Chapter 312: The Warrior Maiden Ah-Hachi
"I understand. I hope we can become friends who truly understand one another, so next time, don't just stay in the background—come out and say hello. If you're ever near my place, please come over as a guest," Shirou said with a light smile, looking at the girl.
Perhaps it was a case of "birds of a feather flocking together," but his circle seemed to be gathered with people who carried their own scars from the past—aside from Fuji-nee, whom he'd known since childhood, and Issei, the serious and straight-laced tea companion.
The others all had trauma to some degree; their hearts held various distortions and they had experienced their own unique pains. An ordinary person likely wouldn't think too much about interacting with someone like him—someone who was kind enough but also boring, old-fashioned, and occasionally quite troublesome.
But the girl clearly didn't think that way. Hearing the boy's words, her eyes flickered with a hopeful light.
"Really? Then would Shirou be willing to come play at my house too? I'll have to clean it thoroughly. I should probably buy an oven and some other kitchenware, too," the girl said excitedly.
"Mhm, of course. But there's no need to be too extravagant," Shirou promised. Since he had met these girls, he had no intention of abandoning them, whether it was the shut-in Ako or Yuno standing before him.
"Then I'll be looking forward to it. I'm alone right now, there's no one else at home... so you can come over whenever you like. Even if you don't stay the night, it's okay..." Yuno whispered, her face flushing a deep red.
"Eh...?" Shirou's eyes widened in surprise. Why did this conversation suddenly sound like he was going to a girl's house specifically for a "lone man and woman" situation?
The girl stepped into the white light, looking as if she had more to say but was holding back, ultimately settling for a smile.
"Wait! I won't be staying the night!" Shirou called out, trying to clarify his intentions.
However, by then, Yuno had already vanished into the white light.
Shirou's words were destined to scatter in the wind, never reaching the ears of the pink-haired girl who had already returned to her original world. Meanwhile, on the other side of the live broadcast, the three girls watching seemed to have been infected by the "yandere" energy of the girls pulled into this sub-world. Their eyes had become hollow and dark, and eerie smiles hung on their lips.
"Hehehe..."
"Even though I know Shirou doesn't have a philandering bone in his body and doesn't say these misleading things on purpose," Yukinoshita Yukino said with a strange, faint smile, deviating from her usual self.
"But the more he's like that, the more frequent the misunderstandings? It actually makes it harder to accept..." Yuigahama smiled with squinted eyes, though there wasn't a hint of her usual cheerfulness.
"Sometimes I wonder if that wooden head of Shirou's is actually all an act..." Asuna said, smiling.
"In the end... it's still very irritating..." the girls said in unison.
"Ahahaha, maybe I should have put the screen away earlier," Merlin said with a chuckle from within the mental world, as if one wave had barely settled before another rose.
"!" For some reason, a chill ran down Shirou's spine.
Suddenly, the earth shook, and a pillar of black light surged into the sky. At an altitude of a hundred meters, it shimmered with a black aurora.
"Oh, a black holy sword? What an interesting state. It seems it's time to go greet the King," Merlin remarked, observing the light from the outside world.
Seeing the flare of light in the distance, Shirou nodded in agreement. "Mhm. Aside from Artoria, it looks like Jeanne is there too. I hope Komachi and Mashiro are with them."
.
.
.
On the other side, the target of the black mana burst was sparking with black lightning, smashing craters into the ground. However, the figure inside didn't seem to have taken any damage.
"What?" Artoria looked at her opponent in shock. In terms of battlefield spear techniques, the opponent was top-tier even in Artoria's own era, but she hadn't expected them to block a full-power strike from her Noble Phantasm.
Jeanne, fighting nearby, saw this and said in surprise, "No way? Not even a scratch? What is with that person?"
"You'd better mind yourself!" a Chinese concubine shouted, thrusting a longsword.
"Quiet! You're so noisy!" a medieval European queen added, swinging a coffin like a club.
Jeanne scrambled across the ground, barely dodging the dual assault. The silver-haired girl raised her head raggedly and yelled at the two Pseudo-Servants: "You idiots! Did you two plan
this? You were just fighting each other a second ago, why did you team up the moment I looked away!"
The princess with the long, brown curly hair raised the coffin with both hands and began spinning it. "Hmph? I don't know what you're talking about. But please leave that boy to my Master. I will make sure she and the boy find happiness together—as long as he's locked up, he can never betray her."
"No, he must be properly educated to become a truly excellent man so they can be together forever. We can't let him abandon her just because she grows old. A woman starts to show her age at forty, but as long as a man keeps his health and doesn't get a gut or go bald, he barely changes. In fact, that's the age where he starts showing the mature charm of years of experience."
"Ah! You're the ones using those bodies without permission and talking such nonsense! Fine! See if I don't burn you both to a crisp!" Jeanne roared in anger, raising her banner and unleashing magical flames at her two enemies.
"This woman is crazier than I am when she loses it!" The madwoman Juana hugged her coffin and fled to the side.
"With this much fire, I'm retreating for now," the woman dressed as an Eastern concubine gritted her teeth and turned to run.
"You two bastards! Don't even think about running!" Jeanne chased after them in a rage.
The flames she released didn't die out; instead, they grew fiercer, engulfing nearly a quarter of the dense forest.
"Hahaaaaa! Fire can't stop me! Right now, I am invincible!!!" A black-haired girl raised a long spear high, activating her Noble Phantasm once more. An aura of "Unrivaled" (Musou) manifested behind her.
Black lightning struck, converging into a tall black horse—the famous steed 'Sangoku' (Three Kingdoms Long-hair). Behind her, the war banner of Hachiman Daibosatsu suddenly rose, looking as if a deity had descended.
The phantom of the Bodhisattva of War appeared behind the black-haired girl. For a brief moment, she could ignore all damage; the Unrivaled power of the War God would deflect all harm and deliver area-of-effect attacks capable of taking on a hundred foes at once.
The girl took the opportunity to charge, her spear blurring as if she held three or four weapons at once. The rapid spinning kicked up a hurricane—the so-called "Sengoku Musou"!
Wherever she passed, the trees of the forest were sliced clean and fell outward. A space ten meters wide was cleared instantly, spreading out like a peacock's tail, even forcing the flames to the edge of the circle.
"Hahahaha!!! THE ENEMY GENERAL HAS BEEN... DE-CLOTHED!" The three-meter spear lunged out like a python from its burrow, thrusting straight toward Artoria.
Just then, a massive white hammer several meters long smashed down, blocking the spear's path. Immediately after, hundreds of weapons appeared in the sky, raining down to interrupt the black-haired girl's momentum.
"Made it just in time!" Shirou exhaled.
Thump! The heavy butt of the long spear slammed into the ground, shattering the rocks beneath.
The woman wearing a stag-horn helmet had a face darkened by shadow, her expression unreadable. Only her long black hair hung down as she approached the boy with heavy steps. Her war boots, which were several centimeters taller than normal shoes, made a sharp, clanking sound with every stride.
She held the classic stance of a warrior, her waist as straight as the shaft of the spear she held. When she reached him, her height was actually equal to Shirou's. The ferocious aura of a "butcher of the battlefield" loomed over the boy.
Shirou awkwardly looked away.
To tower over him, the woman had even stood on her tiptoes. In stark contrast to her straight back, her exceptionally full chest—even strapped behind hard armor—couldn't hide the abundance of white skin that looked like it was about to spill over.
But the black-haired woman clearly didn't care. Whether from the perspective of strength, spirit, or maturity, she was a "large" woman.
"Brat! You dare intrude upon a duel between generals? You must have a death wi—"
When the black-haired woman saw the boy's face, her eyes widened, and her mouth fell open.
"You... could it be... Shirou! Lord Shirou?!"
"Eh? Do you know me? Even though you're from the Servant side?" Shirou looked at the tall woman in confusion.
"It really is Lord Shirou! You came to this world too?" The girl's fierce, demon-like Hannya expression vanished, replaced by a maidenly smile as she spoke with joy.
"Yes! I am Honda Heihachi! Please call me Ah-Hachi, or Hachi-chan! It's only natural you don't recognize me. After all, I'm appearing before you in my 'grown-up' form, but this must be fate! It was Tonbokiri that led me to this world! Lord Shirou! This humble girl is unskilled, but please look after me!" The black-haired girl tucked her helmet under one arm and held her spear in the other, bowing deeply to Shirou.
Shirou raised a hand. "Wait a second! What did you say? You're Honda Tadakatsu? The man praised as the 'Zhang Fei of Japan,' the strongest general under Tokugawa Ieyasu, whose banner is the Hachiman Daibosatsu—that Honda Tadakatsu?"
"Ehehe, being famous is such a bother. Honestly, I don't have any merits besides my spear work, ahahaha!" The girl laughed bashfully.
"Wait! Why would someone like you appear in a place like this?" Shirou asked. As a general who served the Tokugawa from the start and helped Ieyasu win several key battles, she had achieved fame and lived a full life.
"Actually, it's because I'm obsessed! I sensed a feeling of a fated encounter, so I rushed over!" The girl clenched her fist, speaking with absolute certainty.
"Eh?!" Shirou cried out.
"Tonbokiri! Because my life was protected by Hachiman Daibosatsu and Lord Shirou, being able to meet in this world is truly a miracle," she said, clasping her hands with stars in her eyes.
It was said that Honda Tadakatsu, wielding the Muramasa-forged Tonbokiri (Dragonfly Cutter), survived over fifty battles without ever taking a single wound, as if blessed by the God of War.
"What's going on with your current state? Did the Master inside agree to this?" Shirou asked.
"Mhm! I had a contest with the Master, and since I was stronger, I've commandeered the body! Being able to use Tonbokiri to fight powerful warriors like this is the best exercise I've had in a long time!" Ah-Hachi flexed her arm, showing off her muscles.
"That really is the 'might makes right' mindset of the Warring States period. Please be careful; a human body is fragile. Once your wish is fulfilled, give the body back to her."
"Mhm, of course! I'll give it back when I'm done. Though the quality of this body seems to have been 'stretched' larger because of me... the Master seems quite happy about it, so it should be fine, right?" The girl nodded.
"No... forget it. As long as you understand." Shirou sighed.
"Mhm! I'm so glad I met this child. When I received this Tonbokiri from Lord Shirou's hands, it was like finding the hope and goal of my life!" The girl rubbed her hands up and down the long black spear shaft and even nuzzled it with her cheek, looking blissfully happy. She clearly adored it.
Ah-Hachi smiled brilliantly: "Yes! I love it most! I used to be such a clumsy person. I grew so big and had nothing but strength, but no matter how hard I tried, I was mediocre at everything—completely unreliable. But ever since I took up this spear, as long as I think about how to best use its power, I can manage everything from cavalry charges to battlefield formations. I was even scouted by Miss Tokugawa and became a general under her. I'm so
grateful. It's all thanks to you, Lord Shirou, for coming to help me and custom-making this Tonbokiri for me!"
Shirou said in shock, "Miss Tokugawa? Forget it... let's change the subject. You said I made Tonbokiri? That's not right. While there might be someone very similar to me out there, the one who made this weapon should be Muramasa, right?"
"But Lord Shirou is Muramasa. You said so yourself when you introduced yourself—that you're called Shirou..." Ah-Hachi tilted her head at the boy, then her eyes widened in shock. "Could it be I remembered it wrong?!"
"No, I am Shirou, that's correct." Shirou waved his hand, thinking to himself: Don't ask me. If I start doubting myself like this, things will get weird. But at least I don't need to doubt the truth of what she's saying.
The black-haired girl laughed and scratched the back of her head. "Ahahaha! I knew it! How could I forget the name of my benefactor!"
"Don't worry about it. I'm here to help fulfill your wish. If there's anything you want to do, just say it. I'll satisfy you!" Shirou said kindly.
Hearing this, the girl took a deep breath, as if gathering all her courage. "Yes! In that case! Lord Shirou, this humble girl is unskilled! But since I have grown up, and the 'me' from my previous life already offered my loyalty to the young lady Tokugawa—though this body is borrowed, I can offer my entire heart to you!"
The girl bowed once more, looking at the boy with a shy smile.
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