Part 4[edit]
---Top of the Great Tree, [Underwood].
Kuro Usagi had positioned herself on the dense growth of Water Tree leaves.
From that vantage point, she could oversee the whole battlefield and at the same time, that position offered her a kind of protection as enemies who might notice her would have a hard time climbing up to where she was.
Watching the black whirlwinds that was Percher, Asuka and Deen’s brave standoff with the enemies, Kuro Usagi’s eyes were filled with worry.
“……Asuka-san and Yō-san aren’t weak. Logically speaking, the talents that are germinating in their bodies should be much stronger than Kuro Usagi’s. Just that when placed beside Izayoi-san, they seem to be cherry blossoms that are late to bloom…… given ten years, they would surely grow to become a one of the handful that are counted as a strong force to be reckoned with.”
But in human terms, especially for those teenage girls, ten years would be too long. Izayoi was a little more mature in that sense but if it were to be any normal teenage girl or boy to set a goal to be achieved by the end of ten years, that would surely be quite a painful drudgery for them.
And even as she thought of that, Kuro Usagi was also at a lost as to the method to guide them along in their development.
Yō’s Gift could not be activated by those that weren’t encompassed in her Phylogenetic tree. Hence even if she were to get close to Kuro Usagi who belonged to the Moon faeries, there would be nothing to be gained from the friendship.
On the other hand, Asuka’s Gift seems to have a glimmer of hope but it was still in the guessing stage and couldn’t be confirmed as of yet. No, to be exact, even if the guess was right, that Gift would most probably be something that Kuro Usagi has no way to help with either.
“Now all we can do is only to wait for them to blossom faster……Kuro Usagi must also put in her utmost effort to complete her mission……”
“Yahoo~~~!”
---*Bam!* At that moment, Kuro Usagi heard a childish voice and what seemed to be a head of a small child slamming into her from behind.
And following that, they fell.
“……Eh? EYa… ahhhh!”
“Waaaaahhhhhhhhh! ♪”
The leaves and branches rustled and snapped as the two of them tumbled down. Fortunately for those obstacles, they had only fallen a few ways down before coming to a stop. But the current moment did not allow room for such nonsense and moreover, there could only be one Baka who would do such a stupid thing at this time. Kuro Usagi was so angry that her rabbit ears couldn’t stop quivering as she spun around to shout at the person behind her:
“SHI…SHIROYASHA-SAMA! Since you’ve already arrived, you should have immediately gone to clean up all those unruly criminals---”
“Wow~! Wow~! Wow~! It’s…It’s a real moon rabbit desu! And those are rabbit ears too! A petite appearance, innocent, tough and unyielding character and also the symbol of selflessness in their dedicated tasks! It’s my first time seeing one!♪”
“---…Eh….”
……who is she? Kuro Usagi thought silently to herself.
A black-haired teenage girl whom she haden’t seen before had just attacked her. Kuro Usagi had originally been stunned motionless at the same spot due to this unexpected turn of events but her rabbit ears soon turned red as she felt a pair of small hands rubbing at her breasts and she quickly tossed the girl in panic.
“Hm….Swish!~”
“Aya~!”
The mysterious girl was tossed spinning into the crown of the Great Tree.
Pulling out her [Vajra Replica], Kuro Usagi accosted the girl:
“You… Who are you?! For you to be able to get that close to Kuro Usagi’s back…… what kind of trick did you use?”
“Even if you put it that way, I do not know how to answer that for I had just simply leaned closer to you.”
The black-haired girl had tilted her head in a cutesy manner and didn’t seem to be lying about it.
And that only made Kuro Usagi heighten her vigilance against the girl.
“……Are you our enemy?”
“Nn, that’s right.” The black-haired girl replied with a radiant smile.
In a flash, lightning surrounded the crown of the tree.
The [Vajra Replica] was crackling intensely as Kuro Usagi took hold of the spear shaped out of the holy lightning to make a direct shot at the girl. The waves of heat and sparks that swirled around the lightning spear had also set the water tree leaves that held large amounts of water aflame and the surroundings had changed into a sea of flames in an instant.
That was a strike that didn’t leave any doubts about the result.
Though it wasn’t in her nature to act first without further talk, but Kuro Usagi felt that it wasn’t the time to fret about this sort of minor details. For that girl to appear before her at this sort of time, she wouldn’t be someone that could be counted as a small fry.
While adjusting the intensity of the lightning to prevent the fire from spreading further to the other tree leaves, Kuro Usagi seemed rather worn out as she turned away with a sigh: