Vol 1 Chapter 13 (2/2)

Nodding her head repeatedly, she continued,

“Like this, right?”

Just like in the manga, she was in a pose with both her arms crossed across her chest.

“No, like this.”

I took a ‘get[3]’ pose for Aika.

“…That’s different from the manga, isn’t it?”

“This is what you need to do. You’re not a commoner. You’re an ojou-sama, right?”

“I see. So that’s how it is?”

Easily believing me, she psyched herself up and a.s.sumed a ‘get’ pose.

“Next is the ‘ritual contract’, right?”

“That’s right.”

“…’O G.o.d of the beginning’…”

“Wait. That’s wrong.”

“Eh?”

“That was for the protagonist, you know? You should have your own ritual. Now then, close your eyes. You can hear it, can’t you? The voice from the depths of your heart.”

“…~~”

“O figure clad in thy golden garment.”

“O-O figure clad in thy golden garment.”

“Pointing towards the horizon.”

“Pointing towards the horizon.”

“With a twirl and a spin.”

“With a twirl and a spin.”

“Get.”

“Get!!”

“Now once again altogether!”

“O figure clad in thy golden garment, pointing towards the horizon, with a twirl and a spin, GET!!”

Now this was no more than an ordinary ‘get’.

The reminiscent performance of Aika echoed throughout the club room—and then it became deadly silent.

“…? Nothing’s coming out.”

“No, your avatar already came out.”

“Eh?”

“Ohhh! What an incredible aura! Certainly, you can’t see it’s figure, but it’s here!! You can’t feel that?! Really?!”

“N… Now that you mention it, I can feel it!”

“Right?! The name of your avatar is… um…”

“Did you just say ‘um’?!”

“Karuki!”

“Karuki?!”

“Yeah, it’s Karuki! To prepare for the final battle for the fate of the world it’s been continuously training in the heavens for 5,670,000,000 years. It’s ‘The Ultra M Soldier ・Karuki’! Ohhh, this is the strongest avatar, Aika!”

“R-Really?! Yay!”

“Now, let me see you use your power right away! Use the ability to stop time !”

Aika crossed both her arms and mustered her strength.

“Nuuuu~~~… !”

She forcefully she spread her arms out wide.

And then I acted as if time had stopped.

I stopped breathing, and nor did I blink.

“…!”

Aika noticed the abnormal event.

—Now then, what will she do?

“…Did I… really stop it…?”

Her eye’s blinked in surprise and she sidled up next to me.

“H-Hey.”

She lightly pushed my cheek.

And then—Aika’s gaze lit up right in front of me.

“Amazing! I’ve become an ability user!”

She celebrated with a ‘Hooray!’

Then she stood up and her arms were shaking in excitement. During that chance I blinked.

Aika looked back over here and guffawed.

“Uwa, what an incredible idiot! Stupid, stupid! Stupid commoner! Ufufu!”

…What the heck. I was wondering what she was going to do, but this isn’t cute at all (#^ω^).

Now then, I guess it’s about time to end this facade, I thought for a sec.

*flip*

Aika pulled up her skirt.

…?!

“Look, look!♪”

An inverted triangle with frills was swaying right in front of my eyes.

Aika happily displayed her panties while she looked down on me with eyes full of stupidity.

Feeling a slight breeze across my face, the situation spun out of control, it was a huge failure on my part.

c.r.a.p…

If I said something like ‘The truth is, I was just acting (teehee ☆)’ now, I’d become the victim in a murder case, no doubt.

“Ehehehe.”

Aika rummaged the top of my desk in high spirits and picked up a permanent marker.

So it’ll be that, huh? The standard ‘scribble on someone’s face’. Her creativity’s bottom.

“Alright. Let’s write ‘Ichijinsha’ on his forehead.”

Why the manga publisher’s——

With a *pop* she took off the cap and leaned over me.

Putting her hand out, she held my bangs up.

I felt the sensation of her soft fingers. Perhaps due to her high spirits, they felt a bit hot and sweaty.

Aika’s face soon came right before my eyes. She had a happy looking smile on.

Her lips… were a pink that looked slightly reddish.

I remembered. At the time when I first met this person, when she suddenly tried to kiss me—

…c.r.a.p. I wonder if I’m blus.h.i.+ng.

While I had kept worrying about things like that, I suddenly noticed that Aika’s movements had stopped.

It realized that her cheeks, which were slightly above my eye level, were dyed red… and she was staring down at me.

W-What now?!

She looked hard at me with a *hmph* written all over her face.

With the sharp smell of the ink lingering in the air, time seemed to stand still.

Aika touched her lips with her fingers and blushed even more.

What? Just what is it…?

While thinking that, my eyes felt like they were on the verge to dry out.

And—— suddenly she tilted her chin and lightly closed her eyes.

Then, as if some kind of small force was attracting her to me, her face was moving closer——

And then she opened her eyes.

“N-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“Oomph—?!”

I was slapped across the face and fell down onto the floor.

“…The h.e.l.l! Just where the heck did that come from?!”

“Eh? Why are you talking…?”

“H-Huh? Oh, why does my cheek hurt, I wonder? (monotone)”

While pretending I was slightly injured I also kept up the act as if time had resumed. If I’d get found out now, I’d surely get slapped real hard.

“Oh why, I wonder? (monotone)”

“Because I’ve slapped you!”

You really just do say anything that comes to your mind, huh?

“Hm, hm… I see now! The time stop limit must’ve been hit, huh! I’ll have to keep that in mind from now on!”

While her face was gleaming she nodded.

…Well, anyways, I could deceive her. That’s a relief.

And then I saw the permanent marker roll by, the one of which she’d taken the cap off.

“Aika, hold up for a sec.”

It’d be a pain if ink got on her clothes.

“Honestly, it’s no good to just leave it like that with the cap taken off, you know?”

Grumbling that, I picked up the permanent marker.

“What was that ‘Ichijinsha on forehead’ all about.”

“Huh?”

“Oh.”

…………Time stopped.

“You… How do you know about what I was going write?”

……Hah…

A smile showed on my face, similar to that of a veteran general who understood that he had had lost the battle.

“You… You’re kidding, right?! You have to be kidding me…!”

I clearly declared to Aika, who seemed to remember all she had done and turned as red as a tomato with her eyes tearing up,

“It was just an act. Sorry.”

I was viciously beat up.

Translator notes and references

[1]Might or might not be a reference to “Mahou Tsukai no Yoru”.

[2]Maybe a JoJo reference (スタンドバトル). At least googling it brings a lot of JoJo stuff up.

[3]The ‘gettsu’ pose is meant here. It’s a pose done by a famous j.a.panese comedian. It looks like this. His routine usually consists of some story leading up to a punchline, then he’ll jump and spin around in a circle, followed by a ‘gettsu’. It will be referenced quite a lot in the beginning of the series.

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