CH 86

Chapter 86 – Amamiya and Tsuzuri

“I heard all about it, Warrior! You beat a bad guy to a pulp!” One of the women at Tokorozawa exclaimed.

Beat to… A pulp?

“And I heard that you reformed another bad guy too! That’s amazing!” Another woman said.

Reformed…?

I don’t think either of those statements are right, but it was a bit hard to argue against it.

Me and Iroha were currently a bit confused, as we received way more hospitality at the Torokozawa Aviation Memorial Park than we were expecting.

“You’re so amazing! Even if you’re this small, you’re as strong as a superhero, aren’t you!?” One of the ladies here patted Iroha on the head as she said that.

“Oh… Ooh…” Iroha had a hard time replying.

She looked a bit down, actually… I guess she still had the last fight on her mind.

After all, Iroha didn’t really get close to winning that battle, so it’s understandable that she is feeling down about it.

That said, once we saw an especially thick steak right in front of us, Iroha’s mood seemed to instantly get better.

“This is so good! Another serving please! Give me more!” Iroha exclaimed.

It’s sure nice to recover that fast.

The meat was cut with the Predator’s Knife and prepared with a Hunter’s Meat Grilling Set, as Amamiya apparently also had those two items.

And well, as we had been completely exhausted before, our bodies currently needed ten times more food than ordinary people, so we were very eager to eat all that.

So, I drank a non-alcoholic root beer (my secret personal favorite) and munched on the meat.

We ate, ate, then ate some more.

“Ah… Sorry, but I’ll have another serving.” I told them.

From the beginning until the end of the feast, Amamiya seemed to be in a pretty good mood.

“Alright! Eat as much as you want! Do you want some sake too!?” One of the ladies asked.

“No thanks.” I replied.

I might get sleepy if I drink, after all.

So, instead, I moved to the seat next to Amamiya and started talking, “By the way, about the skills I took the other day…”

He seemed to have anticipated the question I was going to ask, as he smoothly answered, “I don’t mind if you keep Enslave and Slave Reinforcement for a while. If I, by any chance, need them here, I can ask Sanae to contact you about it.”

“That’s certainly helpful.” I answered.

Truth be told, I was planning on using Enslave a bit more.

I want to ask the people at Miyabigaoka to see if they’re willing to accept being targeted by Enslave.

It’s just as Amamiya said the other day. The benefits of becoming a Slave are nothing to scoff at.

“That said, the Healing Magic…” Amamiya started saying.

“Oh, right.” I immediately returned the Healing Magic to him, “There. It’s yours.”

“Thanks.” Amamiya then let out a deep sigh, “I’m really glad that I met you, Warrior. I can’t thank you enough for all this.”

“It’s alright.” I then stopped eating the meat in front of me and stared at him seriously, “There’s one thing that I want to confirm though.”

“What is it?” Amamiya asked.

I took a deep breath, trying to get the courage to bring up such a troublesome topic in the middle of the current festive mood.

“It wasn’t your fault that the Spirit Tamer appeared, was it?” I asked him.

He was not upset by it.

Or rather, it’s only natural that I’d ask this.

“No, I swear on heaven and earth’s name, that I had nothing to do with it.” He told me.

Though well, whether or not those words were true is another matter entirely.

“But it’s a bit suspicious, isn’t it? The thing you and Tsuzuri wanted was revenge, after all, so… Wouldn’t it be natural to send an assassin other than me?

“Especially because, if everything went well, you’d also be able to eliminate the player that has subordinated you.” I told Amamiya.

“It’s about Yuki, huh…? I certainly do have mixed feelings about all that, but my feelings aren’t as strong as Tsuzuri’s.

“In the end, what I really wanted was to get the situation with the people in the university solved. That much was enough to me.” Amamiya replied.

Well… I guess I can believe him on that.

“That said… You still are hiding something, aren’t you?” I asked him while staring directly into his eyes.

Amamiya’s eyebrows twitched a little at that, “Ah… Uhn… What do you mean…?”

“I haven’t forgotten the incident where you deceived Iroha. I know that there is something suspicious about your actions.” I told him.

“Oh… Uhn… Do you… Want to eat more meat?” He asked me with a terrible attempt of diverting the topic.

“If you want to deceive me, that’s fine. But in that case, as soon as I find evidence that you lied, I’m gonna immediately take away all of your skills.” I told him plainly.

Amamiya bowed his head at that, “I apologize for that. Guess I was caught…”

“And…?” I asked.

“Perhaps you’ve already reached the right conclusion. This is the final secret though.” Amamiya told me.

I then took a deep breath, and told him my conclusion, “You’re not the Slave Master, are you?”

“Yeah.” Amamiya nodded.

“Then who is it?” I asked.

Depending on the answer, I might have to cut ties with him.

“It’s Tsuzuri.” Amamiya told me.

“She…?” I asked.

“That’s right. And I’m her slave.” Amamiya replied.

“But why…?” I asked next.

“We didn’t know how you’d act once you came, so we needed a backup plan. If you tried attacking me as soon as you arrived, then I was planning on sacrificing myself and let Tsuzuri take revenge.” Amamiya explained.

Oh… That makes sense.

“The weak have to rely on tricks and plans to win, that’s just how it works… Of course, I trust you now, Warrior.” Amamiya told me.

“Then, I guess that’s fine.” I said.

“If you still can’t believe me though… Well, please take this. It’s a sign of my trust.” Amamiya then gave me the Magical Cat Staff that I had just returned to him.

“Mmmm…” I muttered.

I suppose that I should receive it. Refusing would mean that I don’t trust him.

“Alright. Thanks for that.” I took the staff.

“I appreciate your patronage.” Amamiya had a cheerful smile on him at this point, as if he was a sociable worker of a grocery store, “By the way, here is a small trivia for you. Amamiya is actually Tsuzuri’s surname, that I used as a pseudonym to talk to you.

“My real name is Senkouji Ryouhei.”

Oh? So it’s Amamiya Tsuzuri and Senkouji Ryouhei then?

“Mmmm… I still have one question though.” I told him.

“What is it?” He asked.

“The Auditory Hallucination said that the Evil Slave Master was a ‘him’, but… Tsuzuri is a girl, right? How did you manipulate the Auditory Hallucination?” I asked him.

“Oh…” Ryouhei started laughing, “No… We didn’t do anything to it.”

“Then how…?” I asked.

“It’s simple. Tsuzuri has always been a man.” Ryouhei said in-between his laughs.

… Eh?

“Eeeeeeh!?” I exclaimed.

At that moment, the maid girl… No, the maid boy, arrived, “Master, I have returned.”

I was in utter disbelief, and I’m sure it was showing in my face.

“The people at the university don’t seem to be reluctant at cooperating with us for the time being, but at least for now, they don’t want to exchange supplies and personnel… What is it?” Tsuzuri was giving a report, but he stopped once he saw me staring hard at him.

“W-w-weell…” I instinctively got up from my seat and started stuttering.

Tsuzuri seemed to understand what was happening from this alone, “Oh, did you find out?” and gave me a mischievous smile.

“Y-you… You really look like a woman.” I told him.

“If you doubt it so much, would you like to see it?” This maid, with a provocative smile, lifted the front of his skirt.

“A-a-aaagh…” And I just… Stayed stuck there. Unable to move.