Tatakau Shisho

Volume 8, Fragment: Her Incomprehensible Desire

Mattalast was lying collapsed in the Labyrinth. While his eyes were not open, his mind was faintly moving. He was thinking of the past. He was thinking of the day when he turned eighteen, the turning point of his life.

That day he was drinking amid the hustle and bustle of the pub. Many women who he couldn’t even remember were gathered around him. Men who took advantage of that and pretended to be his friends flocked around him.

Suddenly, just as Mattalast was getting bored, he took notice of one corner of the bar.

A lone girl was sitting there. She held a cup with both hands and licked the sweet alcohol as if she was a cat.

She was a bespectacled, dull-looking girl. She wore unfashionable clothes and her hair was gathered in tight braids. For some reason she held a bunny doll on her knees. She just sat there alone without speaking to anyone.

Mattalast hated country girls. He mostly ended up losing his head over them and then later it would become troublesome.

She’s got big tits though. Thinking so, Mattalast rose up. It seemed like a joke, but that was the reason he spoke to Hamyuts Meseta for the first time.

“What’s that?”

Mattalast sat down next to Hamyuts. He pointed towards the bunny.

“My friend.”

The girl answered unhesitatingly.

“…Huh.”

She seems quite amusing, thought Mattalast. In a bad way, of course.

“A friend?”

“A friend, and probably the savior of the world.”

“The savior of the world…”

Mattalast stopped himself. It was too early to laugh just yet. It could still become even more amusing.

“What other friends do you have?”

“She’s the only one. I actually hate her, but she’s my friend.”

So you came here alone, thought Mattalast. Thinking of it, some girl from here said something before. That they brought her here because she was strange, something like that.

And there were no other strange girls there but her.

“What about me? Am I your friend?”

Mattalast said and the girl made a puzzled expression.

“Who’re you?”

He was a bit surprised at her not knowing him.

“Mattalast Ballory. An Armed Librarian.”

“Hmm… I don’t really care.”

She somewhat hurt his pride. It was the first time in a long while he met someone who showed no interest in him as a person and not because of his flirting.

“And you are?”

“Hamyuts Meseta.”

“Hamyuts, huh. That’s a rare name. Meseta, meaning you come from Ismo?”

“Who knows, it’s a fake name.”

It was then that Mattalast began wondering if she wasn’t pulling his leg. Thinking so, he became a bit uncomfortable and started losing interest in the girl.

“Are you strong?”

What a stupid thing to ask, thought Mattalast.

“Yeah, naturally.”

“More than me?”

Does this girl not know the Armed Librarians? Even fooling around needs to be done properly. Mattalast answered naturally.

“Of course.”

At that time, he fortunately just so happened to activate his Predictive ability. If he hadn’t done so, Mattalast would have lost his eyesight.

He instantly put his palm in front of his face. An impact ran through his hand. Hamyuts’s index and middle finger were stopped by Mattalast’s palm. She was trying to hit his eyes with her fingers.

“It’s true! As I thought Chacoly’s a liar. There are people stronger than me.”

Hamyuts smiled shamelessly. The people around them couldn’t understand what happened. They probably haven’t heard their conversation.

“You’re interesting.”

He realized cracks ran through the bones of his hand. But a smile rose to his face before he frowned with pain.

“Interesting? Me? How?”

Hamyuts tilted her head in puzzlement.

“…Ahahaha!”

Mattalast was unable to stop himself from bursting into laughter. He fell off the couch and only stood up after a short while.

“That’s great. I finally found my destined person.”

The friends and women around him started clamoring.

“Destined person? A friend?”

“Yeah. A friend.”

While saying that, he hugged Hamyuts’s shoulders.

“Stop that. The world will be destroyed.”

“What?”

He couldn’t understand what she was saying. But he didn’t care.

“If I seriously end up falling for you, the world will be destroyed.”

Hamyuts smiled.

“So let’s not be friends. Because the world will be destroyed. We should just fight to the death instead.”

She was smiling, but he knew she was serious. Seems like I really ended up meeting someone outrageous. So Mattalast thought.

They both stood up at the same time.

“If you kill me the world will be saved. So let’s fight to the death.”

The people around them laughed, thinking she told a joke. But Mattalast could understand – he wasn’t sure if it was a joke, but he would end up fighting to the death with her the next instant.

“Save the world.”

The moment she said this, they both shot their fists.

The first battle ended in Mattalast’s victory. The bar’s wall collapsed. It was a trace of where he had hit Hamyuts.

“So, will you kill me?”

Hamyuts said, spitting blood from her mouth.

“If you kill me the world will be saved. If you become my friend the world will be destroyed.

Say, Mattalast right? Let’s save the world.”

Saying so, Hamyuts prepared for another attack. Mattalast smiled and unleashed another kick. Fun was mixed in with his fear, making it all the more enjoyable.

That day, Hamyuts and Mattalast became friends. And a little later, their relationship became more than that.

He might have been close to Hamyuts’s identity on that day. Her real identity, what he didn’t discuss with her about even once.

Mattalast thought while collapsed inside the Labyrinth.

In the end I wanted to know the truth.

Just who on earth are you?