Hagakure Sakura Does Not Lament

Edited by LyraDhani

–The time went back to a while ago.

After being confronted by Chidori, Tsugumi told her, in a blur of circumstances, that a girl he knew might be in this barrier and he bowed his head deeply.

I don’t want to put Chidori in danger, but I don’t want to abandon Itadori either. Please forgive me for my selfishness. –He said so.

Chidori, who had been quietly listening, said with a complicated expression on her face.

“There is no proof that the girl is here, isn’t there? Are you still going?”

“…I have a bad feeling. My instincts in these situations, unfortunately, are often right.”

With that said, Tsugumi clenched his right hand. It was an uncomfortable feeling that pressed deep into his chest, as if all the hairs on his body were standing on end. If Tsugumi was not mistaken, he could feel the presence of a Demonic Beast from the direction where Itadori might be.

Either the Magical Girl had made a mistake, or she in the middle of the battle. In any case, it was certain that Itadori was in danger.

When Tsugumi told her this, Chidori smiled, her eyes downcast, as if she were troubled.

“Tsugumi, you never change. You wouldn’t listen to me even if I stopped you, would you?”

“No, I won’t, but…”

Then Chidori firmly took hold of Tsugumi’s right hand, looked him in the eye, and said.

“I’ll go with you. If that’s not possible, I won’t allow Tsugumi to leave here, either. Since it’s Tsugumi, I know you were going to leave me in a safe place anyway, but it’s not going to happen.”

“…It is.”

Tsugumi bit his lip in hesitation. Chidori’s prediction was mostly correct. He had wanted her to hide in a place where there would be no sign of the Demonic Beast. That way, he would be able to act with peace of mind.

Perhaps reading the conflict in Tsugumi’s expression, Chidori said in a gentle voice.

“Don’t worry. I’ll run away at the first sign of danger. I’m not that worried about it, I’ve been working out a lot too. I can crush an apple with one hand.”

“…That’s scary.”

Saying this, Tsugumi laughed a little. Now that this happened, it would be impossible to persuade Chidori.

…To begin with, it was Tsugumi who was selfish. In the event of an emergency, Tsugumi had to let her escape, even if it meant putting his body on the line. Chidori said so, but the world was not so naive that a woman’s slender arms could handle a Demonic Beast.

“If it’s dangerous, run away immediately. Can you promise?”

“When that happens, I’ll pull Tsugumi’s hand and run away. –Like that time.”

Chidori laughed nostalgically and said mischievously. She was probably referring to the catastrophe ten years ago. Tsugumi laughed and quickly pointed in the direction of the south gate.

“That child is in the south gate over there. –Let’s hurry.”

◆◆◆

Later, on the way to the south gate, he met a girl who had been bullying Itadori – Yumeji – and was able to ask her about Itadori’s whereabouts.

He didn’t know what happened, but Yumeji was seriously concerned for Itadori’s safety and desperately asked for help.

After hearing what she had to say, Tsugumi forced the sobbing Yumeji into Chidori’s care and ran alone to the place where Itadori would be, where the presence of the Demonic Beast was the strongest. From behind, he could hear Chidori trying to stop him, but with Yumeji as a shackle, she could not chase after Tsugumi.

The sadness in her voice made his heart ache, but he thought it was a good thing.

–At the end of that road, there would surely be a Demonic Beast. He didn’t want to take Chidori to such a place.

Besides, he didn’t run out there without a plan. According to Yumeji’s story, the Demonic Beast was not that big and its legs were slow. In that case, there were many ways to get rid of it.

When he found a motorcycle for sale while running, he removed the back carrier and operated it, twisting the right accelerator pedal to accelerate. Perhaps it was not the correct way to drive the bike, there were some strange creaking noises coming from some places, but he could not be bothered with such details.

The police might be angry later at him for driving without a license, but the fixtures in the Amusement Park would be repaired once the Demonic Beast was defeated, so even if this bike was broken, it would not be a problem.

Then, straight ahead, he found Itadori. Tsugumi plowed the whole bike into the Demonic Beast – a blue Ogre – that stood right next to her.

Tsugumi jumped off the bike before it hit, but the impact was so great that the blue Ogre was blown backward with great force.

As soon as he saw the blue Ogre fall to the ground along with the motorcycle and the debris on the wall, he threw a self-defense toy he had received from Mebuki – a smoke ball – in the beast’s direction. As soon as it hit the ground, the smoke ball made a popping sound, and white smoke spread all around the area where the beast was.

According to the creator, Mebuki, the effect lasted about ten minutes. While the smoke was deceiving its vision, he had to escape with Itadori.

Itadori was on the ground, trembling, and her right leg was painfully swollen. This had to be the leg injury that Yumeji had mentioned. When they met face to face, she struggled against him briefly, but since she had been chased by the beast just a few moments earlier, it was only natural that she got confused.

Tsugumi patted his chest in relief when he saw Itadori was not injured anywhere else besides her sprained leg. It was truly a stroke of luck that she wasn’t attacked by a Demonic Beast in this state. No, she was unlucky to get caught up in this barrier in the first place, but he should leave it at that for now.

He glanced in the direction of the fallen beast and left the place, carrying the stunned Itadori on his back. It would be impossible for the current Tsugumi to stop the beast now. If he didn’t hurry, the Demonic Beast would rise up.

…That beast’s shape was small for a D-class, but its special abilities might be stronger. As long as the current Tsugumi couldn’t compete with it, there was no other choice but to run away.

In the first place, it was a miracle that it fell to that level of attack. If it had been the size of the Praying Mantis – the D-class opponent he had fought the other day – it would have been too much to handle.

He didn’t know how the change in appearance time affected the Demonic Beast, but the shorter appearance time might have made it weaker.

-I have to thank Mebuki-senpai.

With that in mind, Tsugumi thought about the remaining number of self-defense items in his pocket.

One more smoke ball, one more trap, and one more tear gas spray. The effectiveness of any of these items against Demonic Beasts might be questionable, but they were effective as a distraction. It would buy some time.

–At any rate, there was no sign of the beast chasing them yet. The pressure he felt from behind had not disappeared, but there were no signs of movement, so it was probably still in that place. Maybe he got lucky and hit the wrong spot.

Then, Tsugumi suddenly looked at his left ring finger. There, he found the ring with the green stone on it, the magical tool of his contract with Bell. He still couldn’t reach her. Perhaps Bell was prevented from interfering until he got out of here.

The thought of this made Tsugumi look down to think.

–Chidori wasn’t here, and Itadori was out cold. The Demonic Beast was not moving, this might be a good time to try the transformation.

With that in mind, Tsugumi pulled the hood of his clothes deeper to hide his face. The mirror outside would reflect either a Demonic Beast or a Magical Girl, but there was no guarantee that there wouldn’t be a glitch in the mirror to reflect his image. He had to be careful.

Then Tsugumi took a slow, deep breath and put all his strength into the ring. The divine power that circulated through his body remade his shape. When he was fully transformed into a woman’s body, with his clothes intact, he felt an unbearable discomfort.

“Ugh, uuugh!”

A low growl escaped from his mouth. Tsugumi irresistibly unraveled his transformation, stopped, and exhaled roughly.

–That felt disgusting!

Tsugumi looked up at the sky with teary eyes as he endured nausea. After the transformation, he felt a fearful discomfort, as if maggots were crawling all over his body. He didn’t want to endure that, not even for a second.

Just transforming into a woman caused such side effects. If he used skills in such a state, there would probably be even more side effects than that. The thought made him shudder.

–I’m not going to be able to use my skills in this situation.

When he had tried to use Invisibility to escape, he felt sick and fall down.

“What is the Magical Girl doing anyway?”

Tsugumi furrowed his brow. It had already been thirty minutes since the barrier was put up. But she was not engaging in battle, letting the beast run wild instead.

-The general public might not be aware of the people caught up in the barrier, but even if this was the case, it was taking too long.

-No way, is the Magical Girl killed already?

Tsugumi shook his head at the thought. That didn’t seem likely. If she got killed, the government would have come up with a backup plan soon.

…Then, what is the circumstance that leads this Demonic Beast to wander unattended? Tsugumi had no idea.

With some doubt in his mind, he returned to the place where he had left Chidori and found two more figures there. They were dressed normally, so they were probably not Magical Girls.

Chidori, who was in front of them, looked relieved to see Tsugumi, but her expression was somewhat hard, and he could see a deep sense of anxiety on her face.

“Hey! Is Itadori-san safe!?”

Just as Tsugumi was about to go to them, Yumeji came rushing. Her eyes were red, and he could see traces of tears.

“Itadori is fine. She’s a little tired right now and sleeping, but other than her leg, she has no other injuries, so she should wake up soon.”

“Thank goodness–!”

Yumeji exclaimed and covered her face. He didn’t know what happened between them, but it was obvious that they were no longer fighting each other. He could ask for more details when Itadori woke up.

“I owe it to you for telling me where she was. Nice work.”

“Yes…”

When Tsugumi said this, Yumeji nodded with a complicated look on her face. She looked like carrying a deep sense of guilt.

…No matter how much she was told to run away, the fact remained that she had abandoned someone. Thus, although it was good that Itadori was safe, if she had died instead, this girl might not have been able to recover from it. In a double sense, Tsugumi was glad that he was able to save Itadori.

As he walked with Yumeji toward Chidori, one of the two figures – a short girl with short hair – stepped forward and said to Tsugumi.

“Are you Nanase Tsugumi?”

“Ah, um. That’s right, but you guys-“

The girl grabbed him by both shoulders with a strong grip. Then, Tsugumi was struck with a strange sense of déjà vu.

–I feel like I’ve seen this girl somewhere before.

Before he could answer that question, the girl turned to him and said.

“I’m going to be direct with you. –I want you to help us.”