I came back but the world is still a fantasy!? – Garesto Academy – Exam Arc: Chapter I – Those Who Take Advantage of the Test – 04-09: Romance, Weapons, Wild Dance I (2/3)

“That’s why I told you not to use it!! The system to put those spikes away still isn’t functioning properly! And the return system will make it keep coming back to its wielder until caught!”

“What kind of defective weapon is that supposed to be!?”

“That’s why I said it was incomplete!!”

“Ruona-san, it’s coming again!” Aristel said.

Myuhi was about to argue with Werner, but Aristel’s warning brought her attention back to the yo-yo.

It had crashed into another tree after she dodged it, but it was coming back for her again.

“W-Wait a moment! Didn’t you say it would stop when caught!?”

“Crashing into a tree doesn’t register as being stopped!”

“Are you telling me I have to catch that thing!?”

This was a weapon that could pulverize a tree, something much thicker than a human’s body.

The foster might be providing Myuhi a barrier, but that was still not something she would want to take head on.

Myuhi dodged the yo-yo while keeping an eye on her surroundings to prevent the others from getting hurt.

But no matter how much she dodged, the yo-yo would keep coming back to her.

Vicious spikes that could easily tear through a man and a speed akin to that of a great pitcher. It was a terrifying combination like that chased after her.

“Hey, isn’t, there, another way to deal with this?”

“…Its energy should run out in about 10 minutes, so just hold on until then.”

It was a rather peaceful solution coming from the person who made such a fiendish weapon.

“Come on! 10 minutes like this? That’s too tedious!”

Myuhi moved her small body nimbly and spectacularly as she dodged the yo-yo again and again. She wouldn’t lose out even to an acrobat.

But while it might look like she was having an easy time, she was actually already tired of this situation.

There was scarcely anyone who would welcome being chased by a deadly weapon. All the more so when this wasn’t even training.

“Ha ha, It’s just as amusing as I thought it’d be. Weaponizing a yo-yo is quite cliché, but… At that point, it’s more like a morning star than a yo-yo. And dang, she’s moved so much, but her skirt still hasn’t turned up. That’s really amazing. Really makes me want to clap,” Shinichi said.

“Nakamura-san, what are you saying!? …Ruona-san, how about activating your exoskeleton to stop it!”

Myuhi didn’t have any problems dodging the yo-yo stamina- or skill-wise, so Shinichi just watched in amusement.

The ardent Aristel wasn’t happy with that, however, and so offered a plan to help Myuhi out, but she shot down her suggestion.

“I can’t activate the mass produced exoskeletons of the academy while moving!”

Myuhi shook her head, while Aristel wryly smiled and groaned.

For a moment, Myuhi thought about her original(・・・)exoskeleton, but the exoskeletons at school were all poorly tuned.

They weren’t capable of being equipped while moving.

“In that case, we’ll just have to destroy it! It may be incomplete, but it’s too dangerous. I’m borrowing this!”

“Huh, wait! That’s!!”

Aristel pulled out the most decent looking double-edged sword(blade) from the chest and rushed out.

She presumed that Werner was just yelling because he didn’t want his creation broken, so she ignored him.

She knew how strong Myuhi was, but she couldn’t just leave her in the face of danger.

That being said, she was by no means calm.

She was earnest by nature and always carried a strong sense of responsibility, but unfortunately, that backfired for her this time.

Dodging the yo-yo morning star for the next 10 minutes wasn’t particularly difficult or dangerous for Myuhi.

Just as she said, it was simply tedious. Were Aristel in her shoes, it would be the same for her as well.

Deciding to destroy the weapon wasn’t in itself a bad idea, but unfortunately, she just had to take out another weapon from that chest.

Perhaps she regretted it the moment she took out the weapon, but she was still too careless.

“Fu fu fu.”

That’s why…

When the boy saw the ‘line’ on that blade, his smile deepened.

When Aristel stood in front of Myuhi and she raised up her sword to destroy the vicious weapon, and the foster suddenly recognized the weapon and started supplying it with energy, it happened.

“Haa— Huh!?”

The sword descended. The spikes should have been cut in two, but something felt off.

It was as if the sword in her hand had suddenly turned elastic and started to dance.

What Aristel felt was more or less(・・) correct.

“W-What is this!?”

The girls yelled in shock at the sudden turn of events – the blade had extended itself.

To be more precise, a blade that was split into equal parts through a wire was dancing.

The vicious weapon(yo-yo) wasn’t strong enough to destroy the wire of the blade when it hit it, but it was strong enough to give rise to waves along the body of the blade and make it look like an oriental dragon or an orochi as it crawled on the land.

“Woah, it’s a snake belly sword! You sure know your stuff!””

“I’m glad you understand my hobby, but this really isn’t the time for that! That thing’s also incomplete! It can’t move properly!”

Shinichi was so excited he gave Werner a thumbs up, but the latter was just panicking.

Snake belly swords were designed like a whip by connecting several blades through a wire.

They were also known as ‘chain blade’, and were an amazing weapon that combined the characteristics of both sword and whip, giving them ability to deal with foes both up close and far away.

Unfortunately, until now they’ve only been a fictional weapon that couldn’t be realized with Earth’s technology due to durability and design problems.

There was also the problem of handling it since normal whips were already plenty difficult to handle.

Adding a blade on an already difficult weapon just makes it even harder to use.

The one who resolved those problems using the technology of another world was Werner.

He reused the weapon development technology to solve the durability problem, and then solved the difficulty issue by making the weapon respond to its wielders will through the photons.

The entire blade was wrapped in photons and could expand, contract, and move freely according to the will of its wielder.

Or at least, that was the theory behind it.

“Kyaa, what is this!? Why is it doing this!?” Aristel cried.

“Now there’s two of them! At this point, it’s no longer just tedious, you know!” Myuhi exclaimed.

But the truth was that Aristel did not look like she could control the snake belly sword at all.

It swept away everything around her, piercing the trees, gouging the land… It even bared its fangs against her.

“Tch, ‘Round Shield’ !”

The shield that appeared out of nowhere shaved off most of the energy and deflected the giant snake.

Aristel was supposed to save Myuhi with this sword, but now it was even attacking her.

“Ahh, sheesh! What are you doing, Ari-chan!”

“I’m sorry!! I’m so sorry! But this thing won’t listen to me!!”

Dodging the yo-yo was easy since it just followed a straight line, but this giant snake could freely change its course. What’s more was that they didn’t know much about it either, so it was difficult to read.

The fact that they were still able to dodge it easily despite that spoke volumes of their ability.

If anything Aristel was the more flustered of the two since the snake wouldn’t move the way she wanted.

“How do you stop this thing!?” Aristel asked.

“That’s why I told you to wait! Even if you cut the connection now, it will still have enough energy to last for 5 minutes. Ah, don’t let go of it, okay? Otherwise, it will start moving indiscriminately!” Werner said.

Once a connection has been formed, it will start storing up photons, so even if the connection is cut, the sword will continue acting wild as a giant snake.

“Hey, I know the blades are split, but isn’t that thing much longer than when it was a sword!?” Myuhi said.

“I designed it to get longer by adding blades and wires made out of photon too!” Werner said.

Now that he mentions it, its guard and knuckle guard were thicker and bigger than a normal double-edged sword.

The guard was made bigger because of that gimmick, while the knuckle guard was added to protect the wielder’s hands.

“Does that mean that thing is going to keep getting longer as long as there’s photon?” Myuhi asked.

“I think its because she’s panicking that the sword is extending itself. The photon consumption is greater but the sword’s reach is also longer. Uwaah! It’s coming here too!?” Werner said.

“…It can’t be helped,” Shinichi said.

Shinichi and Werner were supposed but now, the rampaging giant snake and the broken toy were even attacking them.

Werner immediately took out an actual shield, while Shinichi observed the trajectory of the sword and stepped out of the way.

“Hey, the fake rocket scientist over there, I’ll be using your yo-yo, okay?”

“Huh? What are you— Wait, fake rocket scientist!? Are you talking about me!?”

Shinichi kicked off against the ground and without touching the blade of the giant snake, easily arrived where Aristel was and took the sword from her.

“Huh?”

It was curious whether she was shocked because he suddenly appeared in front of her or because he was able to take the sword from her, but the moment Shinichi took the snake by its tail, its movements clearly changed, and with just a few flicks of his wrist, the rampaging giant snake behaved.

No longer was it a wild snake that wreaked havoc everywhere around it, but a weapon that meekly obeyed its master.

“I figured that would be it… Hina, don’t move, okay?”

“I-I can more or less imagine what you’re about to do, but can you not say it with that face!?”

As Shinichi seemed to realize something, a wicked fearless smile appeared on his face.

Myuhi became anxious at that, but she still stood still.

One moment complaining, one moment meekly obeying, Shinichi was dumbfounded by that, but there was also happiness mixed in.

“Now, go! Eat that!”

As Shinichi yelled out that order, he turned his wrist, and the snake quickly changed directions and charged for the yo-yo attacking Myuhi.

A spiral was drawn in its path as it charged after the yo-yo and sunk its fangs into it.

“Ah ha ha… For real?”

When the snake belly sword pierced through the vicious weapon(yo-yo), Myuhi wryly smiled.

She’d figured he’d do something like this, but when he did it so easily, she was more fed-up than surprised.

He was using an incomplete – or more aptly, a defective weapon – for the first time, and yet he so easily accurately hit a target as small as that yo-yo.

She knew in her mind that she should be surprised, but weariness won out instead.

Meanwhile, the snake returned to its original form and became a double-edged sword again.

It did look a little ridiculous though since the yo-yo without spikes was still caught at the edge of its blade.

“Y-You saved us. Thank you so much,” Aristel said.

“I have a thing or two to say about that, but… Thanks,” Myuhi said.

Aristel was earnestly grateful, while Myuhi was a bit more reserved though grateful nonetheless.

But before Shinichi could reply to them, the girls took out their weapons and smiled.

“But first things first, we better dispose of those dangerous defects before anything else,” Aristel said.

“That’s right, Ari-chan. These weapons really owe us an apology,” Myuhi said.

As they gave voice to their honest thoughts, they pointed their weapons at the chest, and the giant bazookas on their shoulders began emitting photon energy.

It was strange to see girls of their stature wield such large bazookas, but sights like this weren’t at all strange in the academy.

The reason why they were so aggressive was because they were embarrassed in front of a certain someone.

An adorable and girlish reason put to waste by the boorish weapons they wielded.