Volume 1, Chapter 3: Does a Stomachache Need a Three-Kilometer Run?
3:07 p.m.
The supermarket's PA was still repeating the disaster alert.
"Due to an abnormal incident on Jiangbin Road, customers are advised to avoid the area to the southeast for the time being..."
Tanaka Makoto stood behind the registers, looking at the map on his phone.
"It's still over three kilometers from here."
A young clerk nearby poked his head over.
"Manager, should we close early?"
"Close what?"
Tanaka Makoto shot him a look.
"The alert zone doesn't even reach us."
"What if that thing comes this way?"
"Then I'll be the first one out the door."
"You're not going to protect your employees?"
"I'm an ordinary guy in his forties. What am I supposed to protect you with?"
Tanaka Makoto pointed at the produce section.
"A green onion?"
The young clerk was speechless.
Yusei happened to be pushing a shopping cart past and laughed at that.
"Manager, you could at least grab a kitchen knife."
"And then tomorrow's news headline is 《Supermarket Manager Bravely Battles Calamity Beast with Kitchen Knife, Dies at 46》?"
"Sounds pretty heroic."
"Then you go be heroic."
Tanaka Makoto waved him off.
"Enough chatter. Clear everything out of the aisles. If we really have to evacuate, I don't want customers tripping over bottled water and dying first."
"Got it."
Yusei pushed the cart away.
As he passed Shuichi, he casually grabbed a bag of chips off the shelf.
Shuichi gave him a look.
"What are you doing?"
"Buying it tonight."
"Then put it in a basket."
"I'll hold on to it for now."
"You'll forget to pay for it later."
"Am I you?"
"Yes."
"Get lost."
Yusei tossed the chips into a nearby basket and kept going.
Shuichi crouched under the shelf and pushed the last two bags of stock into line.
But his eyes still drifted, without his meaning them to, toward the staff corridor.
Asakawa Mio had been gone seven minutes.
A stomachache.
Seven minutes was perfectly normal.
Ten was normal too.
Twenty might even be explainable.
So it had nothing to do with him.
Shuichi stood up.
Picked up an empty box.
Took two steps.
Then stopped again.
His phone was buzzing in his pocket.
A new disaster notice.
【Calamity beast attack on Jiangbin Road confirmed. Three calamity beasts are currently at the scene. Nearby residents, take shelter indoors immediately.】
A temporary alert map was attached below.
The red zone had grown a ring larger than before.
Shuichi stared at it for two seconds.
He was about to back out.
Then the platform suddenly popped up a livestream recommendation.
【LIVE from Jiangbin Road! A Female Hero Has Appeared!】
His finger stopped.
He tapped in.
The picture shook badly.
The streamer was probably hiding in a nearby building, filming through glass from a long way off.
In the middle of the street, a blue-white figure had just dropped out of midair.
The high, pale-blue ponytail traced an arc behind her.
The silver lance swept across.
BANG!
A calamity beast nearly the size of a small truck got whipped straight off its feet and slammed into the rolling shutter of a roadside shop.
Bullet comments flooded the screen at once.
【Blue Lance!】
【Blue Lance from yesterday is back!】
【Does she just operate in Linjiang City?】
【Three of them, that's more than yesterday.】
Shuichi watched without expression.
The camera was far away.
But it was definitely that woman from yesterday.
He glanced down at the time.
3:09.
Asakawa Mio had been in the restroom for nine minutes.
"..."
Shuichi closed the stream.
And shoved his phone back in his pocket.
Coincidence.
It was a big world.
Who said a hero couldn't happen to show up while someone had a stomachache?
He carried the box toward the stockroom.
Two steps out.
He took the phone out again.
And reopened the stream.
***
The situation on Jiangbin Road was a lot more trouble than yesterday.
The three calamity beasts weren't the same kind.
Two of them were fairly small.
One looked like a hairless ape, and the other crouched low to the ground, its back covered in a wide, hard carapace.
The third was the most eye-catching.
Nearly five meters tall.
Its two hind legs were abnormally thick, but its upper body was so long and narrow it looked deformed, with two arms that hung all the way to the ground and ended not in hands but in two black, bony scythes.
The ground was already littered with broken concrete and glass.
Asakawa Mio gripped her lance.
She slowly let out a breath.
Her left wrist hurt.
The wound from a few days ago hadn't healed yet.
She'd already transformed yesterday. Under normal circumstances, she shouldn't be transforming again today at all.
But those were normal circumstances.
The three things in front of her weren't going to politely come back another day just because she'd fought a battle yesterday.
"On your left!"
Someone shouted from the safe zone in the distance.
Mio was already moving.
The ape-shaped calamity beast pounced from the side.
She didn't back off.
She thrust the lance forward.
The tip slid past the monster's gaping jaws and went in.
SHUNK!
Pale-blue light burst out of the back of its neck.
Its body was still frozen mid-pounce.
Mio let go with her right hand and stepped aside.
The calamity beast's huge body brushed past her shoulder as it charged on.
And crashed heavily to the ground.
The lance was still stuck in its mouth.
Mio turned.
Grabbed the butt of the lance.
And yanked hard.
The monster's head was wrenched back along with it and snapped.
Done.
She didn't even look back to confirm.
Because the second one was already barreling at her.
The armored calamity beast curled up its body and came rolling down the street at high speed like a giant black boulder.
Mio gripped the lance in both hands.
She slammed its butt into the ground.
Blue lines instantly spread along the cracks beneath her feet.
BOOM!
The boulder hit the barrier of light.
The violent impact drove her sliding back, again and again.
Her soles screeched harshly against the ground.
The pain in her wrist spiked.
Mio's brows knit.
Hold on.
She could still hold on.
Three seconds.
Two seconds.
One second.
The instant the armored calamity beast visibly slowed, she dropped the barrier.
Turned sideways.
Drove the lance tip into the narrowest seam between the plates of its carapace.
And turned her whole body along with its roll.
"Up!"
The lance heaved upward.
The huge calamity beast was actually pried right off the ground.
It flipped in midair.
Belly up.
Mio raised her right hand.
Blue light gathered in her palm.
BOOM!
The beam punched through its belly.
Number two.
Her right leg buckled slightly when she landed.
She steadied herself quickly.
Nobody could tell.
But Mio knew.
She was in worse shape than she'd expected.
That earlier wound wasn't just a flesh wound.
Her right shoulder was going a little numb too.
Dragging this out wouldn't go well.
So the last one had to be dealt with fast.
She looked toward the other end of the street.
And her pupils shrank.
The biggest calamity beast wasn't coming at her.
It had turned around.
It was running.
"Wait!"
Mio immediately gave chase.
The calamity beast leapt clean over a parked sedan.
Its two long scythe-arms swung forward and sliced an empty bus clean in half at the waist.
It had no intention whatsoever of continuing to fight Mio.
It just tore along the street, heading northwest.
Mio glanced at a street sign.
Her face went ugly in an instant.
Northwest.
The residential district.
And also—
The supermarket where she worked.
"Such a pain..."
She swore under her breath.
Blue light exploded under her feet.
And she shot after it.
***
3:15 p.m.
The alert in the supermarket suddenly changed.
Before, it had only been a warning to avoid Jiangbin Road.
Now it was a piercing evacuation alarm.
Everyone's phones went off at once.
【EMERGENCY NOTICE: A calamity beast is moving toward Changze North Road. Nearby residents, get inside a sturdy building immediately and stay away from windows.】
The supermarket erupted into chaos.
"Changze North Road?"
"Isn't that right here?"
"Get out, quick!"
"Out where? Isn't it more dangerous outside?"
"My kid's still at school!"
"Stop pushing!"
Tanaka Makoto reacted fast.
He grabbed the service counter mic.
"Nobody run outside!"
"The entrance to the underground parking garage is at the back of the store! People with kids go first, seniors take it slow, and nobody push!"
"Staff, lock the front doors! Get ready to drop the shutters!"
The young clerk who'd just been asking about closing early had gone white.
"I-it's really coming here?"
Tanaka Makoto kicked the cardboard box next to him.
"Don't just stand there! Move!"
"Okay! Okay!"
Yusei had already run to the entrance.
An old woman got jostled by the crowd and nearly fell.
He caught her.
"Auntie, don't panic."
"The underground garage is this way."
"My grandson, my grandson's still..."
"Right next to you."
Yusei took the hand of a little boy who was crying from fright.
"We'll go down together."
Only then did the old woman come to her senses.
She nodded frantically.
Shuichi stood by a shelf.
He looked around.
It was more orderly than he'd expected.
Tanaka Makoto was running the evacuation.
Yusei was helping people.
The other employees were all moving too.
No need for him right now.
Good.
Shuichi bent down and picked up a bottle of soy sauce that had been knocked to the floor.
He put it back on the shelf.
Yusei happened to see.
His eyes went wide.
"You're still in the mood to stock shelves right now?!"
"It'll break."
"A calamity beast is coming!"
"Still doesn't mean someone should step on it."
"You..."
Yusei was just about to chew him out.
A tremendous crash came from outside.
BOOM—!
The whole supermarket shook.
Merchandise came clattering off the shelves.
The fluorescent lights swung wildly.
Someone screamed.
Yusei instinctively threw himself over the little boy from earlier and shielded his head.
Shuichi slapped a hand on the shelf beside him, which had started to tip.
He moved fast.
So fast there was almost no thought in it.
The moment his right hand hit the metal frame, the whole shelf stopped dead.
Shuichi himself froze for a beat.
Yusei didn't see it.
He was busy getting the old woman and the boy to the emergency exit.
"Shuichi!"
"Get over here too!"
"Got it."
Shuichi let go.
He looked down at his palm.
It was tingling a little.
His body really wasn't up to it anymore.
Back then, something like this...
Forget it.
He looked up.
Through the big panes of glass at the supermarket's front entrance, a huge black shape could be seen at the end of the street.
That calamity beast was here.
Its two scythe-arms dragged across the road, sparks spraying behind them.
The few cars that hadn't made it away in time were flung aside with casual swipes.
Police sirens were closing in from the distance.
But something faster was a streak of blue light.
BANG!
Asakawa Mio slammed into the calamity beast from the side.
Her whole body was almost flat against the monster's shoulder.
The lance plunged in.
A blue shockwave erupted.
The calamity beast was knocked off course.
Its body, which had been charging straight for the supermarket's front entrance, crashed at an angle into a clothing store next door that had already closed.
Glass exploded everywhere.
The people still in the supermarket who hadn't gone down yet all stared, stunned.
"It's Blue Lance!"
Someone shouted it out.
Yusei had just handed the little boy to another employee, and whipped around at the voice.
"Her again?"
He even sounded a little delighted.
Shuichi stood behind him.
"Aren't your priorities a little off?"
"If she's here, doesn't that mean we're safe?"
"Is that what you said yesterday too?"
"Yesterday I had no idea I'd get to see her again today."
Yusei leaned a little closer to the glass.
Tanaka Makoto smacked him on the back of the head.
"Get away from the windows!"
"Ow!"
"If it hurts, you're not dead."
"Manager, you just said you'd be the first one out!"
"Like hell I'm running before my staff are out!"
Tanaka Makoto hauled him backward.
"Get downstairs!"
Yusei still wanted to watch.
"Hold on a sec—"
"Hold on, my foot!"
Another tremendous crash came from outside.
Mio was flung away by the monster.
Her body smashed into the roof of a bus shelter.
The whole sheet of tempered glass shattered instantly.
She tumbled to the ground.
This time she didn't get up right away.
The smile on Yusei's face vanished.
"Is she hurt?"
Shuichi didn't say anything.
The calamity beast had already turned.
Both bone scythes rose at once.
Mio was down on one knee.
Right hand braced on the ground.
Left hand gripping the lance.
Her wrist shook violently.
There was barely any strength left in it.
Worse than before.
The bone scythe came down.
She raised the lance to block.
CLANG—!
The enormous force bent the lance downward.
The ground under her knee cracked apart.
Mio clenched her teeth.
But the other bone scythe was already sweeping in from the side.
No time.
She let go.
And rolled flat across the ground.
The blade grazed past her side.
It tore a gash in her combat suit.
Blood seeped from her skin at once.
"..."
Mio glanced down at it.
If anything, her eyes went colder.
It hurt, but it wasn't fatal.
She could still fight.
She grabbed her lance again and stood up.
The calamity beast lunged at her again.
Mio didn't dodge.
She even went to meet it.
First slash.
She turned sideways.
Second slash.
She ducked.
Before the third swing could come down, Mio had already run up its lowered arm to its shoulder.
She reversed her grip on the lance.
And drove it down with both hands.
SHUNK!
The tip plunged in at its collarbone.
The monster thrashed madly.
Mio was nearly flung loose.
She clung to the shaft for dear life.
"Get—"
The red mark on her wrist suddenly split open.
Blood ran down the back of her hand.
"Down!"
BOOM!
Blue light blasted through the calamity beast's chest.
Its huge body went rigid where it stood.
A few seconds later.
It began to crumble from the inside.
Grayish-white grains scattered like heavy drifting snow.
Mio lost her footing along with it.
She fell from nearly four meters up.
She just barely adjusted her position before landing.
But still dropped hard onto her knees.
The street went quiet.
So did the supermarket.
Yusei stared outside.
It was a long moment before he got a word out.
"Amazing..."
Shuichi watched the blue-haired girl kneeling on the ground.
He said nothing.
He could tell.
That win hadn't been easy.
And the girl had obviously been hurt before this, too.
Yet she'd still gone in today.
Reckless.
That part was pretty annoying.
***
Ten minutes later.
The calamity beast was confirmed gone, and the alert was lifted for now.
The supermarket didn't reopen right away.
Tanaka Makoto had the staff take stock of the damage first.
A few bottles of liquor had broken.
Two shelves were bent.
A decorative ceiling panel had fallen.
Luckily, nobody was hurt.
"Let's close early today."
Tanaka Makoto sighed.
"Like hell we're open for business after this."
The young clerk timidly raised his hand.
"Then our pay..."
"Counts as normal."
"Long live the manager."
"Shut up."
Yusei was at the entrance, peering outside.
"Where'd that Blue Lance go?"
"You're really trying to be a fanboy?"
Shuichi leaned against the register.
"It's not that."
Yusei rubbed his chin.
"She just seems kind of familiar."
Shuichi looked at him.
"You only saw her yesterday."
"Not that kind of familiar."
"Then what kind?"
"I can't put my finger on it."
Yusei thought about it for a long time.
Then gave up.
"Forget it."
Shuichi didn't think anything of it either.
Just then.
The door to the staff corridor opened.
Asakawa Mio walked out.
She'd put her supermarket uniform back on.
Her low black ponytail was a little messy.
A few strands of hair over her forehead had clearly gotten wet.
Her face was a shade paler than at noon.
But her expression looked no different than usual.
"Is it over outside?"
She asked.
Yusei turned around.
"You were really on the toilet this whole time?"
Asakawa Mio's step faltered.
"..."
Tanaka Makoto was stunned too.
"Your stomach hurt for half an hour?"
"It was kind of bad."
Mio kept a straight face.
"I'm fine now."
"Do you need to go to the hospital?"
"No."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
She said it flatly.
Then she looked down at the mess on the floor.
"I'll help clean up."
Tanaka Makoto frowned.
"You don't look so good."
"I'm fine."
"I wasn't asking whether you could move."
Tanaka Makoto waved a hand.
"Forget it for today. Go home and rest."
"But—"
"You'll still get paid."
Asakawa Mio shut her mouth.
"Thank you, Manager."
Tanaka Makoto: "..."
"What is it with you young people, one after another?"
Yusei laughed off to the side.
Asakawa Mio went to the staff room to get her bag.
As she passed Shuichi.
Shuichi suddenly spoke.
"The bathroom's pretty far."
Mio stopped.
"What?"
"You were gone thirty minutes."
"..."
"I thought you fell in."
Asakawa Mio stared at him.
Shuichi's expression was perfectly normal.
He even looked a little sleepy.
There was no telling whether he was fishing.
Mio was silent for two seconds.
"Stomachache."
"Oh."
Shuichi nodded.
"That'd do it."
That was it?
If anything, Asakawa Mio felt a little thrown.
She looked at Shuichi for a few seconds.
Until she was sure the guy really had no intention of asking more.
Only then did she keep walking.
But as she reached the staff corridor door, Shuichi said one more thing.
"Oh, right."
Mio's shoulders visibly tensed.
She looked back.
"What?"
Shuichi pointed at her left hand.
"You're bleeding."
Asakawa Mio looked down.
At some point, a little red had seeped out along the edge of her cuff.
Not much, but definitely visible.
Something shifted in her eyes.
"I cut it moving boxes just now."
"Oh."
Shuichi had the same reaction as before.
No suspicion.
No follow-up.
Didn't even take a second look.
He pulled a bandage out from under the register and tossed it to her.
Asakawa Mio caught it.
"Thanks."
"For yesterday's coffee."
"That coffee cost more than this."
"Then you got ripped off."
"..."
Asakawa Mio looked at the bandage in her hand.
Suddenly she found this guy really annoying.
She turned and left.
Once the door closed.
Yusei sidled over.
"You actually gave a girl something today, and on your own."
Shuichi looked at him.
"A bandage."
"Still something."
"Then I'll give you one."
"I'm not hurt."
"I can take care of that first."
"What kind of thing is that to say?"
Shuichi couldn't be bothered to respond.
He picked up a broom.
And started sweeping up the broken glass on the floor.
But halfway through.
He paused briefly.
Asakawa Mio.
Blue Lance.
The restroom.
Thirty minutes.
The injured wrist.
And that flash of blue light earlier.
Shuichi lowered his head.
And kept sweeping.
Forget it.
Whatever secrets other people had.
None of his business.
As long as nobody died in front of him.
At that thought.
Even Shuichi paused for a moment.
A few seconds later.
As if nothing had happened, he swept the broken glass into the dustpan.
Next to him, Yusei was still studying the fight video he'd filmed.
"Look at this!"
"Wasn't that last strike insanely cool?"
"Not looking."
"Just look once."
"I'm sweeping."
"How are you not even a little interested?"
"Because I'm not a fanboy."
"This isn't fanboy stuff, this is a hero!"
Shuichi shoved the broom into his hands.
"Then, fan of the hero."
"Sweep this part too."
Yusei looked down at the broom in his hands.
"..."
"Shuichi."
"Hm?"
"One of these days I'm throwing you out of this apartment building."
Shuichi had already walked off.
"It's not your building."
"Then I'll throw you out of my place!"
"I don't live at your place anyway."
"Don't come mooching dinner tonight!"
Shuichi stopped.
He turned around.
"What's for dinner today?"
"..."
Yusei took a deep breath.
"Get lost."