Hello again! We are back with another translated chapter of this awesome story written originally by Soy Sierra! As always, please show her love and support by checking out her stories! Some are in Spanish, while others have been translated into English. She's awesome, see for yourselves!
And as usual, I am only translating this fic. If there are any errors, please let me know!~
I sincerely hope you are all enjoying it so far.
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Chapter 2: As if I would ever believe you
The deserted streets greeted them. There weren't any signs of the other participants, but they couldn't get careless. At any moment, they could be ambushed. Which is why the indifferent attitude of the warrior of the Rabbit worried her. Walking in the middle of the streets and among open passages, he didn't try to hide his presence in any form.
She herself wasn't used to hiding either. Her way of fighting was upfront and confrontational, but that didn't mean she enjoyed taking unnecessary risks. In such a wide opened space, they made for easy targets.
"Incidentally, what do you plan to do now?" Her words were deliberately sweet, and they sounded false even to her.
"Hmm?" He looked at her through the corner of his eye, continuing his march. He gave no sign of understanding what she meant.
"What's the plan?" The Boar felt her patience thinning with each passing moment.
Usagi stopped abruptly. He observed her as if he was suddenly aware of her presence for the first time. Toshiko felt uncomfortable under his blatant gaze. His black sclera and red pupils stood out in a disturbing way. The Rabbit's instability was dangerous. Unconsciously, she steadied her arms, preparing herself for an unanticipated attack.
"Oh, of course! How silly of me. You can't know. You're not a friend!" The other warrior exclaimed, scratching his head in a careless gesture.
Friend? For a moment, she was at a loss as she tried to make sense of the statement. Until… Oh, he must mean that type of friend. She remembered that for the demented man, friends were the corpses he could control at his command.
"My friends are always silent and always know what I'm going to do. That's why you took me by surprise!" He justified himself, flashing a smile aligned with sharp teeth. "Well, I suppose we need to find more people for our harem. Do you think anyone else will want to join?"
"I don't know." If they are as crazy as you, then perhaps, she though with frustration as she continued to walk.
"I would like the Monkey to join, and also the Ox… Hey! Hey! Do you think boys are allowed in the harem? I wouldn't want to leave anyone out…"
The sudden laughter that burst from her throat was completely involuntary. For a fleeting second, the image of the stoic Ox being asked to join a harem that included them both transpired in her mind.
She laughed until her stomach began hurting. The tense situation had suddenly taken a ridiculous turn. She was in the middle of the Juuni Taisen, fighting for her life, barefoot and practically "kidnapped" by someone dressed like a nudist's wet dream, whose objective was to form a harem with the rest of the participants.
Usagi stopped his prattling and gazed at her with a perplexed look, confused on her outburst of laughter.
"My dear, do you even know what a harem is? But in any case, we need to find cover before..."
Too late.
A flash of movement on her right quickly alerted her sharp senses. She instinctively pointed her guns in the direction, attempting to find the origin. The dark shadows made it difficult to distinguish any silhouettes but her instincts were infallible. There was definitely something in the nearby alley.
Suddenly, a quick movement, a sound so soft. She fired without even thinking twice. The sound of something falling on the hard pavement indicated to her that she hit it. Cautiously she approached it, her arms never leaving their target.
A bird?
She didn't have time to analyze the situation before she was suddenly surrounded by a dark cloud of wails, fluttering, and feathers. Hundreds of birds surrounded her. They pecked at her clothes, her body, searching for a way to injure her eyes with sharp beaks and needle-like claws.
"Dammit!"
Fortunately, she still had her machine guns to count on. She fired at random, succeeding in shooting down some of the birds, but the ones who escaped the bullets refused to leave her alone. The little bastards were fast and numerous.
Her survival logic told her to start moving, so with leaping steps between the attacking animals, she ran blindly in search for a secured place. Soon she found it in an abandoned car. Her bullets impacted the window, sounding off the alarm and causing some of the birds following her to momentarily become disoriented. She managed to enter inside and used the shattered window to keep shooting, albeit now more comfortably. Without too much worry, for now the only way of reaching her was through her bullets.
Controlled birds. What kind of cheap trick was that? What participant would be such a coward as to resort to something like that?
Her question was soon answered when the body of the warrior of the Chicken struck the car's windshield suddenly. Her empty eyes were distinguishable amidst the blood, which began to run through the broken glass. Outside, the surviving birds stopped attacking and returned to their usual and habitual behavior.
"What the hell?"
Usagi appeared trotting through one of the alleys. The sound of his heels resonated loudly throughout the quiet street. Behind him, the decapitated Snake followed him closely. Neither one had signs of being injured.
Despite having been killed, the warrior of the Chicken had been quite clever. She had avoided attacking the Rabbit and his "friend". Without a doubt, she must have been aware of his powers as a necromancer and knew that any movement against him could potentially cause her allies to turn against her.
"I didn't do anything bad! She started to run, and when I caught up to her she just fell…"
Toshiko shut the car's alarm off with a single shot.
With all of this noise, the other participants must know our location by now.
"I didn't even have a chance to ask her about our harem!" The Rabbit cried out, seemingly disappointed.
In perhaps another situation, she would have believed him. If she hadn't already seen him act psychotically, if she didn't know about his mental instability, perhaps she would have taken his words as being truthful. However, seeing how as he talked, the necromancer was busy tearing open the stomach of the fallen warrior in search of the jewel they had been asked to collect, caused her to think otherwise.
The man might be crazy, but he knew what he was doing. He had ambushed the Chicken as she was busy attacking with her birds. Despite his words about the harem, he hadn't given up on the real mission of the Juuni Taisen: collect the jewels.
His true intentions were a mystery to her. She had to be really cautious around him.
"Well, this is the Dog… or what's left of him," Toshiko said, lifting the handkerchief off of the warrior's destroyed head.
They had only gotten a few meters ahead when they had found him. Everything indicated that the Chicken had killed him before running into them.
In her own private investigation of the other other warriors prior to the competition, she had become aware of the Dog's past. She knew he had a young daughter. She ignored the wandering thought of what would happen to the girl now that her father was dead.
The pitiful thought irritated her. It was ridiculous to think about it now. Besides, he had decided to participate; he bore the consequences as well.
"This is probably why the warrior of the Chicken held two jewels," Usagi concluded suddenly, holding out the two gems he had retrieved from the large white rabbit tail on his back.
She gave him an incredulous look.
"You didn't tell me that," she said, unable to keep the reproach from being evident in her voice.
The Rabbit observed her curiously, tilting his head from side to side. The bunny ears he wore followed his every movement, giving him a rather childish look.
"I keep forgetting you can't know everything I know."
As if I would ever believe you, she thought. Her irritation from the Chicken's attack had done nothing but grow. Her clothes were in ruins, she was tired of walking barefoot on the rough streets, and her skin still showed signs of the birds' pecks. She only hoped this would end soon so she could go back home, back to her luxurious comforts.
If you can survive, that is, an inner voice reminded her.
"Hey hey!"
Usagi was at her side, a look of immense worry decorating his features.
"You're not mad at me, are you? I wouldn't like that, you're the first person who has ever wanted to be with me." His heels rattled nervously in the pavement.
"I'm not angry at you," she said, almost without thinking. She didn't know if she said it just so the other would stop bothering her with his growing anxiety, but soon she realized that it was indeed true. The truth was that the other warrior didn't anger her, but rather the entire situation in general.
"Just… don't keep things a secret from me again. If we're going to survive this together, then you have to be honest with me… Those are the rules of the harem!" She concluded, feeling foolish for having to say such a ridiculous lie.
Fortunately, the other warrior didn't seem to see it that way. His absolute serious expression said everything.
"I promise!" He declared solemnly while placing a hand over his heart.
She was a skilled manipulator. Her sister's actions were a testament to that. But the Rabbit was an enigma even to her. Can someone really be that gullible? Has he forgotten the reason why we're all here?
To Be Continued…
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Second chapter done!
Once again, please let me know what you think. And check out Soy Sierra's writings! She's great, I swear!
See you all next time~
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