svetikya #284 - Youyou: Huihui, let’s fight it out!
#284 - Youyou: Huihui, let’s fight it out!
“Marriage… Mar… Mar-marriage… Our team's comrade, ac-ac-actually getting married… Wedding blessings, talent performances, and gift money…”
Aqua stammered, unable to form a complete sentence.
Darkness nodded and said, "Marriage… That's to be expected."
She wasn't very surprised.
After all, Yunyun, Yuiyui, and Megumin were too close, even for members of the same clan. It wouldn't make sense if they didn't have a special relationship. One could even say that they were constantly cultivating their relationship as adventurers, and it was only natural that they became even closer.
However, some people felt that something was off.
“Wait a minute, I have a question.” Kazuma Sato raised his hand and, with Arue’s prompting, said, “So… does the Crimson Demon Village allow girls to marry girls? As expected of another world, the version updates are fast.”
“Eh?”
“Wait, Kazuma!”
“This guy, could it be…!”
The gazes directed at him were filled with disgust, as if they were looking at an incurable scumbag, which made Kazuma Sato very unhappy.
“Why are you looking at me like that!”
“Kazuma-san, do you have any questions about my brother marrying Yuiyui…?”
“It has nothing to do with Arue’s brother, we're talking about Yunyun and… Wait, brother? …Brother!?”
He looked at Arue, then at Yunyun.
The look of disbelief was one Yunyun had seen before, the same world-shattering expression Natsuki Subaru had when he found out Ferris was a boy who looked like a cat.
“Yunyun, are you a boy!?”
“Kazuma, don’t tell me you…!”
Yunyun twitched his lips.
He had felt that something was off.
Kazuma Sato's attitude towards him was subtly good, almost the same as his attitude towards Darkness and the others. He had thought it was just fair treatment, but it turned out to be a misunderstanding?
“I mean, at least figure out your comrade’s gender! We live under the same roof and even bathe together…”
That never happened, though.
Every time Yunyun invited him, this guy would always make excuses, saying he had things to do. The only time he suggested bathing together was at Alcanretia's hot springs, and Kazuma Sato went to the mixed-gender bath… No wonder that guy was babbling incomprehensible things back then.
“Besides, I go to succubus shops, how could I be a woman?”
“Who says women can’t go to succubus shops?”
“…What?”
“I am a true advocate of gender equality. The succubus shop doesn't say that only men can go, women can go to relieve stress too, right? What, Yunyun, are you discriminating against women?”
A powerful punch came flying.
Perhaps because Kazuma Sato was a modern person, no one could refute his punch.
Gender equality isn't for you to use here!
Yunyun couldn't help but roll his eyes.
“Succubus shop?”
Arue looked a little strange.
Yunyun quickly explained, “Su-Succubus shops aren't what you think, Arue-sister. It's just an ordinary shop where adventurers can relieve stress, it's not that kind of unhealthy place! Right, Chief!”
He panicked and chose the wrong person.
“Huh? M-me? Ah, ah… Succubus shops are very good places, um, very good places.”
The Chief said vaguely, turning his head and avoiding everyone's gaze.
That old geezer has definitely been there!
That's right, come to think of it, the Chief was an adventurer for a while when he was young. Since he's been to Axel, there's no reason he wouldn't know about succubus shops.
“Is that so?”
Arue looked even stranger.
But in this situation, she wouldn't dig any deeper, and instead said with a smile, “It seems like a great place, maybe I'll go there if I have the chance.”
“Don’t go!” X3
Yunyun, Kazuma Sato, and the Chief shouted in unison, while Darkness and Aqua looked at them with utter disgust.
The Chief and Arue left first.
They were preparing to discuss the wedding.
The Crimson Demon Clan was very particular about weddings. After all, they were chuunibyou who loved pomp and circumstance, not to mention that Yuiyui was the daughter of the Crimson Demon Clan Chief, and the person she was marrying was a genius of the Crimson Demon Clan who appeared only once every thousand years. They couldn't be careless.
In short, Arue was very much looking forward to it.
Darkness and Aqua were also taken away, saying that their help was needed, and they were forcibly dragged away.
Kazuma Sato and Yunyun were abandoned.
The room was a little stuffy.
What had happened, plus the fact that Yunyun was a boy, had a huge impact on Kazuma Sato. But soon, he asked another question.
“Although I don’t know what you’re thinking, Yunyun, if you’re a man, you should be decisive when it’s time to make a decision!”
“Says the guy who is hesitant and fails at the crucial moment?”
“Sh-Shut up!”
Kazuma Sato was purely a keyboard warrior.
What he said and what he did were completely different. He would chicken out at the crucial moment, but always liked to stand on the moral high ground and point fingers at others.
“Don’t worry, I know what to do.”
“That’s good.”
He nodded.
Yunyun found Kazuma Sato's reaction a little strange and asked curiously, “Kazuma, why would you care about this kind of thing? Even if we're comrades, you shouldn't react like this, right?”
“Then what kind of reaction do you want me to have? To shout in disbelief or to go berserk on the spot and shout about the injustice of fate?” Kazuma Sato rolled his eyes and said, “Yunyun, you and Yuiyui have a marriage contract, and you were deliberately hiding it, right?”
“What?”
“You didn't want to disrupt the harmony of the team, so you deliberately didn't say it, right?”
“…That's not it, don't flatter yourself. I was just afraid of Megumin getting angry. You should know how possessive Megumin is, right?”
Yunyun pouted and said.
“Hey, I gave you a way out, at least appreciate it.”
“I don’t want to.”
An adult's choice is of course to have everything, but regardless of whether Yuiyui, the Chief, Piosaburo, or Komekko agree, Megumin alone would reject it all, because that girl's possessiveness is ridiculously strong.
If this world had Archbishops of Sin, Megumin might be elected.
— — — —
While Yunyun and Kazuma Sato were awkwardly chatting, Megumin and Yuiyui were also engaged in a fierce verbal confrontation.
When she learned that Yunyun and Yuiyui had a marriage contract, Megumin ran out in a fit of anger. She didn't know why she ran out.
Was it jealousy?
Or unwillingness to face it?
I was first, I was clearly first… Whether it was meeting, farming, or even the promise to become adventurers, she was first, why… why did it turn out like this…
Megumin sat on Eros Mountain, looking at the rapidly rebuilt Crimson Demon Village.
Honestly.
She didn't want to do anything now, she just wanted to unleash a powerful Explosion magic on the village below to vent the unspeakable emotions in her chest.
Unfortunately, she couldn't do that.
If she were to release Explosion magic in public, her identity as a joke-attack mage would be completely exposed in front of everyone.
“Megu-Megumin… Wa-Wait a minute…”
A panting voice came from behind.
She turned her head.
“Oh, isn't this the daughter of the Crimson Demon clan chief, Lady Yunyun? May I ask what brings you here?”
“Don't be so formal!”
Yunyun loudly complained about Megumin's undisguised alienation, looking as if she was about to cry from grievance.
“Why are you acting all aggrieved?”
Megumin sighed.
She couldn't stand this the most.
Most ⊥ New ⊥ Small ⊥ Say ⊥ In ⊥ Six ⊥ 9 ⊥ ⊥ Book ⊥ ⊥ Bar ⊥ ⊥ First ⊥ Hair!
Although she often teased Yunyun during their school days, even using various tricks to steal her lunch, Megumin couldn't bear to see Yunyun looking so forlorn, like an abandoned puppy.
“I get it. Yunyun, you used that expression to seduce Kazuma, didn't you?”
“Eh?”
“Or is it that detestable big slime of yours?”
Megumin looked at Yunyun's exaggeratedly developed slime with obvious anger in her eyes, stepping forward to slap it repeatedly.
“It hurts, it hurts! Megumin, stop it!”
“I won't!”
“Why does Megumin always bully me!”
Yunyun shouted angrily at her.
Megumin stopped moving.
Bully?
…Yes, it was bullying.
Looking back, she realized that she had always been using the guise of friendship to bully Yunyun, and this was probably her retribution.
“Megumin, are you angry? Th-that, I don't actually mind that kind of thing.”
“…Are you Doaem or something?”
Hearing Yunyun say that, she sighed deeply. It was because the other party was always like this that she couldn't help but worry, and also unconsciously did excessive things.
“There's no need for comforting words.”
Megumin turned her head away, making her voice slightly cold as she said, “What you should be doing now is going back and preparing to marry Kazuma.”
“But…!”
“There are no buts! You should happily, joyfully marry Kazuma and become a winner in life! Yunyun, you treacherous little person who abandoned her friend!”
“I'm not a treacherous little person who would abandon her friend! Megumin, you always say these troubling things! You're the one who's forcing these things on me, I never had those thoughts! You're always teasing me like this, it's really too much!”
Yunyun seemed to explode as well.
The usually gentle and well-behaved Yunyun was losing her temper with a friend for the first time, and her emotions were so agitated.
Megumin was also startled, but quickly pretended to be nonchalant, saying, “Yes, yes, I was wrong, I apologize to you. I'm really sorry for bullying you all this time, I'm ashamed of my mistakes, really sorry. So, just ignore me and go do what you should do. Don't worry, I'll send my blessings at the wedding, and I'll also give a monetary gift. If you're afraid I'll renege, how about I write you an IOU now?”
She looked like she was refusing to communicate. And saying those kinds of words really made people angry. It was as if she was cutting ties and no longer being a good friend.
Yunyun was also very angry, but as Megumin's close friend, she also knew very well that no matter what she said, Megumin wouldn't listen in this situation. So—
“Then I win this time.”
“Yes, yes, you win… Wait, what did you win?”
“Kazuma, of course!”
Yunyun tossed her cloak and said loudly, “In the competition to win Kazuma, I won! What's wrong, my arch-rival? Haven't we been competing since we were little?”
“I forgot a long time ago.”
“Eh? Clearly, my record is 455 to Megumin's 453?”
“Nonsense, I clearly have 455! … Wait, Yunyun, you're tricking me!”
Megumin suddenly realized.
Yunyun smiled reassuringly, saying, “As expected, Megumin still remembers…”
Of course.
You should know that Megumin has a notebook dedicated to writing down the date, the content of the competition, and the winner. She carries that notebook with her at all times, it's more important than her staff.
“But Megumin, our competition will come to an end today.”
“…What do you mean?”
“What I mean is—”
Yunyun took a deep breath and looked at Megumin seriously, saying, “This time I won against Megumin, which means I'm the victor, not only in the competition but also in life! ”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Even if you won this time, Yunyun, it's only 455 to 454, I still have one more win than you, okay?”
Megumin snorted heavily, seemingly emphasizing that she was the one temporarily in the lead.
However—
“Oh, have you forgotten our sports festival competition?”
“Hmm?”
“It's a tradition of our Crimson Demon clan, no matter how many times we lose in the previous competitions, no matter how far behind we are, the score of our last competition is always ridiculously high, almost the sum of all the scores. The teacher said it, right—a major reversal will be more interesting.”
She remembered.
Indeed, there was such a thing!
This is a tradition of the Crimson Demon clan. Although the type of the last event is different every year, the score is indeed ridiculously high as Yunyun said, and there is almost always a major reversal every year, which is quite interesting.
—Who made the old fogey who created the Crimson Demon clan a Japanese, who likes the underdog's victory at the last moment the most, so he copied the rules of the Japanese sports festival.
“If we turn Kazuma into points, then he has at least 1000 points.”
“Yunyun, you…”
“I'll be generous and treat Kazuma as 2 points. 456 to 455, but I won't compete with Megumin anymore from now on, which means this is the last competition between the two of us, and the result is that I reversed and surpassed Megumin! I'll freeze the score here, you'll be my eternal loser!”
Yunyun said provocatively.
The provoking words made Megumin a little heated, she clenched her fists, and a strong low pressure emanated from her body.
“Heh heh, heh heh heh… heh heh heh heh—”
The muffled laughter was a little scary.
“M-Megumin…?”
“Alright, Yunyun, I accept your challenge! Because the Crimson Demon clan always responds to provocations!”
Megumin suddenly tossed her cloak and shouted, “I am Megumin, the number one archwizard of the Crimson Demon clan, the one who wields the strongest Explosion magic! No matter what the competition is, I will not lose! Yunyun, I will make you regret provoking me! I will not give Kazuma to you! Just you wait, I will definitely win!”
Megumin, after issuing her declaration of war, turned and ran towards her home, a smile reappearing on her face.
“Megumin…?”
Seeing Megumin emerge from her disappointment and regain her fighting spirit, Yunyun suddenly reached out her hand and then slowly lowered it, sighing.
“What am I doing…”