Filia blinked. “Normally, I’d be a little skeptical, but…”
Smiling, Loli Loli extended her hand. Filia stepped back a bit, surprised. Loli Loli didn’t seem cautious at all. Maybe it was because of her strength?
“There aren’t any straight paths here,” I said, “so we’ll do it in the air.”
“Okay! I’ll fly through the sky!”
With that, I launched up through the air while Loli Loli created sparkling wings made of ice. I kicked the air again and again, gradually ascending. Loli Loli flapped her icy wings and followed. After we’d gained a certain amount of altitude, we hovered.
“How about to that tree over there?” I pointed to an isolated tree that was growing out on the plain. It was about a quarter mile away.
“Okay!”
And as for the start signal… “You start first. When I see you take off, I’ll start running.”
“Does that mean you’re giving me a handicap? Heyyyyy, wait a minute, don’t make fun of me! You’ll be sorry!” Loli Loli pulled down her eyelid and stuck out her tongue.
For a moment, I felt her power swell. Then she flapped her ice wings wide. With a massive gust of wind, Loli Loli rocketed forward at incredible speed. I watched her go—then used the air as a foothold to follow after her.
“Phew!” Loli Loli was even faster than I’d expected. Instead of instantly closing the gap between us, she kept pulling farther and farther ahead. With those wings, it seemed like aerial combat was actually Loli Loli’s specialty.
“Dang,” I muttered, “she’s pretty good.”
I had no choice but to use my Super Yuri Mode. The gap between us had grown even greater now, since I’d focused on thinking for a few seconds. Halfway there. The gap was about two hundred feet now…
“All right!” I shouted, kicking through the air. Then I kicked, and kicked, and kicked some more! The air cracked and boomed from my kicks. Loli Loli soared on ahead without so much as glancing my way. There were only a hundred fifty to go, and I was now only a handful of feet behind.
“Hooooaaaaahhh!” I stopped kicking through the air and careened forward with my Pistol Kick. Loli Loli flapped her wings more intensely and soared through the skies.
Two figures passed over the tree—
“Dang it!” shouted Loli Loli.
That had been close! I’d managed to pass her at the very last minute. Loli Loli flew up higher in the sky as if to hide her frustration. As I looked up at her, I noticed something—something I hadn’t noticed before, because I’d been so focused, but…she was flying around with such a fluffy skirt, so you could totally see her frilly panties from underneath.
Yeah, it was probably a good idea to head down to the ground ASAP.
“Hey, time to land. Hurry up.”
“Huh? Ah, okay!”
I landed on the ground, Loli Loli right behind me. But it seemed her attention was still partly on the sky.
“Is there anything else? If we’re finished, I’m going home,” said Loli Loli. “I have work to do.”
“Please wait,” said Filia, stopping Loli Loli in her tracks. Filia turned to me. “I’m going to talk to the villagers to see if they’ll let her participate in the festival.”
“Hm. But from the looks of it, the villagers were really terrified of her being a majin. I can’t imagine it’d work. Won’t talkin’ to them be pointless? If we’re not careful, they might kick us out.”
I was satisfied that I’d been able to challenge a majin, but that didn’t seem to be enough for Filia. On a personal level, she was so psyched to participate in the festival with Ashley that she’d stayed up late and had to sleep in. That had made sense to me. But when it came to this Loli Loli, they’d only just met—what did Filia want?
“But, Yuri…do you know what Loli Loli was thinking earlier? ‘Again? Okay…’ People have always been afraid of her, I’m certain of it. She’s never once been allowed to participate in something like a festival. Don’t you feel sorry for her?”
Filia’s eyes glistened, reflecting the sunlight. It was the same look she’d given me after spending time with Ashley. Jeez, she really had a soft spot for kids.
Or maybe it was more that she could really put herself in Loli Loli’s shoes, remembering how she’d been ignored by everyone in her village. I couldn’t really fault Filia for that, you know?
When Loli Loli noticed the forlorn look on Filia’s face, she trotted up to her and started patting her gently on the cheek. “What’s the matter? Don’t look so sad! Why are you sad? I think you should smile!”
“Ha. Yes…I see. I agree, that’s a good idea.” Filia smiled broadly, just as Loli Loli told her to do.
Loli Loli probably wasn’t a bad person. I mean, I creeped people out all the time with my muscles, so I got where she was coming from. There was the threat of an attack on Moichi’s store to deal with, and a lot of other trouble kept coming our way, but it still wouldn’t have been right to abandon a kid.
“Let’s wait till Ashley wakes up, then we can negotiate,” I said. “We’re outsiders, so we can’t just do whatever we want.”
“Yuri!”
“This is your responsibility, Filia, and I do respect your opinion. But remember, Ashley just got wounded, and we have no idea how she’ll feel about all of this.”
Ashley was the one who’d attacked Loli Loli first, but it was clear from everyone’s reaction—not just that of the villagers, but those of Filia and Ashley—that all majin were seen as highly dangerous. We understood why people had reacted that way, even if it seemed ridiculous to Loli Loli. To be fair, she’d been attacked just for showing up.
“What? What’s going on?” asked Loli Loli.
“We were talking about giving you a chance to experience a fun event, something you’ve never gotten a chance to participate in before.”
“Huh?” Loli Loli’s cheeks twitched for a moment, then she had a puzzled look on her face, and then, finally, she looked a little miffed. “Okay, this has been bothering me for a while now. Don’t call me ‘you’! It’s ‘Loli Loli’ or nothin’!”
“Gotcha. So we’ll hide Loli Loli in Ashley’s house for the time being. Get in there.”
With that, I took the bag of holding from my waist and pulled out a traveling knapsack. Since you couldn’t carry living things in a bag of holding, a knapsack like this was incredibly handy when you needed to catch a living thing for a request. This particular knapsack was some real top-of-the-line equipment, which meant it could hold loads up to about a hundred kilos.
“Hey! That’s Loli Loli the Great to you! I’m great and powerful, okay?!” she whined, rubbing her blonde-haired head against me. Wait a minute, was she trying to poke me with her horns? The horns were way too tiny, so I couldn’t really tell.
“I’m not callin’ you that until you get stronger than me. Now come on, into the knapsack!”
“What the heck is this?! I-Is this, um, that?! Are you stealing me away to a secret hideout?!”
“Yep. Hurry and get in.”
“Whoa! It’s pitch dark! Ah ha ha, it’s dark, it’s so dark!” Just like that, Loli Loli switched gears again, and her excitement was at its absolute peak. Talking to her was so exhausting. It made me feel like I was the crazy one.