I didn’t care about the etymology of his idiom, but that did explain why he was so calm.
Is there nothing else I can do?
In front of me were the three toughs, one petrified and two under the punk’s control. Behind and to the right of them were Habatake and the punk himself. Directly behind me were the two men in overalls. The station was to our right, but there was quite a distance between it and us. The bus lane was to our left, but that wasn’t very close either. I couldn’t see anyone else outside apart from us, probably because of the snow (which was no longer influenced by my miracle).
“Do be kind and give up now, please. We’ll be taking the book and the girl.”
“Go get ’em.” At the punk’s order, the two toughs began to walk towards us, their eyes void of emotion. Worse still, they were upwind.
What do I do now? Use Destiny’s gaze on one and wait till the other is close enough to be affected by its poison? I’ll need to hold my own breath. It’s risky, but I’ve got no other choice!
I exchanged a glance with Destiny, whispering my instructions. It nodded. The toughs kept approaching one step after another. Two more steps, and we’d attack.
The men disappeared, suddenly knocked aside by the figure of a woman soaring past us, leg outstretched in a flying kick.
“Huh?”
I didn’t know if it was me, Habatake, or the punk who said that. They were as surprised as I was, standing stock-still as though time itself had stopped. This was more than unexpected. Who was this person?
Her bangs were cut perfectly straight, and she wore a neat skirt-suit. The slender legs that stretched out from under it were clad in black tights. She looked around the same age as Sayuki: early twenties.
“Hey! You’re still reeling after seeing how great my legs look, right?” She smiled at me and winked.
She must’ve had nerves of steel if she could say something like that at a time like this.
“Who are you?” I asked.
She was on my side, right? I mean, she did just save me.
“I’ll explain later! But I’m on the side of the major gods! Now let’s get out of here!”
Right. It’s not important who she is right now. I can ask her more about herself once we’re far away from these guys!
“You had allies working with you, too? I suppose I was foolish to assume you didn’t. You just don’t look like the type to have many friends.”
Habatake was free to wax lyrical about how he suddenly understood the situation, but I wished he’d lay off.
Even if we were in a better situation now, we were still up against Habatake, the punk, three zombie toughs, and two workers. One of those toughs was still petrified. The two that the woman had kicked down were slowly getting up again. Two against seven was better than one against seven, but it still wasn’t great.
“I dunno who you are, but you sure are a pain in the ass. Get her, boys! She’s in the way!” At the punk’s orders, the two toughs went for the woman.
“You two, don’t just stand there! Do something!” Habatake shouted at the men in overalls, who started moving almost unwillingly towards us. It looked like he didn’t have much of a hold on them.
I stepped in front of the mysterious woman and faced the zombified toughs. Her kick was impressive, but I couldn’t just stand back and let her do all my fighting for me.
“Ooh, you’re protecting me? Who said chivalry is dead?”
“I’ve lived without pride for so long. I’d like to get some of it back.”
I almost took a step back when one of the toughs pulled out a penknife, but I managed to hold my ground.
How many times have I been threatened with weapons now? Come on, guys…
I always thought of the other world as way more dangerous than this one, but violence definitely existed here, too.
I exchanged a glance with Destiny, who was at my feet and glaring at the toughs. We both nodded, like we knew what the other was thinking.
“It’s all or nothing now! You—” I raised my voice, trying to intimidate the enemy.
The sudden arrival of a car cut me off. It drove off the road and hurtled across the plaza in a streak of white, right toward us.
“Hey, Senpai! I’m here to rescue you! Aren’t you happy to see my pretty face?”
A tanned, blonde girl stuck her head out of the driver’s side window. Despite her juvenile choice in makeup, she seemed to be an adult.
The car skidded sideways before coming to a stop right beside us, with only a few inches between me and the bumper.
Talk about cutting it close.
“Nice timing! Come on, Yoshio-kun, Carol-chan!” The woman opened the rear door and hurried us in.
The phrase “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” flashed through my brain. I hoped it was true.
“Get in, Carol!”
“Okay!”
Destiny and I jumped in after Carol, and the second we were inside, the car sped off. Snow blew up around us as we narrowly dodged past Habatake and the punk. They were getting over their shock, but it was too late. They just yelled after us from the sideview mirror.
“We’re getting the hell outta here!” said the driver.
“I won’t say anything about your speeding just this once, since we need to shake them off.” The woman spoke animatedly in the front seat as the car sped onto the main road. I turned around to see a white shape behind us, tiny but getting bigger. It was Habatake’s minivan.
“They’re coming after us!”
“Oh shit, they are! They’re serious, huh?” The driver twisted her body to see out the back window.
The woman in the suit yanked her back into the driver’s seat. “Keep your eyes on the road, for goodness’ sake!”
I glanced at the speedometer. We were doing more than sixty miles per hour, which meant the van was going even faster than that.