The Witch and Her Companion: I'm Just a Normal High School Student, but I Became the Familiar of the Highest-Ranked Witch. Also, It Seems I'm the Only Guy in the Witch Organization I Joined - Chapter 50: Stake and Soccer Ball

Chapter 50: Stake and Soccer Ball

[Tatsumori Haruto]

From as far back as I can remember, I was drilled in all kinds of martial arts. Apparently, my old man wanted his son—the future successor of the Tatsumori family—to be well-versed in self-defense.

During training with my instructor, there were rare moments when, by sharpening my focus, it felt like a switch had flipped, unlocking a surge of power.

Like a single candle lighting up a pitch-black room, strength would flood every fiber of my body.

In that state, not even my instructor could defeat me. Incoming punches and kicks appeared sluggish, and I could unleash strength beyond my usual limits.

Even after I started living alone, I had my fair share of run-ins with thugs, but compared to my instructors, they were nothing.

…Though Ryuna always beats the crap out of me.

──And now, at this very moment, I was enveloped in a sense of fulfillment unlike anything I’d ever experienced.

If the power I had learned to draw out before was akin to flipping a switch on and off, then right now, it felt like an engine had roared to life.

I could feel an overwhelming force surging from deep within me. At this moment, I didn’t think I could lose to anyone—not even the guy in front of me.

“…Tch. Your magic has awakened. So you were already a familiar, huh?”

“Hah? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb. You made a contract with a witch and stopped being human. Well, if you’re a familiar, that actually makes this easier for me.”

A contract with a witch? Stopped being human? What the hell is this guy saying?

But then, a memory flashed through my mind.

That time in Shinto, when I was gravely injured by a magical beast—

Fuu said she had made me drink her blood back then.

Could that be the cause of what’s happening to my body right now?

“—!!”

In the split second my thoughts wandered, the curly-haired man launched a kick at me. I managed to raise my arm just in time to block it.

To my surprise, my arm was completely fine. Considering the force behind his initial attack, my bones should’ve shattered, but all I felt was a slight numbness.

“…Now it’s my turn, you mop-headed bastard!”

Unlike my reckless attacks from earlier, I carefully observed his movements as I struck.

He dodged, but the smug look on his face had completely vanished.

“Tch… So you’re not just some amateur brat… Ugh!?”

My feint slipped past his guard, and my fist finally connected. He managed to block, but the impact sent him staggering.

Frustrated, he threw a desperate uppercut despite his unsteady stance.

I ducked under his fist and drove a clean hit into his solar plexus. The force of my attack gouged a spiral pattern into the ground as I pivoted on my left foot.

“—Consider this payback!!”

With his torso bent forward, I drove a powerful back kick straight into his face. The impact was solid.

“—Gah!?”

He flew through the air like a soccer ball, bouncing off the ground before crashing into a tree, snapping it in half before rolling even further.

“—Darliiiing!!”

A woman’s shrill scream rang out from afar. As I turned toward the sound, something black hovered in front of me—

“Shit—!”

I instinctively dodged. That wasn’t a floating orb—it was something aimed straight at my face.

When I glanced behind me, I saw it lodged deep into the ground—a jet-black stake.

“—You little shit! Dieeee!!”

Before I could even breathe, a woman, wielding stakes in both hands, lunged at me with a demonic expression. Her sheer intensity froze me for an instant.

“—Don’t touch Hare!!”

“—Guh!?”

Just before she reached me, Fuu came crashing in from the side, punching the woman away. The woman bounced once against the ground before springing back up—only for Fuu to follow up with another attack.

This time, she stayed down.

“Fuu! You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine! What about you, Hare? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m good.”

We had somehow managed to take down these so-called witch hunters. But who the hell were these guys? Should we call the police? An ambulance? My brain couldn’t keep up.

“…Who were they? Why did they suddenly attack us?”

“I have no idea. There’s so much I don’t understand, my head feels like it’s gonna explode.”

“It’s okay! If your head explodes, I’ll just heal it with magic!”

“Hah, you’re getting pretty confident now, huh?”

“Well, you kn—huh?”

She probably meant to say, “Well, you know.” But before she could finish, Fuu suddenly collapsed to the ground.

I looked down—

A black stake was embedded in her stomach.

“…Fuu?”

Turning around, I saw the woman Fuu had knocked out, barely clinging to life, stretching her arm forward.

That’s when I finally realized—she had thrown the stake.

“…Hahh… Hahh… External skeletal structure… deploy…”

I could only stare in shock as the woman, now on all fours, sprouted a massive tail from her back, tearing through her clothes.

I didn’t have time to figure out what the hell that thing was.

Scooping fu into my arms, stake and all, I bolted.

I have to run. No matter what, I have to run, or this will be bad.

Fuu has a stake lodged in their stomach—can Fuu even use healing magic in this condition?

If she can’t… I have to get her to a hospital, fast—

“…!?”

The sound of something slicing through the air from behind made me instinctively leap back.

A split second later, the ground where I had just been standing was blown apart. The woman had attacked with her whip-like tail.

“…Ugh, aah…”

“F-Fuu! I’m so sorry! That must’ve hurt, are you okay!?”

I called out to Fuu, who was writhing in pain in my arms, but of course, she wasn’t okay. Her face was turning deathly pale.

On top of that, the stake embedded in her stomach was gradually turning red—as if it were drinking up her blood.

“…Ugh… take it out… I-I’m losing strength…”

“But if I pull it out, you’ll—damn it!!”

Before I could even hesitate over whether to remove the stake, the woman’s tail came lashing toward us again. In a fit of desperation, I yanked the stake out as I leaped backward.

“…Gahh—aaahhh!!”

“Fuu, are you okay!?”

Blood gushed from the gaping hole in her stomach like a natural spring.

“…I-I’m okay… I think I can use magic…”

Seeing Fuu place her hand over her wound, I turned my attention back to the tail woman.

Even if she healed, one direct hit from that tail and we were both dead. Running wasn’t an option, so I had to focus on evasion until fu could move properly.

“Haa… haa… How dare you hurt my darling… I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kiiiiillll!!!”

The woman seemed to be recovering little by little, but she wasn’t fully healed yet. Should I put fu down and go on the offensive…? No, that’s too risky. I have to stay in a position where I can protect her at all times.

As I hesitated, the tail came flying again.

—But it didn’t hit anywhere near me. Instead, it struck some completely random spot. Was she getting too exhausted to aim properly?

“…Fufu, you pulled it out faster than I expected… but this is good enough.”

At the tip of her tail, something was entwined.

The stake. The very one that had been buried in fu’s stomach, now half stained red. So that last strike—far from being random—had been precisely aimed.

“…Just wait for me, darling, darling, darling, darling, darling, darling, darling, darling, darliiing!”

The woman took the stake in her hands—and stabbed it into her own stomach.

“…What the hell is she doing?”

“Hale, I’m all healed now. Put me down, let’s run away together.”

Fuu seemed to have fully recovered—her wound was completely closed. But her face was still alarmingly pale.

“But that crazy woman just started self-harming. Maybe we can finish her off now?”

“No, that stake… it was draining my power… I think she’s absorbing the strength it took from me.”

“Y-you’re kidding… If that’s true, then yeah, running is the best option.”

That would also explain why Fuu still looked so weak. Even if she could heal wounds, she probably couldn’t restore the energy that had been drained from her.

“Phew, that was delicious. I’ll save the rest for my darling… but as for you two—I’m not letting you escape.”

The woman pulled the stake from her stomach and hurled it.

It flew toward the spot where that curly-haired bastard I had taken down was lying.

Shit.

“What now? That psycho just got powered up.”

“…Hale, you should run. I’ll stay and—hold… them… off…”

Suddenly, Fuu collapsed. I rushed to her side in a panic. Her whole body was trembling, her face ashen. Even if her wounds were gone, she was in no condition to fight or flee.

“Hey, fu! Stay with me!”

She didn’t respond. Her eyes remained closed. She was completely unconscious.

“…Ah, damn it. The ground’s shaking… I feel like shit.”

“Oh, my darling! Are you okay? How are you feeling?”

“…Fantastic, you idiot—urgh, bleeaagh—”

“My, my! Even throwing up blood, my darling is so precious! Can I take a picture?”

“…Ugh, shut up… I swear, I’ll knock you out.”

—This is the worst. Even that curly-haired bastard is back on his feet.

Two against one. Fighting was out of the question, and running was even harder.

Desperate, I looked up toward the sky.

『Whatever you do, don’t leave the house!』

Ryuna’s words from a week ago echoed endlessly in my head.