Thirty-Seventh Spell: Big Trouble
"Is that the oni?" Haru asked the snake girl, looking up at the red humanoid male creature that was carrying Hikari.
Nervously, the snake girl nodded.
"Put me down, you overgrown oaf!" Hikari shouted, beating her fists against the oni's back.
Haru looked around and found a rock near the trail, which he picked up. But just before he was about to throw it at the oni's head, Hikari used her wand to poke the oni in the eye. He growled in pain and accidentally dropped her. But she quickly got up, seeing Haru and the snake girl standing nearby.
"Ryuji?" Hikari exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"Trying to save you, again," Haru said.
Folding her arms, Hikari said, "I don't need saving! As you just saw, I've got this situation completely under—
Just before Hikari could finish her sentence, the oni picked up his metal club and turned around.
"Move, Hikari!" Haru said and threw the rock.
Surprisingly, the rock hit the oni square in the forehead which made him nearly drop his club. Hikari ran toward Haru just as the oni swung his club in her direction. Luckily, she missed his club by a few inches.
"Who's this?" Hikari asked, looking at the snake girl.
"Um, I'm—
An angry roar from the oni silenced the snake girl. He advanced toward Haru and Hikari, raising his club ready to strike again.
"We need to get away from here," Haru said. "Let's use the trail to get back to the group."
"No!" Hikari objected. "If we do that, we'll just lead him to the others and then everyone will be in danger. We need to get rid of him."
"But how? We can't use magic on this mountain, which I'm surprised you didn't know of being so smart and all."
"I did know that! But I thought if I kept out of the oni's line of sight I would be fine."
"Can you please stop arguing!" the snake girl snapped, getting Hikari and Haru's attention. "I'll keep the oni distracted."
The snake girl then stood in front of Haru and Hikari. She raised her hand and a swirling mass of water formed.
"Hey, Oni!" the snake girl shouted. "Go pick on someone your own size!"
Raising her hand in an overarching throw, the snake girl sent the swirling mass of water at the oni. It splashed in his face and made him drop his club, which fell on one of his toes. He cried out in agony and accidentally hopped toward the slope next to the dirt trail, causing him to roll down it.
A loud crash followed, causing Haru, Hikari, and the snake girl to look down. The oni had crashed into some trees at the bottom of the slope, but was too dizzy to get back up. So the three wasted no time and ran down the mountain trail away from the oni.
"Did you just summon a torrent without a wand?" Hikari said, looking at the snake girl with a mix of awe and suspicion.
"Yep, I sure did!" the snake girl said proudly. "Though I had no idea it would knock that oni out. I guess I'm stronger than I thought."
"She's an uwabami," Haru said. "I ran into her by chance, and she agreed to help me."
Hikari huffed. "Why would an uwabami agree to help an idiot like you? They usually eat people, and whole!"
"Is this true?" Haru asked the snake girl.
"My mom talked about eating humans, but I've never eaten any myself," the snake girl confessed. "I just stick to mice and garbage."
"Garbage?" Haru didn't understand.
"Left from humans who walk on this mountain," answered the snake girl. "You'd be surprised at how many of them litter per visit."
"That's not very healthy," Hikari said. "You could've swallowed something that would kill you. Unless uwabami have tougher stomachs than regular snakes."
Before the snake girl could respond, a light came from further down the mountain.
"Ryuji! Genma!" cried a familiar voice.
"Midorime-Sensei!" Hikari called. "We're up here!"
As the light advanced further up the trail, it was revealed to be a red paper lantern. But it wasn't any ordinary paper lantern as it had a mouth-like flap with a long tongue sticking out and one blinking eye. It giggled maliciously upon seeing Haru and Hikari.
"You two are in big trouble!" the paper lantern said. "Big trouble!"
"Quiet, you!" Midorime said to the lantern.
Accompanying Midorime were Rui and Sumi, who were incredibly tired but relieved.
"When you ran off, Haru, I told Midorime and she used her Chōchin Lantern to light the way," Rui explained. "I insisted on following her, along with Sumi."
"I got so worried when you didn't return," Sumi said, failing to hold back her tears. "All I could see was images of you being devoured by that oni."
"Well, the oni is taken care of," Hikari said confidently.
"For now," Haru added. "But we should keep moving."
"Agreed," Midorime said, then she noticed something. "Where did that snake come from?"
Looking down, Haru realized the snake girl had changed back into her regular serpent form and was slithering between his legs.
"Um, I found her in the forest…while I was looking for Hikari," said Haru, picking up the white snake with the faint black stripes and ice-blue eyes. "She's been sticking to me ever since."
"Odd," Midorime remarked. Then she said, "Well, come along! Dōmeki and Shō are probably at the bottom of the mountain waiting for us by now."
But when they reached the bottom of Mount Ōe, Dōmeki was present but not Shō or the other students that came on the field trip. Like Midorime, though, she was holding a Chōchin Lantern only it was blue instead of red.
"Where is everybody?" Midorime asked.
"I used the Body Evaporation Spell to send Shō and the rest of the Secondary First-Years back to Mahoutokoro while I stayed to wait for you," Dōmeki explained.
"Did the rest of my group make it down safely?"
"Yes, they did."
"Oh, good!"
Dōmeki then glared at Haru and Hikari. "You two had better have a good explanation for your reckless actions, or you'll both be expelled right here and now!"
To be continued…