Micchi Versus the New World - Chapter 88

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Chapter 88

Chika appeared just as I remembered, if not a little older. Nothing about her screamed demon, but somewhere deep inside me was terrified of the person I used to admire. Dressed in the same unbuttoned gakuran uniform, long and black hair framing her head like a lion's mane, it was like she hadn't changed at all.

The angry speech I prepared in my head, waiting for the moment I found Chika, was lodged in my throat. I'd come up with a hundred different things to say, but laying eyes on her left me speechless. Even Kaoru and Anya couldn't believe who they were seeing.

"Th-That's… the demon lord! Attack! We're going to end her reign of terror and claim glory today!" Breila led her people in a charge, swarming the obelisk. As hundreds of beastlings were set to pounce on her, Chika stomped her foot once, emitting a shockwave that sent everyone flying.

"I don't remember the demons' master being so strong before." Mildred tensed up, frozen like a deer in the headlights.

"Micchi! We have to do something! If we stay, we're doomed!" Kain tried to shake me to act.

"How am I supposed to fight her?" I mumbled, still processing whether or not the Chika before me was real.

"Anego?" Yui began, voice quivering with relief. However, the name wasn't directed at me, but at the one she had longed to see after all this time. She took another hesitant step forward. "Is that really you?"

"Yui, you haven't gotten taller in the slightest." Chika replied with her arms outstretched.

Unable to control herself in the presence of the woman they once called big sister, Yui took a running start up the obelisk to Chika. Goosebumps formed on my skin. Like a shock of static, seeing her run snapped me back to my senses.

Something was very wrong.

"Wait, Yui!" I shouted.

As Yui reached the top of the obelisk, her arms extended for a long-awaited reunion and embrace, Chika responded with a swift punch to her stomach. Everyone was stunned. Yui, who was nailed by the cheap shot, vomited and fell to her knees.

Chika picked her up by the head and asked, "Still clinging onto people's backs like a parasite?"

"Don't you dare hurt her!" Anya sprung into action first, throwing a screeching fist. Chika dropped Yui and caught the attack, then slammed her into the obelisk.

"I still have to repay you for even thinking about hurting Yonnu." Kaoru summoned Kamigoroshi into her hand, but just like with Anya, Chika made short work of them.

They were nothing compared to her, like watching toddlers wrestle with their parents. Why couldn't I join them? My feet were anchored to the ground, too shocked to do anything. All I did was stand still and bear witness to them getting beaten up.

"What's wrong with you? We've been… searching for you for so long and this is how you greet old friends? Answer me… the time we all spent together… Does all of it mean nothing to you?!" Anya screamed.

"Nothing." Chika kicked Anya with such force that she disappeared into the trees, and then threw the unconscious Kaoru off the obelisk.

Our gazes met, and I knew at that moment I would be next.

"Why are you doing this? You left us all this time and show up now… for what?!" I shouted from the bottom of the obelisk's steps.

"You should know better than anyone, Micchi: I want you to get stronger. If you're always relying on someone else, who will help you when they are all gone? The only person you can depend on is yourself. I've tried to get rid of those around you that have made you weak, but you've been struggling so hard to keep them by your side," Chika said.

There could only be two that Chika was referring to. Loraine and Kawa. Recalling what had almost happened to them got my blood boiling more than I realized.

"The assassination attempt… the kidnapping… You telling me… that was you? You tried to take them from me?" I yelled, eyes twitching and hand clenching tighter on Sacchan.

"That's right. You have grown weaker because of them, haven't you?" she asked.

Loraine… Kawa… making me weak? They were everything to me. They were always there when I needed someone. All I could ever want, that no one gave me back in that shitty city, when everyone else had left me, those two provided what I was missing and more.

"You got some nerve to talk about my girls like that, Chika… I stopped giving a shit about what you think that day you left us. If you think they make me weak, I'll fucking show you! I'll show you, bitch!"

Sacchan ignited into an inferno that others around me had to back away from getting burned. It burned so tensely that it charred the ground and set branches above it on fire. A smirk flashed across Chika's face.

"Come here, Micchi. Show your anego how much you've grown," Chika said.

"CHIIIIKKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" I raced up the steps of the obelisk and met her head on.

It might have been because of how pissed I was, but the elements along Sacchan were raging out of control. As I swung with all my strength, a force that carried the weight of all my hate, the feeling of betrayal, and a raw desire to wipe that smile from Chika's face, fond memories of my past resurfaced.

Of Chika playing with me and Yui in the park. Of her picking us up at school, so that our bullies wouldn't find us first. All the time to recall them, why now?

When my vision adjusted, the top half of the obelisk had been blown to smithereens. Then as the dust cleared, Chika remained standing. She had stopped Sacchan with one hand and gazed nostalgically upon it, herself not at all injured.

"I still remember the day I gave you Sacchan. You don't know how happy it makes me, knowing you took care of him. But I'm sorry I have to do this, Micchi." Chika tightened her grip on Sacchan until she crushed the bat, shattering it into tiny splinters before my eyes.

My world shattered with it. The one thing I had of her, gifted to me as a reminder of our bond, reduced to kindling and bark. From the broken pieces, hidden within the bat the entire time that even I'd been unaware of, was a glowing crystal the size of a finger.

"I'll be taking this." Chika snatched it from the air and pocketed the gem. She placed a hand on my shoulder, showing me a reassuring smile that she had always given when the going got rough.

What happened next was a blur. I was lying face up on the ground, surrounded by the broken pieces of Sacchan. Every inch of my body felt like it had been put through the ringer. I could barely see through my bruised eyes.

When I raised my head, Chika was slowly making her way back to the obelisk's portal.

Yui, just as worse off as I was, crawled toward Chika and grabbed her ankle.

"Anego…" Yui cried. "Please don't leave me… Why can't we be together? I don't want to be alone again…"

"You two haven't changed a bit." Chika sighed and shook Yui off.

I could do nothing as Chika left a second time and passed out without saying goodbye again.

Some time later, I came to consciousness with a bunch of other beastlings in various states of injury. Shamans and healers went around casting magic on the ones that were most hurt. Chika didn't fight seriously and did so much.

Anya and Kaoru were sitting against a tree, ruminating in silence.

I tried to get up, but a sharp pain in my ribs put me back down.

"Hold still, you barbarian." Mildred was healing me with magic despite being badly hurt, too. "That woman did quite the number on us, but for you and the loud one, it seemed she wanted to leave a message."

The obelisk was gone and so was Chika, replaced with a mound of loose dirt it had emerged from.

"Stop. If Chika wants me to feel pain, then I'll fucking take it." I brushed Mildred's hand away to stop her from healing me, then climbed to my feet. The rush of blood left me lightheaded, and I stuck a hand out to catch myself from falling flat.

"I didn't take you for a masochist. Very well. There are others who are in need of healing if you will not have it." Mildred went off to help other beastlings.

It hurt to walk and breathe, but that was nothing compared to the pulsating pain inside my chest. Slowly, I stumbled my way over to Anya and Kaoru to see how they were doing.

"Guess it's true," Anya began, wincing as she spelled a labored breath. "Chika really has changed. I remember her eyes being cold, not lifeless. What changed to make her like this?"

"Where's Yui?" I asked.

"Your friend was gravely injured and has yet to wake up," Breila answered, approaching with an arm around Drox to help her walk.

The two beastling leaders led them to Yui, who, unlike the others injured around her, was surrounded by a group of healers doing their best to bring her back to consciousness.

"Her body is healed, but it's like she refuses to wake up," one of the shamans said.

Ignoring the scathing pain running through me, I pushed them away to get to Yui. Tthe corners of her eyes were red and lips chapped. It surprised me how light she was when I picked her up. Was Yui always this light? I never noticed when she was on my back. Again, I let her get hurt because I was weak. Everyone around me got hurt because I was too weak to fight Chika.

"Sorry, Yui… I couldn't bring Chika back to us…" I whispered.