ch1-ch20 · 012-ch12

Chapter 12: After That Wagon!

The white wagon van cruising down the public road paid no heed to the various motives of its passengers, humming along at a steady clip.

"This thing's amazin'. Small as it is, it's fast as a steam train back home. They've got convenient stuff here too, huh?"

Gazing out at the passing scenery, the large man with dark skin laughed cheerfully.

"Enjoying the sights is fine, but don't let your guard down, Baff. Big bro'll knock you one."

The man sitting beside him cautioned the dark-skinned man called Baff. This one was the scar-faced man Yamanai had seen earlier.

"I know, Roan. I'm doin' my job proper, see?"

Baff showed Roan his faintly glowing palm.

On the other side of the curtain dividing the seats, the barrier imprisoning Ai and the other two girls was his doing.

"But seriously, is the brat in back really the Black Knight's daughter? I just can't trust what that guy says."

"It's not about trustin' him. We got no choice but to follow him. That's what big bro decided, right?"

Even as he said this, Roan wore an expression as displeased as Baff's.

"...Hmph. But if it's true, that means while we were rotting in prison, that Black Knight bastard was over here makin' kids and livin' the easy life. Pisses me off."

"Yeah, whatever that guy's after, I gotta admit I'm grateful for the chance at revenge."

The two exchanged glances and broke into crude grins.

As their conversation continued, Yamanai in the passenger seat was shaking like a leaf.

"Wh-what are these guys, what're they talking about? Why'm I caught up in this..."

Yamanai had no memory of taking Sumi and the others out earlier. That's because Roan had hypnotized him like a puppet at the time.

Since Roan couldn't use his technique on two people at once, he was currently controlling the man driving.

Yamanai had his limbs bound and was secured to the passenger seat with a seatbelt.

No matter how he looked at it, nothing good awaited him if things kept going like this. But even thinking that, he had no way to escape.

"What... what's gonna happen to me... don't tell me, they're gonna kill me?"

Dark imaginings left Yamanai pale as a ghost.

Then, at that moment, he heard a voice—possibly his salvation.

"Ai~~!! You're in there, aren't you, Ai~~!!"

Hearing the voice, he looked outside to see a bicycle riding parallel to the van on the left.

"Huh!?"

"You there, what did you do to Ai! ...No wait, are you captured too!?"

Pedaling the bicycle was a man with tied-back black hair and black-rimmed glasses. His lanky frame made for a comical mismatch with the light blue women's bike.

"Wait, he's keeping up with a car on a mamachari!?"

"H-hey, is that—!"

The rough-looking men noticed the bicycle outside too. And when they saw his face, their eyes went wide with shock.

"It's the Black Knight, no doubt about it!"

"Damn, he's riding some weird contraption!"

Don't they know what bicycles are either? Yamanai wondered, but that didn't matter right now.

Thinking this might be his only chance at rescue, he desperately leaned his body and stretched his neck, pressing the power window switch with his tongue.

"H-help me! It's a kidnapping!!"

"How'd this brat open the window!?"

Seeing Yamanai call for help and Baff reaching from behind to restrain him, the man with black-rimmed glasses widened his eyes.

"Got it, I'll save you—just hang on!"

"Huh? ...No, you'd be better off calling the police..."

Yamanai was bewildered by the unexpected response.

Behind him, the men were also at a loss.

"What do we do? The target Black Knight's right there, and we don't have any eiyōso either. Want to take him out?"

"Wait, I told you not to let your guard down! We link up with big bro first!"

While holding Yamanai's head down, Roan stopped the battle-hungry Baff and turned to the driver's seat.

"Floor it! Lose that Black Knight bastard!"

"........."

The young driver silently stomped the accelerator, and the speedometer jumped from 50 km/h to nearly 80 km/h in one go.

"Waaait!!"

But even then.

The bicycle that had fallen behind for a moment caught right back up.

"What is that guy!?"

Even though this was the lifeline he was counting on, Yamanai couldn't help but feel fear at the man with black-rimmed glasses's monstrous physical ability.

"What do we do, he's still after us, Roan!"

"...That's what we have the third one for. Baff, let one of them out of the membrane!"

　　―　◆　―

Huh, seems like they're speeding up.

Just as I was thinking that, the back of the van suddenly opened.

"Huh, watch ou—wait, Papa!?"

What I saw through the opening was Papa coming after me on my bike, looking absolutely furious.

He's making a scary face. ...Ah, he's shouting something. Sorry, can't hear you.

"Oh, it really is Ai's papa."

"Hey, isn't Ai's papa amazing? What speed is he going?"

Yeah, just like Sumi said, his legs are spinning like a competitive cyclist. Cadence!

"Maybe he came to rescue us~?"

"Huh, but even if Papa came, I don't think there's much he could do..."

They're from another world, and... well, even if they weren't, I don't think Papa could beat those tough-looking guys.

More importantly, I wonder if he called the police properly? I don't want him pushing himself too hard.

Rather than being happy he came, I'm more scared Papa's going to get hurt.

"Huh, what? ...W-wait, what??"

"Sumi!?"

While I was focused on Papa, Sumi started panicking.

We'd been leaning against the invisible squishy wall. Among us, Sumi alone had pitched forward and broken through the barrier.

"Kyaaaaah!"

"Sumi!!"

As if someone had scooped her up and thrown her, Sumi's body was hurled outside the van.