Shiinamachi-senpai no Anzenbi Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part2

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist      Editor: Weasalopes

【Episode 3: Tension and intention, Part 2】

She looked at me with her blue eye, but at the same time I could feel that her golden one was also looking at me as if it was searching for something.

「…It's nothing, forget it. As I was saying, it'd be best if we stay together to avoid any accident, like you tripping and making contact with the barrier, or you getting torn apart by its defensive mechanisms…」

「All right, I get it, I get it.」

Speaking of the barrier, Shiki somehow managed to find her way inside it. Did she had to break through? Or perhaps she was also already inside it when it activated? Or perhaps…

「Uhm, you said that this barrier thing is not complete, right? So is it correct of me to think that there are still some holes in it which we can use to slip through? And would senpai and the others be able to do the same?」

「At the current moment it wouldn't be a problem to them. Should Kaguya find herself in danger, she'll be able to make her escape.」

「If that's the case, then can we go back to her?」

「Of course. That is the recommended course of action.」

That's a relief to hear. I was worried that Yugao-chan might use the situation to attack Shiinamachi-senpai when she was trapped in her room with no means of escape, but knowing that she, Fujisato and Kuhoh still had an option to avoid confrontation with her made me feel at ease. Finding Yugao-chan was still our top priority but going back to senpai and exchange information with her was just as important.

「But we need to hurry if we want to do that. Once the holes in the barrier begin to close, it's going to connect to another world and summon its creatures to deal with anything within the barrier that the caster deems as a threat, and as strong as Fujisato Yuika and Kuhoh Nagi are, I'm afraid that they might give them a run for their money.」

Part of that sentence contained a combination of words that I just couldn't ignore.

「Did you just say 「creatures from another world」?」

「Not word to word, but yes. Did I stutter?」

So she's serious, and it sounds like something really dangerous.

「Just like the words imply, the barrier will summon creatures, or monsters if you'd like. I don't know exactly which ones, but there are various kinds of them out there, and all of them extremely dangerous: the ones that can kill with their sight, touch or with special abilities.

「Wait just a G.o.d*mn minute Shiki, are you for real?!」

「Is it too hard for you to wrap your head around such concepts like 『Another World』 or 『Summoning』, Monjiro?」

So that's what Yahatas and Yatonos want to do? Use some isekai'd (TL Note: Transported from another world, in case somebody didn't know) monsters to fight with other Nightkin?! It would seem that people are much more afraid of them than I have initially antic.i.p.ated.

Is Yugao-chan really going to go to such lengths to obtain immortality for herself? Or could it be that she wants to give it to someone else? If the latter is actually the case, then that person must be someone really important to her.

「Hey, Shiki, do you know why Yugao-chan wants…」

「To force a change in her current world, most probably. And honestly, I can't say I don't understand why she wants to do it.」

「You do, Shiki?」

That was not a statement I expected to hear from her, so I looked at her in surprise.

「Yes Monjiro, I do, and it's something that you're better off not knowing. All you need to know is that we need to stop her as soon as possible.」

Shiki's eyes were piercing me with a serious gaze. Why does she care about stopping Yugao-chan so much. I thought that she wanted to do so because she's her family, but now I felt as if the last, most important piece of the puzzle was still unknown to me.

「I'll stop her for sure, just like I promised. But in order to do that, we cannot waste any more time here. Isn't there some way for us to reach Yugao-chan faster?」

「Maybe there is, but this whole s.p.a.ce is still unstable…」

「If anything comes our way, I'll deal with it.」

I touched my gla.s.ses with my hand. Shiki, Yugao-chan, Asagao. Tonight, they were all putting themselves in harm's way for what they believe in, so it's only natural for me to do the same.

「As you wish. I'll search for her with my threads, but you have to promise me that you'll save as much energy as possible.」

And then she gently grabbed my hand with hers while she released countless barely visible threads from one of her hands.

「You hear me? I won't allow you to burden yourself any further.」

She told that to me with a pleading voice and worried eyes. As she firmly grabbed my hand.

Burden, huh? I guess she's right. I am already in the danger zone, so who knows what continuing to strain myself might do to me.

But in order to save Yugao-chan…

「I'm really lucky to have all of you by my side.」

Shiki's squeezed my hand even harder. The warmth that emanated out of it was so sincere and gentle, and at the same time strong like an inextinguishable flame enveloping my whole body.

「Yes, I'm the luckiest guy alive. I'm sorry, Shiki, and… thanks.」

「You can thank me by spending the entire night in bed with me.」

「That doesn't sound like a good idea, you know?」

「That'll be entirely up to you, Monjiro.」

I see, so Shiki's leaving the decision up to me. Hmm, what to do? Decisions, decisions ,decisions.

Whether I do it or not, that choice is probably going to have major consequences. By choosing to do it, I'll betray my feelings towards Shiinamachi-senpai and prove that Asagao was right to call me a man wh.o.r.e, but if I turn Shiki down, I might hurt her feelings and ruin our current relationship. If only there was another option, one that'd allow me to make both of them happy… but wait, there is!

「All right, I'm fine now, Shiki. Thank you for cheering me up.」

「So does that mean…?」

「I'll think about it.」

I took Shiki's hand in both of my hands and showed her my most sincere smile. That must've been the first time I've ever managed to surprise her, because she was staring at me dumbfounded, with her mouth slightly opened. It was quite cute.

「Oh, right, is… is that so? Then, when the time comes, I'll be in your care.」

「Likewise. Now then, have you found a safe route out of this barrier?」

「I did. The one that'll lead us safely to Kaguya's room.」

「Great. Let's go right ahead, we have a dangerous day to crush!」

If those monsters are really going to appear, they will probably target Lords and their Knights from the get go, so if we a.s.sume that Lords are higher on their priority list, it should be obvious they'll try to converge on Shiinamachi-senpai's and Fujisato's location. If that happens and we'll be forced to fight, we'll just have to make short work of them.

「When we ensure senpai's safety, we'll have to resume our pursuit of Yugao-chan immediately. Otherwise she might try to escape while we'll have our hands full.」

「She won't do it. I'm fairly certain that now that things escalated this far, she won't try to run or hide anymore. She might be timid and overly emotional, but when the situation calls for it she can be calm and composed. Looking at it from the logical standpoint, now she has the best chances of eliminating Kaguya, and she'll surely not miss such an opportunity.」

「And thanks to you knowing it, we'll be able to counteract her that much more effectively, while keeping me from pushing myself too far, just like you wanted. Two birds with one stone. All right, enough dilly-dallying, let us go to senpai and the others!」

「If that's the case, then hold onto me tightly. And feel free to cop a few feels if you feel like it.」

「I would've hold onto you anyway, but now you made it sound so needlessly indecent that I might just end up doing it at some point, and if that happens, I just want you to remember that I just took you up on your generous offer, so you can't accuse me of s.e.xual hara.s.sment afterwards, okay?」

「It won't count as hara.s.sment if you have my consent from the start.」

In order to leave the barrier safely, Shiki chose to carry the both of us by using her threads to create a platform that was suspended slightly above the floor. That way we can be sure that we won't touch anything that might trigger the otherworldly monsters to appear and attack us. The only part that I was still unsure though, was me having to hold onto her the entire time we stayed on the platform as it moved forward. I know we technically did something more extreme earlier in that bathroom, but that was the result of an accident, not my conscious actions. And I know that Shiki didn't mind that, in fact she seemed to like it quite a bit, but still! As it always is with her pervy shenanigans, I just don't know if she's serious or if she just enjoys teasing me that much. I'll have to talk to her properly about it once this incident is over.

「Go ahead Monjiro, hug the living daylights out of me and don't let go.」

「Alright, here I go.」

Feeling like I was doing something highly improper, I put my hands around Shiki's waist as delicately as I could.