Translator: Reflet

  「Where is she!?」


  「I’ll take you to her.」


  Hera turned around midair, changing course and flying off. Taiyou kicked off from the ground, following her. Their ferocious speed was enough to blow wind toward them, with Kotone holding back her hair with her hands as she spoke to Hera.

  「Hera-chan, I’ll notify everyone, so tell me where the place is and where she is!」


  「Alright! It’s in the area ahead once you’ve cleared these woods.」


  Once Hera had told her that, Kotone conveyed it among the sisters via telepathy.

  Taiyou, still sprinting, at length found the target once he had slipped out of the forest for the first time, just as Hera had said.

  A group of brawny men were gathering around one wagon. Pochi was already set up on the wagon, mouth gagged and hands tied up. She reacted to seeing Taiyou, but was in a situation where her pressed-down shoulders prevented her from moving.

  「Pochi!」


  Calling her in a loud voice, he stopped when he was around ten meters away from the wagon. This was a distance from which he could immediately burst in and commence fighting; the distance to commence fighting that his body had learned from his fights with Shirokiyami.

  Taiyou lowered Kotone down, setting her behind him.

  Then he realized something when he took another look at his opponents.

  Among the burly men, only one was clearly an existence of a different nature. There was a crimson outline of a woman.

  Though she was a crimson outline, she was by no means a sweet flower. There was a fierce smile in her narrow eyes that was reminiscent of a carnivorous animal, and while glamorous, she surpassed Taiyou’s height at around 180 centimeters.

  She was emitting an extraordinary atmosphere from her entire body.

  「We couldn’t get away, huh.」


  The huge woman looked at Taiyou, a smile showing on her face. Not self-depreciation; in stark contrast to her words, it was a manner of speaking of someone enjoying the situation.

  They had no intention of running away. Taiyou just got that feeling.

  「But wow, to think that you got here first instead of Shirokiyami. I guess you’d better blame it on bad luck. What do you think, boy?」


  She asked in a collected manner, and paying it no heed, Taiyou interrogated her.

  「Who are you guys, and what was your objective with kidnapping that girl?」


  「Oh, did I seem like the type of person who spills the beans?」


  The woman asked in return, snickering.

  「Well, this is the right situation for it, plus it’s not like I lose anything by asking.」


  「That’s also true. Well, you’re free to ask, but I have no intention of answering.」


  「Then, where do you plan on taking her?」


  「That’s basically the same as the other questions. How about you use your head a bit when asking questions?」


  She said in a challenging tone, snickering as usual. Taiyou was a little bit sullen.

  「…What about the color of your panties?」


  「Red.」


  「And further up?」


  「The same.」


  「Is there hair, or do you shave?」


  「Is having none a given?」


  The large woman stifled her laughter. Her way of laughing was not a derisive laugh of bloodlust, but now had a happy nuance to it.

  「And?」


  「And what?」


  「I mean, what else? For starters, I don’t mind giving you about eighty points, but not having any questions beyond that to broaden the conversation means failure, boy.」


  「…」


  Taiyou closed his mouth. He had just been trying to throw a screwball into the day after tomorrow and confuse her, so he didn’t continue.

  「You really aren’t popular, are ya?」


  The woman made a slightly exasperated expression. Crossing her arms and sighing, her breasts that were a size larger than Pochi’s wavered up and down.

  Taiyou wasn’t able to retort.

  「That’s not true! Taiyou-san is staggeringly popular; he plans to eventually make a harem of seven, okay! You’re an idiot if you don’t understand Taiyou-san’s appeal.」


  In place of Taiyou who couldn’t retort, Kotone lost her temper and objected. She couldn’t handle her harem king being denounced.

  「Hey, seems like you’re pretty good at brainwashing.」


  「Many thanks for the compliment. Since we’re on the topic of harems, wanna discuss true love?」


  Using the time that Kotone had made for him when she had cut in, a somehow-refreshed Taiyou tried bringing up a different topic. A keyword that he had found when searching up harems on the internet a bit earlier.

  He had at that time procured the opinions of the people who discussed things like one-husband-multiple-wives and one-wife-multiple-husbands, so this was a topic that could open up the conversation in many ways.

  「Seems like a topic that would spread the conversation out boundlessly, but no can do.」


  「Why?」


  「Because it would be a waste to have that conversation end in the middle; if we had time I’d like to have the both of us discuss it unreservedly while having a drink.」


  「There’s no time?」


  The woman twisted the corner of her mouth into a broad grin as Taiyou tilted his head.

  「Well, I guess it’s about time.」


  「Eh?」


  「I mean that I think your guys’ reinforcements should be here pretty soon. You bought time because you were waiting for their arrival, right?」


  「You knowingly went along with it?」


  「Well yeah, sure.」


  Taiyou was astonished. Just as she had said, he had intended to buy time until the girls had come together.

  He felt shocked that not only had she caught on to that, but knowingly played along.

  What’s the meaning of this?――As he thought that, just as she had said, Taiyou’s reinforcements arrived.

  「I sure did.」


  Kohaku’s car came from the opposite side, rushing with Shirokiyami and the small-framed Kazane hanging from it.

  Taiyou and company had surrounded the woman and her subordinates on three sides. Taiyou, Kohaku, and Shirokiyami were in front, while Kotone, the other sisters, and Aoba were standing a bit further away.

  In response to being surrounded, the burly men readied battle stances, but she was composed, her arms crossed.

  Alarm bells rang in Taiyou’s head. His intuition warned him that something wasn’t right.

  「Don’t tell me…it wasn’t that you couldn’t run away, but that you intentionally chose to not run away?」


  「Huh, whaddya mean, Husband?」


  「Wow, kids’ heads these days are surprisingly perceptive. Intuition’s good too.」


  The woman gave a reply in an amused manner as if implicitly saying “That’s right”.

  「Well, rather than fleeing and being traced, it’s better to keep our objective fulfilled and have enough time to flee after we turn the tables on our pursuers, don’tcha think?」


  「Flee…or even turning the tables, you have the confidence to pull that off?」


  「I do, yes.」


  Nodding, the woman’s big breasts shook again.

  「The only one who can put up a fight among you is you yourself, right boy? I couldn’t figure out even by investigating why a mere student suddenly became drastically stronger, but it’s not enough strength to make the situation hard-pressed. Lining up a wall of flesh and chopping things up should finish ya right away.」


  Taiyou stiffened up…intentionally.

  「Even if I get cut I’ll still move right to you, got it?」


  「Then once you’ve moved to me I’ll just cut ya again; this has to have some effect on you right?」


  「This?」


  「Katana. Guns didn’t seem like they worked after all.」


  「Ngh」


  「Special disposition? Or maybe some sort of technique?」


  「It’s God’s divine protection.」


  「Sorry, but it’s not really in my nature to believe in a god or buddha.」


  「How about chi or psi?」


  「I encounter them quite often in this line of work.」


  「I see.」


  「Now then, shall we? If you decide to let us go then I’ll fawn on you favorably, so what’ll it be?」


  As if answering to that line, the burly men took one step forward.

  「If you’ll be so kind as to leave that girl, then we don’t mind overlooking this.」


  「Well, of course you wouldn’t.」


  Things were effectively ruptured. The air between the two began to grow tense.

  They glared at each other. Taiyou’s group gradually closed in, while the men advanced forward so as to push them aside.

  In the midst of the air of the critical situation, Taiyou started off by playing his trump card.

  「Shirokiyami!」


  「Okay…」


  The goth loli girl readied her long katana, aiming at the men and diving in.

  The world’s strongest girl who could sever steel and rock and even produce afterimages. Taiyou had absolute confidence in that power. After all, he had realized that with none other than his own body.

  However――


  「I already told you, didn’t I?」


  Paying it no heed, the huge woman sneered.

  「That the only one who can stand a decent chance is yooou, by yourself.」


  The moment she said that, the area in front of where Shirokiyami leaped broke with the likes of the Red Sea. The men stepped to either side, making a straight path.

  One girl appeared there, standing before Shirokiyami, poised to draw her sword.

  Still gripping the katana, Shirokiyami’s movement stopped. Her usual expressionless face was painted with astonishment.

  The girl coldly asserted.

  「So are you going to kill me?」


  「Big…si, s.」


  She had her usual manner of speaking, but said her name awkwardly and still had a look of astonishment on her face. In front of the girl, her older sister, Shirokiyami weakly crumbled down.

  Taiyou looked at that scene with shock. In his mind, Shirokiyami was absolutely undefeatable; the most powerful existence. He had decided that there was no existence in the world surpassing her own.

  That impression crumbled with much ease. In response to the appearance of this supposed blood relative, Shirokiyami had completely lost the will to fight, becoming unable to battle.

  「It’s not over yet, you guys!」


  The huge woman gave a command, and the burly men rushed forward simultaneously.

  Not at Taiyou; at his wives with the exception of Shirokiyami.

  Screams rose one by one. The females were defeated by the men’s attacks. Taiyou was left standing alone within but an instant. The sister trio, Kohaku, Aoba. Everyone was assaulted in one go, and when Taiyou was hesitating figuring out who to protect, everything had ended.

  Looking at Taiyou perplexed by the situation, the woman made a ferocious grin that resembled a carnivorous animal.

  「As planned, we can now take our time escaping. Right?」


  He looked at the woman’s prideful victory face, the fallen wives, and the floor-sunk Shirokiyami.

  「Just who are you?」


  Taiyou asked with a quavering voice. He had become lightly panicked enough to ask something as meaningless as a simple question.

  「Come to think of it, I never did introduce myself, huh?」


  The woman still had a smile on her face, but aimed a cold gaze at him.

  「The name’s Juunishima Anna; remember it.」