However, the fact that Baba had screamed in Japanese instead of her mother tongue meant that she still wasn’t on the ropes just yet. Her acting skills were just that good.
“Why did you lie? What’s wrong, cat got your tongue? I’m sure you must have a reason that could convince us, don’t you? Aren’t we friends? If you didn’t smuggle out the PSI drives, then how do you explain the fingerprints?”
“Whoa calm down, Touka. But Baba, just as she said, if there are any circumstances that we are unaware of, please tell us. We haven’t told Kaburagi-san or Master about any of this yet. If there was really no helping it, and you had no other choice but to do this, then just say so. We’ll help you as best we can, and we’ll also go apologize together with you.”
“However, if you had pulled off that nonsense with the red herring on purpose, then I will bring you to a temple and ring the bonsho bell there with your head 108 times. I won’t stop until every last scrap of earthly temptation is gone from your head, not even if you cry.”
“Touka.”
“What?”
“Can you be quiet for a sec?”
“............” Touka-chan did indeed stop talking, but she did not loosen her grip on Baba’s shoulder.
Shouta-kun kindly said, “Come on, Baba, you know us. Touka might be really angry right now, but you don’t need to be afraid. The PSI drives that you leaked outside, we can just retrieve them all. We’ll help you. You’ll probably be punished somewhat, but whatever it is, we’ll ask for the same, so we will be there to get through it together with you. Aren’t we living under the same roof together? Haven’t we eaten meals together? Haven’t we played together, hung out together? It’s not only the happy times, but also during the tough times that we’ll be there with you. That’s what it means to be friends and comrades, isn’t it?”
As Shouta looked straight into Baba’s eyes, having kneeled down to match his height with hers, Baba shifted her gaze away, almost as if the sight was too much for her to handle.
Where else in the world can you find another high school first year who could deliver such embarrassing yet dashing lines without even a hint of mortification? No wait, hold on, didn’t that sound like a confe—DUDE look behind you! Ah~ah, Touka-chan is totally sulking! Of course that would happen if you make your main heroine shut up while you flirt with a loli baba! Dude, I thought you liked big boobs! Why don’t you take a proper look at Touka-chan, she’s totally in the middle of a growth spurt in various ways!
But leaving that aside, I fully understood the conclusion that the two of them had arrived at. In short, they had chosen Route D, “talk it out.” They sure went with a peaceful one. Now, if they had just blindly believed in “Come on, we’re comrades, aren’t we? So tell us the truth!” in a brain-dead manner, then I was completely ready to punish them with a lesson on the harshness of the world. However, they made sure to collect hard evidence first, used it to identify the traitor, then accepted the fact of that betrayal and yet still chose to forgive and attempt to make amends. These kids were both smart and warm-hearted.
Sorry for thinking that Route A, “catch Baba off her guard, then tie her up and thrust her before Kaburagi-san” would be fun. It’s me, I’m the one whose heart has been corrupted.
I telekinetically vibrated the dog tag that Baba was wearing around her neck underneath her clothes, using Morse code to send her confirmation that we were officially going with Route D. Immediately after that, Baba fell to her knees and clutched her head as if in pain.
“Shouta...... Touka...... I-I-I......ughhh......”
“So there really were some circumstances?”
“Hold on. She seems weird.”
Baba’s eyes rolled into the back of her head and she began muttering to herself. “S-Stop, no, be silent, I shall do no such th—they are my family, my comrades. Such abhorrence is... ugh... my head... be silent...... say no more......!”
“Eh, what’s this? What’s going on? Was I really that naggy?”
“That’s not it, this... she’s probably having auditory hallucinations. Touka, hold Baba down for me. Baba, it’s all right. I’m here for you. You can do it. I believe in you. Don’t lose to something like this!”
Rather than Shouta being perceptive, chances were much higher that he had probably seen or read similar developments in manga or works in some other medium. I had too.
Shouta-kun grabbed Baba’s hands. From behind, Touka enveloped Baba’s tiny frame in a bear hug and tried to hold her down, even as she was shaking violently in seeming agony. Eventually, after a short struggle against whatever it was that was whispering to her inside her head, Baba cried out at the top of her voice, “Be gone from mine head!”
Matching the timing of Baba’s shout, I created a mini-World Shadow the size of the tip of someone’s pinky fingernail around a small glass marble that had been hidden within Baba’s voluminous silver hair. While scratching the glass marble to create a screeching sound similar to a shriek, I sent it shooting out from the top of her head.
“Uwah?!”
“Kyah! No, what’s thi—it’s stuck to me?!”
The mini-World Shadow had clasped onto Touka-chan’s arm with all the momentum from its propelled flight, and began crawling up her arm by rapidly moving its numerous short legs in a scurrying manner. How many hours had I spent watching videos of cockroaches in disgust for the sake of perfectly replicating this movement that would evoke instinctive repulsion in any and all humans? ......I lost count, that’s how many.
Just as intended, Touka-chan raised a high-pitched scream, then crimson flames erupted from every part of her body, incinerating the mini-World Shadow within a split second. The heat wave generated was so great that it sent the hair of all three people flying. The molten remains of the mini-World Shadow fell to the ground, its original form completely indiscernible.
The strong will that had been bolstered by the warmth that Baba received from her comrades had been insufferable to the World Shadow that had been possessing her, such that eventually it could not hold on any longer and got expelled. Yeah all right, it’s a bit slapdash. But hey, the power of friendship, am I right? This sort of thing happens in works of fantasy all the time, so I’m sure the two of them wouldn’t think it strange at all.
The part about how the World Shadow that had gotten expelled was scrambling toward Touka-chan’s head in search of a new host to leech onto was just a little additional touch to up the horror level.
After weakly gripping Touka-chan’s hand, which was slick with cold sweat, Baba quietly mouthed “thank you” before (pretending to) fainting dead away. That left Shouta-kun looking gravely toward the leftovers of the World Shadow and Touka-chan shivering and furiously rubbing her arm in wholehearted disgust.
While still leaving a faint sense of unease lingering in the air, this was how the newest minion of the demon lord—this parasite-type World Shadow that had instigated this betrayal from Baba—was thoroughly defeated.
⚔
Afterward, the remainders of the mini-World Shadow were collected as a valuable sample under Kaburagi-san’s instruction, and then sent to Boss for analysis. According to the result that he sent back, World Shadows were fundamentally simple manifestations of people’s desire for power, and as such it was impossible for them to seek to take advantage of someone’s weakness like the way this one did while leeching onto Baba. However, it was a fact that it had. So what gives?
Well, even Boss did not fully understand it. However, the fact that the person who got possessed was the very person developing weapons intended to kill the demon lord... well, it was extremely unlikely that was a mere coincidence.