“Thank you, Iroha.” Katja was still numb from the paralysis, so I lent her my shoulder as we got back to the car. She could barely feel her legs, so she limped the whole way back. She let go of my shoulder when we got to the car and laid against it with a small thud. “Can you open the door?” She forced herself to stay up, then grabbed my shoulder again when the door was opened. I caught her weight and helped her maneuver into the car’s seat. “Finally… The numbness is subsiding. I should be able to walk soon.” The car’s door remained open, and her legs remained outside.

“That’s good.” I guess I was right in calling it paralysis. General numbness that wears off after a while. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the paralysis status effect defined before, but that’s what it looks like in every game I’ve ever played. “That numbness is all you felt, right? No other effects?”

“No… No, that was it. My body just got numb all of a sudden after getting splashed by the monster’s… venom? Spit? Vomit? Whatever that was.” That’s a relief… If she had been poisoned on top of being paralyzed, that would have been awful.

“There you are! What were you thinking?” Hecate ran up to us with her brief swinging by her side. Her words are directed at me, and she doesn’t seem too happy. “Have you gone mad? Have you been possessed? Why didn’t you retreat immediately after grabbing Katja?” Hecate stopped right in front of me and Katja. Her face was filled with worry, but she weaved a sigh of relief after seeing Katja sitting down peacefully. “Explain yourself. What kind of trick did you pull? Were you always that sanguine? You tell me not to support you, then rush in by yourself? What’s going on through your head?”

“Uhmm… Well…” Me being sanguine? “I didn’t know about it myself, but you might be right. They pissed me off. I couldn’t stop myself.” They did piss me off. That’s part of the reason why I attacked them. Doesn’t justify why I was able to kill them all, but maybe she won’t probe… I showed off too much…

“Are you genuinely mad? You did all that because they pissed you off? You and Katja would both be dead if that hadn’t worked out somehow! I…”

“Well, stop there, Hecate. It’s alright. She forced the monsters to retreat, so our job is pretty much done here. Well done, Iroha.” Hecate was starting to get heated when Katja cut her off.

“Fine… Maybe it is a good thing that you went crazy. You pulled Katja out of trouble when she needed it the most. I can’t even imagine what awful things might have happened if you hadn’t recklessly charged in. They even hit you in the process, didn’t they? Thank you for rescuing Katja, Iroha.”

Ehh? Did she just thank me? That’s a weird turn around… “Y- yeah…? My pleasure?” I looked at the parts of my body not covered by my outfit where I had felt some stinging earlier. It seemed more painful at the time, but most wounds are closed by now. Guess it wasn’t that big of a deal. “I think I’m fine… I didn’t get hurt that much…”

“What about you, Katja? Are you unharmed?” Hecate turned to Katja with a much lighter look on her face.

“She just got hit with paralysis. It’s harmless, and it should wear off soon.”

“Paralysis?” Both of them stopped and looked at me with some confusion. Was that game slang? I guess they aren’t familiar with paralysis as a status effect…

“I mean… She said her body was numb but that it was getting better. If that’s all that’s wrong with her, she’ll be fine… Right?” Hecate was still somewhat confused and turned her head to Katja.

“Yeah, that’s the gist of it, Hecate. I’ll be fine.”

“Hmm… If you say so. That weird liquid only made you numb, but what about other wounds? I saw some of their weapons reach you.”

Stolen story; please report.

“Nothing serious. They only hit my armor.” Her military-grade battle dress. A grade higher perhaps. “More importantly, what about Carol and Narumi? Has she found her yet?”

“Unfortunately, no. I was keeping an eye on Narumi’s location from above, but I lost track of her after some buildings cut off my line of sight.”

“Is that so? Should one of us go look for them?” Katja wonders out loud. We should! I wanna find Carol as soon as possible!

I was looking in the direction that Hecate gestured that she had lost track of Narumi’s movements when a shadow suddenly showed up. “What? Carol?” She was running towards us, making her easy to identify once she got close.

“Eh?” Hecate looked over the car in Carol’s direction while Katja twisted around in her seat.

“Ahhh… Ahhh… You have to hurry… You have to go to Narumi!” Carol hunched over with her hands on knees, panting.

“It’s just you? Where’s Narumi? Did something happen?” Hecate asked Carol, getting worried once again.

“A monster showed up. She engaged in combat with the monster and forced me to run away.”

“What were you doing to run into a monster? Why did you rush here on your own?” Hecate inquired about the reason behind her disappearance.

“I… Sorry… It was an accident…” An accident, Carol says? How did she come here as an accident? More importantly…

“Is Narumi alright? Narumi’s can handle herself in a fight, right? Is the monster that strong?” I’m worried about Narumi now. Even if Carol’s safe, now someone else might be in trouble. I know Hecate wants to figure out why Carol left the House on her own, but now’s not the time.

“I don’t know… I think Carol’s stronger… At worst, it’s an even matchup. The problem is that the monster looks like a mermaid. A weird mermaid, but still…” The monster looks like a mermaid?

“But she’s stronger, right? She has a good chance of winning, right?”

“It’s not that simple. The price on her mind would be too great.” Huh? Hecate suddenly speaks, leaving me confused. “Narumi struggles having to hurt monsters. It’s even worse if they’re humanoids. Makes her feel bad, and the guilt might cause her to have a breakdown again.”

“What? Narumi? Are you serious?” Narumi struggles with things like that? I never would have guessed… “Is that true? I always see her spacing out on her phone. She doesn’t seem like the kind to think too much about… anything, really…”

“It’s the opposite, Iroha. You’re thinking about it in reverse. Narumi’s true problem is that she thinks too much. When you see her on her phone or looking for other ways to lighten her spirit, it’s so she can distract herself from her own thoughts. She does it for her own survival…”

No way… That’s unbelievable… I was completely under the wrong impression. “If it’s that hard for her, why does she keep fighting? Wouldn’t it be better for her to stop?”

“We all have our own circumstances.” Katja answered. “We know too much, and this isn’t the kind of job that’s easy to quit. You yourself got dragged into this too, Iroha. You remember, right?” I do… I was gonna get placed under surveillance if I said no… But I also had my own reason to join. Narumi having no other choice but to stay despite it hurting her is awful!

“Don’t worry about her, Iroha. Narumi will be fine, and she’ll be even better if we get her out of there quick!” Carol’s right… Now’s not the time for me to be poking my nose into someone else’s business. Narumi has been part of the House for multiple years. I’m sure they know how to take care of her… “She’s stronger than that monster, but Narumi won’t be able to drag the fight forever. She’ll be forced to attack at some point, and if she kills her, then that’s when things get ugly.”

“Where’s Narumi? Can you take me to her?” Carol nodded, ready to show me to Narumi’s location. Rather than me trying to come up with a solution, it’s better if I do as Carol suggests. If killing the monster would be bad for Narumi, I’ll kill the mermaid in her place.

“What are you saying, Iroha?” Hecate interjected. “You two should stay here while I go look for her.”

Ehh? Does she still not trust me? We don’t have time to get into another argument, do we? “I’ll make sure Narumi’s back safely! Trust me. Besides, you need to protect Katja in case something shows up while she can’t move.”

“If it’s just to protect Katja, you two would do just as well! Neither you nor Carol are able to handle a monster that’s around Narumi’s strength.” She’s got a point… Even if one or two fish do decide to come by, any of us would be more than capable of keeping Katja safe. Maybe it would be better to leave it to her…

“Let her go, Hecate. Iroha will be fine.”

“What? Are you serious, Katja?” Hecate suddenly turns her head with a shocked expression.

“Really?” Did Katja just give me her seal of approval? “Is it fine?” Katja nodded back. “Let’s go then!” I ran around the car and grouped up with Carol. “Show me the way!”

“A- alright… Follow me!” Carol and I turned our backs to the car, and we ran off together into the shadows.

…

“Are you sure, Katja? Is Iroha really up to such duty?” Hecate turned to Katja, looking for a way to ease her worries.

“You saw her fight, didn’t you? She’s… something else… isn’t she?”

“Perhaps…” Hecate and Katja both saw the one-sided massacre but hadn’t processed it properly just yet. Iroha’s abilities were far above their expectations and far above what a normal human could do. Getting faster and stronger after each kill was too surreal for both of them. “What if that was just a fluke, though?”

“Look at her.” Katja gestured with her head to the two girls. “She’s able to run even with all those cuts and wounds. Nothing was bleeding anymore.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m glad they’re nothing serious, but that just means the wounds were never that deep.”

“You think so?” Katja lifts up the side of her dress, showing Hecate a red bruise on the side of her stomach. “That was through my armor. Hurts like hell…”

“What…?” Hecate looked in the direction the girls left and strained her eyes. “You’re joking…”