When my conversation with future Rekka came to a reluctant pause, Maine took the opportunity to cut in.
“Now, without further ado, let’s get things started,” she announced.
“Wait!”
“I’m tired of waiting,” Maine continued, ignoring me. “Now, isn’t it just lovely that the match is so simple and straightforward? You’ll decide things through fisticuffs. But I can’t have my Namidares killing each other, so that’s the only thing that’s out of bounds. Feel free to use your powers as you please otherwise.”
“H-Hey now...” I interjected, interrupting her explanation of the unreasonable rules. “My future self over there has over a hundred different abilities, doesn’t he? I don’t stand a chance against him on my own.”
“Then as a handicap, I’ll let both of you take him two-on-one.”
“But—”
“I won’t concede any more than that, okay? The rules were fair enough to begin with considering we have the same person fighting himself, don’t you think? And now you’ve got a handicap on top of that.”
“...”
When she put it like that, sure, it made it sound like we had the advantage. But that really wasn’t the case! Future Rekka was super OP.
And speak of the devil... There, he raised his hand.
“I’m immortal, so you can omit the no-kill rule against me. There’s a large enough gap between us already. If my past self holds back, it’ll only make things harder on him,” future Rekka offered of his own volition.
At least there was that... I mean, don’t get me wrong. I was grateful, but all he was really saying was that he would hold back so he didn’t outright murder us.
“Hmph, fine. If you say so. But I really won’t concede any more than this. Do you hear me?”
“...”
No matter how much more I grumbled, Maine wouldn’t budge on the rules. I guess I should consider us lucky that we got one more concession out of future Rekka... Or was that just a sign of how confident he was?
“Yuuhi, can you do this?”
“It won’t be easy... But like Maine said, they’ve at least agreed to accommodate us in some way. It’s no small miracle your negotiating got us even this far.” Yuuhi’s expression remained stiff as she readjusted her gloves. “Listen, I’ll cancel out his supernatural abilities. You stay close to me.”
“Gotcha.”
“Now, is everyone ready?” Maine asked.
Yuuhi and I both nodded in response. Maine then looked to her little sister.
“And what about you, Sith?”
“Yuuhi, Rekka... Good luck.”
Even though Sith was a goddess, she had her hands clasped together in prayer.
“...”
Future Rekka silently clenched his fists. He didn’t even brace himself or anything, but boy was he intimidating...
Is that really me...?
Just facing him was enough to make my palms sticky with sweat. I was as nervous now as I’d been during the boss rush earlier. I’d gotten the same feeling all along anytime someone mentioned “future Rekka,” but... we were two totally different people!
“Okay... Let the games begin!”
Maine had distanced herself while I was distracted, but her voice rang out across the arena as clear as day.
“Whoa!”
I readied myself in a hurry, but future Rekka didn’t immediately attack. It was a good chance to catch me off guard and he’d passed it up. The reason was clear on his face.
That pained expression...
Despite what I said earlier, on the inside... I guess we really were the same person. God, why was everyone so determined to walk the harder path?
Even though he knew it was his only option, future Rekka still rued his decision to fight against Yuuhi and Sith’s world here. His guilt had cost him a golden opportunity to sucker punch me right at the start.
As for me, I couldn’t afford to stand here and do nothing. Honestly, after coming this far, I was wavering. There, of course, was the question of how I could win this. But the even bigger question at hand was if I should. Could I really sacrifice the heroines who he’d saved? And all the heroines he’d yet to save? I didn’t have an answer and faltered in my hesitation just like my future self. But neither of us were the first to make a move in the end. That honor belonged to another Namidare—Yuuhi.
“Let’s go!” she rallied.
If I got separated from her, I’d be easy pickings for any number of future Rekka’s supernatural abilities. That’s why she’d called out to me. I had to keep up.
“!”
So despite my hesitation, I ran with Yuuhi. While we were on the move, she pulled what looked like a cattle prod out of her jacket. She clenched it tightly in her fist and it crackled to life as electricity flowed through it, sparks flying this way and that. Wait, were those things supposed to have such a high voltage?! I shuddered as I wondered.
“Hate me if you must...” future Rekka muttered stoically.
He then charged, seemingly unafraid of Yuuhi’s cattle prod. The distance between us closed in an instant.
“Take this!”
Yuuhi swung her cattle prod down on future Rekka right as he rushed us. But rather than being hit, he caught it midair with his left hand. There was a loud crackling sound as a powerful current entered his body.
“...”
But he had no reaction whatsoever. He didn’t collapse, let alone flinch. The electricity, however, burned through his sleeve in a flash. Through the tatters of what fabric remained, I could see the sheen of something metallic that I hadn’t noticed before.
“You’re a robot?!”
“A cyborg, technically,” future Rekka answered flatly.
There, he opened his right hand and released a ball of flame that came flying my way.
“Yikes!”
Yuuhi, thankfully, used her breaker ability to dispel it. In the process, she released her cattle prod and jumped back.
But what was that just now? Magic? Was it a psychic ability? Or perhaps another power?
“I see you really did give up on being human...” I muttered, rather taken aback.
“And I see you’re still clinging to it,” he replied. “We’re the same person, and yet we’re quite different.”
“You’re telling me...”
Cold sweat pouring down my back, I stepped forward. I couldn’t leave everything to Yuuhi.
“Take this!”
“...”
Future Rekka brushed my fist aside with a third arm that suddenly sprouted from his shoulder. It was semi-transparent, glowing like it was made of magic.
“Tch!”
✦ ✦ ✦
