We were flying in the sky on a standard bicycle that didn’t exactly match the grandeur of the city illuminated by dazzling lights, speeding through the night sky lined with stars.
Puff—went the sound of our magic power popping, blue lightning hitting our ears, and a line of interception sliced along my neck.
Pure-white rain arrows flowed in the night sky like they were slicing through black silk.
I generated blades and slashed away the raindrops of arrows around us.
“Alsuhariya! I leave the interception to you!!”
“The only time you can ask someone to do something crazy is after you’ve established trust with them.”
Vapors rose up and around her toy cigarettes, forming a blurry, misty shield that served as an anti-demon barrier.
From the ground to the heavens, we dove into the barrage of bullets that rained all around.
I stretched out my right arm with my trigger and gathered the balls of light in the palm of my hand.
The arrow that pierced through the barrier grazed my cheek, sending blood flying as it channeled magic power from my heart to the tip of my arm.
“Hi, I’m Hiiro Sanjo! The thing I’ve been into lately is to use balls of light to blow away dumb elves that come shooting at me! I look forward to competing with you!”
The balls of light I fired from my palm warped in midair, then flew forward at a tremendous speed before they hit the targets.
The elves blew up mightily under the mocking moon.
Heine released the handlebars and grabbed the back wheel instead, then extended the front wheel of the bicycle toward me.
I grabbed it, pivoted, and landed on my butt.
Console, connect— I rendered a projection on the bicycle, reinforcing the aluminum body and tires to the hilt—and landed on the rear wheel with a thud.
Heine fell and landed on the luggage carrier.
“Here we goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” Whoosh, whoosh!
I leaned forward, trying to ring the bell that wasn’t working.
I stood up and put my full weight on the pedals, then began running along the top of the castle wall.
“Wh-what the heck?! Where are our guards? Quick, shoot that guy!”
Elves came pouring out from the castle, and I yelled, “Don’t put a guy between yuri girls, you stupid elves!!”
“What is he saying—?”
“I’m going to run you over and kill you! I’ll kill you with my words!”
I leaped over the elves blocking my path, and the bicycle drifted through the air, billowing white smoke.
I continued gaining momentum and crashed into the castle. Shot with arrows in my shoulders and my stomach, I was covered in blood as I raced down a corridor.
“Lead, you’ll die if this keeps up.”
“I don’t care if I die. I’m going to kill the guy who gets himself caught between my yuri girls! That’s my justice, the oath that I was born with! Alsuhariya? Where’s Lapis?”
“She’s at the wedding venue. It’s what the elves call the Space Tree Room. Keep going straight down to the basement, and you’ll find it.”
I heeded her advice and bounced down the stairs on my bicycle. A large door blocked my way, and I jumped off the seat and slowly pushed it open with everything I had.
A quiet stillness seeped into the air.
Water was at my feet with a blue silverish surface.
Thin white roots, shining brilliantly, danced in the water. Roots with geometrical patterns traveled along the walls, the ceiling, and the floor, converging behind a drawing and connecting at a black center.
Transparent water droplets dripping from the tips of the roots formed a spherical tank that held the light entering through mirrors placed at the four corners of the ceiling.
Droplets of water were dripping into the hollows of the platform, where the triple-circle magic lines ran.
Only three people were allowed to gather in this quiet space.
The place was as still as a forest.
Two elves faced each other with a black podium between them and a middleman elf in ceremonial dress behind them.
All three of them had their bare toes in the water. Magic power lines drew fractal-structured tree crests on their bare shoulders.
Lapis and the other person stood facing each other, their holy faces covered with transparent veils. Lapis looked up, and I saw her cheeks streaked with tears. With a single leap, I jumped between them, landing on the podium between her and her fiancé.
“Huh?! Wh-what’s going on?!”
Holding my mask in place with one hand, I slowly rose in front of the dismayed pair.
And laughed.
“I never received an invitation to your wedding…but who gave you permission to make this girl cry…?”
Lapis gasped. “That voice…”
Then an elf in a ceremonial outfit fired an arrow, and it smashed through my mask—
“Sorry, but a booking has already been made for someone to be this girl’s fated mate.”
The mask shattered, and its fragments glittered as they scattered in the air.
I revealed my face and laughed.
“At least one thing’s for sure. It isn’t any of you elves who have made the girl cry! Now get out of here, pip-squeaks!!”
Elves instantly jumped into the room and readied their bows, sending a volley of arrows flying at me, the wicked intruder.
I took a fighting stance to intercept them and pulled out a mass-produced small sword-shaped magical catalytic converter, and—
“Here goes!!”
But arrows were shot at me and pierced the palm of my hand.
Due to the difference in performance between my mass-produced sword and their custom-made weapons, I couldn’t get my magic activation going quickly, and despite my having taken position before they did, a barrage of shots hit me.
In the original game, these mass-produced items are store-bought. Since their total costs are extremely low, they’re often used for side characters. (The total amount of magic power determines the number and variety of items that can be loaded on a magic device.)
Because they’re usually used on the side, it’s only natural that their performance isn’t all that great.
If I’d had my Masamune Kuki with me, it could have activated my magic well in time. But because of the low conductivity of the magic power, there were a few seconds of delay—before my ball of light could be activated.
A blinding burst of light hit the elves, and they grunted and covered their eyes with their hands. Pulling the arrows stuck in my hand, I lifted Lapis in my arms and ran.
“Hiiro…”
Tears streamed down her face as she buried her face in my chest.
“I’m so glad…you’re alive… I’m just so glad… I…didn’t know what I’d do…without you… I…I…”
“I don’t like taking off after winning.”
I smiled at her.
“Whether we’re in this world or the one beyond, I’ll always be with you until we set things straight.”
With red cheeks, like she had a fever, Lapis looked at me and nodded.
Greasy sweat dripped down my forehead in response.
Wait a second. Was I doing what I was supposed to do? I stopped Lapis from marrying that jerk, so that was the right thing to do, wasn’t it? I did a good job of indicating that I was his rival, and I made it clear that Lapis and I were bound by friendship, right?
I was confused as I tried to run up the stairs—only to be confronted by elves lying in wait with bows and arrows.
“What kind of idiot are you, kidnapping a princess in the middle of her wedding ceremony? How dare you lay a finger on a princess of the royal Lumet family? Don’t think that there will be a way to pay for your crime with anything other than your blood.”
“Hey, you’re talking awfully big,” I said angrily and glared at them.
“I’d give you a break if that was the guy Lapis was in love with. I’m not about to force her to be my yuri. First and foremost, it’s meaningless if she isn’t happy. But you elves were forcing her to accept a future she didn’t want for dumb reasons like a balance between your clans, in which case, I’m just going to put myself between her and you elves.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but is that stupid pride of yours worth risking your life for?”
“Action speaks louder than words, and I don’t intend to stain my pride with meaningless chitchat. The moment I put myself on the line, what you call my stupid pride shines brilliantly. Whose stupid pride do you think would win over? That of you elves, who put nothing on the line, or me, where I’m risking everything?”
One of the elves shot an arrow through the palm of my hand, but they cowered when they saw that I wasn’t moving an inch.
I took a step forward, the grunting group stepped back, and I whispered, “Back off.
“Don’t block her path with your stupid pride.”
Then I heard the sound of bicycle wheels in motion.
The moment I lifted the corner of my mouth, a bicycle that came flying down the stairs bounced off the elves, and the front wheel, which had been fortified with magic, embedded itself in the wall.
With her gray hair fluttering, Heine brought a fist to her chin and glared at me.
“I came by bicycle,” she said, giving me a disapproving look with her cheeks puffed out. “I was waiting upstairs for ages, but you never came. Get on the bike, Lead. We came on this bicycle, and we’re going back on this bicycle.”
“That makes sense, and your timing is great. Lapis, get on the back. We’ve got ourselves a cool ride.”
“Why a bicycle? Haven’t you considered the occasion?”
I nodded to Lapis, stood next to Heine, and brought my right fist under my chin.
“We came on this bicycle.”
“I heard that already.”
As Lapis got on the back, Heine swung around the daikon radish that was in the basket and smacked the elves on the head with it.
Lapis climbed on the back, gently grabbed the hem of my shirt, and looked up at me with moist eyes.
“Please…be with me…”
“Yeah, I’ll do that.”
I’ll be sitting on my special seat, licking my lips as I watch over the yuri drama you guys will be unfolding…!
Heine demonstrated her exquisite skills at handling the top-of-the-class bicycle.
Now transporting Lapis, the bride, it raced up the stairs, and I followed behind.