CK 60

CK

Posted by James, Released on November 5, 2025

Chapter 60…

Run or Don’t Run
The Giant Scorpion

Even if they were total strangers, not being able to stop that fight left me feeling uneasy.
While I was changing my shoes at the lockers, still carrying that frustration, I suddenly heard a scream.

Shirō-kun, Chiharu-chan, and I looked at each other to confirm what we’d heard, then quickly put on our outdoor shoes and ran toward the sound.

The scream came from between the shoe lockers and the school gate.

There, a girl with golden hair — Sayama-chan — was being attacked by a giant scorpion.

To be clear, it wasn’t some humanoid scorpion monster.
It was an actual enormous scorpion — big enough that a person could easily ride on top of it.

And the color of its body—
Fallen Stars had always been mostly black, but this scorpion was a deep crimson red.

…Could it be something other than a Fallen Star?
No, this wasn’t the time to think about that.

The scorpion’s tail was already coming down toward Sayama-chan.

At this distance, we wouldn’t make it in time.

Just then, the girl who’d tried to stop the fight earlier shoved Sayama-chan out of the way.
The girl herself stumbled and fell — but the tail didn’t hit either of them.

At least that was a relief.

But it only lasted a second — the scorpion’s tail now swung down toward the girl who’d fallen.

This time, she wouldn’t make it.

At that moment, vines shot up from the ground and wrapped tightly around the scorpion’s tail.
The scorpion flailed, trying to shake them off.

“What are you standing there for!? Generate your Star Armor, now!”

A voice shouted from beyond the scorpion.
Looking closer, I saw that it was Ma-kun, still in his school uniform, controlling the vines.

His words snapped both Shirō-kun and me back to reality.
We hurriedly summoned our Gears, inserted the Plates, and went through the activation sequence.

“Star Armor — Manifest!!”

As we pressed the button on top of our Gears, two constellations burst out, glowing brilliantly, and wrapped around us.
Within the light, our bodies were encased in armor.

The light faded.

We immediately charged toward the Scorpius.

…Wait—how are we even supposed to fight this thing!?
It’s a real monster! I’ve never fought anything like this before!

First, we needed to get the girl to safety.

Shirō-kun dashed straight at Scorpius.
Sayama-chan was already gone—probably ran off.

I ran to the girl, helped her up, and supported her as we backed away.

From the shoe lockers, Chiharu-chan peeked out and called my name.

“Shirakami-san!”
“Chiharu-chan! Take care of this girl!”
“Got it!”

After handing the girl to Chiharu-chan, I turned back toward the scorpion.

By then, Shirō-kun and Ma-kun (now in his Star Armor) were already fighting it.
I started running to join them—

—but suddenly, dark miasma began bubbling up from the ground around me.

And then I heard a familiar voice.

“I came because I sensed a reaction… didn’t think you’d already be here.
Well, that doesn’t mean I’m giving up.”

From above, the Fallen Star of Corvus descended before me.

…I guess this one’s mine to deal with.

Just then, water shot toward Corvus — but he dodged easily with a casual, “Whoops!”

“Your opponent is me. Yui, handle the miasma.”

Ma-kun’s voice.
He faced Corvus head-on and said,

“I’m taking Reticulum back.”

Then their battle began.

I was worried — Ma-kun fighting Corvus alone didn’t feel right.
But I couldn’t ignore the miasma either.

So, anxious but determined, I began fighting the dark creatures.

I threw a full-force punch at the last remaining miasma beast, sending it flying — and as it hit the ground, it dissolved into nothing.

Thanks to all the training I’d been getting from Shirō-kun and Taiga-san, I felt like I was fighting much better than before.
…Though, of course, I still couldn’t match Ma-kun.

Luckily, there weren’t too many of them this time, so it didn’t take long to finish.

With that done, I ran off to help Ma-kun.

But just then, Shirō-kun came tumbling across the ground toward me.
I stopped in shock.

“Are you okay!?”
“Yeah… just hurts a bit.”

He grunted “ow” as he stood up.

…Who should I help first?

While I hesitated, Shirō-kun muttered,

“…The scorpion’s gone.”

“What!?” I gasped, looking around.
Sure enough, the huge scorpion had disappeared.

“That’s bad.”
“Uh… which way did it go?”

As we spoke, Ma-kun landed in front of us.
But he didn’t say anything.

Oh no.
We were about to get scolded—I could feel it.

But instead, Ma-kun said something unexpected.

“…Corvus is yours.”
“You’re going after that giant scorpion?”
“Yeah. I can’t just leave it alone.”
“O-okay. Leave this to us!”

Then Ma-kun turned and ran toward the school gate.

Corvus sighed.

“Oh, great. Capricorn-kun’s gone. The scorpion’s gone too…
Fighting you two just isn’t that fun, you know?”
“Don’t underestimate us!” Shirō-kun shouted, generating his weapons.

His weapon looked like a pair of martial arts gloves — though Ma-kun once corrected him, saying, “Those are gauntlets.”
Apparently, claws could extend from the backs of his hands too.

Shirō-kun launched at Corvus with relentless punches, but Corvus dodged them easily, almost playfully.

I couldn’t just stand by, so I generated my staff and summoned a ram-shaped burst of energy, sending it charging toward Corvus — carefully avoiding Shirō-kun.

But he dodged that too, with a light “Whoops,” then leapt onto the club building’s roof.

“Oh, right, right. Aries-chan’s always such a pain to deal with.
There’s no point in dragging this out, so I’ll head home for today. See ya.”

With that, Corvus flew off into the sky.

…It was over.

We removed our Plates from the Gears and returned to our normal high school selves.

Corvus was gone, and…

“Ah! We need to catch up to Ma-kun!”
“Right! But… where did he go?”
“Should I just message him?”
“He’s probably too busy fighting to check.”
“Good point.”

We debated what to do, but no ideas came.

Then Chiharu-chan reappeared from the opposite side of the shoe lockers and said,