Aura: Koga Maryuin’s Final Battle

“Ichirou, it is time to search.”
The same day, after school. Ryouko stood by my desk.
I couldn’t look her properly in the face anymore.
Stuffing a textbook into my bag, I exerted myself to reply in a forcedly level voice.
“I can’t. I’ve got business to attend to.”
“… Significant breach of contract”
“It’s not happening.”
When my desk was empty, I continued changing the order of the books in the bag. I couldn’t settle down with that positioning. It would be difficult to carry if I didn’t get it right. Tacking on some false reason, I immersed myself in the act.
I wanted my cold attitude to rid me of her already.
But once she’d latched onto something, Ryouko wouldn’t change her thoughts so easily. No one knew that better than me. My only option was to forcefully shake her off.
If I complied.
As I raised my face, Ooshima entered my field of view. She was watching. Wicked women are generally moderately proficient. With a smile of ice on her face, her long legs folded, she sat elegantly with her back leaned against the wall. If say, Sharon Stone’s human power was 100Hu, Ooshima quite likely read in at 70. She was way too strong.
“But of the Dragon Terminals are not found and secured, the world will fall into an unprecedented crisis. Those articles are too dangerous for the phenomenal realm; the two of us must contain them no matter the cost.”
“Sorry.”
It was impossible to thrust her away with conversation. Standing from my seat, I could only leave by physical means.
Ryouko, left by the wayside, looked far too lonely for a witch who had slipped in alone from another world. What cowardly self-preservation. I knew full well I was pathetic. If you want to blame me for not sacrificing myself to save someone, be my guest. I didn’t have the slightest expectations for that sort of justice in the world.
There are only two things that can save you, coincidence or wisdom.
At home, after a dinner I couldn’t make out the flavor of, I made a call. After three calls, someone picked up. A juvenile breath informed me Ryouko was across the line.
‘……’
“Ryouko? Sorry, but there’s something I want to talk about. Can you listen?”
That Ryouko was being bullied. That I was being targeted. That if we didn’t stop hanging out, I would be dragged in. I covered up only Ooshima’s name and told her.
“You might hate me for it, but I’m prioritizing self-preservation. That’s why in class and in school, I can’t work together with you for the time being. Please try not to talk to me. Even if you do, I can’t properly interact at school.”
‘… You promised to search.’
“I did. I won’t go back on my word. However, urged on by guilt, I naturally sped up.
“We’ll be acting separately.”
‘Define separately.’
“Exactly what it sounds like. I’ll search by myself. You handle your side.”
I had a faint sense she was hard of breath.
‘… Ichirou is being mean.’
“That’s right. But I’m not the only mean one here, you’re better off knowing that.”
Without crying sour grapes or making any excuse, I genuinely thought so. Ryouko was far too defenseless. Basking in her oddities was pretty much spreading the word, “You can attack me.”
“if you can’t endure it anymore,” and I gave her some advice. The greatest support I was capable of. “Throw away your costume and wear a uniform.”
‘… Ignoring the fact that proposition would lower defense values, The Researcher is hidden by a spell of concealment making it impossible for residents of the phenomenal realm to detect her by visual means. There is no need to wear—’
When I heard that unproductive explanation for the umpteenth time, I felt like crying.
“Why are you like that?”
I yelled in a teary voice.
“Why can’t you even put in the effort to protect yourself!? Is it that important to show off you’re different from normal? Give me a break already! I don’t want to deal with that anymore! It’s because I realized it was pathetic, because I became aware of it, that I can never go back there again!”
While the phone waves could give hints, they wouldn’t convert her true thoughts into signals for me. Even if I had to make my best guess, when it really came down to it, dream soldiers were childish attention whores.
While they wanted to bathe in spectacular attention, they knew they weren’t special, so they tried to make themselves cool with the flip of a switch. For those with otaku tendencies, it was easy for their sense of values to tilt away from reality. They’d become fictional operatives and bandmembers or develop multiple personalities or special powers.
Showing off those settings at every opportunity for all to see was because they wanted to be respected and praised. Ryouko was the same.
“… Do you hate normal so much? Is the thought of being a normal person that far beneath you? If you want to stand out, then put in enough effort for people to want to look at you. Put in the time. Become something real. Don’t skip over all that and suddenly demand results. I detest that sorta thing. It’s only natural you get bullied. Why can’t you guys make me genuinely want to help you…”
If she was actually trying to help herself, I’d help out all I could. But for someone without any such intent, why? How? That would just be spoiling them.
‘Ichirou’s restraints are…’ Ryouko was at a rare loss for words.
“What’s this about restraints? You’re saying the problem is with me? That is the logic you always used, isn’t it. No, this isn’t even on the level of logic. You’re just rejecting me.”
Alongside a dizziness, I was assailed by a mud-like fatigue. It became irksome even to put my stormy emotions to words. I put a lid over my heart.
“If I find a nail, I’ll deliver it to you. Could you not talk to me at school? I don’t really care if you hate me.”
I hung up without waiting for an answer. I immediately cut the power after that.
In the end, carrying a long battle to distance Ryouko with attitude alone was impossible for the current me. A coward in a corner. Evidenced by the fact the high stress was churning my stomach in circles.