Published at 17th of August 2019 6:56 am

Volume 7, Chapter 8: Promise

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Part 1

Sunday, January 24

The super-time-space repulsion shell that Koutarou cut in half unleashed its stored energy and created a giant glowing cube. But since it hadn't fully charged, the cube didn't grow to be as large as Clan had designed it to be, so it was only large enough to cover the Cradle.

Once the glowing cube vanished, there was nothing left. No Koutarou, no Clan, no Cradle. Not even the air in that space remained. It was the very definition of a vacuum; there was nothing there but a void. Although it had been on a smaller scale, the repulsion shell worked just as designed.

The next moment, the air surrounding the void began stirring to repair the space. It created a large shake and at the same time, the repaired space was flooded with air immediately.

“Emergency deployment of the repulsion field! Maximize the range, it doesn't have to last long, just focus on its strength!”

“Karama, Korama, hold it in with the field!”

“Force Field – Modifier – Maximize – End – Effective Area – Colossal!”

However, the invading girls managed to prevent any accident by using their various defensive measures. If the cube had been larger they would have been in danger, but fortunately there was no damage to the surrounding area. Because of that, the play continued on as if nothing on had happened in the air above the gym.

However, unlike the surroundings that had returned to being peaceful, the girls left behind in the back of the gym were anything but. Koutarou had vanished into thin air alongside Clan and the Cradle. Without even knowing whether or not if he was alive, the girls were in disarray.

“Koutarou, where did you go!? Koutarou!?”

Sanae restlessly stared around her surroundings, looking for Koutarou's presence. But she couldn't find him no matter how long she looked. There hadn't ever been a time where she couldn't find Koutarou after looking for this long. Sanae was always in a state where their spiritual energies were connected, but now that bond had been completely cut.

No, it can't be true...

That could only mean one thing, but Sanae desperately tried not to think about it. To her, Koutarou had become a part of her life, she didn't want to think about having completely lost that.

“The signal from the maneuver suit has been lost!? Blue Knight, raise the sensor sensitivity and scan again! And give me the data on the last three minutes of space quakes!”

Ruth operated her bracelet with a pale face. The armor Koutarou was wearing had an identification signal, but with the appearance of the cube, that signal had vanished. That alone would have been enough to worry, but having knowledge of Forthorthe's science, Ruth had a faint understanding of what had happened.

Satomi-sama... there's no way you could have been thrown to the outskirts of space and time...

The data from the Blue Knight only served to support her prediction. The more she read, the more hopeless she felt.

It wasn't a simple feeling as if having lost something precious. It was more like having lost her light while walking in the night. She had lost what she needed to keep on walking, and was now standing still.

“Karama, Korama, search through all life in the area and filter for Koutarou's spiritual energy pattern.”

“Ho-, that will take time Ho-”

“I know that much! I still want you to do it!”

“Understood Ho-, we will get right on it Ho-!”

Kiriha was angry. She put her hands together and made a severe expression.

This kind of ending... I won't accept this kind of ending, Satomi Koutarou!

She ground her teeth; he was the only one on the surface that truly understood her, a true friend she could reveal her true self too. Losing him this easily was an unbearable pain.

However, Kiriha knew that Koutarou, having been in the middle of that, was not going to make it out in one piece. It was next to impossible to have survived being caught up in that.

That fact sunk into Kiriha's chest, and she couldn't help but feel anger at her own helplessness.

I am a cold woman...

She was angry that she was able to remain calm despite believing that Koutarou had died.

“In this situation, it'll be faster to search for that spaceship rather than Satomi-san!”

It's possible that the calmest one here was Yurika. In her case, she had experienced her predecessor's, Rainbow Nana's, last fight, so she had built up a little tolerance to the dangers of people close to her.

“If they really were sent off to a different dimension I might be able still be able to detect something that big...”

Yurika closed her eyes and focused on the cane in her hands. She heightened her magic and spread out her senses, searching for traces of Koutarou.

That was a spaceship, and Satomi-san was wearing a spacesuit... if I find him soon, he can still be saved...

Despite her close friends’ crisis, she didn't lose hope. That was the strength of a magical girl that had slowly grown within her.

“Koutarou...”

Amongst the five girls, Theia was the most crushed. She remained motionless with her hand reaching for the sky.

If it hadn't been for the timing, Theia probably would have behaved more courageously. But she had lost Koutarou the moment she had realized her feelings. The moment she realized what she truly desired, it slipped right through her fingers. In that situation, not even the princess of a galactic empire could remain calm.

“Don't leave me alone, Koutarou... You're just hiding, right? Don't be such a tease, hurry... hurry up and come out...”

She tried to smile, but she couldn't.

She tried to talk, but her throat got hoarse.

“Can't you understand that... that I'm telling you to come out... that's... that's why you're... a pleb...”

The only thing Theia could do was shed tears.

As everyone had lost sight of themselves-

“Space distortion reaction increasing, predicting a small-scale spacequake. Take precautions, my lady.”

Ruth's bracelet let out an abrupt warning.

“Eh...?”

And while Ruth's eyes opened wide in surprise, it came.

It was a glowing door, like the one that Theia and Ruth used to travel between room 106 and the Blue Knight. It suddenly appeared, stretching several dozen meters across the sky. It was in the same place where Koutarou had vanished.

“Detected a small-scale spacequake. It is predicted with a 95% probability to be a short warp.”

“A short warp!?”

Ruth hurriedly confirmed the data being projected in the air from her bracelet. Just as the bracelet had said, data indicating that something large was warping in was being displayed.

“Found it!”

At that moment, Yurika opened her eyes inside the Alunaya costume. And at the same time the tip of something came out from the door of light.

“Mass from the space distortion calculated. Reporting. It is with a 98% probability the ship being searched for. Target has been located, my lady.”

It was a large plate-shaped dome several dozen meters in size. Noticing that, Sanae shouted out.

“Something's appeared!”

In the direction that Sanae was pointing, the dome moved forward and passed through the door. From the ground, it looked like a balloon blowing up. By the time it reached some dozen meters, the balloon stopped growing, and the rear appeared. And the silhouette changed from a dome to an egg.

“That's the spaceship from before!?”

What had appeared was the spaceship that had disappeared in the cube from before.

It was the Cradle. With the sudden appearance and return of that ship, not even the normally calm Kiriha could hide her surprise.

“Koutarou!”

Seeing the Cradle float in the sky, Theia shouted out and called for Koutarou right away. She then looked around the area, she was desperate.

Where are you, Koutarou!

She hoped that Koutarou would return alongside the Cradle, or possibly even riding it.

“Where are you!? Hurry up and show yourself!!”

However, Koutarou was nowhere to be seen. The bottom of the ship where he had been was nowhere to be seen, neither was the second super-space-time repulsion shell.

It couldn't be that Clan left Koutarou behind and came back on her own...?

A worry began budding in Theia's chest. And it wasn't just her; all five girls shared the same worry.

At that moment, a hatch at the thickest part of the egg opened. The five girls all stared at the hatch, praying that Koutarou would appear from it.

“We're here!! We made it in time!!”

However, as if betraying the girls’ trust, the one that appeared from the hatch was the Cradle's owner, Clan.

“Ah...”

Theia felt like she was sinking to the bottom of a deep darkness. Her tears that had stopped began flowing once more.

“Koutarou...”

“Satomi-sama...”

Kiriha and Ruth also revealed a sad expression and dropped their shoulders. Although it had only been a small hope, their disappointment was deep.

“...Huh?”

“Is this!?”

However, Sanae and Yurika weren't. In contrast to Theia and the others, their eyes sparkled and they got even more hopeful and instinctively leaned forwards.

“There's no time. Hurry up and get off, Clan!”

“Kyaaaaaaaaaa!?”

The next moment, Koutarou who had come from behind Clan as he kicked her out.

Part 2

Koutarou followed after Clan and jumped out from the hatch. The next moment, the Cradle disappeared from view. Standing out would be bad, so the Cradle concealed itself in accordance to the orders it had been given in advance.

“Hoh.”

Not minding the several dozen meter-long fall, Koutarou's sky colored armor rang out as he vividly landed. It was completely different from Clan, who had landed in a fluster the moment before.

“What kind of education have you received to make you think you can treat a princess like this!?”

“That's because we're out of time and you're just wasting it.”

“We're only running out of time because you overslept!”

“Stop talking and start running! We don't have any time!”

“Geez, you're so selfish!”

While arguing, the two of them ran towards Theia and the others. Meanwhile the five girls stared at them astonished.

Clan and Koutarou had gone missing after a fierce battle with no one knowing if they have lived or died. And now the two of them had appeared from the Cradle and it was like they had completely changed as they showed no signs of fighting like just before. Although they were arguing, it wasn't the kind of argument enemies would have. It was at the same level as what could often be heard in room 106.

That bizarre and mysterious scene was enough to leave the five invaders dumbfounded.

“What's going on with that...?”

“W-Who knows...”

So even Sanae and Yurika who noticed ahead of time that Koutarou was alive couldn't do anything but blink.

“Besides, how can you oversleep at such an important time!?”

“That's why I said you should wake me up early!!”

“Are you telling a princess to babysit her knight!?”

“Theia did!!”

“Well, I'm terribly sorry!!”

What had changed wasn't just their relationship, both Koutarou's and Clan's appearances had changed slightly from just before.

The armor Koutarou was wearing had more damage than before. It wasn't damage from lasers and beams either; there were dents from being hit by something hard and his mantle had large cuts, the variety of forms of damage had increased greatly. And there were now two swords by Koutarou's waist. Just a moment ago there had been one, but he had gotten another from somewhere.

Clan's appearance was odd as well. She was wearing the same dress as before, but she had a large overcoat on top. It looked like something a noble's daughter would wear when heading out to town.

But to the girls, Koutarou's change in appearance was but a minor problem. Their surprise that Koutarou was fine and in front of them was so large that they didn't have any room to pay any attention to his change in appearance.

Roughly two minutes had passed since the cube had appeared. During that short moment, they had panicked, worried and mourned. Just having gone away was a huge event in and of itself, but having returned the next moment was a series of shocks for the girls. Their feelings had been thrown for a loop and they were still unable to take any concrete actions.

“Clan, what's the time!?”

“One more minute! We somehow made it in time!”

Neglecting the five girls, Koutarou and Clan were heading towards the back entrance into the gym.

“W-Wait, Koutarou, what happened!?”

“Satomi-san, what is going on!?”

As Koutarou appeared in front of them, Sanae and Yurika questioned him. Having noticed Koutarou earlier, they had recovered faster than the other three.

“Sorry, we'll take that later, the play comes first now!!”

But Koutarou didn't answer Sanae and Yurika, and passed by the two alongside Clan. He was heading towards the stage of the play. The last scene was about to start, so he didn't have the time to answer their question.

He then continued past Kiriha and Ruth. But as he reached Theia, Koutarou stopped moving for the first time. He then passed the manuscript in his right hand to Clan.

“Clan, hold my script!!”

“Ber― no, Koutarou, how long are you planning on treating me like your servant!?”

While complaining to Koutarou, Clan caught the flying manuscript. Despite her dissatisfied words, she preciously held it towards her chest.

“I'm still a princess of the Holy Forthorthe―”

“Now's not the time for that! I'm in a hurry so quit your yapping and carry it!”

“Ahh, Geez, you're so selfish! You're always like that!”

Clan was still complaining, but Koutarou ignored her. Like when he didn't answer Sanae's and Yurika's questions, he didn't have the time to deal with Clan either.

“Theia, come!”

“Eh, Ah...?”

Koutarou grabbed Theia's hand forcibly pulled her to his side.

“I know you're surprised, you're needed!”

Three people were needed for the last scene. The Blue Knight, the Silver Princess and the Golden Princess. So if the Golden Princess, Theia, wasn't around, the last scene couldn't start.

“Ah...”

You're needed.

Theia was finally able to affirm somewhere deep inside her that Koutarou was safe after hearing those words and feeling the warmth of his hand.

“K-Koutarou...”

The next moment, Theia's knees gave way. She couldn't stand because of the deep relief and joy that was overwhelming here.

“Ah, h-hey!”

In order to keep Theia from falling over, Koutarou hurriedly held onto her.

“I see, so you were safe, Koutarou... I'm so...”

In response to Koutarou holding her, tears began flowing out from Theia's eyes again. In the weak winter sun, the tears shone iridescent.

“Don't cry, from― Ah, no, actually keep crying. We'll be doing the parting scene soon.”

Having lost her power to stand, Koutarou lifted Theia up with his arms as she cried. He was planning on carrying her to the stage like that.

“No, this isn't a parting.”

Theia shook her head and gently touched Koutarou's left hand that was lifting her legs and looked straight at him.

“...Everything is just about to start...”

Tears were still flowing from her eyes, but Theia had finally regained her smile.

“It's just as you say, Theia.”

Koutarou started running again.

He didn't have the time to stop running. Inside the gym were a lot of comrades waiting for him and Theia.

He would definitely make the play a success.

That was the promise Koutarou had made with the invading girls and later their drama club comrades. The time to fulfill that promise had finally arrived.

So Koutarou impatiently ran into the gym while holding Theia.

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