Chapitre 66: Feeding Mumei - A Huge Success!
Since retying her ribbon, Mumei seemed to grow increasingly drowsy.
Her eyes were heavy-lidded, her head gently nodding as she yawned, her short, tufted ponytail swaying lightly with each sleepy motion. Together with Ayame and Kurusu, Kurumi guided her toward the front of the Koutetsujou. Meanwhile, the strange green-haired engineer, who was, like Mumei, somewhere between human and Kabane, made his way to the rear of the train, drawn to the engine room. He had mentioned something about needing to be near the boilers.
Kurumi wrapped an arm around Mumei's shoulder as they boarded.
"Tokisaki-sama… Mumei…" Ayame had just finished unlocking the main furnace with the master key. She gazed at them both, a look of deep gratitude on her face. "Thank you so much for earlier."
Kurumi put a finger to her lips, gesturing for silence as she pointed to the barely conscious Mumei.
"Mumei needs a little rest."
Once the ribbon was untied, Mumei would quickly enter this lethargic state—it seemed to be some kind of side effect.
"Oh—" Ayame quickly covered her mouth.
Mumei settled into a corner, wrapping herself tightly in her robe, curling up with her head buried against her knees. Through a small gap in the robe, her slender, smooth legs could be seen along with her shorts under the hem of her skirt.
With a final flop, the tufted ahoge on her head drooped like a little indicator flag.
Kurumi leaned closer, using her back to shield her from the others, and whispered in her ear.
"Kurumi…-nee?" Mumei lifted her head slightly, struggling to keep her eyelids from drooping. "I… I'm so tired… I think my time… is running out."
Kurumi could clearly see the girl's pale face faintly alight with red embers that glowed like the flames of Kabane.
Almost like Ultraman with a power-down signal.
"Here, have a little something to eat." Kurumi softly stroked Mumei's head, pulling a small, delicately golden piece of bread from her pocket.
"Kurumi…-nee…" Mumei murmured as her head slowly nodded forward, her exhaustion evident. "I… I don't eat… those things."
Her voice dropped lower and lower, fading to a mosquito-like hum. Finally, Kurumi managed to catch the word "blood."
"Oh, but this is something special." Kurumi slipped her hand under Mumei's robe, placing her finger on the girl's soft lips to gently press the bread into her mouth.
"This is a special item… emmm… crafted by Kurumi herself."
Mumei instinctively took small, nibbling bites, much like a hamster.
As she ate, the burning glow on her face quickly faded, her eyes opening wide and bright once more. Even her ahoge perked up.
Then she realized… she was holding Kurumi's hand in her mouth, her soft tongue still brushing her fingers as if savoring something.
Kurumi crouched there, gazing at her with the gentle affection of someone feeding a kitten.
Mumei's head jerked back, and with a loud thud, she hit the metal armor plate behind her.
"Ow, ow, ow!"
She crouched down, clutching her head in her hands.
"Kurumi-nee…" But as the pain receded, she looked up at Kurumi with a glint of eagerness in her eyes. Somehow, that bread had managed to restore her strength.
Mumei pressed her lips together, gazing at Kurumi with a hopeful look. She… she didn't want to turn into a Kabane. She wanted to live.
It felt like Kurumi had given her an immense hope.
"Good girl… keep being adorable, and you'll get all you want." Kurumi's smile softened as she brushed her slightly damp fingers along Mumei's soft cheek and gently patted her head. "Just keep being cute, and you'll have everything you wish for."
"Be… cute?" Mumei pondered, her expression thoughtful as she recalled the poses the younger kids in the Kabuki district would use.
"K-Kurumi-nee… why are you so nice to me?"
"Why… would the one who made a wish to Kurumi-nee be me?"
"Whoever it was… they must be pretty lucky."
With the engine car and main car fully coupled, thanks to Kurumi's earlier warning, the samurai hurriedly ushered the civilians aboard.
Bang, bang—
Alarm shots echoed from beyond the station.
In the distance, a mass of Kabane began pouring down the hill, their glowing furnace-hearts forming a blazing tide, creating an entire sea of light over the mountainside.
Within the red tide, hunched figures flailed their arms, running with bizarre, animalistic fervor toward the station.
The Kabane rushed forward as if they'd heard a dinner bell, streaming down the slope.
The vanguard leaped down onto the station's glass roof, and with a crack, it began to shatter.
But the Koutetsujou let out a rumbling growl, releasing thick plumes of steam from vents along the train, beginning to pull away from the station.
"Toki-dono." Kurusu walked up to Kurumi, his brow furrowed. "How did you know the Kabane were going to attack?"
"Kurusu …" Ayame looked at him with some worry.
"I don't know how you found out," Kurusu muttered, eyes on the alluring girl in front of him, "but… thank you."
Kurumi raised her eyebrow. She was about to give him a swift kick, but his grateful tone stopped her.
Passing by him, she placed her wooden sandal on top of Kurusu's armored foot.
"Ah… ouch."
"Men who act tsundere… aren't cute at all."
Just then, a shout came from a samurai holding a telescope.
"Kurusu-sama… Kabane are on the tracks up ahead!"
Kurusu, still nursing his foot, grimaced and dashed to the lookout platform. "How many?"
"Twelve… but… on the tracks…" The samurai holding the telescope hesitated, stammering as if he didn't know how to explain.
Kurusu leaned out from the portal, seeing firsthand what had left the samurai at a loss.
"Kurusu… what is it? Are there many enemies?" Ayame asked, looking up from below the ladder.
"Don't come up here," Kurusu warned.
But it was too late.
Ayame had already climbed up, and the sight left her stunned.
There, on the tracks, a Kabane in fine, purple attire staggered toward them, moving unsteadily in the direction of the Koutetsujou, clad in brocade and sash.
"F-Father…"
Kurusu held Ayame by the waist, pulling her down and shutting the portal window.
"That's just… a Kabane."
Tears welled up in Ayame's eyes.
"How… how can this be…"
Kurusu held her close.
Her heart beat with pain…
That heart once considered gentle… in truth, a bit timid… but now it was pounding…
She wanted to be a lord, just as her father had been, bringing peace to her people…
But this… this would be the last time she cried…
Ayame leaned on the railing, giving her command.
"Koutetsujou… run them over!"
The armored battering ram on the steam train instantly bowled over the Kabane in its path, along with the final remnants of Ayame's hesitation as her father, Kenshou Yomogawa, was crushed under the wheels.
The Kotetsujou thundered forward, blasting jets of steam as it barreled toward the other exit of the fortress. Yukina, the driver, handled the roaring fortress on rails.
"Signal light—confirmed."
"Stop the engine."
The Kotetsujou ground to a halt at the final bridge out of the city.
"Engage the switch lever."
Beneath the tracks, the connecting lever rose from the steam, ready to link with the Kotetsujou. Yukina tried again and again to pull the lever, but the switch wouldn't engage.
"What's wrong?" asked the head of the Yomogawa family's samurai, frowning.
"Something… is blocking it." Yukina brows knit in frustration. "If we don't clear it, the drawbridge won't drop."
Wedged in the lever's mechanism was the arm of a Kabane in a purple brocade robe, stuck in the connector slot beneath the Kotetsujou.
Bang! Bang!
The car rattled as the fallen samurai, now turned Kabane, leaped from the walls and crashed down onto the train. Inside this massive iron can packed with fresh flesh, the Kabane were driven mad with hunger.
Among them was a shriveled, elderly Kabane who spun in a bizarre pirouette, slamming against one of the rear carriages with a vicious kick. Blood spattered, and a small tear was torn open in the armor, through which clear water began to spray.
Inside, the steam engineer monitoring the furnace issued a warning through the speaker tube to Yukina.
"This is bad! The water tank's been damaged, and cooling water is leaking."
The young driver's brow furrowed.
"If the water drains out… the Kotetsujou won't be able to run."
Kurusu clenched his fist around the hilt of his sword, glancing at Ayame, her eyes still moist with tears.
He raised his blade, preparing to go to the door.
"Hold on, what do you think you're doing?" a brawny samurai stepped in front of Kurusu.
"There's a manual lever next to the tracks." Kurusu kept his voice low. "If we activate it, we can drop the drawbridge."
"That's insane!" The large samurai with a face guard, similar to Mumei's, blocked Kurusu's path. "The place is swarming with Kabane—you're just going to throw your life away!"
Kurusu clenched his jaw, his eyes locking onto Ayame.
"When else should a samurai lay down his life if not now?"
"Lend me your gun for a moment." Kurumi leaned against Mumei's shoulder, bowing her head close to Mumei's, her warm breath whispering in her ear.
The tips of her hair, soft and fragrant, brushed lightly against Mumei's bare skin, carrying a faint, sweet scent.
"Eh?" Mumei looked up at Kurumi in surprise. "Kurumi-nee, maybe I should go instead."
"I… I'm not afraid of being infected."
"Oh, no, little Mumei. Just stay here." Kurumi patted Mumei's head with her left hand, her right arm wrapping around Mumei's waist as she unfastened the belt securing Mumei's boiler and equipment.
"Now, Mumei, just sit back and watch me work."
It was only then that Mumei realized Kurumi hadn't fired a single shot.
"Kurumi-nee's gun?"
"Oh, it's just a bit faulty," Kurumi said casually, fastening Mumei's belt around her waist, adjusting it with practiced ease. Under her loose half-sleeved top, her figure became even more pronounced, elegantly highlighted by the belt's snug fit.
"Kurumi-nee… you have such a nice figure."
"Hmm, little miss sweet-talker, are we?" Kurumi teased, tapping Mumei's nose as she began adjusting her equipment.
Under Mumei's astonished gaze, Kurumi swiftly dismantled Mumei's special short-barreled rifle, attaching the serrated gunblade beneath the barrel.
Even with her short shirt and bare legs, Kurumi transformed once she took hold of the twin guns. She was like a blood-drenched rose in full bloom, a quiet, deadly beauty.
"I'll go."
Kurumi stepped past Kurusu, whose intentions were painfully obvious. His feelings for Ayame were probably known by everyone in the entire city of Yomogawa—everyone, that is, except for the equally dense Ayame.
"Sacrifice is an honor for a samurai." Despite his distaste for the bewitching girl who always seemed to cling to Ayame, he couldn't allow her to go in his stead.
"Oh?" Kurumi tilted her head, her crimson eyes gazing at him. Then she did something she had longed to do.
She spun around and gave him a swift kick, aiming right for the vulnerable spot.
Even though Kurumi had held back as much as possible, Kurusu crumpled to the floor, curling up like a shrimp.
"Sacrifice? Do you really think… I'm as weak as you?"
She took two steps forward, then turned back sharply. The samurai around her recoiled, startled, instinctively raising their guard.
"Oh, don't be so tense," Kurumi smiled gracefully. "I just wanted to check, so is this the exit?"
The samurai nodded frantically, eager for this enchantress to leave.
Beautiful she may be, seductive as well… but they couldn't handle her.
Kurumi adjusted the twin steam pistols she had taken from Mumei, deep in thought.
Hopefully, that kick she'd given Kurusu wouldn't impact him and Ayame down the road. If it did, she might have to knock him out with a resurrection potion and let him sort things out.
Kurumi flipped off the train with agile grace, heading straight toward the lever.
Earlier, she'd noticed how grubby these Kabane were, which was what led her to borrow Mumei's weapons.
And… it had been so long since she'd had the chance to play with guns.
Recalling Mumei's sliding technique, she thought… this might not be too hard.
She tucked her hands behind her back, planted her feet firmly on the ground, and in an instant, her black silhouette sliced through the air, appearing among the Kabane's ranks as if she had teleported.
"So strong…" Mumei and a few elite samurai murmured, watching her from behind a narrow gap.
Could a human really pull off those moves?
—Shall we dance?
Kurumi whispered, whirling the twin guns in her hands. With extraordinary speed, bullets tore through the air, each shot leaving a trail of light as her gunblades sliced through the Kabane.
Like a storm of bullets, Kurumi shredded the Kabane around her.
She strolled calmly toward the lever, each shot piercing the Kabane's hearts. As they fell, a radiant blue glow trailed after her.
The broad-shouldered samurai beside Mumei gestured at Kurumi's shooting range, turning to Mumei with wide eyes.
"Did the Shogunate… finally develop guns that can kill Kabane from this distance?"
Mumei was left in stunned silence.
Wait, huh!?
I… I didn't know that, either!
Without breaking a sweat, Kurumi reached the lever. She spun around and delivered a powerful kick, forcing it down.
The drawbridge began to lower.
Then, with the leisurely pace of a stroll, she caught up to the slowly departing Kotetsujou, and with a light step, hopped back aboard.
It's not that I'm too strong.
It's just that you all are too weak.
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État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone