CH 54

“You can’t just refuse! Fikar’s dancing with me.”

“I refuse.”

A beautiful woman ready to fight sure is scary. Although Fikar, the cause of Tussa-san’s powerful angry face, held firm with his expressionless face, I and the rest of the 7:3 part festival committee trembled in the wake of the inferno.

Since Fikar was launching his “I refuse” attacks while wrapping his arms around me, Tussa-san’s murderous gaze hit me particularly hard. Is this what it’s like for a soldier to be hit by a stray arrow on the battlefield?

The 7:3 guys were unreliable, probably in a hurry to get out of the way, so I decided to proceed alone.

“In short, you asked Fikar to perform, and he refused, right?”

“Th-th-th-that’s right.”

“So, uh, can we go home?”

“Please, wait! Don’t go!”

They must’ve been asked to convince me to get Fikar to perform in any way possible. I was used to persuading people to do various things because it was often part of my job, but it was a hassle, and, for something more troublesome like being the star of the festival, I’d prefer that they persuade Fikar themselves.

But of course, the 7:3 Brothers wouldn’t let me leave so easily.

“Sumire-san, Fikar-san said that he would be willing to perform if it were with you…”

“I, I refuse!”

What are you doing, Fikar, suddenly bringing me into this?!

Without hesitation, I, too, sent a verbal slash at the 7:3 Brothers and glared at Fikar with eyes of disbelief. Despite how much closer he was to me, Fikar’s eyes couldn’t muster even 2% of the power that the hannya in the back exuded, and he simply shrugged. Across the table, the 7:3 group was on the verge of tears.

Unable to bear the scene of all of us cowering before Hell’s wrath, Gartis-san and Mesil-san stepped in to calm things down.

“Gahahaha, we’re in big trouble!”

“This is no time to be laughing. Sumire, this isn’t just about Fikar’s selfishness. You’re also qualified to play the other role.”

“What do you…”

Mesil-san pointed to my side.

It was orange and purple, sporting two eyeball-like patterns that seemed to be looking at me:

A perversity mushroom.

This performance was how the people here chose to retell the story of how Tortea became a symbolic departure point.

The first Hero, a fine young man, is attacked by magic beasts and the Sorceress, blessed by the fairies, comes to his rescue. Together, the two set out from Tortea and defeat the Demon Lord.

So, to commemorate this event, festival organizers always sought out the strongest man in Tortea and Carcathia to play the role of the Hero. 

And apparently, the supporting role was traditionally given to a woman possessed by perversity mushrooms – a woman who has received blessings from the fairies.

“… This is all your fault!”

I couldn’t have known that, on top of being stalked and tormented by perversity mushrooms, I would be subjected to the arduous trials of performing at the festival.

Without thinking, I smacked the perversity mushroom on the head – well, its cap, I guess. It fell off the sofa’s armrest and onto the ground, where it fell with a thud. It was surprisingly heavy.

Fikar, still holding me in his arms, picked up the rolled-over perversity mushroom and threw it out the window that had been left open for ventilation. I heard the flapping of wings, followed quickly by several crunches that marked the mushroom’s end.

“Aah! What violence! That was an extremely important piece of evidence that you could play the Sorceress!”

“No, I don’t need that kind of evidence.”

However, the fact that Tussa-san was so confident that she would be Fikar’s partner meant…

I turned to her. She was sitting with her arms and legs crossed and, next to her, a poisonous-looking thing appeared out of thin air. It was purple and pink – the same colors that my perversity mushrooms used to be. Tussa-san looked around with an annoyed face.

“Ah…”

“Stop with that look of camaraderie! And what’s with your mushroom?! It’s a different color and it doesn’t have so many eyeballs!”

“Mhm, Cecile-san taught me how to handle them. Their colors were weird and they popped up too often, so I asked them to turn it down a notch. Though, I still don’t feel comfortable with them.”

“Tell me how.”

Tussa-san’s eyes were dead serious.

As the memories of the horror of being targeted all day and all night by all those eyes came back to me, I promised to tell her later. Cecile-san might have made a discovery that will save all the women suffering from the plight of the fairy’s blessing. Of course, it was more nuanced than just taking it out on the mushrooms because we were fed up with them.

It seemed like even the strong-willed Tussa-san was feeling overwhelmed by her perversity mushrooms. But before I could settle into a sympathetic mood, one of the pink-haired 7:3-part men cut in.

“Anyhow! That’s what we were thinking since it’s customary to leave the role to a woman who produces perversity mushrooms, and this year, Tussa of Carcathia has that blessing…”

“I refuse.”

“… so we were wondering if we could ask Sumire, who also has that blessing, to do it…”

Those mushrooms were no blessing to me.

“Hey! I worked hard to receive a blessing for this role?! I should have the rights to it!!”

“Right, it’d be better if someone with motivation did it. I don’t understand the evening festival well enough to dance in front of everyone anyway.”

I think that, for the first time since we’d met, Tussa-san and I were actually in agreement.

For once, I wanted to support Tussa-san.

Although the number of performers was small, the festival was something that everyone in our two towns took part in. Dancing in front of that many people was plain impossible. Even in the creative dance that I had to do in junior high school, I did it with dead eyes.

The two of us were fierce with our verbal swords and, as the 7:3 Brothers’ parries grew weaker and weaker, Fikar tightened his arms around me.