c16 12

You don’t get it, huh?” The masked man chuckled in a low voice. “I hear you’ve lost your memory, Haruhiro. ...On a completely unrelated note, don’t you need to go take a piss?”
Before Haruhiro could respond, the masked man turned to go.
He was beyond quick. In no time flat, the man slipped into the crowd, and was gone.
Haruhiro and the rest of the party all looked at one another.
“Um, I’ve, uh, gotta go...” Haruhiro mumbled, making a gesture to indicate he was going to go heed nature’s call. Obviously, he didn’t actually have any pressing need to urinate. His comrades understood that.
“Ohh... Sure, okay!” Kuzaku said with an exaggerated nod, and Setora sighed as she watched him.
Merry’s mind seemed to be elsewhere. Was that because, unlike Haruhiro and the others, she remembered?
When Haruhiro left his wooden plate on the empty barrel and left, Neal moved, too. He likely meant to leave monitoring Kuzaku and the rest to the scout who was with Mogis, while he tailed Haruhiro personally. But he’d chosen the wrong guy to try to follow. Haruhiro used Stealth to ditch Neal. He left the plaza, and before he had time to consider where he ought to go, his feet were already leading him to the volunteer soldier lodging house.
The masked man was waiting for Haruhiro inside one of the rooms there.
“Do you really not remember anything?”
“...Why? What do you ask that for?”
“Because you came to this room without hesitating.”
The man removed his mask, and pulled back his hood.
Haruhiro could at least make out his features in the moonlight that streamed in through the window.
“It’s true. You don’t remember.”
“...Uh, yeah?”
The man threw his mask down on the bed, and started scratching at his hair in irritation.
“You know who I am, right?”
“Yeah. I’ve got a good idea.”
“A good idea, you say? Do you want me to kill you, man?”
“Nope.”
“Even without your memories, you still have the same stupid, lame responses as ever.”
“Ranta.”
What was he supposed to say? How was he supposed to say it?
“Long time no see.”
With nothing coming to him, he went for something inoffensive. It was true, he was boring. He had to accept that.
Ranta hung his head.
“Is that something a guy with no memories should say? You idjit...” Ranta said, trailing off as he lost momentum.
It seemed he and Ranta hadn’t necessarily been on good terms. Actually, they’d gotten along quite badly. They wouldn’t have gone their separate ways otherwise.
The guy had a real mouth on him. Haruhiro could tell that even from this short exchange with him. Was that why he’d disliked Ranta? It couldn’t have been that simple. There had to be something about each of them that the other couldn’t accept. But they’d still been comrades. They’d gone through many hardships together before parting ways.
“Don’t call me an idiot, you moron.”
For some reason, the words slipped out on their own.
Ranta looked up, his eyes widening for a moment, then he turned to look down again.
“I didn’t call you an idiot. I called you an idjit. Get it straight.”
“...Aren’t they the same?”
“They’re different, duh. It’s idjit and idiot.”
“It’s way too minor a difference, if you ask me.”
“That sort of nuance is pretty important, man. You get it? Yeah, no, you don’t. You’re sloppy, Parupiro. That’s the problem with guys like you.”
“Listen... I dunno what this difference in nuance you’re on about is, but I think I can see why I didn’t get along with you.”
“Because I’m sensitive, and you’re sloppy. We’re like water and oil. Nah, like the moon and a turtle. By the way, in this analogy, I’m the moon, and you’re the turtle.”
If Haruhiro said one thing, Ranta would come back at him with ten. He was different from Setora, who was argumentative and sharptongued. The guy couldn’t stop running his mouth. If Haruhiro tried to respond to everything, it’d be pretty exhausting.
“I heard you were with the Volunteer Soldier Corps.”
It seemed wise to just ignore him and move things along.
“Did you quit and leave on your own?”
“Like hell I did. I heard Shihoru got kidnapped, and... I mean, I don’t really care, but, you know, she does, so—”
Just as Haruhiro was about to ask who Ranta meant, something sprang at him from behind.
“Haru-kun...!”
“Whaa?!”
What was this? A piggyback ride? Haruhiro was giving someone a piggyback ride? Someone who jumped on him, out of nowhere? No, no, that wasn’t it. They were just clinging to him on their own. Haruhiro hadn’t put his arms behind himself to support them. He was adjusting his balance to keep from falling over. Should he throw them off? But Haru-kun? Wait, what?
“Haru-kun! It’s Haru-kun! You smell like Haru-kun! It’s Haru-kun...!”
“No, hold on, hey...!”
They were smelling him. With their nose pressed against his neck, behind his ear, sniffing like crazy. Was it a dog? No. Obviously not. “Hey, Yume, stoooop...!” Ranta was trying to tear whoever it was off of Haruhiro. “What do you think you’re doing, you moron?! Get off!” “Noooo! Yume hasn’t been with Haru-kun in forever!”
“You haven’t ‘been with’ him? People are gonna misunderstand if you word it like that, okay?! Besides, have you ever snuggled up to Haruhiro like that before?!”
“Yume has!”
“You have?! No way! Seriously?!”
“It was a long time ago, but Haru-kun hugged Yume real tight!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever! That was forever ago! And let me tell you, this piece of shit doesn’t remember it at all! Do you get that?!”
“Even if Haru-kun’s forgotten Yume, maybe his body remembers!”
“I told you, people will misunderstand if you say stuff like that...!” “U-Umm...” Haruhiro struggled to speak.
It hurts.
Ranta tried to pull Yume off him, and Yume — yes, it was Yume — was clinging onto Haruhiro. She had her arms wrapped tight around his neck, digging into it, so he couldn’t breathe properly.
“H-Help! L-Let go of me...!”

 

“Wh-Whaa! Sorry!”
Yume jumped back and away from him, stopping him from suffocating, at the last possible moment.
He squatted and tried to catch his breath, and Yume rubbed his back as he did.
“You okay? Sorry. Yume was just so darn happy to see you, Harukun.”
“What’re you so happy to see this snot-nosed idiot for, stupid? Don’t make such a big deal about it, you loose woman.”
Ranta seemed awfully mad. Yume snapped at him.
“Yume’s not a loser!”
“I never said you were! I said you were loose!”
“Hrrm?” Yume cocked her head to the side, and her hair, which despite being braided was still very long, touched the floor. “What’s that supposed to mean? Yume’s all muscle, so if anything, she’s tight?”
“Oh, forget it! I don’t even know anymore!”
“...Are you two always like this?” Haruhiro asked after clearing his throat, and Ranta started to panic.
“L-L-L-Like what? What do you mean by that, huh?!”
“Well, yeah. We’re always actin’ like this.” Yume confirmed with a sigh. Ranta seemed kind of embarrassed.
“...It’s true, we’re always kind of like this. Joking around, or whatever, you know? It’s nothing more than that, so don’t get any weird ideas, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah...” Haruhiro responded without any emotion, and Ranta snapped.
“One ‘yeah’ is enough! One! Since the dawn of the universe, everyone has known that—”
“Oh, yeah!”
When Yume suddenly sprang to her feet, Ranta let out a little shriek and jumped back and away from her.
“Wh-Wh-What’s this about, all of a sudden?!”
“Shihoru’s been kidnapped, right? We came here to meet Haru-kun and everyone, but we came to rescue Shihoru, too, didn’t we? Huh?”
“...Y-Yeah. Right. Th-That’s right!” Ranta pointed at Haruhiro.
“That’s right, Parupororon!”
“Who’s Parupororon supposed to be...?”
“Who would it be but you? No one, right? Don’t you get it? Is your head that empty?”
“...Don’t we need to talk about Shihoru?”
“We will! You don’t need to tell me that! I mean, you talk! Explain the damn situation. Out with it. Keep it short and to the point. Hurry up!”
If Ranta were the only one here, Haruhiro might have refused to talk out of sheer stubbornness. It was a good thing Yume was around.
He’d heard from Merry that Yume and Shihoru were relatively close.
Shihoru had lost her memories. That had to be shocking enough for
Yume on its own. Now, she was missing, too. Yume had left the
Volunteer Soldier Corps to come to Alterna because she couldn’t sit still anymore. And she’d brought Ranta with her. Ranta was just a tagalong.
“...And I think that’s everything. For now.”
When Haruhiro explained Shihoru’s current situation, Yume had to sit down on the bed for a moment. Ranta crossed his arms and chewed on his thumb.
“...Oh, this is a real fun situation. No, Yume, I did not mean that literally, okay? Don’t attack me. I was just trying to sound cool. Wait, if I explain it, it defeats the purpose...”
Yume was still hanging her head. She wasn’t even hearing Ranta’s nonsense. Ranta clicked his tongue, and glared at Haruhiro.
“So? What’re you gonna do?”
“Do?”
Haruhiro looked down, and averted his eyes.
“...Wait for an opportunity, then search Jin Mogis’s bedroom.”
“And what if Shihoru’s not there, either? I can’t see him hiding a hostage somewhere so obvious.” “Well... maybe you’re right.”
“How about the Forbidden Tower?”
“Huh?”
“Mogis is working with Hiyomu’s... I guess I can just call her Hiyo, huh? Anyway, he’s working with her master. If he’s the owner of the Forbidden Tower, like you say...”
“...Oh. If he leaves the hostage... Shihoru with the master of the
Forbidden Tower for safekeeping...”
“There’s no getting inside the tower. I mean, there’s probably a way, but we don’t know it. That’d make finding and saving her impossible from the get-go.”
“I...” Haruhiro sat down next to Yume. “...I never thought of that.”
“Well, that’s because you’ve got shit for brains, moron.” Ranta smirked. “You were always a downer, thinking about things in the most negative way possible. Does it make it easy for you, creating an out for yourself like that?”
“Could you not say that like you understand? ...Honestly, it’s unpleasant.”
“Do I get anything out of making things pleasant for you?”
“What do you get out of harassing me?”
Ranta shrugged. “It feels good. Only a little, though.”
“Ranta.”
It was a low voice. For Yume, at least. The coldness of it left more of an impression. It was scary. Haruhiro wasn’t the only one who got the chills from it.
“...Yipes!” Ranta said, sounding obviously frightened.
“Yipes,” really?
Haruhiro wanted to poke fun at him, but decided it was better not to.
“If you don’t stop picklin’, Yume’s gonna punish you, okay?”
“You mean—”
Ranta was probably about to say, You mean bickering, not pickling.
But he didn’t. Maybe she had given him a serious scolding before?
Yume was supposed to be pretty scary when she got mad. “...A-Anyway. If you’ve got time for that, wouldn’t it be faster to just clobber this Mogis guy and make him let Shihoru go?”
“Clobber him?”
If Haruhiro took issue with every word Ranta used, they’d never get anywhere. Haruhiro more or less knew what he meant.
“...Well, I had considered taking Mogis hostage. It’s not that easy. He’s on guard against us, too.”
“Even with me and Yume here?” Ranta smirked and gave him a thumbs-up. “I’m sure you’ve forgotten, but I’m more reliable than a hundred other guys combined, okay?”


 
17. Check and Mate
Haruhiro left the volunteer soldier lodging house by himself to head back to the plaza. He meant to return to his comrades, but before he could get to them, he was discovered and waylaid by Neal.
“Where’d you take off to?”
“Went to take a piss.”
“You took your sweet time.”
“My stomach hurt.”
“You eat something that disagreed with you?”
Neal was being openly snide as he questioned him. Haruhiro frowned, and rubbed his belly.
“Yeah... Pretty much every day, you know?”
“You said it.”
Neal laughed and slapped Haruhiro on the shoulder. He wished the guy wouldn’t touch him so casually. But he could put up with this much. It was easy.
“Anyway, I’m gonna head back.”
“Sure.”
Neal didn’t follow him. No, that wasn’t quite true. Though he didn’t stick close to Haruhiro, he did tail him at a distance. When Haruhiro turned around and looked him in the eye, Neal put his hands up. He wasn’t even trying to hide that he was watching them. Nothing had really changed from before.
Kuzaku and the rest of the group had relocated to the edge of the plaza.
“So, some drunk soldiers tried to mess with Setora-san and Merrysan,” Kuzaku told him, sounding indignant. “I sort of went wild on them. I held back, though, obviously.”
“Scum...” Merry sounded more disheartened than angry, while Setora seemed completely unfazed.
“Well?” she asked their leader.
“Yeah...” Haruhiro looked at each of his comrades. “I want you all to listen to me like you’re hearing the most boring story ever.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Now you’ve got me super interest—ow!” Kuzaku was interrupted by a blow to the jaw from Setora, and pouted unhappily. “...No, I get what he means. Even I’m not that dense. I was just kidding.”
“Talk to us like you’re telling the kind of worthless anti-humor that Kuzaku is prone to spouting, Haruhiro.”
“...Gotcha.”
Haruhiro disclosed the plan with the same cadence Kuzaku would use when telling a joke nobody would laugh at. Merry struggled to hide how it affected her when Yume’s name came up. The rest of the group, however, listened like they would have when someone told an unfunny joke.
“It’s not a matter of do or don’t,” Setora said, with a sigh that said she wanted nothing more to do with the nonsense he had just spewed. “It’s whether we end things here or not.” “I agree,” Merry nodded.
“Ayup,” Kuzaku said, sounding extra goofy.
Kiichi let out a short, silly meow.
In the distance, they heard men exulting Jin Mogis.
“Jin Mogis!”
“To the Frontier Army!”
“We’re not the Expeditionary Force anymore!”
“Frontier Army! Frontier Army!”
“To Commander Mogis!”
“Mo-gis!”
The drunken soldiers chanted his name.
“Mo-gis!”
“Mo-gis!”
“Mo-gis!”
The voices spread outward like a wave through the whole plaza.
Mogis walked at a relaxed pace, with the Black Cloaks in tow.
Right now, there was only a single Black Cloak near the main gate to Tenboro Tower. He was looking in Mogis’s direction, too.
Neal and the scout who worked under him were watching Haruhiro and the rest of the group, as always.
While pretending to watch Mogis like he was in a daze, Haruhiro thought, They’re in.
Ranta and Yume had infiltrated Tenboro Tower. All according to plan. If there wasn’t an uproar by now, they had managed it without being detected by the Black Cloaks.
Mogis was headed to a table that had been specially prepared for him in front of the main gate. Though, it looked like he didn’t intend to sit there. Was it time for him to withdraw to Tenboro Tower? No, not that either. He stood in front of the gate, and turned to look back at the soldiers.
“Welcome to the frontier.”
His sonorous voice made every soldier fall silent.
Mogis arched his back, and spread his arms wide.
“I invite you all to think of what you stand to gain in this brave new land. Everything. Here, you will have everything you desire. The frontier is yours for the taking.”
“Moooooooooooogis!” one solider shouted.
With that catalyst, the fervor filling the plaza erupted.
“Mogis!”
“King Mogis!”
“Take the throne!”
“Mogis!”
“Long live Jin Mogis!”
“Long live Jin Mogis!”
Mogis nodded once, then turned to go.
He entered Tenboro Tower.
Three of the Black Cloaks who had been with him remained at the main entrance.
“Just one, huh?” Setora whispered.
“Ayup,” Kuzaku agreed with a goofy look on his face, and stretched. “Y’know. I’m feeling mighty tired. We’ve got stuff to do tomorrow, too. Besides, I’m already stuffed. Why don’t we get some shut-eye?”
“He has a point.” Merry looked at Haruhiro. “Why don’t we go back to our room?”
“Yeah.”
The party pushed their way through the excited crowd towards
Tenboro Tower. Neal and his scout moved to follow them. They hadn’t lost sight of the group, but the crush of drunken soldiers delayed them a bit.
There were four Black Cloaks at the gate, including the one who had been there the whole time. It was questionable whether they were going to let them through easily.
As might have been expected, the Black Cloaks moved to block their way.
“We’re tired, and we want to go to sleep already,” Haruhiro said, maintaining his calm.
The Black Cloaks looked at one another. Kuzaku licked his lips. Even after having come this far, Haruhiro asked himself, Is this okay?
Yeah, this is okay.
“Here’s the thing about making a decision,” Ranta had lectured him in the lodging house. “Basically, you have to rank your priorities, and then accept you’ll have to give up on everything but the top one. Because, most of the time, you only get to choose one thing. You can’t be saying I want this, and I want that.”
He couldn’t force himself to like Ranta. That had probably been true before Haruhiro lost his memory, too.
“Haruhiro, what’s the most important thing to you right now?
What should we do?”
Why should I have to do what you tell me to? Haruhiro couldn’t help but let that feeling get in his way.
“You’re the leader, aren’t you?” But Ranta said this to Haruhiro:
“If you make a decision, whatever it is, we’ll follow it. So don’t be indecisive. Show us the way. You do that, and we’ll carry you to the destination.”
What the hell, man?
How can you sound so reliable?
You’re Ranta, damn it!
One of the Black Cloaks gestured with his chin. They all cleared the way. That apparently meant, Let them through.
The group entered Tenboro Tower through the main gate and headed for their room. Or, they made it look that way, and instead checked the stairs to the second floor. There were no Black Cloaks.
The ones at the main gate were looking outside.
Haruhiro indicated the stairs with his eyes. The others nodded.
What’s most important? My comrades. Obviously. We’re going to save Shihoru. That’s top priority.
Their relationship with Jin Mogis was complicated, and tied to the interests of the Volunteer Soldier Corps, too. On top of that, regardless of whether or not he deserved the title, Haruhiro was a mentor in the thieves’ guild. He needed to refrain from rash actions. If he thought everything through, he was forced to come to that conclusion.
He was being controlled. Mogis had probably seen through him. He knew Haruhiro couldn’t commit to taking action. He couldn’t make decisions. Mogis saw him as weak and indecisive. And, pathetically enough, he was right. Without Ranta to goad him into action, Haruhiro would have been unable to move, only able to take things as they came.
The group climbed the stairs. There was no turning back now. He had no intention of doing so, either.
When they reached the second floor, the masked man was waiting. Yume was, too.
“...!”
When Merry saw Yume, she covered her mouth with both hands. Yume’s eyes sparkled, and she waved both hands at her.
Haruhiro walked up to the masked man and whispered, “Take that thing off.”
“Eat me. ...We searched that guy’s room, but nothing.”
“Where’s Mogis?”
“He definitely didn’t go up to the third floor.”
“The fireplace room, maybe?”
“Wherever he is, we’ve got to do this fast.”
“Yeah.”
Haruhiro tried to proceed. His legs wouldn’t move. Before Haruhiro could say anything, Ranta voiced his concern for him.
“Security’s loose. Does that bother you?”
“...Well, yeah.”
“If we’re gonna back out, now’s the time.”
“We’re... not going to.”
“Can’t you say that more confidently?”
“Oh, shut up.”
With a grin hidden beneath his mask, Ranta jabbed Haruhiro in the shoulder.
They headed down the silent hall towards the fireplace room. There was no one else around. Whenever Mogis was in the fireplace room, a Black Cloak was posted at the door. There wasn’t one now. Just to be sure, he opened the door, and peered inside. The room was empty, like he’d thought.
That had to mean he was in the great hall.
The door to the great hall was wide open. That wasn’t unusual. The doors were even fitted with a contraption that could be used to keep them from closing. But what did it mean that they were open right now?
“He’s inviting us in,” Setora whispered.
That seemed like a safe assumption.
Mogis had probably expected Haruhiro to make a move. The remaining Black Cloaks would be guarding him, no doubt.
“It’s no big deal,” Ranta suggested. “If we take the king, we win.”
Mogis wasn’t supposed to know about Ranta and Yume. As far as he knew, it was just Haruhiro, Kuzaku, Setora, and Kiichi. Haruhiro exhaled.
“Let’s go.”
“O Light, may Lumiaris’s divine protection be upon you...”
Merry cast two light magic support spells, Protection and Assist, in quick succession.
Kuzaku took point as they barged into the great hall. Haruhiro, Ranta, Yume, Setora, Kiichi, and Merry followed.
Mogis was seated on the raised platform against the far wall, in the chair that resembled a throne. He was flanked by two Black Cloaks on each side. That made four of them in total. Less than expected.
“So you’ve come.” Mogis rose from his seat. The Black Cloaks tried to draw their swords. Mogis, however, would not allow it. He raised a hand to make them stop. He was coming down from the platform alone.
“Give Shihoru-san back...!” Kuzaku put his hand on the hilt of his large katana, then charged straight at Mogis. He looked ready to slice the man in two with the same motion he used to draw it.
Setora, Kiichi, and Merry followed Kuzaku.
Haruhiro used Stealth to approach from the left, while Ranta sprang to the right with moves like some sort of grasshopper. Yume was running after Ranta, taking aim with her bow, an arrow already nocked and ready.
Mogis drew his weapon. The same sword he always carried.
Kuzaku drew his large katana and immediately went for a diagonal slash.
“Hah...!” “Ngh...!”
Mogis tried to dodge, but must have sensed he wouldn’t be able to get out of the way in time. Gripping his sword with both hands, he blocked Kuzaku’s large katana.
His body sank. Mogis dug in his heels as hard as he could, and managed to stop the large katana somehow, but Kuzaku was stronger.
With a “Yahh!” Mogis kicked Kuzaku in the stomach and forced him back.
“Gwah...!”
Kuzaku only retreated two steps. Mogis immediately took a swing at him, but Kuzaku easily parried it.

Chapter end