Gear Drive, Volume 1 by Kabayakidare

Author:Kabayakidare [KABAYAKIDARE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J-Novel Club
Published: 2018-09-05T00:00:00+00:00

Forest Fire Lullaby

Thump...

“I won...”

The bergbear and I collapsed in sync: it landed on its back, while my knees collapsed out from under me.

My body was completely drained of strength. I tried to push myself up with my elbows, only to fall back down to the ground.

[—Analysis complete.

—Stoppage of target’s life functions confirmed.

—Status: Overheated.

—Currently proceeding with calculated cooldown process.]

As always, I’ve got no idea what you’re saying...

What about all this is “calculated”...? I just plunged right in and smashed into it, right...?

Hisssssss...

The gears all over my body all suddenly ground to a halt and spewed out white smoke. It was the same sound you hear when you toss vegetables into a heated frying pan.

“Miss Ann!”

Yuuta and Ana came running with a tmp, tmp, tmp from their hiding place in the thicket.

...Couldn’t you two have hidden at least a little farther out? And, like, not yell like you did earlier?

“You two... You’re not hurt, are you?”

“You’re the one who’s injured, Miss Ann!”

When they went to help lift me up from both sides, pain shot all through my body. My left shoulder and right thigh were bleeding, and I was covered in bruises. Haha, guess that makes sense, what with all the jumping and flying around I’ve done. I suppose I should actually be glad I got off this lightly.

Crackle, crackle... Whoooosh...

Ah, there goes another tree.

It was as bright as noontime on the small mountain now. Even though I’d defeated the bergbear, it still turned out like this...

“Don’t worry about me. You two just get out of here.”

“What’re you saying?!”

“There are townsfolk on the way. I saw their torches earlier.”

“B-But you’ve gotta come with us, Miss Ann!”

“My legs... just won’t move.”

They felt like they were cramping up or something. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t move anymore. My gears had stopped cold, too. Did I use up too much power at once?

Man, I’m sleepy. I can’t go with you guys.

Ah, Ana’s broken out in tears. Yuuta was gritting his teeth.

“Here, this is yours. Take it and get going.”

I gave Yuuta back his wooden sword. I’d had it on me the whole time I was fighting the bergbear.

“I don’t need this thing...!”

“Huh?”

“I lit the mountain on fire! I’m nothing but a fake hero!”

Hey, hey... We don’t have time for this. That bergbear brought down a bunch of burning trees when it busted up the cliff earlier. This place’ll be an inferno soon, too.

“Well, duh! You’re just a kid! Of course you aren’t a hero!”

Yuuta looked dumbfounded.

“You’re a child! What you need to do now is accept that! That’s more than enough! And then you just have to eat and sleep and play, and decide what you want to be somewhere down the line!”

“B-But I...”

“Think stuff like, ‘I didn’t want you to have to come stop me! If only I had done this back then! Thank god I didn’t do that!’ That’s how you grow up and become an adult!”

“...”

“Knock yourself out apologizing. Apologize, and apologize, and apologize till you feel like you can’t apologize anymore, and then pull yourself together.

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