On the morning of the second day of the school trip, after breakfast and leaving the hotel, I wasted no time in putting the three of them on notice.
"Listen up. On the third day, we'll just stop by a souvenir shop and head straight home. So today, at least, take the tour seriously. I've never heard of anyone spending the whole day hitting on girls."
"Shut up! Die! Traitor!!"
Don't start harmonizing, Matsuda and Motohama.
"By the way, what happened to that Kuroka girl from yesterday? She's definitely not your girlfriend, right? So why not introduce her to us? Come on, we're best friends, aren't we?"
Issei said this with his usual shameless, lustful grin.
"I didn't want to hear 'best friends' coming from that pervy face… I don't know about Kuroka. If she's interested, she might join us later."
I tried to sense my spirit, and it seemed she was still in her hotel room. Well, being a demon, she probably didn't want to get up early in the morning.
"All right! If she's joining, I'll make sure to get close to her then!"
"Wait, wait, Issei! No sneaky moves! And have you forgotten our dream? Our dream is a harem! Let's have a rematch from yesterday!"
"Indeed! By the time she joins us, I want to have at least a couple of girls on each arm."
They were already getting ahead of themselves, even though Kuroka hadn't exactly said she was coming, Matsuda, where the heck does that confidence come from?
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"Wooooooahhh! Here I am, about to have the gods tie the bond between me and a cute girl!"
"Hold it, Issei! I'm going first! I'm gonna get an even cuter girl as my girlfriend!"
"The right to the loli girl is mine! I'm not letting it go!"
After visiting Kiyomizu-dera, famous for its "jumping off the stage" legend, we went to the nearby Jishu Shrine, known for matchmaking. The three of them charged ahead, driven by their desires. I seriously think the gods will punish them for this... but then again, there might be some lecherous gods around, so maybe they have a chance?
By the way, Motohama, what you just said is borderline criminal.
At first, the other tourists gave the first two a bemused smile, but once Motohama uttered his loli comment, the looks turned downright scornful.
Unaware of all that, the three of them prayed with exaggeratedly graceful gestures, seemingly trying to boost their luck with the opposite sex.
After their prayers, they tried the shrine's famous "Love Fortune Stones."
The "Love Fortune Stones" are a pair of stones about 10 meters apart. The legend says if you can reach the other stone with your eyes closed, your love will come true. But the three kept falling, bumping into passersby, and sabotaging each other just when they were about to make it. They tried over ten times but never reached the other stone, of course, if you keep pulling each other down, you're never going to make it.
"Then it's gotta be the fortune slips! I'm going to draw a 'Great Blessing' that says, 'You'll get a girlfriend today and become a winner!'"
Matsuda, I don't think there's a fortune slip that specific...
Thinking that, the four of us drew our fortunes, but as expected, the hopeful voices quickly turned to groans.
"Th-That can't be…"
"This is impossible! We prayed so hard!"
"Damn it! You guys got the 'Great Curse' too?!"
As expected, all three got "Great Curse" slips, while I got…
"A 'Suekichi'... Not bad."
It's a bit so-so... but it says "things will get better little by little," so maybe it's okay.
"I don't care! I want to trade for your fortune slip!"
Shut up, Issei! You're definitely going to have a 'Great Blessing' harem in three years, so I have no sympathy!
"Besides, trading is pointless. And if you got a 'Great Curse,' you better tie it to the shrine's string properly."
After visiting a few more spots and having lunch, Kuroka finally joined us.
As expected, the dream of "flowers on both arms" hadn't come true, so the three eagerly tried to sell themselves to her. But Kuroka gave a harsh reply:
"Hmmm, if I were to choose a boyfriend, I'd pick Issei over you guys."
"What?! What's so good about a gloomy guy like him?!"
Alright, Issei, remember that.
"Women are naturally attracted to strong men, one way or another. Issei is okay now, but he's got great potential for the future."
"Is this about fighting? Muscles? We're pretty strong too! We got stronger after getting punched, kicked, thrown, and chased by Issei!"
"That's right! At first, there were other guys besides Issei trying to stop our peeping, but now we can beat all of them except Issei!"
Issei and Matsuda are saying pretty terrible things, but it's true. I'd underestimated just how obsessed these guys were about pervy stuff.
They want to peek, they want to talk dirty, but if I'm in their way, they'll come at me with all their lust and focus.
Motohama was just naturally bad at sports, but Issei and Matsuda, especially Matsuda, had made huge progress.
He might seem scrawny in anime, but he's actually pretty athletic.
He's broken several tournament records in PE classes... The teacher even told him to join the track team as a second club.
I'm pretty sure this guy won't be able to reincarnate as just a "soldier."
Somehow I'm both strengthening the original characters and making huge mistakes at the same time... If Saji joins the student council at Kuoh Academy, I'll just hand everything over to him, I silently swear.
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Before long, it was late afternoon. After visiting Fushimi Inari Taisha last, we were about to take the train back to Kyoto Station when it suddenly started raining, even though the sky was clear.
"Ah, rain, huh."
I complained, and Issei looked at me confused.
"Rain? There's no rain. What are you talking about, Issei?"
"Huh?"
At that moment, everyone except Kuroka and I vanished from sight.
"A barrier!? Again!?"
"This means we've been transported to another dimension, nya!"
While Kuroka and I were stunned, something else happened.
From beneath the ground ahead, a massive, violent aura began to surge upward.
"Hey, hey, hey! That can't be...!?"
"Nya~! We're totally caught up in this, Nya!! That rain earlier was probably a 'Fox's Wedding', a type of mysterious spirit disappearance!"
Like a stealth teleportation magic, huh!?
"Why are we caught up in this!?"
"Most likely because someone spotted the earth spider and sealed the area so it couldn't escape along the ley lines. This barrier seems designed so only those with a certain level of aura can enter from outside!"
Makes sense. They don't bother with weaklings, only skilled fighters get pulled into the barrier…
And then the earth spider appeared, huge, about 12 to 13 meters tall. It looked like a demon with six arms and a spider's face. It fixed its gaze on the two of us nearby.
"Huh? Just you two? Fine. That female over there looks worth the trouble. Die!"
Without warning, it lunged at us. No talk, no mercy! Where's the backup? Maybe it takes time to enter this special barrier!?
Kuroka and I split left and right, barely dodging in time. If it wasn't aiming at her, I might've been hit!
The earth spider ignored me and charged at Kuroka.
"Don't underestimate me, Nya!"
In an instant, Kuroka created over twenty clones, launching a barrage of attacks combining hermit arts, sorcery, mana, and magic. Only some of them were real, but each strike was deadly, still,
"How annoying!!"
Despite some damage, the spider smashed through the barrage, enveloping its arms in massive spiritual power and swung them at high speed.
The shockwave blew away buildings nearby and wiped out the clones. Kuroka's shield flickered as she was momentarily stunned.
"Hmph!!"
The spider's fist shattered the shield and sent Kuroka flying far away, at that moment, my mind went red with fury.
"[Ittou Shura]!!"
No plan, no hesitation, I unleashed [Ittou Shura], slashing the spider's back with my right and left fang bites. But still, the spider charged toward Kuroka.
"Wait, damn it!!"
I cut past it while closing in and stood in front of it. Finally, it noticed me, or rather, took interest.
"Huh? You've got some backbone now. Fine, I'll crush you myself."
The next moment, the spider's fist flew straight at me. So fast! The first hit was just a warm-up!
"Ugh!"
I thought I dodged completely, but the shockwave alone threw me over 20 meters.
Damn, if it even grazes me, it'd blow apart everything nearby!
But I saw Kuroka lying close to where I fell. Looks like I landed near her.
Her head was bleeding, but no serious injuries, probably because she had her shield up. However, she seemed unconscious.
The spider was already moving to charge us again.
What now? [Ittou Shura] lasts about 40 more seconds. The "Verg Avesta: Falsely Transcribed Creation" technique will kill me instantly if I miss by even a few centimeters. I don't know how much wider [Self-Destruct]'s range has gotten since last time. If I keep my distance, the spider might kill Kuroka first.
Waiting for reinforcements is no longer an option.
That spider's toughness, my slashes barely scratched it at first… Even if it just stands still, I probably won't beat it in time. But running away alone isn't an option!
Then the answer is clear. I'll pour every last second of [Ittou Shura] into a single strike!!
Standing up, I focus my killing intent through my Right Fang Grinder, Zarich, aimed at the spider.
"Here I go, earth spider! This strike will cut you down!"
"Good words! Bring that blade to me!"
"[Ittou Rasetsu]!!"
I roar and spring forward like a bullet. My right leg gave out on the step, but it doesn't matter. The real problem is the spider's fist, it's already read my move and is counterattacking!
It's so enhanced its blood is spurting everywhere, but it's probably just relying on instinct! Its eyes aren't even on me!
We're midair now, and even if I cut off its arm, I'd lose the use of both mine.
So I take one more step in the air…
Looks like my left leg's gone too, but it doesn't matter! Crossing my arms, I clamp down and slice the spider's neck clean off.
"Gah!!"
Momentum carries me behind the spider, landing on the ground. Using a ki blast as a springboard, I managed a double jump.
A moment later, the spider's severed head falls right in front of me.
"Eek!"
Creepy. But I thought it was finally over when the head spoke:
"Hey! That was fun. I'm the earth spider. What's your name?"
Totally horrifying.
"Don't worry, I can't fight anymore… but if you want to, I'm game."
"Bring it on. I'm Arima Ikki."
"Alright then. Let's fight again in a few hundred years."
And with that, the head vanished... Wait, is it the kind that revives!? Didn't it say it was like an evil dragon earlier!?
But if it's hundreds of years later, I probably won't be alive… Or if I reincarnate as a demon, will we fight again? …Though reincarnation isn't decided yet. Well, even if the barrier breaks, as long as Magari-sama is around, nothing bad will happen. Time to rest now.
I casually tossed the cleanup to Magari-sama and then passed out.
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Note: The earth spider's appearance was modeled after the spider father from Demon Slayer, and its personality inspired by the earth spider from Nurarihyon no Mago.