Invaders of the Rokujouma!? Volume 2 Page 3

  As they continued their discussion, someone else appeared at the front door.

  “I’m baaack!”

  “Welcome back, Yurika-sama.”

  “Thanks, Ruth-san.”

  It was indeed Yurika. As she opened the door and entered, she let out a heavy sigh.

  “Is something the matter, Yurika-sama?”

  “Well, um... The teacher got angry at me... because I’m late so often...”

  “Is that so?”

  Yurika was sighing because she’d been yelled at by her homeroom teacher after school. The stern lecture left her in a bad mood.

  “Please cheer up, Yurika-sama.”

  “Thank you, Ruth-san. You’re right. I can’t just stay depressed! Yurika, fight!”

  Encouraged by Ruth, Yurika recovered somewhat and flashed a small smile. But the very next moment, Yurika was staring at the kitchen counter with a stupefied expression.

  “Huh?”

  “Is something wrong?”

  “R-Ruth-san, w-wasn’t there a plastic bag here? A big, white plastic bag from the supermarket?”

  Yurika began to panic. She was sure she’d left that plastic bag by the sink this morning. She was planning on having its contents for dinner when she returned from school, but now that precious bag was gone without a trace.

  “Oh, if you’re talking about the trash, I threw it away.”

  “T-Trash? You threw it away?!”

  “Yes. Is there a problem?”

  “Kyaaaaah!”

  Yurika didn’t answer Ruth—she no longer had the time for that. She hurriedly threw off her shoes and made a mad dash for the garbage can next to the sink.

  “Please be all right!”

  Yurika prayed with all of her might as she opened the lid to the garbage can.

  “Yurika-sama?”

  “Ahh...”

  But alas, reality is harsh.

  Being as diligent as she was, Ruth had gone through the plastic bag and sorted its contents. The splintered foam cups were put in with the burnable waste and the noodles were tossed with the rest of the garbage.

  “H-How did this happen...?”

  “What’s the matter, Yurika-sama?”

  Her precious noodles were now mixed with the other garbage. At this point, not even Yurika could think of eating them.

  “Ah... Aaaaaaaahh!”

  Yurika was intensely discouraged, but at the same time, an immense hunger attacked her. Faced with the loss of her dinner, her appetite had awoken.

  “Th-There’s no more hope for recovery...”

  Tears streamed down Yurika’s cheeks as her stomach growled. The growl was so loud even Ruth could clearly hear it.

  “Why... Why does this always happen to me? I’m working as hard as I can... Waah haa haa...”

  “Yurika-sama, what’s wrong? Yurika-sama!”

  Yurika could no longer hear Ruth’s voice. She just continued to cry as she stared down at the floor.

  The tears dripped from her cheeks, falling onto the floor in a speckled pattern. In her puddle of tears, however, Yurika spotted something—one of the shattered noodles. She hastily reached for the tear-stained noodle.

  “Your Highness! Kiriha-sama! Yurika-sama is...!”

  “What, did something happen?”

  “Yurika?”

  When Ruth called to them, Theia and Kiriha came to peek into the kitchen. Yurika simply stood there, looking down sadly.

  “Is this it...? Is this fragment all I have to live on for the next two days...?”

  Yurika’s stomach continued to growl as she stared at the piece of a noodle in her hand.

  In room 106, playing card games after dinner was the norm. But this wasn’t any ordinary game. It wasn’t for fun or to deepen their friendship; it was a battle for control of the apartment.

  The inner room was floored with six tatami mats. One of those tatami mats was covered with furniture, leaving five more. As luck would have it, that was also the number of people competing over the room. Accordingly, they had determined that everyone controlled one tatami mat each.

  Koutarou’s mat was in the center of the room. When the tea table wasn’t there, that was where he normally sat. It was also where he would lay out his futon.

  South of that was Sanae’s mat, the one by the window. Although that was her spot, she was usually over piggybacking on Koutarou in his space. But when they moved the tea table to the center of the room, Koutarou retreated back to the tatami mat by the window, bringing Sanae along for the ride.

  Kiriha’s tatami mat was the one closest to the kitchen. It was the one above the underground tunnel leading to her secret base. It would be an awkward place to live, but to Kiriha, it was mostly a convenient way to get home easily.

  Yurika’s tatami mat was next to Kiriha’s, and was positioned in front of the wardrobe. Since she had taken to living in the wardrobe before anyone noticed, that tatami mat naturally became hers. But as she was weak to pressure, it was common for her to allow the other invaders to violate her borders, even though she would often suffer for it.

  Theia’s tatami mat was the one farthest back in the room, in front of the glowing wall. She often left a mini table and chair meant for tea time there. And courtesy of her voluminous dress, she would often trespass into the territory of the others. Really, it was Theia who was most likely to invade Yurika’s tatami mat.

  With their borders established, each mat was determined to be worth 180 points, and control of the room would be calculated that way. One point was worth one centimeter, so 180 points was 180 centimeters—one whole tatami mat.

  The five of them fought over these points using mostly card games. Gaining points would result in expanded territory. Matches were held five times a day so that each of them would have a chance to choose which game they played. The plan was to repeat this until somebody had 900 points, meaning they held all five tatami mats and thus had gained full control of the room. This was how they had agreed to settle their disputes after signing the Corona Convention.

  At the current moment, Yurika was in dead last with less than 160 points. The other four players were maintaining somewhere around 180 points. Theia was violating Yurika’s territory because of this, and at this rate Yurika would surely be driven out of the room.

  According to plan, there was another round of games scheduled for today, but the competition showed no sign of starting. Despite everyone gathering by the tea table, they weren’t doing anything.

  “Kiriha-san, what’s the matter with Yurika?”

  “Well, it seems like she has ruined two days worth of food.”

  “So that’s why she’s acting like that...”

  They hadn’t started playing yet because of Yurika.

  “Heehee! Ahahaha! Fight! Yurika, fight! I love noodle cups!”

  Staring into oblivion, Yurika just kept hysterically repeating the same sing-song nonsense. This was the state Koutarou and Sanae found her in when they returned from his part-time job. They knew they weren’t going to be able to play cards with her like this, so they decided to postpone today’s games.

  “So what is she clutching?”

  “It’s a fragment of something known as an instant noodle. Apparently everything but that fragment has gone to waste.”

  “Fight! Yurika, fight! I am a magical girl!”

  “Actually, Satomi-sama, I was the one who mistook Yurika’s food for garbage and threw it away.”

  Ruth’s expression clouded as she looked at the miserable Yurika and explained the situation to Koutarou.

  “The noodles were in a bag with broken cups and dust, so I was certain it was all trash...”

  Feeling responsible for the incident, Ruth was quite apologetic.

  “I see... All right.”

  Once he had the full story, Koutarou quickly decided what to do. If it had just been a matter of Yurika, he would have hesitated, but Ruth being involved too was a little different. He was going to resolve things immediately.

/>   “What are you doing?”

  “Just wait and see... Hey, Yurika.”

  “I believe in love and courage! The most important things are life and love! I love everyone! Lots of food! L-Lots of... food...”

  “Wuh?”

  “Uuuwaaaaahh!”

  Yurika wasn’t listening to Koutarou at all. Instead, she suddenly started crying. She had depressed herself with the lyrics of the song she was singing to herself. “Lots of food.” To her, that line was just too sad.

  “Since it’s come to this...”

  Although he’d jumped back in surprise when Yurika first started to cry, Koutarou had no intention of leaving Yurika as she was. He collected himself and approached her again, snatching the noodle shard out of her hands.

  “Aaah! Give it back! Please give it back! That’s the only food I have until the day after tomorrow!”

  Koutarou finally got Yurika to snap out of it. Having had her last piece of food stolen from her, she began panicking.

  “Hey, Yurika, don’t you want to eat some normal food instead of this?”

  “Huh...?”

  Yurika froze in her tracks and her stomach began growling when she heard what Koutarou said. Her body gave an honest answer to his question.

  “Th-That would be a dream come true, b-but you’re not planning to demand that I hand over several points in return, are you?!”

  “I would love to, but this isn’t just about you, so I’ll overlook it for the next two days.”

  “Y-You will?!”

  “Satomi-sama! Thank you very much!”

  Yurika and Ruth both smiled.

  “Ooooooh, Satomi-san! I knew you were a good person from the moment we first met!”

  “Yeah right...”

  Yurika shed tears of joy as she grabbed ahold of Koutarou’s hand and began shaking it. Sanae, who was clinging to Koutarou’s back, sighed. The day they had first met, she called Koutarou a horrible person and a bully.

  But back then, I never thought things would end up like...

  Deep in thought, Sanae clung to Koutarou just a little tighter.

  “Thank you very much for looking out for us, Satomi-sama.”

  “Haha, I’d rather feed Yurika for two days than watch you walk around with that gloomy face, Ruth-san.”

  Really, going for two days without food wasn’t going to kill anyone. It was more like a rough diet. Even so, Koutarou just couldn’t stand to see Ruth look so down.

  “Oh my... Thank you very much, Satomi-sama...”

  Ruth smiled and slightly blushed as she deeply bowed. Such earnest thanks from Ruth made Koutarou feel a little warm and fuzzy.

  “Please raise your head, Ruth-san. It’s really not a big deal.”

  “Satomi-sama, relative worth is indeed relative.”

  “...Hey, pleb.”

  At that moment, Theia’s piercing gaze shot right through Koutarou.

  “Wh-What is it now all of a sudden?”

  “It was the same way this morning. What’s with the unfair difference in how you treat me and Ruth? It’s like you’re saying you’re willing to swear your loyalty to her, not me!”

  Theia frustratedly bit her lip and puffed up her cheeks as she glared at Koutarou. To a stranger, it might have looked cute, but the truth was that she was seriously upset.

  “Jeez, here I was wondering what you’d say, but...”

  “What?! Then give me a satisfactory explanation!”

  Theia grew even angrier as Koutarou exaggeratedly sighed. With a cool look, he ignored her tantrum and pointed at Sanae, Theia, Yurika, and Kiriha in that order.

  “A weird person, a weird person, an extremely weird person, and another weird person. There are four weird people in this room. It should be obvious that I care about the only other normal person here!”

  “What kind of nonsense is that? And how dare you call me strange?! I am your master!”

  “Some master! Do you have any idea the trouble you put Ruth-san through?!”

  “I-It’s not trouble, Satomi-sama...”

  “Just listen to her, pleb! Ruth herself says serving me isn’t troublesome!”

  “As if someone that polite would admit how much of a pain you are right in front of you!”

  “No, there’s no pain or trouble! Honestly!”

  While Koutarou and Theia were making a fuss, Ruth was oddly flustered. Her behavior was all that really needed to be said about how she felt, but Koutarou and Theia were too busy arguing to notice.

  “Hmph, it doesn’t matter. No matter what you think, I only need to seize control of this room. Doing that will put you under my domain too!”

  “Like it’ll be that simple!”

  “I’ll make it that simple! That’s the power of royalty!”

  “I’ll fend you right off!”

  As Koutarou and Theia were glaring at each other, Kiriha, who had been quietly observing, finally spoke up.

  “About that, Koutarou... We have a proposal.”

  “...A proposal?”

  Slightly calmer now, Koutarou turned towards Kiriha.

  “That’s right. You and I both have plenty of will to fight, however just playing card games every day is dulling that. With that in mind, we would like to suggest a different kind of match. Of course, the amount of points played for will be appropriately higher.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, there’s an obstacle marathon for clubs in the upcoming sports festival, right? We could participate and compete using that. Just playing card games every day is getting stale, isn’t it?”

  Theia continued Kiriha’s explanation. She had calmed down and was now back to normal.

  I will win this match by a landslide and demonstrate my superiority to the pleb...

  At least, that’s what Theia was thinking.

  “That sounds interesting. That kind of special match really heats things up. I’m on board.”

  Koutarou quickly agreed to the proposal. As the star of previous sporting events, he had no reason to refuse.

  Heh heh, I’ll make you regret challenging me to a sports match, Tulip...

  Koutarou flashed a confident, fearless grin.

  “I... I agree as well.”

  Yurika, who would normally complain about matters being resolved without her, obediently assented. With two days worth of food on the line, she was going to do whatever Koutarou wanted.

  “Wait just a minute. What about me? I can’t join the sports festival.”

  But that was when Sanae spoke up. Being a ghost, she was unable to take part in the match.

  “It’s all right. We’ve already come up with a way to take that into account. You’ll pick one of us beforehand, and you’ll get the same rank as that person.”

  “Pick beforehand? What do you mean?”

  “Well for example, say you pick me.”

  “I absolutely refuse.”

  “Hold on, Sanae, this is just an example... Let’s say I get second place. In that case, you would get second place too, Sanae. It would just be like two people got a draw for second place.”

  Effectively, third place would then be fourth, fourth would be fifth, and fifth would be sixth. Sanae would just get the same rank as the person she chose to bet on.

  “I see, so we would be in the same boat.”

  “That’s right. Although, this method puts you at a slight disadvantage since you have no say in the outcome of the event. Alternatively, if you don’t choose anyone, you would just get third place. Feel free to choose whichever way suits you best.”

  With five people competing, the person in third place wouldn’t lose any points. It would basically allow Sanae the option not to take part in the match.

  “Hmm...”

  While still clinging on to Koutarou’s back, Sanae put one hand on her cheek and pondered.

  “I can’t just not participate. That would be too boring...”

  Sanae glanced at Kiriha, Theia, and Yurika in order and then finally looked
at Koutarou in front of her. After staring at the side of his face for a while, she smiled brightly.

  “All right, I’ve decided! I’ll be in the same boat as Koutarou!”

  “Hmm? Are you okay with that?”

  “Even though there might be obstacles, it’s still a marathon, right? You look like you have the most stamina. Besides, we have a truce, remember?”

  “I see. I’ll make sure you don’t regret choosing me, Sanae.”

  “Nyahaha! I’m counting on you.”

  Sanae smiled and nodded at Koutarou before putting her arm back around his neck.

  “All right! With that, it’s been decided! As a special match, we shall take part in the obstacle marathon for clubs!”

  And so Koutarou and the others would be holding their own competition during the school sports festival.

  A Day for the Invaders

  Monday, April 27th

  Over half a month had passed since the four invaders first forced their way into room 106. During that time, they had fought over the room primarily using card games, although they were mostly just trading points going back and forth. Koutarou still wasn’t convinced that games alone would be enough to solve his problems. He was using every cell in his not-so-clever head to come up with countermeasures, which was why he was visiting Kisshouharukaze High School’s cosplay club today. Of course, his goal was to deal with one of the invaders in particular.

  “...So there you have it. She’s just cosplaying without any consideration for her environment or the people around her. That’s why I would like you to teach her the true meaning of cosplay.”

  Koutarou was sitting at a conference table and talking to six girls. These six young ladies were the cosplay society’s club president and the other five members. Like the knitting society, they were considered a weak club.

  Koutarou came to them to explain the situation he was in. He had an acquaintance who was a cosplayer, and this cosplayer was cosplaying regardless of the time, place, or occasion.

  “This is a photo of the cosplayer in question.”

  Once he’d given them a general idea of his predicament, Koutarou pulled out a photograph and put it on top of the table. The club president, who was sitting at the opposite of the end of the table, picked it up.