CK 04

Chapter 04…

First Year
Section 1 – Reunion
The True Identity of the Armored Man

I received the drinks we had ordered and sat down at a seat in the stylish café.

Finally able to settle down, I opened my mouth.

“Ah… I’m so embarrassed… to have shown you that…”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ve known each other since elementary school.”
“That’s… true.”
“Anyway, I’ll pay for my own.”
“No! This is to make up for dragging you along…”

We had been left behind by Maa-kun, losing track of him. So, we moved directly to a popular coffee chain and were having tea.

The reason was that I had stopped Hii-chan, saying, “I’ll pay as an apology for dragging you along, so let’s stop by!”

But the truth was, I was still pretty shaken from being so coldly rejected by Maa-kun, and I wanted to stay with Hii-chan a little longer.

Also, I wanted to properly apologize to Hii-chan for involving her. After all, “Even among close friends, manners matter.”

But…

“…Still, since we finally reunited, it would’ve been nice if Maa-kun were here too.”

Maybe because I had finally relaxed, the words slipped out of my mouth.

Hii-chan let out a sigh before replying.

“I think you should just give up on that. He’s not the same person he used to be.”
“That might be true, but…”

I understood. I really did.
But still, I couldn’t completely let go of my feelings.

“But… Maa-kun… I don’t know how to say it, but… didn’t he seem troubled?”
“No, he was just angry, wasn’t he? I don’t know why, though.”
“When you put it that way… maybe you’re right…”

I didn’t understand. Why did Maa-kun reject us? Why did it feel like he was so angry? And why did I see him like that and think he looked troubled?

“If you really can’t give up, maybe wait a little before trying again. You might figure out the cause.”
“…Yeah. If we went again tomorrow, we’d probably just end up arguing again.”
“Probably. That’s enough about that topic. So, Yuui, do you think you’ll make friends?”
“I-I will! But if we’re talking about it, Hii-chan is the one I’m worried about!”

After that, we stopped talking about dark topics and moved on to normal things like classes and club activities.

☆☆☆

As the sunset began to paint the sky beautifully, we left the café, saying, “Let’s head home soon.”
“Let’s come again when we have time!” we said, walking toward home.

At that moment, a scream echoed from the station square.

I instinctively turned my gaze toward the sound.

There, the same mud doll from yesterday was attacking people.

Mud dolls… armored humans.
Yesterday wasn’t a dream or an illusion—it had been real.

Then… what exactly are those things?

As I thought this, Hii-chan suddenly grabbed my hand firmly.

“What are you doing?! We have to run!”

Her words brought me back to reality.

Right. We had to run.

We ran and hid behind a nearby building.

Catching our breath, we paused for a moment.

I decided to ask Hii-chan what I’d been thinking about since yesterday.

“What are those things… do you think?”
“I don’t know. But it’s definitely better not to get involved.”

What Hii-chan said was correct.

Getting involved with something that attacks people is wrong. I knew that.
But I couldn’t help being curious.

What were the mud dolls?
What was the armored man?

“It doesn’t seem like they noticed us, so let’s go home.”

Hii-chan muttered that and began walking in the opposite direction of the mud dolls.

But I…

“I’m… not going home.”
“What are you saying?”
“Because I’m curious! I can’t find anything about it even on my phone!”

Hii-chan met my eyes. She said nothing.

After a few seconds, she sighed and finally spoke.

“Okay. But if it really gets dangerous, I’ll drag you home whether you like it or not.”
“H-Hii-chan, you can just go home…”
“I can’t leave you in danger.”
“Uh… sorry about that?”
“It’s fine. Happens all the time anyway.”

I forced a smile. Then, the two of us peeked out from behind the building to watch.

The armored man from yesterday was already there, fighting the mud dolls.

Today, the armored man held something like a staff in his right hand. He hadn’t had it yesterday.

There were other differences too. Among the fighting, there were creatures that looked like insects in human form.
It seemed the armored man was fighting both the mud dolls and these insect humans.

The insect humans moved quickly, and the armored man was slightly on the defensive.
But he wasn’t losing either. He made plants grow from the ground and walls to trap the insects, blocked them with walls rising from the ground, and even shot fire from the tip of his staff.

The mud dolls were destroyed as a side effect of the armored man’s attacks on the insect humans.

After a while, the insect humans disappeared somewhere.
By then, the mud dolls were no longer increasing.

Only the armored man remained in the place where the battle had taken place.

“Is it… over?”
“I think so.”

The armored man looked around and then walked away.

Without realizing it, I had jumped out from behind the building and was chasing him.

Hii-chan shouted from behind, trying to stop me, but I didn’t look back.

The armored man disappeared between buildings.
I ran toward that alley. If I didn’t catch up here, I’d never learn anything about the armored man, the mud dolls, or the insect humans. That’s how I felt.

I reached the gap between the buildings where the armored man had vanished.

He was still there.

The moment I tried to speak to him, his black armor began to shimmer and scatter into light.

The armor of the armored man was disappearing into light.

And then, I saw the true identity of the armored man.

It was my childhood friend, Masato Insei, who had rejected us just a few hours ago.