Chapter 1 - Twintailed Me
The afternoon after a memorable first day of high school, I sat across from my childhood friend Aika in Café Adolescentza, staring into a cup of coffee I couldn’t drink.
Pretty stylish for a student, having lunch at an atmospheric private café—except that it’s my house. Mom runs the place as a hobby, and her signature coffee blend has a fanbase, but she’ll close up and vanish on a whim if the mood strikes her.
And so, the “Closed” sign hung on the door, with just the two of us inside.
And even the aggressive smell of curry wafting from Aika’s plate couldn’t penetrate the fog of my current crisis.
“…Why the hell did I write something like that…”
Aika shoveled down another bite of curry. “Mm. ‘Twintail Club’ is pretty ridiculous, yeah.”
“I was panicking! It was unconscious, I swear I didn’t mean to!”
“The fact that it came out unconsciously, like it’s burned into your brain at that level—that’s what I think is more worrying. Your twintail obsession, I mean.”
“Shut up! Everyone makes unexpected mistakes once or twice in their life!”
“Sure, sure, fufufu.” She pinched each of her waist-length twintails & sent them swaying in the direction of my sideways gaze.
“…Ngh.”
Probably meant as provocation, but to me, it felt more like a handshake—refreshing, even.
They’re magnificent twintails, as always.
The most basic style—perfectly symmetrical, flowing to her waist. Elementary, yeah, but you can feel the noble pride of someone who’s spent years perfecting it. Like how a master’s painting captivates without flashiness or ornamentation.
“Still, the teacher didn’t have to say it out loud…”
“If it was bizarre enough to make her blurt it out, what’d you expect?”
“Not that!”
The pointless argument wasn’t changing anything. I’d committed one of the biggest blunders of my life on day one of high school. No taking it back now.
My school, Yougetsu Academy, is one of those super-escalator places—elementary through university, all in one.
I didn’t think advancing to the high school division would particularly move me, but the building, the gymnasium … everything was on a completely different scale from middle school. Completely overwhelming.
The club-led orientation after the entrance ceremony was spectacular too. Sports clubs and cultural clubs took turns performing to appeal to new students, each a one-minute showcase packed with passion.
But all that really burned itself into my brain was the girl who took the stage afterward.
Or more precisely, her hairstyle.
Twintails.
Shindou Erina.
She was tiny—elementary-school-sized—but when she spoke, her voice carried the weight of historical conquerors.
“You all have infinite potential. I—and Yougetsu Academy’s high school division—promise to be the guidepost that helps your brilliant futures blossom.”
Words that could’ve sounded arrogant from anyone else. From her? Pure charisma. Even just standing there, she radiated elegant dignity.
(Beautiful…)
I forgot to blink.
Ojou-sama speech like you’d never expect to hear in-person, flowing naturally from a girl for the first time. It made her charm hit all the harder.
And the twintails!
Hair has no class, obviously, but if I had to describe them—noble. Graceful. The curled tips gave off an air of good breeding. As she gestured, more animated with each passionate word, her twintails danced with her. Like a princess and her partner, waltzing under the chandeliers.
My heart hammered. Everyone around me seemed to be looking at her like she was an adorable kitten. Probably just my imagination. They didn’t get it. A school where someone with twintails like THAT is student council president—the next three years were going to be incredible.
On the way back to class, my classmates swapped impressions of the orientation. I stayed lost in that dazzling image. The orientation’s moving afterglow? Forget about it, completely overshadowed.
Yeah, after seeing something that amazing, my head was full of twintails. Of course I spaced out during self-introductions back in the classroom. I didn’t even notice when they handed out the club preference survey…
“Alright then, please collect them from the back~”
“…huh?” The homeroom teacher’s drawn-out voice snapped me back.
A girl whose name I didn’t know (naturally—I hadn’t been listening) passed me the sheets from behind. Suddenly, I panicked. Oh no. My eyes flashed down to the blank sheet, and, scrambling under pressure from the paper-pusher, I scrawled across it the first thing that came to mind.
…
“Hmm… oh my~ there’s one without a name written~”
Oh, God. “Ah… sorry, that’s probably mine, I was in a rush.”
The teacher tilted her head and double-checked the collected sheets.
“Oh~ so it was Mitsuka-kun.” A lengthy pause. “Twintail Club?” A round of snickers rose as fast as the hairs on my back. “Was there such a thing as a Twintail Club? Or, this is a request to establish a new one~?”
“What?! No, I don’t want to start a club, I just—!” Staring eyes & panic alike killed the words in my throat.
“I see~ Twintail Club, huh~. So Mitsuka-kun likes twintails~”
“—Ah, yes, absolutely.”
Ah. Conditioned reflex.
Slow, quiet dread crept in over the next few silent seconds.
…I’d been thinking this was a fresh start with all-new faces … but that was the moment my position for the rest of high school was locked in.
“Well! Alright, everyone, we’ll end homeroom now, but apparently there have been more perverts around this area lately, so please be careful—♪”
I nearly fell out of my chair as the laughter picked up. “Why are you saying that NOW of all times?! Hey, Sensei, wait! I’m serious! I seriously love twintails!! Ah … no, wait, I mean—!”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuhhhhhhh…”
Just remembering it drained the life from my body.
Seeing a blank space and instantly writing “twintail”—what an insane reflex. Beyond physiological response. Biological instinct territory.
“Mfh, mph … mm. Seconds.”
I couldn’t get a single cup of coffee down, and Aika was already working on her second plate of curry. Or, well, I’m not hungry anyways, but that was technically my plate, you know…
Aika’s chewing slowed. “More than writing it by mistake, your follow-up was the real problem. You panicked way too hard.”
“If you could tell I was panicking, YOU should’ve helped me out! We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“…friends … yeah, right.” Aika pouted, lowering her head to my stolen curry plate.
What’s with you, stealing my lunch like that?
Her gaze came up again. “That survey was just for first impressions, Souji. A preliminary preference check. There was a note saying ‘if there’s a club you’d like to create yourself, please write it here,’ but that’s just formality, right? What student would actually assert themselves like that right off the bat?”
“Ugh … well…”
“In other words, requesting a new club there is like loudly declaring that even after the handbook and all those presentations, you’re completely unwavering—you’ve already decided. This is what you want to do. This is the club you want to create. Riiight?”
“…and I wrote ‘Twintail Club.’”
It was almost a smug look she gave me. “Exactly.”
“You can analyze it calmly NOW, but back then my mind was completely blank!!”
“At least I can say with confidence that I wouldn’t blurt out the name of a hairstyle most people don’t even know the word for.”
“That doesn’t have any persuasive power when you— NGH!”
My modest resistance, cut short. See, her chest is touchy territory—easy argument material—but as you can see … she punches guys in the face mid-meal.
Can’t help it. Everything else about her is perfect. Especially her twintails. And also, her twintails. Did I mention those?
“Ow. If only I had better improv skills…”
The president’s speech promised brilliant futures. But mine? Indirectly closed off because of her. But like Aika said, I guess my own incompetence did this.
I held my head in my hands, radiating depression.
Aika poked my arm in the side. “You know your twintail obsession would’ve been exposed sooner or later anyway. Isn’t it better to get it over with early? Think positive!”
“And that’s why you’re casually polishing off both our portions while I’m at life’s crossroads! How can you eat curry while drinking coffee, anyways?!”
A big eater who’s demolished two plates of curry in minutes, and she’s still stuck with a chest like that. Could it be all the nutrients go to maintaining that hair?
…
A strange chill hit me. I glanced toward the back of the shop. “…huh?”
A woman sat in a corner seat, positioned at a right angle from us.
Was she glancing our way? That’s weird. Mom should’ve closed up.
But the cup on her table meant she’d been here from the start—we just hadn’t noticed … somehow. Mom probably left in a hurry without checking. Great. We made all that noise, thinking no one was here.
“Hey, Souji… you’re doing it again.”
“Ah.”
I’d unconsciously pinched Aika’s twintail between my fingers.
She sighed. I hurriedly let go.
It’s been a habit since we were kids. Aika’s also at fault for leaving her twintails on the table where they’re easy to touch, though—but saying that would be pretty selfish. When they’re that long, she has to rest them somewhere or they’d drag on the floor.
“Sorry. You know it calms me down.”
“I know.” She sighed again. “Man, I’m probably going to have a hard time because of you.”
“Because of me?”
She stumbled. “I-if people get the wrong idea, how are you gonna take responsibility? Eventually everyone’s gonna figure out what ‘twintails’ means … and then, me being friends with you will be … that kind of … misunderstanding…”
She slowly drained her coffee through her straw, alternating her gaze between me and the table, fingers poking together bashfully.
“What, so you’re saying you’ll change your hairstyle?”
“N-no way! Why should I change my hairstyle just because someone says something? I like it this way!”
Haha, that’s my girl. That unwavering conviction—I’m proud of it as her childhood friend.
She complains, but Aika’s my greatest ally when it comes to twintails. True, we’re always together, so people tease us a lot. But we don’t need to worry about what others say.
Childhood friends. Best friends.
Everyone has one or two friends like that, right? The kind you know you’ll be close with for life, can talk to freely. Mine just … happens to be the opposite sex.
Our houses are next door, but apparently our families have been close since before we were born. We’re basically siblings. Family.
When I found out the reason I kept losing fights to her was because her martial artist grandpa was training her, my competitive spirit drove me to join the dojo too. That was probably the turning point. We spent even more time together after that. We’d just started elementary school back then.
For some reason, we kept ending up in the same class. Even in high school, where most faces are new from outside transfers, we’re naturally together. It goes way beyond “inseparable.”
Aika was popular with everyone—boys and girls—thanks to her friendly personality, her strength, her refreshingly energetic vibe.
Nothing like me, screwing up on day one. I really need to make sure not to cause her more trouble.
…
“—!?”
A cold chill hit me—stronger than before.
Aika tilted her head. “Hm? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing…”
Her eyes widened. “No way, how … I didn’t sense any presence…?!”
…wait, do you normally go through life sensing people’s presence?
In the back, that woman glanced our way again. When our eyes met, she spun her chair around and stared at the wall.
I couldn’t help but mutter. “…what the…?”
Weird. But customers get annoyed when people are loud, I guess. Let’s keep it down.
I stopped paying attention, but Aika couldn’t—I could tell from her twintails. Stiff, alert. They carry emotions just like faces do. Anger, sadness, joy, distrust, tension.
… well, that’s my philosophy, anyway.
“…Mm.” Aika gestured subtly to guide my gaze.
The woman had spread a newspaper like a screen, with a finger-poked hole showing one round eye.
Huh? Showa era comedy routine. So cliché I could spit sand. Was this a skit being filmed? I suspected hidden cameras. God, I don’t wanna get caught as Random Citizen A.
“…Let’s just stop making eye contact.”
“Yeah.” Aika seemed to agree—not engaging, but staying on guard.
But just then, the woman folded her newspaper & stood up. Leaving? Finally, a moment of relief—
Then she walked straight toward us instead of to the exit.
We tensed. She stopped right next to our table, and smiled cheerfully at me—only me.
“…may I join you?”
“Wait, wait wait WAIT!!” The tension of the comedy routine-in-progress abruptly snapped as Aika leapt up & broke into a defensive growl.
“Yes?” The woman tilted her head, unfazed by Aika’s glare.
“Who ARE you!?”
“Oh, don’t mind me.”
“I DO mind!”
“I have business with this young man.” Like a tour guide, she indicated me with an elegantly tilted palm—which I immediately lurched away from.
“With ME!?”
“He’s MY friend, what’re you thinking?! Acting all meek while wearing clothes that show off your boobs—it’s pissing me off! I’ll jam a straw in your cleavage!!”
Suddenly, I found my hands pulling my friend back from the intruder. “Whoa, whoa, calm down, Aika! Seriously.” But my eyes kept drifting to the girl.
Her odd assertion had been distracting, but up close … she was an incredible beauty. The definition of bishoujo.
Fluent Japanese, but clearly foreign. Silver hair, but not the unnatural dyed look; a near-pure surreal silver that seemed to defy flesh. Even in the café’s dim light, it let off an iridescent pearl glow.
Long lashes, beaming sapphire-clear blue eyes. Straight nose, and small pink lips curled into a smile.
Like a fairy from the movies. I could almost see the motes of light surrounding her … and if I lowered my gaze even slightly—an overwhelmingly voluminous chest demanding attention.
What an outrageous fairy.
Same age as Aika, probably? The difference was painfully clear.
Well, she had neat features, but just thin clothing emphasizing cleavage. Over that, what looked like a lab coat—or perhaps a stylish coat-lab coat hybrid. The skirt beneath couldn’t even qualify as a mini, as dangerously short as it was. I was surprised I couldn’t see her underwear. But seeing those slender legs, I understood what I saw: A carefully coordinated outfit backed by absolute confidence. Definitely not someone you encounter in ordinary life.
Still, what a shame; that shimmering silver hair, I mean. Twintails would suit it perfectly.
Oh, wait, there’s that again. Mentally editing twintails onto women I just met.
I bet most teenage guys just mentally undress cute girls. Me? I give them twintails. That’s basically the same thing, right??
“Ow.” Aika jabbed my temple with a straw. Must’ve been staring too long.
“What’re you doing?”
“Hmph.” She turned away.
Watching this, the silver-haired girl smirked. Not a soft smile—something sinister.
…or maybe it’s my imagination? She has such a gentle vibe.
I thought I’d try again. “…um, do you need something from us…?”
The girl placed her hands on our bench and leaned in closer. I leaned back reflexively, and uncomfortably.
“Yes, I have very important business with you.”
“…important business?” Well, I can’t pretend I didn’t hear that.
Aika furrowed her brow harder—clearly annoyed at being deliberately shouldered out.
“My name is Twirl.”
“…I see. Twirl … san.”
Foreign name, then. Her Japanese is really fluent, though?
Oh, there’s that sinister smile again. “You like twintails, don’t you?”
“I love them.” Wait, dammit. Affirmation without hesitation again. Haven’t I learned anything from today??
She followed with a silky voice: “Then would you put on this bracelet without asking any questions?”
“That’s completely out of left field?!” But she had already slipped something from her lab coat pocket—an incredibly beautiful, brilliantly glowing red bracelet—into my fingers with her own set over mine … like it was a wedding ring.
“W-wait a sec.”
Graceful fingers traced the back of my hand. An indescribable ticklish sensation shot through my entire body. “Come on, please put it on.”
“Give it back, Souji!”
Just then, Aika leaned across the table, snatched the bracelet, and roughly shoved it back into the woman’s hands. “What’s your deal!? Suddenly hassling us, and doing this—it’s rude!”
Twirl burst out laughing. “No, I’m certainly not a suspicious person~!”
“What—at this point, no matter how you try to justify it, you’re incredibly suspicious!”
“…Um, well, uh … Ah!” Twirl snapped out of her obvious rapid-fire thinking and clapped her hands. “Souji-kun, it’s me, me, me! We go way back!”
I shook my head in shock. “What?”
“Me, me! Come on, it’s me, Twirl! Actually, I’m in a bit of trouble … so will you please put on this bracelet?”
She leaned forward—emphasizing her cleavage with the same arms holding forward the bracelet.
“Uh.”
“Who the hell does an ‘it’s me’ scam TO YOUR FACE?!” Aika’s hand snapped forward, delivering a terrifying slap to Twirl’s cheek. “HGYAA!!”
I nearly leapt. “Are you INSANE?! Don’t seriously hit someone you just met! That made a really nasty sound!”
My shout was practically a scream. That wasn’t a slap—it was a cheekbone strike, one of the Mizukage-ryuu Jujutsu techniques from Aika’s late Grandpa. Contrary to standard fighting theory, it doesn’t shake the brain much … but delivers the heaviest, sharpest pain possible. Almost a torture technique.
And a mere high school girl executed it perfectly. No wonder the old man wanted Aika as his successor.
“Souji, this lady’s gotta be a scammer! Like those girls near the station who drag you into alleys for fortune-telling, With Mohawks in spiked shoulder pads waiting!”
I snorted. “The first half maybe, but the second half is ridiculous!” I mean, after all, if those thugs existed, they’d already be here.
Twirl held her cheek, looking down. I paused, and worriedly glanced at her. “A-are you okay? She sometimes doesn’t know when to hold back.”
Beautiful and foreign—it’d be terrible if this became an international incident.
Aika looked anxious. “Huh … I DID hold back. It shouldn’t hurt that much…” She sounded like it was just like a scraped knee. If she held back, what was that sound?
“I-I’m f-fine.”
“You don’t sound fine..?” Trembling while holding her cheek—obviously not fine.
I reached out to help—and found Aika wrenching my wrist away, with Twirl’s hand having made a failed thrust from to slip the bracelet onto me from a blind spot.
“It was an act!”
“Why are you so desperate to put that thing on me?!” This was genuinely creepy now. I took a step back, but mentally, I’d rather be a hundred feet away.
“I won’t charge you anything! Just put it on! Just putting it on is enough! Please put it on, I’m in trouble if you don’t! If you’d like, I’ll put it on for you!!”
Hold up, girl, mind your phrasing.
“Don’t do it, Souji! If you put it on, they’ll say you can’t cancel, and charge you tons! Armed buggies full of Mohawks will come crashing through the entrance!!”
Aika sure has a sense of danger … but her threat model seems a bit skewed.
Just then, Twirl pulled back, clasped her hands together, prayer-like, and stared intently at me.
“If you put it on, I’ll do anything you say.”
“…huh?”
It caught me by surprise, and I instantly knew it was silly and wrong, but my eyes shot to Twirl’s hair.
“…anything?”
I found myself leaning forward. How much would it satisfy me to see that vivid silver hair transformed into twintails?
“Yes … you can do anything to me. Standard stuff or something a bit special!” Twirl’s face had suddenly flushed red, her breathing ragged. “Actually, I’d totally welcome special things…! Haha!”
I pulled back. “Don’t say scary shit like that!”
This is bad. Cultural differences—are the barriers between our races really this thick? Same language, but there’s zero communication!
Aika was still scowling on the sidelines. “…I can pretty much guess what you’re thinking, but it’s pointless. If you tell this guy you’ll do ‘anything’, he’s definitely going to ask you to wear twintails.”
“Huh, THAT? Even though he’s a boy?!” Twirl suddenly grew flustered.
Well yeah. Duh.
Twirl waved her apprehensiveness away with an awkward half-smile. “Oh come on … it’s okay! Here, as a bit of a down payment, go ahead and grab both of these with both hands. You’ll be amazed at how soft they are!”
She thrust out her chest—jiggling with the slightest movement—with a psychotic grin, leaving me nowhere safe to flee to before she could smush them against me.
It only lasted a second before she had been ripped away by a grip on her shoulder. “Get away, you pervert! I’ll go for your cervical spine in self-defense, your cervical spine!!”
That is not what self-defense means!
“Calm down, Aika! Fine, fine, I get it!” I had to settle this before Aika crossed the line. “I’ll take it. She’s saying it’s free, so if I think of it like the tissues they pass out on the street, it’s fine, right? She’ll be satisfied if I take it, right? … it IS free, right?”
“Of course!!”
Her beaming smile captivated me again. You know, if she’d just act normal, she’d be such a beauty.
“No! ‘Free’ is how scams start!” Aika inhaled sharply. “They lure you in with ‘free admission’ and then gouge you with service fees!”
I stared. “What are you even talking about?”
“If this person doesn’t put on this bracelet, the world will end! Also, that free admission scam is illegal!”
“That’s what I’m saying about YOU being illegal, you free-admission lady!!”
Whoa, whoa, this conversation’s getting nonsensical. What’s this about admission fees … and the world ending?
“More importantly, if you don’t put this on, twintails will disappear from the world!”
“──────WHAT?”
I seized her by a shoulder, one fist held furiously to my chest.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!”
“Gotcha.”
Click.
“—ah,”
Because when she had surged forward into my grapple with mother-earth-Gaia-class tits to pin my fist down, her hidden hand had slipped the bracelet straight down my arm.
“Ah.”
“Oh, thank goodness. Now we’re safe whenever they appear.” Twirl nearly melted into my chest, looking at the wall clock with relief, then gazed up at me with moist eyes.
Oh no. She probably doesn’t realize it, but pressed this close, her rack pushes against me with every movement … squishing, bouncing—this is bad.
But don’t lose, Mitsuka Souji. You can’t falter here! She’s a foreign girl for whom this level of contact is … probably … normal..? If my impure thoughts show on my face, I’ll ruin the image of Japanese men as paragons of integrity!
“Take it off now! Throw it away!!”
While I hesitated, Aika suddenly grabbed me by the scruff and yanked me away from Twirl.
“Whoa!”
For a moment, I felt weightless—lifting a grown teenage man into the air with one girl, this girl. I almost kicked the cups and plates off the table before I caught myself on the landing.
“Get that—stupid, ghnnggh, huh??” “Ow, Christ!”
Aika was turning pale trying to rip my wrist off with both hands as the bracelet refused to budge.
“AAAUUUGH, it won’t come OFF…!”
“Ow, owowOW! It’s like a wedding ring that’s too tight?!”
Plus, my arm’s being held like with Twirl, but there’s no cushioning. Just hurts.
“Wedding ring?!” For a moment, I thought I could see flames in her eyes. “GNAAAAAAAUUGGH!!” A foot suddenly slammed into my chest for leverage.
“GYAAAH, STOP YOU’RE RIPPING MY WHOLE HAND OFF, NOT THE BRACE!!”
Two more seconds of pure pain transpired before I suddenly dropped to the floor with a thump. Aika stared down from above me at the glimmering metal ring, no more defeated than an enraged bull—maybe an ounce more calculating.
Glimmering metal ring? I searched its edge. “The hell? It fits my wrist perfectly … but there’s no seams?” No stretching, no rubber. Solid metal. But then how did she even get it onto my arm?!
“Maybe if we twist your wrist like a screw, it’ll come off.”
“NO!” I wanted to cry. I turned my head over to the strange woman. “Hey, sorry, but this, can you take it off—”
And at that very instant, we were enveloped in a vividly colored eye-searing flash of light.
And as that light weakened, dissolving into the air, the outlines of where our bodies had been grew thinner—and eventually, vanished completely.
“My apologies for the suddenness,” Twirl’s voice drifted in, “but I thought this would be faster than explaining.”
“—Huh? Huh!?”
Just as the light faded, a different stimulus assaulted my eyes. That is, smoke, acrid enough to choke on. Half-panicking, I looked around.
Sunlight. Wind. Sidewalk, and asphalt. Sensations and feelings that hadn’t been there moments ago flooded in all at once. My body couldn’t keep up.
“…why are we suddenly outside?!”
I’m no sleepwalker. To be thrown outdoors without knowing how—
Aika’s voice, from above: “And why are we HERE!?”
It took time to recognize the place, even though it was fairly familiar. There was no way we should be here. I climbed to my feet in confusion.
Maxime Sorahate—the region’s largest convention center. Two buildings, outdoor exhibition space. Events, concerts, school functions. We were in a corner of its outdoor parking lot. From my house, even by car, this would take at least 20 minutes.
“They came faster than expected … I meant to intercept them, but we’re on the back foot.” Twirl remained shockingly calm even as we freaked out.
“I should have done this sooner…” She looked at the pencil-sized stick in her hand, expression somber. Actually, the moment she held up that pen, we’d been enveloped in the light.
“What did you DO to us!?”
“Oh no, no, I didn’t intend to bring Aika-san along,” a contempt bleeding through in her voice, “but you stubbornly wouldn’t leave the effective radius, so I had no choice~”
The visibly rising fury on Aika’s face was suddenly cut off by an ear-splitting roar.
“…now what!?”
Oh, hey! There’s the source of that suffocating smoke. The cars, in the parking lot, exploding one-by-one like popcorn. Falling, and bursting into flames.
Oh, God.
“No way…”
At the café, I’d worried about skit filming. But either this was Hollywood, or … and they don’t hire actors without their knowing, right?
Just as I started towards the burning cars, Twirl’s dainty fingers suddenly grabbed my shoulder. “Souji-sama, please don’t stray too far from me. They’ll find you. The Imagine Chaff’s effective range isn’t that wide.”
“Imagine … Chaff…?” What?
“As long as you stay by my side, they won’t find you. First, look at that monster.”
And as my eyes followed her other hand’s slender finger, I beheld in the middle of the parking lot what I could only see at first as a shifting pillar of basalt and flesh.
I couldn’t take my eyes off it. My gaze jerked briefly—very briefly—over to Aika, just as stunned, and then in unison we cried “──────What the HELL!?”
“Wha—no way, what IS that!?”
A head like a reptile, decorated with messy twisted horns. A soaring humanoid body clad in imposing metal armor. At first, given its bizarre appearance and the location, I thought costume for an event?
But its weight cracked the asphalt with each step.
Thoom.
Over two meters tall. Vicious eyes that froze your body. Fangs that could shatter rocks. Countless blade-like dinosaur-like dorsal fins standing erect from back to tail. An undeniable reality. A presence from every cell, breathing with life, beheld with the terror of an ant facing down a spider.
I wanted it to be a costume. Had to be. Please.
Thoom. Another car erupted in flames.
But looking from any angle—nothing but despair. Genuine—
“A-a monster!”
Amid scrapped cars, flames, smoke, the unknown monster strode about. It might be inappropriate to say it, but it was picturesque, like a scene cut from a movie made real.
Then, abruptly, it spoke in pure, clear Japanese: “Men, gather round!”
I did a double-take. “Huh?”
As if swatting a bug, it sent a nearby car flying with one hand to punctuate the command, drowning out a chittering surge in the background that had begun with that call.
Aika and I could only watch speechlessly as the monster twisted its jaws into an unnatural smirk and shouted words colored by our shock—
“Fwahahaha!! We shall claim every single twintail in this world for ourselves──────!!”
“BWUUUUUUWHHAT??”
At that insane proclamation bellowed in a gong-like voice, I almost vomited blood. Despite the distance, the voice carried like it was shouted right by my ear.
Aika picked her metaphorical jaw off the ground just to blurt out, “Wait, Souji, why are you in a costume over there doing that?”
“That’s not me!”
The source of the chittering became clear as a swarming host of all-black figures appeared around the monster.
“Mokyeeeeee──────!”
A uniformly dressed, featureless mob of combat troops. Even their oddly shaped masks were solid black. They were like a horde of humanoid beetles, scattering with quick, insect-like steps.
And some had captured girls.
“…twin … tails..?”
My heart jumped. Not because I saw girls with twintails, but because the girls they were carrying matched exactly what the monster had shouted.
I turned to Aika to whisper. “When he says ‘claim’… he means the twintailed girls?!”
AIka whispered back. “What are they planning?!”
Twirl just silently watched.
“Nevertheless, what a world lacking in twintails—deplorable! Covered in electricity and steel yet civilization appears stopped at the Stone Age!!”
Clearly Japanese, but something was off. I mean, everything, yes, but.
“Well, no matter—that just means we can find purer twintails!!”
The monster strode forward into the crowd of black goons & battered girls, roiling with growling speech and angry shoulders.
“Men, don’t forget the captain’s words! The supreme Twintail Attribute was sensed in this area—search even if you must comb through the grass! …little girls crying while holding bunny plushies are merely a bonus!!” Wait, what?
A chitter of responses. “…Moke?” “Mokyee.”
“Indeed, goes without saying! Seizing the ultimate twintail Attribute is our long-cherished wish… but! Before being a warrior, I am also a man… so I too wish to see little girls holding plushies! Those who find them shall receive praise!!”
Oh, okay. So it’s not my imagination. They’re just spouting nonsense in fluent Japanese.
“We have no use for adults! Root them out quickly! A bit rough is fine!!”
The black-clad figures started sorting through their captives with quick coordinated order. One finally raised a complaint to the lizard. “Mokee.”
“What? There are no little girls holding plushies?! Hmm, if women won’t hold plushies, making them hold them is a man’s worth!! No matter, bring one here!!”
Could these even be called orders? I felt like smashing something hard into them all just for being so stupid.
“Help meeee!”
A sobbing young girl with disheveled twintails was brought before the monster. As she was looked down upon by that monstrous giant, she resembled a pitiful sacrificial shrine maiden.
I instantly tried to rush out. Aika grabbed my arm, stopping me, but my brain was finally catching up to this abnormal situation.
Wait. I reassessed. “They’re kidnapping only twintailed girls—what are they planning?”
The monsters weren’t harming them. Rather, giving them dolls to pacify them..? I guess I can still hold back..?
I turned to the silver-haired girl. “Hey, Twirl, you knew about this and brought us here, right? That monster is…” But even as I spoke, my eyes caught a glimpse of something that never should have been there.
And yet, the radiance burned into my heart insistently confirmed it was no illusion.
“…President.”
No mistaking it. That demonic hairstyle that captivated me, that source of my suffering from day one.
Student Council President Shindou Erina in her school uniform was being forcibly dragged by two of the black goons, one gripping each arm. In the gymnasium, a team of maids had quietly followed her every move, but they were nowhere now. Aika followed my gaze and fell just as quiet.
Though it was hard to see clearly, the president was clutching something precious—half-sticking out of a shopping bag was a toy from a children’s tokusatsu show. Hm.
“Unhand me!” The president demanded with conviction the instant she came to a standstill.
The monster appraised her, staring intently.
“Ohooooo. Quite the young child! And apparently a young lady!! Ojou-sama twintails… truly near-perfection!” Those jaws and petrifying eyes surged forward to inspect the president. “Are you the ultimate twintail?!”
“Ultimate…?! More importantly, who are you?! You understand human language?! Release the other girls!”
“Of course I understand. We’re communicating thus, are we not? Therefore, I reject your demand for release.” He laughed.
“Then answer me—what is the purpose of this charade?!”
“You’ll understand eventually! First, purely as a side matter─”
With a familiar casualness, the monster held out a large stuffed cat.
“You shall hold this kitten plushie! Even hostility shines as adorableness… a fair-skinned young girl suits a kitten plushie well!! Now, embrace it!!”
Suddenly, three of the black-clad goons dropped a huge pink sofa onto the shattered asphalt. Several more seized the president, forced her to sit on the couch, and shoved the plushie into her hands.
“Men, burn this sight into your eyes! Twintails, plushie, and the figure leaning against a sofa! This is the golden ratio I derived after years of training!!”
The crowd erupted in shrill cries of “Mokyeee!” The outrageousness by itself, let alone the cacophony, made me dizzy.
Despite my trembling legs, a surge of false bravado filled my chest. “…anyway, I get that they’re targeting twintailed girls … tell me, Twirl—what should I do? There’s something I can do, that’s why you brought me here, right?!”
Twirl nodded in impressively calm agreement. “Detailed explanations later. For now, let’s act.”
Aika and I both stared as she inhaled, clearly running through a detailed plan in her mind she had prepared well in advance.
“Souji-sama … first, please undress me. Or rather, rip my clothes off. Oh right, like this,” she grabbed my hand and yanked it up, “pin both my arms above my head, and Souji-sama—with one hand—then with your other hand, tear off my bra—”
“What the HELL are you BABBLING ABOUT?!”
“Aika, keep your voice down!”
Her voice rose even louder. I frantically covered her mouth with my hand.
“Mm, a new twintail presence … where is it, where are you hiding?!”
What the hell is a “presence”?! I glanced at the twintails beside me. Sure, they had a certain … aura, but…
“Eek, I have twintails too!”
“Wheeeere aaaare yoooou!!”
That booming voice echoed across the vast outdoor parking lot—it sounded like it was right next to us even though we were dozens of meters away. But how could they not notice us when we weren’t even hiding? It was like they could see us but somehow didn’t register our presence.
Hm, déjà vu.
What Aika had said back at the café flashed through my mind—"That’s impossible… I didn’t sense their presence at all…!?"
Imagine Chaff … yeah, she’d definitely said something like that earlier.
“…guh, after building up all that tension with an unfamiliar serious approach … my longed-for situation … my carefully crafted script … shot down before it even started…” Twirl glowered at Aika resentfully.
“You have a way to save those people, don’t you!? Tell me, now!” My feelings got the better of me. I grabbed Twirl’s shoulders harder than I meant to. Except, for some reason…
“Ahhn…” She let out a sensual sound. “Ah, I can salvage this! All right then, Souji-sama, let’s proceed according to the script! …just push me against the wall like this, then rip my clothes off in one go! We’ll do it all in one continuous take!!”
“Want me to push you against a wall with all my strength?!” Aika loomed close, glaring down at her.
“F-fine, I get it. We really don’t have time right now, I’ll skip straight to the point! Even with Imagine Chaff active, they can still sense Twintail Attribute—this opponent shouldn’t be underestimated, even in the first battle.”
Wait, did she just say ‘first battle’?
“Souji-sama, please transform using that bracelet I gave you!”
“Transform!?” I didn’t even have time to dwell on the first question!
“How many steps did you skip in getting to that point?!”
Twirl ignored Aika’s complaint and continued. “That’s a device for generating a combat suit that enhances physical capabilities. If you transform with it, you should be able to fight those monsters on equal footing or better.”
“Really!?”
This was like something out of a kids’ superhero show, but desperate as I was, her words sank into my heart like a divine message; no resistance at all. After experiencing something as impossible as teleportation firsthand, I couldn’t just dismiss whatever outlandish claim she made as a joke or delusion.
At the very least, it was worth trying.
“W-wait a minute, transformation aside, why does Souji have to do something so dangerous?!”
“You idiot!! They’re targeting twintails!! How could I just stand by?!”
“…Hold on, that’s the part that makes the least sense, their goal is too stupid … can’t you at least say it’s because girls are being kidnapped…?” Aika spun to look at Twirl.
Twirl shook her head. “No. That is exactly right. Only you, someone who loves twintails, can use that bracelet. False righteousness is unnecessary.”
“I mean, I do want to save the girls too…”
The ground shook enough to lift my body into the air, followed by a thunderous roar.
“Souji, the captured people!”
Where Aika pointed, a horrifying scene was unfolding—a hellscape in a literal sense; an atrocity that called to mind the very depths of hell.
Right in the middle of the parking lot, the parked cars had been kicked aside and scattered, and the captured girls were lined up in a single row like an impromptu ritual site. Whether unconscious or not, the first girl in line lifted upright and motionless as her body floated into the air, and like a lion jumping through a ring of fire, she was passed through a metallic ring about three meters in diameter—followed by another girl, and then the next, one-by-one.
The instant a girl passed through the ring—which had a shimmering, soap-bubble-like membrane of iridescent light—her hair gently came undone and scattered through the air, leaving afterimages. One after another, with the mechanical indifference of parts on a conveyor belt, the girls were run through the ring in assembly-line fashion and were stripped of their tails.
In no time at all, it was Student Council President Shindou’s turn… and the beautiful twintails that had captured my heart were ripped away.
“We shall take the twintails into our possession.”
I was witnessing it.
“—Those bastards.”
I heard the sound of a thick rope snapping inside my heart.
“S-Souji-sama, please calm down. It’s still okay, we can save them.”
“Tell me. How can I save the twintails? How can I crush those bastards?!”
Aika tched. “That’s such an exaggeration … aside from losing their twintails, they don’t seem injured anywhere?”
“An exaggeration…!?”
Unable to contain my raging fury, I seized Aika by the collar and lifted her up.
“Kyah…!”
“Is that all twintails mean to you…? Something so trivial that if they’re taken, oh well, no big deal!!”
“C-calm down, Souji, they’ll notice us…!”
“…Tch, sorry.” Aika’s voice going uncharacteristically small cooled my head a bit. I let her go.
“Twirl, sorry for yelling. But please, tell me quickly how to use this thing.”
“…Are you serious?! No, Souji, absolutely not this time! There’s no way you can trust her!!”
Aika’s attempt to stop me had the urgency of someone trying to prevent a family member’s reckless act.
“I don’t care if it’s foolish or dangerous. I can’t forgive those monsters toying with twintails!!”
Something must have gotten through to Twirl, who until now had seemed half-joking. She nodded with a serious expression, raised her right arm to her chest, and explained.
“Focus intensely in your heart and wish to transform. That should activate the bracelet.”
“That’s all? I don’t need to think of something specific?”
Twirl nodded firmly.
“All right. Even I can manage that.”
“Souji!!”
I steeled my resolve, clenched my right fist, and held the bracelet in front of my chest.
I closed my eyes and focused intensely, just as she’d said.
I want to transform… I want to save the president, those girls. I want to get their twintails back.
I want to become strong enough to defeat those bastards.
This wasn’t righteous indignation. What man could stay silent when something he loved was being trampled right before his eyes!!
The next instant—
The “transformation” actually happened, just like that.
Light burst forth from Souji’s right arm where the bracelet was.
A coruscating firework exploded right before Aika’s eyes—an intense, brilliant light.
“Kyah!” It was so overwhelming that she had to duck her head behind her arms to shield her eyes, and it didn’t save her from the stinging blindness.
Red bands of light ran around Souji’s body, forming a cocoon-like shape that clung to his entire body while scattering particles of light. One especially powerful flash, and the vaguely visible human silhouette underwent a rapid transformation—shoulders, chest, waist, legs, from top to bottom, light burst explosively, and afterward, everything from Souji’s neck down was covered in a red-and-black suit.
But this all happened in a fraction of a second, a literally eye-blink instant. Red light streamed out like steam, and strangely enough, it matched the impression Souji had of Twirl’s silver hair—shining with its own radiance rather than mere reflection.
“Amazing…”
He clenched both fists with all his strength, confirming the sensation. From the gloves on his fingers to the hip-guards hanging off his waist, the suit felt both weighty and weightless—although there wasn’t any kind of facial covering.
“Wait, my face … is exposed??” A touch to his cheek confirmed it and brought further confusion.
Twirl quickly explained. “The suit itself isn’t what’s important for offense and defense, and besides, Imagine Chaff will ensure that even if your face is visible, others won’t recognize you as Souji-sama!”
“Imagine … what?”
“It means your identity won’t be revealed! Fight with confidence!”
“Uh, s-sure, got it.” He didn’t really understand, and plenty of uncertainties remained, but there was no time. Souji dashed forward, his hair streaming behind him.
“Nn, ugh…”
By the time Aika got her eyes open, Souji was already gone.
“What? That idiot…! Why does he accept things so easily…!”
Aika furrowed her brow and looked around.
“…Hey. Twirl-san.”
“Yes?”
“…was there another girl here just now…?”
“S-so light… what is this, I can’t run properl—whoa!!”
Unable to control the dramatically enhanced leg strength, I stumbled repeatedly while sprinting. It reminded me of that time I’d jokingly maxed out a treadmill—I probably looked like a wobbly toy on the run.
“Focus your consciousness! That suit… the Tailgear is weaponry constructed from Souji-sama’s mental power—there’s no reason you can’t control it with your will!”
Like a communicator, Twirl’s voice came from my ear even though nothing was attached.
“Mental … will…!”
This time, I concentrated my awareness on my legs. What had been like clinging to a car racing at full speed instantly transformed into the sensation of firmly treading the ground through the suit—rather than controlling a car, it was like becoming the car itself, an extreme sense of unity.
Already more than halfway across the parking lot, running without even dodging the debris and just kicking it aside, I could see the girls who’d collapsed unconscious on the asphalt.
How frustrated they must have been, having their twintails stolen. I’ll get them back for you…!
“Hmm, a magnificent Twintail Attribute… But can this truly be the ultimate power of this planet that our captain praised so highly…?”
My hearing must have improved too—I could hear the monster muttering incomprehensibly at the president collapsed at its feet.
The president with her twintails cruelly undone.
My anger reached its peak.
“Stop it!!”
“Hm?”
Trying to brake from the super-speed sprint, I stamped my feet down. Something like a stopper-jet descended from around my ankles, and the asphalt itself was gouged away by the flames, throwing up sparks and dust. Streaks of red flashing forward flooded my peripheral vision before pulling back, as if for a moment I was wreathed in flame.
(…What absurd power—did Twirl create this…?!)
I had come to a complete stop in an instant, all momentum drained. The boiling anger settled, replaced by the exhilaration of being wrapped in unknown power—and fear. I was once again shocked by the power that silver-hair girl possessed.
How did she create such terrifying power? I’d accepted and desired this power as she’d told me, but was that the right choice?
No, don’t think about that now. I need to focus on the twintails, on saving the people right in front of me.
“You can understand words, monster. Give back… these people’s twintails.”
It turned to face me, then stopped as if stunned. “Wha … this is…”
“…Didn’t you hear me? Give back the twintails you stole!!”
Along with the high-pitched shout, I hurled my anger itself. It sounds strange when I put it into words, but even I could tell that weird ring had forcibly stolen the twintails … and if that was the case, giving (or taking…) them back should be possible too.
People being put in danger just for having twintails? The word “unreasonable” doesn’t come close to describing this supreme injustice.
…and besides, if it became public knowledge tomorrow that wearing twintails could do that, everyone might just suddenly stop wearing them.
I absolutely can’t allow that!
“Uu… UWOOOOOOH!?”
As I glared at it, the monster was blown away as if caught in a gale.
“Gahaa!!”
It slammed face-first into the asphalt.
“H-hey.”
“Guh, guuuh… to be blown away by such tremendous innocence … what magnificent twintails!!”
“…huh?”
The monster stood up while crying out in joy. “As expected, our captain’s instinct to choose this location as our starting point was correct! Beyond anything that previous girl could offer… So it was you…! You’ve finally appeared! Truly, a flawless ultimate twintail!!”
“Ultimate … twintail…?”
Something was off. It was looking right at me, and as I traced his vision, I also realized that I couldn’t see over the cars anymore. And as my vision settled on my own stomach, and as my hands came up to meet it … didn’t they look kinda smaller than usual?
“…”
A cold sweat ran down the nape of my neck. A terrible premonition worse than anything I’d experienced in my entire life made my whole body break out in goosebumps. The red wreath of flames I had seen in the corner of my eyes earlier now hung behind my shoulders, hanging in bunches by my hips.
No way…
Like a stone statue coming to life, I turned my head sideways with a staggered cracking motion. I was struck speechless by what I saw reflected in the windshield of a car that had retained its original form.
Well, what do you know.
—there was an adorable girl with twintails.
“—Oh.”
Magnificent, beautiful twintails extending down to below her knees, ready to produce a cheerful “twi~ntail♪” sound effect at any moment, tied up with ribbon-shaped metal hair-toys that moved up and down with each breath, flowing smoothly.
Round eyes opened even wider.
Too imposing to be called fashion, too unevenly protective to be called armor. Thigh-gaps above thin black hose. Red-and-white themed with streaks of black. Mysteriously weightless pauldrons and hip-guards built with jets, each humming with the heated blue glow of an ion engine.
This armament—worn over a one-piece bodysuit that clung to bare skin, with angular mechanical parts here and there—was the source of that mystical radiance.
“Oh.”
And. And also.
While there were the exaggerated hip-guard jets on both sides, the crotch area of the suit was like a swimsuit, leaving half the thighs exposed.
Thinking it couldn’t be, and forgetting for a moment about the lizard-kaiju, I touched my chest and crotch. The chest was as flat as it appeared. And, well, so was the groin.
“O-oh…” An unnaturally high-pitched and melodic voice that I could only recognize because I’d spoken it myself.
Yes, what was reflected in the glass was—me, myself, having become a twintail.
“I’m a girl?!”
The childlike scream was absorbed by the sky.
“What the…!!”
At the same time Souji screamed, Aika was struck speechless.
“…What is that?”
“The one and only, strongest armament for opposing those monsters—Tailgear!!”
Twirl was drooling down to the choker around her neck, gazing at the flustered Souji with an enraptured and wholly inappropriate expression. “Ahaha, wonderful, Souji-sama! Ehehehehe, a great success … so wonderful I could cry!”
This time, Aika delivered an unrestrained palm strike to Twirl—not a pinpoint cheek strike. Her entire skull was the target now.
Twirl moaned from the pavement. “I-is this already a catfight event between girls … n-no, more like an actual battle, rather than a catfight…”
“Depending on your answer, it really will be. What is that, why is Souji a g-g-girl!!” Aika pushed through the tear in her voice. “That’s not crossdressing, is it!? His height shrunk ridiculously too!!”
Twirl gave a pained sort of laugh. “…Aika-san. To obtain great power requires … an appropriate price. That resolve is what makes people strong—lolis are so cute, little girls~”
“So it’s your rotten perversion—!!”
Merciless smacking sounds echoed relentlessly.
“That’s not transformation, it’s perversion!!”
“Th-they say you must fight poison with poison!” Between each blow, Twirl tried to continue. “Since the enemy—OW—are perverts, those who fight them must also be HENTAI to some degree, or there’s—NGH—no way to stand against them!”
“Then you’re the perfect candidate!!”
Smack, smack, smack.
Gawking black-clad troops had spilled into the edges of my vision, but I didn’t care.
Is this divine punishment?
Did God lose patience with me constantly going on about twintails twintails ever since I gained awareness, and finally snap—shut up already, just become a twintail—and shove me forward? That’s too much of a shove, God. Rather than stumbling forward, I’ve gone all the way around the Earth and fell flat on my face. The cool pose I struck when I dashed out earlier has also boomeranged all the way around the Earth.
“A-a-a-ah…”
The lizard-monster leered down from some distance to my side. “Hmm, you intend to become ours of your own accord? How gracious! Come, escort her with the utmost courtesy.”
Oh, they seemed to have mistaken my lack of resistance for goodwill.
“Mokyee—”
One of the black-clad troops came striding up to grab me.
“GYAH, don’t come near me!!”
My arm instinctually flailed out at him like a child’s tantrum swing and just barely grazed him with the knuckle, but the goon went flying with a thwoop sound like a bottle rocket. He crashed into a distant rooftop wall, the smoke spilling from his body rivaling that of the concrete debris and mixing with a fierce crackling electrical discharge. A few seconds later, a blast wave rocked the air as he detonated like a small bomb.
The lizard-kaiju let out an impressed whistle and turned back to leer down at me.
“Defeating an Ultiroid in one blow..! Not only are your twintails magnificent, but … what is this tremendous power?! Who are you!!”
My radio crackled. “Souji-sama! This is your chance to introduce yourself as the hero dramatically!!”
…
Introduce myself? The clammy sweat returned.
“…What even am I?” If you can tell me, please do, God.
The monster stared.
“Ahh, that’s right, you haven’t decided on a post-transformation name…?!”
“No, I think he’s questioning his very existence.”
Thanks for the support, Aika… if I couldn’t hear your commentary, I might lose it.
More than “who,” what even am I at this point?
“Ohhh, a dejected little girl, irresistible!! Someone, bring her a stuffed animal to hold! Like this,” the lizard tilted its head, “With her head resting gently on my shoulder, a stuff…”
“Mokeee.” “Mokye!”
The encirclement started rapidly closing in. From the faceless combat troops, and even without any eyes to their name, I felt piercing stares—it was as if their desires were being released as pure radiating fighting (read: perverted) spirit.
All those countless desires were directed at me—I couldn’t help but cry out at the rippling chills crawling up my spine.
“Uwaaaaaah!!”
“Souji-sama, touch the ribbon-shaped parts and focus on a weapon. Your own unique weapon should manifest!”
“Ribbon?!”
Eyes bloodshot, my hand shot up to the metal plate-like ribbon—the only armor on my head. “Turn me back into a guy! AAAAAAA!”
“It’s not a wish-granting device!”
What is this… this isn’t some cautionary folktale—there’s no punishment like this, no way I should become a twintail! I kept smacking it.
Whether my desperate wish reached it or not, the ribbon glowed and flames burst forth. The heat & light spiraled together, gathering in my right hand and condensing into the shape of a sword; a light-as-a-feather crimson blade extending to envelop a black core.
Words appeared in my mind as if typed on a typewriter.
〈Blazer Blade〉
Flames burst from miniature jets on my right hand as the focal point. Radiating scorching heat, a magnificent double-edged sword was complete.
It wasn’t a longsword, but in my current hands it looked like a solid blade length.
Yeah, so cool and awesome … now change me back.
“Moke—!”
A combat troop leaped at me from the air in a frog-like pose.
I swung the sword with a strained voice. The enemy was sliced diagonally, exploded into particles, and vanished.
“Moket!”
“Mokeee~~~~~~~~~~”
“Uwah! Kuh…!!”
Without pause, more attacked, and I reflexively swung the blade horizontally. Bisected, the combat troops vanished one after another.
Still undeterred, they launched simultaneous attacks from ground and air.
“Gyueh … yuEAAHH!!”
I slashed with the flame-wrapped sword mid-spin. A whirlwind of fire consumed everything in all directions, evaporating dozens of the troops without even the time to scream.
“Hah … hah…”
The singularly remaining reptilian monster’s body trembled.
“I was spellbound, unable to move … twintails dancing through the air alongside sword flashes … just now, I felt as though I’d wandered into a mythological paradise!”
“That really is a delusion, stop being gross!!” Why is this thing shedding tears? I’m the one who wants to cry here!
Suddenly, the monster lurched forward, arms lifting straight up like a terrifically fast zombie. The energy pouring off him was on a totally different level. “Hah, hah, twintails…”
“Eek?!”
Eyes wide and bloodshot, heavy rough breathing, and approaching while drooling from the corners of his mouth—this hulking figure that shook the earth with every step.
“Could you gently pinch those twintails between your thumb and index finger and pat my cheek with them…?!”
The most extreme, utterly purified dread rushed through my entire body, and I let out a weak scream I’d never made once in my entire life.
“Hyaaaaaaaaah!!”
“Hmm!? D-don’t run! Please wait!”
I turned and dashed away with everything I had … and the monster chased after me.
“It’s no use running! I am Lizard Guildy—once I’ve set my sights on prey, I never let it escape!!”
“Souji-sama, he’s right behind you!!”
“I can tell without you saying it!!”
Yeah, Lizard Guildy’s ragged breathing right behind, and the thoom thoom of his claws crushing asphalt at a blind sprint.
“Hah … hah … magnificent! That innocence, that purity of twintails… Attribute is indeed the supreme power!!”
“Shut UUUUP!!”
I twisted in my dash and slashed backward with the Blazer Blade still in hand.
“Guh!” I struck resistance—looking back, I saw the monster had blocked with his thick tail. And as I continued to jet across the parking lot, he continued. “Hehehehe… you’ve got spirit, I see. But unfortunately, your attacks won’t work on me! My entire body is my armor!!”
His scales really did look incredibly hard. This was bad—at this rate I’d be caught!
“Eat this!”
Lizard Guildy threw something—a shuriken-like metal plate that traced a complex trajectory through the air as it flew.
“KYAH?!”
I managed to dodge with a paper-thin margin, but hearing my own scream was horrifying in multiple ways.
“Hah!”
More kept coming, and even dodging by a hair’s breadth, they made sharp turns to pursue like guided missiles. Even with the Tailgear’s dramatically enhanced dynamic vision, those complex trajectories were a threat.
“Twirl! Is it okay to defeat this guy?! What happens to the twintails?!”
“The stolen twintails…?” Wait, that’s not Twirl. “The Attribute … … is temporarily stored in that ring, apparently! So he’s unrelated! If you defeat him and destroy the ring, they’ll return to normal! … apparently!!”
“All right!”
I felt a trace of fear at Aika specifically relaying this secondhand … actually I felt a lot of fear, but first priority was rescuing the president and everyone’s twintails.
Lizard Guildy suddenly surged out from around a row of cars. “Magnificent! This day shall be etched in my memory for all eternity! Forgive me, but I must request a commemorative photo! Like this,” He tilted his head again in an indicative manner, “with your head resting cutely on my shoulder, holding a stuff—”
“SHUT UP!!!”
I closed the distance in one pavement-cracking leap and punched Lizard Guildy with a flame-wrapped left fist. His face crumpled and blood gushed from his nose as he stumbled backwards.
“OGHH, ohhhhh … c-can’t be helped … I’ll make an effort not to harm your face or twintails, but prepare for some injuries!!”
Lizard Guildy’s muscles, covered in steel-like scales, swelled with adrenaline—or perhaps something unnatural. An all-out attack was coming.
I steeled myself to meet it head-on, but … if I fought any flashier than this, the girls lying around would be in danger..!
At that moment, a crimson pillar of flame vividly appeared in my mind.
“—Aura Pillar…?” Huh. It was like having bundled help files that I could search just by focusing. How convenient.
Following the image in my head, I fully released the Blazer Blade’s power. Flames burst from the Blazer Blade’s tip and swelled into a roaring fireball, and I wound up and threw it.
“What?!”
The sphere of flame exploded right in front of Lizard Guildy, spiraled around his body, and that trajectory transformed into a cylindrical shape.
“Kuh, gueeh, I can’t move!”
A barrier that ensnared and trapped the enemy. So this is Aura Pillar!
“OuuAAAAHHH!”
I charged at Lizard Guildy. Responding to my spirit, the sword I gripped began changing form—the hilt and decorative parts deployed, and lines running through the blade like veins flickered intensely. Flames burst from the red glowing blade, extending its length to twice what it had been.
The blade slipped through the captured barrier, and so without stopping I brought it straight down on Lizard Guildy’s crown, through his cheek and the rest of his body in a single stroke.
The ultimate 〈Grand Blazer〉… a roaring flame trail cut through the air.
“Guoaaaaaaaaaah!!”
Rippling waves of heat burst forth as electricity discharged from his entire body. Lizard Guildy cried out in agony.
“Fu, fuhahaha… magnificent…! To perish having my cheek gently stroked by twintails… what regrets could I have! The ultimate fulfillment of a man’s ambitions!!”
“W-wait, HEY!!”
The Aura Pillar instantly swelled to over three times its size.
“Farewell—!!”
The detonation was so tremendous that it shook the earth, but all the fire and flames were captured by the barrier and sent spiraling skyward, along with Lizard Guildy’s scattering particulate remnants.
“…d-don’t make up weird fantasies before you disappear!!”
…
Only silence remained afterward.
I looked around the parking lot, devastated beyond recognition. But on the other hand, the traces my battle had left amounted to just some scorched and cracked ground—despite the tremendous flash and impact, there was surprisingly little damage to the surroundings, and Lizard Guildy’s final blast harmed almost nothing at all.
Hm, Aura Pillar had seemed like an auxiliary technique for capture, but perhaps it was actually meant to minimize that explosion damage.
“Hup.”
I took a few flying hops over to the giant metal ring and bisected it without any sentimentality. It crackled, shattered, and collapsed in on itself. The shimmering membrane inside collapsed into particles that rapidly swirled down onto the surrounding collapsed girls, one after another—and each in turn had their hair-toys recalled and tails revived, twirling and twisting back into shape.
As I saw their hairstyles properly return to twintails, the sword in my hand dissolved into flames and melted into the atmosphere, its duty fulfilled. Meanwhile, I was struck by an exhaustion that nearly made me collapse.
I’d been in a daze, but I … saved these girls—saved the twintails…
“…uuahh … nhhn, what’s this…?”
A glittering blue rhombus on the ground pulled me out of my daze for a moment, so I stooped down to pick it up.
〈Doll Attribute〉
A proper noun crossed my mind as soon as I touched it, and the pale green glowing stone was suddenly ripped off the ground and absorbed into the left arm armor of the Tailgear, which had slid open for the occasion only to slam shut just as quickly.
I stared, confused. “…is this also part of the Tailgear…?”
“—Um.”
“Grk!” A voice from directly behind nearly made me jump.
The awakened president was looking at me curiously, her twintails—still noble despite being covered in soot—streaming behind her. She pinched the hem of her torn skirt between her fingers, an apologetic gesture.
“Thank you for saving me.”
I staggered into an awkward stilted pose as I caught myself from dropping by shock. “A-haha, I don’t know what you meeaaann… I just happened to be passing by!” Shit, the armor. “Toacosplayconvention!”
“No, um… I woke up partway through.”
“…eeeehhh…”
“I-it was such a wonderful battle… even though you’re still so small, you were truly brave … and strong … I was deeply moved!”
“—!!” Oh crap. I’d assumed she was unconscious the whole time.
The president was ridiculously childlike herself, but right now I looked like nothing more than an elementary schooler. A kid like that swinging a sword and fighting a monster … there was no way to excuse this.
“Um… who are you exactly…?”
I stuttered. “…I-I’m an ally of justice. … … p-please escape quickly.” An absence of ad-libbing ability again abruptly asserted itself.
Erina welled up with a tightly-controlled joy. “Thank you so much for saving us!! Will I be able to see you again?!”
“As long as you love twintails.”
She paused for a moment, bowed deeply and hurried away.
Good, she didn’t press too hard. That line I came up with on the spot was pretty inspired, even if she seemed to gloss over it…
“Milady!!”
A limousine raced across the parking lot at top speed, cutting diagonally, and stopped with extravagant brake marks as a tide of maids poured out, swirling toward the fleeing president.
The unconscious girls were also starting to wake sporadically, and the maids—probably at the president’s instruction—split up to care for them.
I probably didn’t need to do anything more.
Next, the freed adults—probably the children’s parents and families—came running over as well. The president might have seen me make pathetic sounds, but I’d like that to be forgiven since I managed to save everyone safely.
“Phew…”
I shifted my gaze to a car in front of me. My entire current form was vividly reflected in the side mirror of an overturned car.
…
A bit youthful, but to be honest, that figure was exactly the ideal twintail I’d always envisioned.
Feeling heat rising to my cheeks, I desperately shook my head—causing momentum to ripple down my hair.
Looking at this too long was rapidly filling me with joy and sheer anxiety simultaneously.
…
The sound of sirens cut through the stunlock. Of course police and ambulances would come too.
The tension broke, and dizziness came pouring in. Squeezing out my last strength, I left the scene, crawling along the walls and rows of cars to avoid attention.
I slipped behind a corner and saw Aika and Twirl waiting ahead.
“Finally over…”
Just then, the transformation released, encasing me in a cocoon of light as I returned to my original male form. Oh, well, thank God I’m not stuck like that forever. I collapsed to the concrete—
“Souji!” Aika had rushed over and just barely caught me in her arms, and perhaps by relief, my consciousness flickered.
“Pushing his head against the ground is cruel—here, he should properly rest on my chest as a cushion.”
“Against my chest, not the ground!”
“—A chest is only called that when a woman has undulation. Meaning what’s below Aika-san’s neck is the ground.”
“Go kiss the ground then, you idioooot!”
One of the hands holding my head was ripped away to grab Twirl’s like a basketball, with a tremendous crack following a split-second later.
“NNHOOO stop it, this is my first kiiiiiss!!”
As far as a lullaby for exhaustion, screams are pretty low on the bar.
But I guess it’s a fitting end to my first battle…
