Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment.
Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.
The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.
"Speech"
Arc 7: The Journey - Chapter 4
I waved Blake farewell as she was taken away for further training. I had no idea how long it would take, but at this point, I was numb to it. Girls kept leaving and returning whenever fate or circumstance decided, and I had long since stopped trying to hold onto the idea of permanence. None of them ever stuck around for long, so I might as well just briefly enjoy their presence before the next one appeared.
Now, it was just Kino and me.
I glanced over at Kino. She was rubbing at her ears and eyes, wincing from the lingering pain. With a sharp snap of my fingers, I bent the fabric of reality itself through Boundary Manipulation, easing away her discomfort in an instant.
I closed my left eye, scratching my back with my left hand as I focused on switching into my normal ego. When I opened it again, everything shifted once more. This time, instead of looking forward, I sank downward—watching the reel of my past unwind before me, reliving every moment I had endured up to this point, but through the lens of my original self.
Holy hell… rewatching it all, I can't believe it. I really don't have much pride as a man. But then again, I've always valued survival more than clinging to pride. That's right… all I've ever wanted was to survive in a world that thrives on laws and forces designed to grind me down, pushing me further and further until there's nothing left. That's one of the reasons I even considered walking into a mental hospital.
I closed my left eye once more, then reopened my eye—the one that hadn't yet been replaced. Hopefully, it never will. But who knows? The future remains veiled to me, shrouded in the unknown, just as my own fate is hidden from anyone else who dares to peer into it—all thanks to the Heart of Eldritch.
"Alright, you got an idea where we should go, or should I choose?" I ask Kino, noticing that she had fully recovered from her unsettling encounter with a member of the Eldritch pantheon.
"You can choose." Kino muttered, her tone subdued as she tried her best to stay calm. Her eyes lingered on me, steady but uneasy. "And… are you really fine with your friend being taken away like that? Also, you were able to understand it?"
"Wasn't a friend." I answered plainly. "And it's fine. It… is a member of the group I'm part of. Just be aware, not many of them are in human forms."
Kino's gaze sharpened, her silence heavy as she studied me.
"Yes." I said before she could ask. "I am human."
It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. I was human, yet at the same time, I wasn't. Piece by piece, that part of me was eroding, dissolving in slow fragments—a long, drawn-out process of becoming something less than human… and something far more.
"Anyway, let's go." I said to Kino. She gave a slow nod, falling in step behind me.
For hours, neither of us spoke as we walked. The silence pressed in, heavy but not uncomfortable. Honestly, I could have teleported us with Boundary Manipulation. But with the River of Time's past constantly shifting in strange ways, it wasn't worth the risk. Too many possible outcomes showed Kino's death… or the sudden intrusion of bizarre entities from outside this world, tearing reality apart before my Heart of Eldritch ever had the chance to devour the world.
Then it happened. A sharp breeze cut across the path, carrying with it an unnatural force. In the blink of an eye, Kino was ripped away from my side, snatched by a man with long, twitching bunny ears. He bolted off at staggering speed, vanishing with her before I could react.
"What the fuck?" The words escaped me in a low breath. Not once—not once—had the River of Time revealed this.
I snapped my fingers, bending space with Boundary Manipulation. A gap tore open in front of the rabbit man and another in front of me. In less than a breath, I slapped him to the ground with my right hand and locked him there, tripling the gravity around his body until he couldn't even twitch. At the same time, I caught Kino, cradling her before she could hit the ground. The entire exchange happened in the span of a split second.
I blinked and then froze. What I saw wasn't exactly in front of me—it was through the River of Time. Kino's clothes had been ripped apart by the rabbit man in another strand of her past. The bizarre part was that I couldn't truly see him here and now, yet I could see the evidence of what had been.
And there she was. Kino's naked body in my arms, her figure smaller than Blake's, far from the overwhelming proportions of Nyarla or the others. Yet even so, my body betrayed me, reacting in ways I hadn't intended.
Ridiculous. Bizarre. Infuriating. Here I stood with a subdued rabbit man pinned under crushing gravity and Kino bare in my arms. Was this the will of the world itself, trying to push back against me? Or worse—was it some twisted design meant to force Kino into becoming a victim? Hentai logic made manifest.
Lucky for Kino, I had self-control. I gently set her down at my right side before lifting my shoe and stomping the rabbit man's head into the ground, shattering it like brittle stone.
That's when the River of Time stirred, flashing his history before my eyes.
So that's it. He wasn't some chosen enemy or twisted agent of the will of the world—just a random rapist spawned into existence. Born to a woman brutalized by a swarm of demonic rabbits, he inherited nothing but instinct, an endless urge to defile. Even as a baby, before he could form words, he was already carrying out the act.
Man, what a world. A fucked-up world stitched together by every degenerate logic hentai ever spewed into existence.
I turned back toward Kino, ready to reassure her, but froze. She was panting, her face flushed, her gaze locked on me—filled not with fear, but with hunger.
Oh. Right. The rabbit man's cursed gift—an inborn ability to emit fragments that drive women of all species into heat.
I snapped my fingers, twisting the boundary around Kino. In an instant, she was fully clothed again in her usual attire, the rabbit man's lingering fragments purged from her body as if they had never touched her.
Kino stood frozen for a moment, staring at me speechlessly before turning her face away, cheeks flushed.
"No need to thank me. Come on, let's go." I said, keeping my tone even. Kino quickly nodded and fell into step behind me.
For one insane, depraved rabbit man, there were bound to be many more. Generations of breeding had somehow shaped them into something far worse—creatures blind to every supernatural thread of time, immune to foresight, and armed with peak physical attributes that surpassed most humans.
Damn. The more I thought about it, the more it gnawed at me. Maybe Yui hadn't thrown me into this world just to let my Heart of Eldritch devour it. Maybe there was another reason. Something she hadn't told me.
By nightfall, I conjured the same log house I once used back in the world of Adventure Time. Kino and I chose to rest here in the wilderness instead of pushing on. Naturally, I wove a barrier around the place; the last thing I wanted was another rapist popping out of nowhere. In this twisted world, I doubted even I was safe from becoming a target.
I was just about to close my eyes and drift into sleep when the River of Time surged on its own. My vision snapped forward, and I saw myself heading toward Kino's room. Inside, she was pleasuring herself. Without hesitation, my past self entered, and the scene spiraled into sex.
My lips pulled into a frown. Because in that same thread of time, it brought chaos. The moment the second round began, hordes of creatures crashed down on us outside the log house. Easily enough, I dealt them, but the waves kept coming, endless, relentless—a tide without end.
I watched as time pushed on, the swarms never stopping, even after I flattened the land for miles around.
So that's the price. Touching Kino sexually meant forfeiting any chance at peace in this world. Good thing I hadn't even considered it until the River of Time forced the vision on me. Still, I could feel it—that damned Lucky Pervert glaring daggers at me from the background within me, irritated that I didn't follow through with what I'd seen.
"You know, you really ought to stop relying on peeking into the timestream like that." A woman's voice cut through the silence.
My body reacted before my mind did. I sprang off the bed, fist snapping forward in a clean strike toward the source. But it met nothing but air.
"Come now." The voice teased, closer now, dripping with confidence. "No need for that. I'm just here to help you out."
Sitting casually on my bed was a tall, pale, slender woman. Her knee-length black hair spilled down in layered cuts: short bangs veiled her eyebrows, side bangs framed her jaw, another sheet cascaded to her hips, and the final layer brushed against her knees. A single rose nestled in her hair, paired with the crimson lace of her choker and bracelet. Her kimono bloomed with a rose pattern, delicate lace trimming its edges.
My right eye twitched. There was no mistaking her. Yuko Ichihara from xxxHOLiC—the Dimensional Witch, the Space-Time Witch, the one who grants wishes… and far too many names besides.
"Nice to meet you, Sho Jin." Yuko said with a smile, entirely unfazed by the glare I shot her way. Her crimson eyes gleamed, sharp and knowing. "I'm sure you already know who I am. And I must say—" Her lips curved slyly. "For someone who has amassed so many abilities and artifacts, the sort most would sacrifice everything just to touch, you barely use them. You lack proficiency… You hold yourself back. Especially with that little heart of yours whispering in the dark, tugging at you."
"What do you want?" I demanded coldly, my gaze narrowing as I focused my right eye. The primordial runes writhed at the edges of my vision, bending away from Yuko as if refusing to touch her. Even with all my other cheats stacked together, I couldn't pull any more information about her than what I already knew from memory—the Yuko Ichihara of xxxHOLiC. And yet, this version before me remained an enigma beyond my reach.
"Nothing much." Yuko replied in a relaxing tone of voice. "I'm just here to repay the favors I owe to Yui." She paused deliberately, letting the silence stretch. "Although… depending on you, I might just nudge Yui into giving me another option for repayment—something that doesn't involve dealing with you."
Good. At least Yui is still pulling strings in my favor. Having someone like Yuko on her side—on my side, even temporarily—was no small thing. It meant leverage, stability, maybe even a safeguard I hadn't considered.
But that left the bigger question hanging in the air like a blade over my head: how exactly was Yuko planning to help? With her, "help" could mean anything—from guidance wrapped in riddles to a deal that demanded more than I'd be willing to work with.