’ll try to bear with it, so we can stay like this a little longer if you want to…」

「Thank you, and sorry.」

「…Is what I would like to say, but it looks like a few pests are insistent on not allowing us to have our cliched romantic comedy moment. I’ll get rid of them now, so just give me a minute, ok?」

She reached forward with her hand, and only moved her fingertips ever so slightly.

*BASH!*

With a slashing noise, the limbs that began blocking the way out of the bathroom were mercilessly cut into tiny pieces.

「I’ll leave them to you then. And remind not to ever make you angry.」

「I’ll be sure to do that.」

I let go off Shiki and dashed towards the exit. Some of the limbs came flying at me, but before they could even reach me, Shiki was disposing of them quickly and efficiently.

「Shiki…」

*SLASH!*

「Don’t turn around now!」

「Ah, all right.」

Arriving at the door, I wanted to turn around to thank her one last time, but that almost resulted in my head being cut off from my shoulders, because right now Shiki’s yukata was sticking to her body so much that I would be able to make out every little detail if I had the chance to stare at her long enough. Which I regretfully didn’t.

「You’ll thank me later when you get your heart back, Monjiro. And then we’ll be able to resume our little groping romantic comedy fun right from where we stopped.」

「Heh, I’m looking forward to it.」

I gave her the smuggest reply I could think of.

「Yes, me too.」

As I made my way out of the bathroom, I couldn’t help to think that just now, Shiki’s voice was filled with uncharacteristic amount of emotions: embarra.s.sment, anger, happiness, and even antic.i.p.ation.

I only wished I could see what kind of expression she was making when she was saying all those things, but if I did, I might’ve ended falling for her then and there.