novelShovelers Unmatched / Maskless but Driver
| ← Ch.134 | Ch.136 → |
Translator: Reflet
「He'll be fine even in that. 」
「Seems that way. 」
Emerging from the flames, Taiyou dusted off his hems, answering Youran's words. Without any ash to be wiped off, it was more of a casual action.
「You've already somewhat quit being a human, haven't you? Coming out of the flames and all that. 」
「When all's said and done, I suppose I'd be a phoenix?」
Taiyou said with a silly face, but Youran didn't bite.
She wasn't the type to like these sorts of banter.
「Honestly, its performance is too sharp and is difficult to handle. 」
「But in the right hands it has a lot of value. They say that rather than assembling the almighty, it's better to dispatch the right people in the right places. 」
「You do seem like you'd like that. 」
「My subordinates are all people who are hard to deal with after all. 」
Youran laughed depreciatively.
While Taiyou who had returned from the flames was exchanging that sort of conversation with Youran, Leticia widened her eyes at the sight.
Taiyou noticed that, thinking "come to think of it that's the natural reaction", secretly giving a bitter smile.
「What's wrong?」
「A-Are ya...the Terminator or somethin'?」
「I have thought that if I had that refined voice then life would be good. 」
「......」
Leticia was speechless. The blonde haired blue eyed girl looked strange, not bothering to close her opened mouth. Just a moment ago she had the awe-inspiring expression of one prepared for death, and Taiyou found that gap to be so weird.
「There's another one coming. 」
「Move. 」
He severed the remaining half of the car into half again, lifting it up. He aimed it at the pursuing rockets flying in and threw it. This time an explosion occurred at a location separated from the three of them, ending with a bomb blast enough to disturb their hair.
「This is absurd. 」
「And what will we do from here on?」
「Let's keep using these. 」
Taiyou said, lightly tapping the remaining one-fourth of the car frame that contained only the front wheels and driver's seat.
「What'll you do with that?」
「I'm going to do what I did before once more. Go ahead and ride. 」
「You mean inside?」
「Yeah. 」
「Ride in this condition...?」
「Well I'm riding. 」
Just like she said, Youran preceded and got in the passenger seat. Having only two tires, the car leaned backward, but she still managed to somehow get in.
「See, you come quickly too. 」
「......Can I believe ya?」
「You don't believe your close friend?」
「Yer unfair...」
Leticia gave a light sigh, following Youran into the passenger seat. And with Taiyou's instructions, the solid doors were closed, and glances questioning what to do next came from beyond the glass.
Youran was the same. She did believe in him, but her eyes showed interest in what he would do.
Taiyou grinned, picking up the car body that had been tilting.
It was a hunk of metal remains, but to rephrase, there were still tires on both sides, and it was a wheeled vehicle that had stopped working as a machine.
Taiyou knew something it resembled very well. He had once used it and it closely resembled something he had used to drive with his brides.
Trailer.
The only difference was that at that time, he had pulled it, but this time he would instead push it.
「Uwooooh!」
Letting out a war cry, Taiyou pushed the car body, kicking the ground with all his might. It was inconvenient having no handle, but it wasn't a big problem to Taiyou as of now.
The pushed car began to move, running along the public road.
「Hey, am I dreamin'?」
「Unfortunately, it's reality. Because he really is like that. 」
「......This is the point where ya'd be surprised, typically. 」
「I'd be surprised if a baby suddenly grew wings and flew, but after something like that, seeing a baby skip crawling and start walking, I might say "That's impressive" and that would be it. 」
「But yer talkin' 'bout a baby coming up in the earth. Ya sure this guy ain't the son of some great devil king?」
While the two girls were conversing about that, Taiyou thought to himself as he pushed the car.
His skill, long distance nullification, could apparently nullify the explosion fumes caused by the rocket ammunition. He was able to confirm that upon pushing the back part of the car into the rocket ammunition earlier. Also, when he had thrown the one-fourth portion of the car and caused shock waves, his ability had gone into effect, and though it had blown into him, not a single hair on his head or cloth of his cuff had yielded.
But, as expected, it did affect other humans. He had certainly seen Youran's twintails and Leticia's blonde hair yielding to the shock wave.
「If it's a handgun then I can stop it, but bombs are no good. 」
He muttered while pushing the car.
If he was on his own then neither of them would be an issue, but right now he had to protect the two girls.
If it was a handgun that fired in a line then he could just move in front of the fire, but if it was an explosion that caused a shock wave face then he could not perfectly defend against it. It came down to either largely avoiding such a situation or shooting it down from a remote location and making it explode.
With that as a precondition, he set to imprint ideas into his consciousness regarding their next actions.
「Hey hey, who exactly are ya?」
Leticia suddenly asked.
「A gamer and high school student. That's it. 」
Taiyou played dumb. The extent in which someone could accept Hera's appearance after genuinely seeing her was different for Leticia, who couldn't see/wasn't seeing her, so he felt it was best to play dumb.
「In what world is there a high school student like that?」
「According to a certain person, it's only one in a hundred million. 」
He recalled what Hera had said to him when they met. The conversation at the time was weird, and a smile appeared on his mouth.
「And, are you still doing that training?」
「Training?」
「Wearing a jacket, discarding it, picking it up and wearing it again. That training. 」
「What are you, Jackie-Chan!?」
「Or opening and closing windows. 」
「Wasn't it wiping them!?」
「There was that time, yeah. 」
Taiyou smiled, remembering Youran's words that night.
Right before they infiltrated the facility, what he did in order to raise his level even if slightly.
Take off the jacket, then put it on.
Open the window, then close it.
Both of those actions were meaningless to regular humans, but for Taiyou they were actions to raise his power experience points.
And it also had another meaning.
At that point in time it didn't have any kind of meaning, but as of now it was different.
――Memories.
Memories with Youran. Memories existing between the two of them and only with them.
「......」
「......」
Silence fell over the mobilizing half-broken limousine.
Their eyes met each other, gazing.
Taiyou had something he wanted to ask her, something he wanted to say.
That was the next objective for coming to this????island, but as of this moment, the order of precedence had been swapped.
His eyes were no longer looking at anything but her.
And Youran as well――
「Two and one is two――Two and two is four――Two and three is six――」
All of a sudden, Leticia began reciting the multiplication table.
It was so abrupt and cryptic.
But on the contrary that was a good thing. Taiyou and Youran quickly snapped out of it, and the atmosphere that was developing between the two of them flew off at once.
「W-What are you saying all of a sudden?」
「Huh? It ain't nothing. I'd just been skipping out on my studies so I'm reviewing, is all. Three and one is――」
She said, then beginning the three's.
It was certainly something, and it was clear that she was insinuating.
But Taiyou as well as Youran couldn't say anything. After all, they had created that atmosphere without discerning the situation.
「Huh? Ya ain't gonna reflect on what ya did?」
「I will not! And there wasn't even anything to reflect on in the first place!」
「Welp, go 'head and do it slowly later. I'm Japanese, but even I can read the air. 」
「――Ngh!」
Youran's face turned red, letting out an inaudible groan. She wanted to retort but understood that no matter what she said it would be digging her own grave, so she couldn't say anything.
Taiyou was the same.
Averting his eyes from Leticia who had started to relax, continuing to push the car silently.
The presence of those behind them gradually got further away, and he thought they would be able to completely throw them off at this rate.
「Stop!」
「――Ngh!」
Reacting to Youran's yell, Taiyou grabbed the car body that he was pushing, stomping his feet into the ground and putting on the brakes. The soles of his shoes had been worn down by the great force, but he somehow managed to stop it.
He didn't even need to ask what was wrong. Raising his head, he soon understood the reason for Youran's yell.
Ahead of the road, a helicopter was flying.
「That's an armed helicopter, isn't it?」
「Jeez, it just never ends. 」
「Hey, this is your fault, you know? Because if you hadn't come then you wouldn't have had your life targeted. 」
「Is that the way you talk to a close friend who came to save you?」
「Hey you, dump this girl in that cesspool over there. That way this attack will cease. 」
「If anythin' you should leave this girl here. If they capture her alone then that'll be enough to save the two of us. 」
「No no, come on everyone...」
Taiyou made a strained laugh.
「So what'll we do?」
「Nothing but observing their approach o'course. There are even people getting off like SWAT or something. 」
Just as Leticia had said, men in special corps outfits were using the rope one by one descending the helicopter.
「True...Maybe we should get out of the car. 」
「Right. 」
The two of them said, opening the door and getting out of the car. Taiyou stepped forward so as to protect said girls.
Taiyou firmly gripped the shovel, and a reliable sensation transmitted.
He felt that as long as he had this, he could do anything.
Right when he was starting to think of possibly even launching a preemptive strike...
「It's a visit from Maid-chan. 」
「Michiyo......」
He could hear the voices of the two girls from behind. Unlike the lighthearted banter from earlier, these were tones with weight to them.
As he looked, he certainly did see one maid disembarking from the helicopter.
| ← Ch. 134 | Ch. 136 → |