Volume 2 Chapter 3 (2/2)

”Yeah?”

”…Are you okay?”

The Class Rep asked me that

She had arrived at school beforeabout the Colosseum Even if she didn't knoher heart to know that Archenely show business

And since I had a vampire older sister and a zoht with that upperclassman because I was so furious about it all

And that

Even if I was saving the parrot, had shoving hi down after him been the only way? Really?

She may have had a clearer picture of me than I did

I smiled a little and answered

”I'et really bad, I'll discuss it with you”

”I see”

She did not ask anything more

The way she moved in and pulled back toonly a childhood friend could pull off

It may have been interrupted by so like norht, so those who didn't know about it seemed to just think I was late

In other words, the teachers wanted to avoid any trouble

Good or evil They were not going to judge et of bullying were both negative outcomes in their minds

It was a lot like how the classes were running like norh one of their students had been abducted

It was said you could see a wider world once you grew up, but that apparently did not apply to everyone So about the Colosseuet the students to listen

Part of that had to do with not knowing it was a real fight to the death Even if the host talked of cardiac arrest or retrieving the body, they would assume it was all just an act

But I still ground ether

I wished all the adults like that would just die Even after another decade passed, I would never becoe

And as I felt a squeezing in my stomach, my smartphone vibrated in my pocket

Was it Maxwell or the address Kuroyaiven me?

Both guesses rong

The small video chat screen was taken up by her

”Ha ha ha! I'hts!! Please feel free to use this video of the embodiment of coquettishness, Bunny Girl Karen-chan!!”

I stood my world history book up to hidetheir lunch early

In the next desk over, the Class Rep gave me a puzzled look as she copied the text on the blackboard into her notes, but I couldn't explain this one She was already erupting with anger fro a video chat with a hot wo would never go away!

So I was forced to whisper my end of the conversation

”(Why are you here!?)”

”Is that any way to greet e you the contact on that side We need to try to get along”

”I will provide you soo into this blind, do you?”

”(What proof do I have that data is real?)”

After all, this was the Bright Cross ere talking about They were about as far as you could get froe not to be suspicious

”Nooot to worry You have my word on this one I won't lie about information on your opponents Oh, I kno about this? If I break my promise, you can do whatever you ith hts”

”Bff!? …Cough, cough”

I spat out the contents ofthe attention of everyone in the classroo on the side of her glasses I was afraid of being told to go stand out in the hall, so I coughed to disguise what had happened

The blue bunny girl on the screen used her arether and accentuate her cleavage while she opened her eyes wide

…She'sfun of me! Dammit, I at least need to keep a mental snapshot of this for later!!

”Ah ha ha! But, but! I' We want all of the co as possible We want deathand ant both sides to be in a dead heat! So we'll give you all the information you need for that to happen”

”(How can you laugh about all this?)”

I kneas hopeless, but I asked a question that seemed to question her sanity

”(You know Archeneh and cry just like we do, don't you? These aren't just rumors; you've seen it for yourself, haven't you? Then how can you do so so evil?)”

It made no sense

Could so theht that Archeneirls like that when one was standing right in front of you?

I couldn't

There was no way I could

No ht or indoctrinated with, I would always end up thinking about how much it would hurt them and how sad it would make them It didn't matter hoerful a weapon they held and it didn't matter if I could pose any kind of a threat to an Archenemy I couldn't believe that anyone could so readily choose to attack those girls

Your hostility would normally shrivel up, wouldn't it?

You'd break at some point, wouldn't you?

Wasn't it exhausting to maintain all that malice?

Or was there so withhat you called ”nor toa s special

And yet that blue bunny girl was still s

That smile seemed somehow frozen in place

”Well, you see…”

”What would you say if I said I was a ht and narrow because of my belief in the infection sources we call Archenemies?”

I gasped

Her voice made me feel like a rusty knife had been stabbed into the center of my chest

”Just kidding! Ah ha ha! You should really seal away that kindness thatsomeone tells you Otherwise you won't survive the Colosseu with literal monsters”

The dried atmosphere was bloay in an instant

What was that?

Had she been telling the truth? Or was it a bluff et me to sympathize with her?

”You want to know about Itou Helen's next opponent more than about me, don't you?”

”(…If you want to tell h)”

”Ah ha ha! Suit yourself, you damn tsundere You're so cute Now, then Time for the announcement Who will be Itou Helen's next opponent!? Zazan!!”

She even made her own sound effects

…It was a real shame that someone so hot had to be an enemy

”Her opponent in Round 2 will be a fairy naives it her best shot”

…What?

A fairy?

”(Wait a minute What do you mean!?)”

”Ehh? I mean a fairy like the ones in children's picture books They're a pretty major Archenemy, but are you really not familiar with them?”

It was true that fairies were as well-known as vampires and zombies It was even said the victims abducted by fairies would lose their humanity and beco an Archenemy

But even so…

”(That's way too broad It's barely a hint! That couldfrom a palm-sized pixie to a non-humanoid unicorn!)”

”Of course it does This is the probleave you all the answers fro et that we can choose what inforive and what information we don't for our own benefit Besides, so to the fairy's side as well You'd be pretty mad if we told them all of her weaknesses, wouldn't you?”

That was a good point

And it confir to the other side But howthat was another source of concern

”Of course, an Archeneht can have its weaknesses researched and revealed fro consecutive battles is more than just an issue of stamina Ah ha ha!”

Dammit

This woman really does understand our Achilles' heel!!

I worked to stay cool and forcedmind to draw out as much information as I could

”(When does the next in?)”

”Non non Telling you that wouldn't be any fun Not knohat to a death row prisoner Otherwise executions would be the sale person and someone who killed 10 people, and hoould that be fair? Ah ha ha! Fro the pressure in your stoood!!”

”I'll tell you one thing The next stage will not be at Kukyou 1st Broadcasting” The blue bunny girl see ets the job done, but there are some people with unshakeable hearts like you Just to be safe, we aren't going to stay in one place”

Thatimprisoned

But that also ht Cross was afraid They weren't an absolute barrier If they screwed up, they could lose or be destroyed She had told me that herself

Yes

Just like when they had detected me and Maxwell and quickly left that vast subterranean facility

”Nohere exactly uesses, but we'll definitely surprise you Ah ha ha! That's all from the official PR mascot, Bunny Girl Karen-chan☆”

Our next opponent was a fairy

Her name was Hanesaki Minori

I hated acting based on inforirl, but that was all I had at the moment I made a mental note to seriously

”3 days and 3 nights, bunny costu store and buy soy drinks really help with that!”

”User, please tell me what exactly it is these preparations are for”

As I left school with new determination in my chest, Maxwell asked me an oddly cold question

I stuck the smartphone in the collapsible bike's GPS holder and set it to speakerphone

”Maxwell, check for any personal information on Hanesaki Minori”

”Sure She did indeed go o Her family submitted a search request It was treated as a normal case, so she was assumed to have voluntarily run away from home and no real search was performed”

I cliht on the pedals to move forward

”Any traces of the Bright Cross intervening?”

”Sure A detective fro on the case of his own volition, but he suddenly stopped There is no data suggesting why, but…”

”Pressure froher ups, huh? Dammit, that's only supposed to happen in dramas”

I didn't trust the bunny girl named Karen, but it was true that Hanesaki Minori sounded likely

assu they weren't so monstrous that they would make a completely unrelated person ”disappear” just to bait me

Maxwell found a photo of Hanesaki Minori on the ide SNS nairl with two unrefined braids The glasses were the salasses fro Class Rep She seemed to be a fairy Archene fro from an equine face

To be blunt, there was nothing there to suggest what kind of fairy she was In fact, she looked so normal I wasn't confident she was even an Archenemy

…It was possible she had the hardest ti that herself

”Sorry about the wait”

After arriving at thespot, a voice eventually called out to me

It was the surprisingly curvy girl with her long, long black hair forced inside a hat and her identity hidden by sunglasses and ato sneak around

It was the mermaid Archenemy named Kuroyama Hinoki

”I didn't think I was that late, but were you waiting long? You seee”

”No, you're fine Sorry”

I obediently bohile still sitting on my bike

”As I explained in the eirl named Hanesaki Minori She seems to be a fairy Archene from a palm-sized pixie to a non-humanoid unicorn Please help ure this out, it's hopeless”

”Fine by irl survive”

That settled it

But no matter what I said, there was not much I could do Texts on Archenee ed with the athered all the information on the internet about vaa 20 would be from dubious sources It wasn't uncommon to find a site that looked nicely academic, but to later find that the aduide

Thatall this to Kuroyama Hinoki the Mer library or used book store that was good for Archenemy information

We rode the collapsible bike together The soft ainst uideddistrict

This is…urp

Mixing reality with virtual reality was not a good idea, but ere near where I had beaten up that toy poodle zombie in the simulation

But…

”Surprised, aren't you? Walk just a bit into the shade and there's a used bookstore”

As Kuroyama Hinoki had said, alked into a narrow alley thatway off froe spices and tea leaves that (ht or the lingerie shop where Ayumi would buy some insane underhen she wanted to force herself to look more adult

I had heard on so that used bookstores tended to place their entrances where the setting sun could not get in because direct sunlight was bad for books, but it seeet damp if you took it this far

I stopped the bike and Kuroyaot down

”Yes, this is the place The Bizarre Shop This is the best place to find out about Archenemies, so keep it in mind”

She opened the door which did not fit its frame properly and entered the small half-tilted shop

After placing a chain lock on my bike, I hurried after her so as not to be left behind

Then my smartphone vibrated

I checked the screen to see the following e:

”Warning: The signal is weak I will likely be unable to provide full support from here on”

”What? Are you upset because I said I couldn't investigate this with a search engine?”

Again, don't bother sending an ellipsis e

I sighed and entered the used bookstore that seee

It was even smaller than it looked from the outside

It really was craet through the aisles There were also several heavy-looking cardboard boxes on the floor and on top of the bookcases and they were all stuffed full of books

I did not see a single cheap light novel orwas bound in leather A lot of them made me wonder if they used papyrus or parchment instead of actual paper lish, Gernize Was it Latin? Or e?

”Welcome Sorry about all the dust”

Instead of a proper register, there was only a calculator and a s there looked like she had been born to fit in such a small shop

And…

”H-hey, how much do these books cost? They all look like they must have markups for their rarity and would probably cost you all your New Year's h school There's only so much I can do”

”Heh heh The internet is generally free and can't be beat”

Shut up, Maxwell

Why do you sound so happy that your master is in trouble?

But Kuroyama Hinoki readily smiled

”We're free to read them here, so that won't be a problem”

”…Read these?”

I hesitantly looked to the bookcases

You aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I was reluctant to touch these old books with leather binding, gold lettering, and parche I was afraid I'd get in trouble for getting the oil froers on them

Yes

They seemed more like antiques or museum exhibits than mere books

But the irl readily pulled a book froh a book thicker than a phonebook that was protected by the kind of thin oil paper that covered the surface of a castella

”It would be weird to insist people buy a book costing tens of thousands of yen without touching it first That would just be asking for people to co it It's like a car dealershi+p The prices are so high that they have to offer a lot more before you make a deal That isn't always readily obvious when that stubborn old h,” she added ”More iht? This Hanesaki Minori girl looks just like a normal human, so she's probably a species that has a human appearance or one that can transform into a human You can see all the different species in this fairy encyclopedia, so isn't there any way to narrow it down further than that?”

”Hmm…”

The proble at all about Hanesaki Minori

Anyway…

”Well, if we don't have enough information, we'll just have to find so you around Reet to the next place”

”The next place?”

The lasses

”The library”

She had said it was a library with a lot of Archeneoat-horned deic circles drawn in blood covering the floor, or a building located in a gap between dimensions

But I ay off

”Wait, wait, wait This is the noro here to study before tests!! Or when that idiot Ayu to me about her summer homework!”

It was like asking about a really good hole-in-the-wall restaurant and being taken to the nearest gyudon shop Sure, it tasted good, but it wasn't what I wanted!!

But Kuroyae) chest

…Even though the place felt like a gyudon shop?

Was there a secret code word like ordering the gyudon ”soupy with extra green onions”? I skeptically followed the mermaid

”It is a normal library, but did you know there's a donated books section in the back? In other words, they have a bookcase full of the old books normal citizens have donated them”

I didn't really understand

It wasn't soht between two perfectly normal bookcases

It was chaos

It wasn't just about Archenemies There were books about the secret of Loch Ness, about the warriors of Atlantis who had crossed time and space, about the truth of Nostrada really It would be hard to divide the fact from fiction on this bookcase

”We see here Or maybe they moved here to be closer to real Archenemies”

Kuroyama Hinoki smiled bitterly as she introduced it all to me

”Anye are thankful The type of knowledge is a little biased, but it's useful What is a mermaid and what can one do? This is where I learned all that”

Oh, right

It wasn't just the fairy If we looked more deeply into witches, we could find more that Itou Helen could do

She had essentially been thrown into a fighting ga the instruction ed to button-uarantee there It was a lot like not knohat the different colored gauges and nuure it all out through trial and error Failure and defeat meant execution

”I'y and folklore at the university and research institutes, but the Bizarre Shop and the city library are the two primary places you can use without some kind of connection”

”I iine so”

I probably had less of a chance of knowing a folklorist than I did an idol I couldn't even iine what they were paid to do

”User, please tell me what your plans are”

”If we're going to find out what Hanesaki Minori's traits are, we need to knohat kind of fairy she is Maxwell, we only have her name and a photo How much can you find with that?”

”Sure As much as you need”

Kuroyaed

”Then are we just waiting for the results?”

”Of course not The next match could be tomorrow…or even today There's no time to waste Let's work ahead We need to make a list of all fairy species that look just like hu out which one she is can wait Once we learn sos about Hanesaki Minori - like if she doesn't eat food at night or is afraid of water - we should naturally find our answer”

The rest was a battle with text

I honestly felt like I asting tiical, but it felt like it wouldthis abnormality And that would let it win It was apparently iht of ht Cross had done

We used the Bizarre Shop and the normal city library

As soon as school let out, I rode my bike over and lost myself in the books until just before my curfew Once home, I pinned notes up on a corkboard, connected related ite, and recorded any ideas I had in a notebook I couldn'tas we could share our information via email, we could continue our research uninterrupted That had beco

”The Silky, a white maid that protects the ho that kidnaps only blonde children The Gruagach that appears soaking wet at your door on rainy days to test your kindness …There are an awful lot of fairies that look just like humans”

And all of theirls A lot of the children with the them vanish if you broke some rules

”All fairies are weak to…iron? To make sure a mischievous fairy doesn't enter your house, you just have to hang a U-shaped horseshoe over your front entrance Is that like silver weapons for Erika?”

The tricky part was how these occult books often included what the coside the simple facts For exa a cross out toward it …Including with the monsters that had existed in BCE ti If it was that simple, I doubted anyone would still be so afraid of them that all the different species had their own names If they could all be easily defeated with the exact sahost” or ”monster”

So was ”fairies and iron” a case like that?

It would be best not to just assume that kind of all-purpose method worked

”We call theins So, soions, and some are humans who became fairies…”

The used bookstore and the library weren't our only information sources

When at home, I did not hesitate to ask Erika and Ayu to do with the Bright Cross, but they still answered my questions

”The Colosseu theory is the same, there's one unwritten rule: the Five Battles Precipice”

”As you can probably i 5 consecutive battles in the Colosseu the line and will never reach the 6th battle The two of us are exceptions, so ere feared as statistical demons”

In other words, that was the limit

That would explain why the blue bunny girl had been giving me soas it was an intense battle where both sides were badly injured, the following Archeneht for that wound

I had siri off now that the ride had begun, so I could not let Itou Helen reach the solid wall of that 5th match That mean we only had the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th ht to the death that would wear down her life

If they had matches 4 days in a row, that meant ere out of time on the 4th day

That gave us at least half a week

Could we really stop the Colosseuht Cross? I was far from confident But I had to do it At the very least, there was no hope at all if I gave up

”Sure I have gathered a certain level of information on the fairy named Hanesaki Minori, so I have coistered with Private Elixir Girls High School Her acadee She does not stand out in her class and her na and SNS posts of the other students below the average rate This is only based on my analysis of those posts, but she seeirl with many love affairs and there are suspicions that she has been in relationshi+ps with other students and even teachers at the school They were all genius girls with a pro future or elite fe for certain Whether it is true or not, I can only say that girls schools have their own issues”

Elixir That h school division of Ayumi's middle school

And not standing out seemed at odds with all the ruine how people talked about someone like that

Ibecause my vision wavered so at my brain

I took some short breaks to hold that at bay, but I wanted to use all the ti

When I met Kuroya the hat, sunglasses, and mask set That seemed to make her stand out more, but it may have been like Ayumi's scent ritual If it helped her relax, I couldn't exactly take it away from her

She spread out a college notebook filled with pen and highlighter and explained

”If you're going to use the witch to her fullest, you should probably have her use the potions on the fairy as well as herself A powdered potion can be thrown at her in a s and an ointment can be thrown at her in a sun for an injection type, but who knows if they'd let her bring one of those in with her If she can make an antidote or vaccine for herself, she could also fill the entire bug cage with gas Maybe she could also rub the potion on a blade? Whatever the case, this looks really adaptable It can be long-, le enemy or the entire area around her Show Itou Helen this notebook and have her see what she can actually do Even if she thinks she can't do soh with one of our ideas”

I was also able to speak with Itou Helen

Not directly, of course Just like with the blue bunny girl, I had no idea where she was Once a day, I was allowed a short smartphone video chat at a predetermined time

But that was better than nothing

It let ht began

”Boo All you do is talk about Kuroya fine My body feels kind of heavy, but I'm probably just too nervous to sleep well”

We had worn ourselves down physically and ather a lot of information

And we used that to sort through everything

We had a college notebook containing a list of every fairy in that occult fairy encyclopedia that was identical to a human or could transform into one

And we coathered about Hanesaki Minori

We didn't need to find the answer right away

She was indistinguishable frolance It had likely been a surprise for her when she was taken away to the Colosseuht have been more shocked than anyone

So

She was not a Baobhan Sith that looked like a blood-sucking beautiful woman but had hooves

She was not a Skogsnufra that looked like a beautiful woe tree hole on her back

She was clearly not a headless Dullahan, a palle-horned Unicorn

”Hueniuses and elites…”

I divided up the infor to search by hand

It felt like carving down a large rock to find the speck of diamond hidden inside

I had started with several dozen candidates, but I soon found myself with only 2 or 3

The sense of acco down on ht there

But I had to give the answer first

Yes

I had found the answer!

”The Leanan Sídhe Isn't this it? She possesses people by falling in love with them and she's beautiful but can only be seen by the person she's possessing And in exchange for providing her lover with great talent and inspiration, she absorbs their life force and lifespan…until they…die…!?”

My head was spinning

Why hadn't I noticed it until now? Had I really arrived at this truth with only et this far? It had all gone too well The used bookstore, the library, all the information on Archenemies It was all too convenient

And this exhaustion

Our next opponent was a Leanan Sídhe

In exchange for great inspiration, that Archene to an early death

Then what if the weight bearing down on our bodies - yes, most likely on Itou Helen's too while she was trapped somewhere else - was hts?

The air-conditioned library was silent In that vast space which felt as dead and cold as a sarcophagus in some ancient ruins, I belatedly looked over at my partner

A hat, sunglasses, and a mask

That girl was unnaturally hiding her identity and she smiled thinly at me from across the table

”Kh…!”

With enough force to kick over the table between us, I practically collapsed forward as I grabbed at Kuroyama Hinoki

No

No!?

I heard a rustling sound

The hat and soh black hair to wrap all around her body I had thought it was all shoved inside the hat, but that rong

It all came away

It was a wig Which meant…

”So you figured it out”

The girl stepped back as I collapsed weakly to the floor

The hat and wig had fallen away and she relasses and mask herself

That revealed so like Kuroyama Hinoki

She giggled as she tied up her short brown hair with a hair tie It wasn't as e from two candy wrapper bows on either side of her head

”A Leanan Sídhe…? But I doubt Hanesaki Minori is free to walk around outside…”

”Are you sure you want ive you will only weaken you further”

Dammit…!

If it wasn't actually her, it must have been a friend or family member She didn't talk like she was her either Was she the Archenemy's second just like ht outside t