"You guys are disgusting!" Momo responded angrily.
Hideo's gaze shifted from the Serpians as the system screen flickered in front of him.
[Emerging Plot Mission!]
[Survive the Serpians!]
[Reward: D-Rank Passive Skill – Spiritual Sense]
He would have preferred any other more useful skill at that moment.
TurboGranny moved forward with impossible agility, running along the walls as if gravity didn't exist. Each footstep echoed off the metal, making the room vibrate.
Hideo gulped. He was unsure whether to fight directly or if fleeing was the only option.
"Six sense organs!" a Serpian exclaimed, pointing two fingers at him.
In the blink of an eye, a telepathic attack shook the air. The impact left deep craters in the wall behind it, missing Hideo by a few centimeters.
"I'm not going to give you anything today…" he muttered between gasps, getting to his feet. His clothes were in tatters, his chest heaving, his hands trembling.
Two Serpians focused on him. "Serpo caliber!"
The first shot passed so close that the air pressure grazed his cheek.
Hideo extended his right arm and aimed with his index finger, gripping his shoulder to stop the recoil. A small fireball erupted from the volcanic fissure in his hand and shot out. The projectile burned the palm of one of the Serpians, drawing a groan from him.
"Humans like you are such brutes…" another of the aliens commented coldly.
From across the room, another of those telepathic attacks ricocheted off a metal surface and hit TurboGranny, who slammed back against a wall, roaring with fury.
"We've established good relations with the humans," another Serpian announced with disturbing calm. "Now you must give us your bananas."
"I'll give them to you! I'll give you whatever you ask for!" Okarun interrupted, sobbing. Her voice, finally clearly hers, echoed in the room. Tears of panic streamed down her distorted face.
"I don't have any friends! I never had any! I just wanted... to prove that aliens existed. I wanted someone to be my friend! I called out to the UFOs again and again, but they never showed up, they never noticed me..."
Silence fell over the room. Okarun trembled, but she held her words together. "But Ayase and that boy... you helped me today. So I won't let you hurt them!"
Hideo felt a lump in his throat. Part of him reproached himself for not having helped her sooner, even though he had read that manga. Now, the mission the system had given her felt personal.
He clenched his fists, his gaze hardening. "Ayase! Focus! You have the power…!" he shouted, before collapsing to his knees.
"Fire Boy!" Momo yelled back.
A second attack struck him full force. The pressure crushed his chest, as if the air were being squeezed out of his lungs entirely. The fire in his arm extinguished, his flesh returning to its original state.
"We've lost interest in you two," a Serpian sneered, turning his gaze to Okarun. "We would never be friends with someone so pathetic. Human females are more valuable to us."
He leaned toward Momo, his tone icy. "Let me stimulate your brainwaves again."
In a single moment, the air changed.
An immense pressure filled the room, so real it seemed to sink to the bones. A pale, furious blue aura emanated from the stretcher Momo was on. Instruments sputtered, psionic readings became unstable.
"What... what is this energy?" a Serpian muttered, backing away for the first time.
Momo raised her head. Her eyes were no longer afraid: they burned with icy fury. Okarun's confession and her own memories had opened the floodgates to something much greater.
CRACK. The shackle on her right wrist dented.
SNAP. The one on her left shattered like glass.
Hideo watched, open-mouthed. He had certainly read about it, but seeing it was far more impressive than any drawing could portray. He was witnessing the awakening of the other protagonist.
With a scream of rage, Momo broke free. Her ankle shackles and restraints exploded in a kinetic wave. Pieces of metal floated around her, orbiting like makeshift armor.
He stood on the wreckage. Or rather, there were no more wreckage: space itself was distorting around his body.
"Is this Momo's true power?" Hideo thought, feeling a pang of bitter envy. His newborn skill couldn't compare to this.
Ayase levitated, her hair floating, her eyes burning blue. The Serpians backed away, terrified.
"That..." she said calmly, and in a blink of an eye, she was gone from sight.
The leader barely raised his hand. "Her chakras opened from brain overstimulation!"
But Momo was already upon him. A brutal kick launched him across half the room. "Now I can kick you idiots!" he roared.
The impact shattered a wall, opening a gaping hole in the ship. Blaring alarms filled the air. The floor tilted beneath their feet as The UFO was vibrating behind it all.
"What?! Are we in a UFO?!"
"What does that matter now! We have to get out now!" Hideo shouted, running toward Momo.
But Okarun, still cursed, lunged at her and violently bit her arm.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Momo yelled, struggling, though Ken's body only responded with animal-like growls.
Hideo tried to push him away with what little strength he had left, but a sharp pain shot through his chest and made him fall to his knees.
Momo's aura pushed him away with a telekinetic shove. And then the unthinkable happened:
From Okarun's body, the spirit of TurboGranny emerged, manifesting in spectral form. Her monstrous silhouette filled the room, her eyes and teeth, enormous and demonic, scanning the audience.
"Who the hell do you think you are??" he roared, his voice echoing off the metal walls.
Hideo and Ken writhed on the ground, though Hideo somehow seemed to bear the weight of the curse better.
"I have this boy's penis!! And that brat over there wanted my power, but failed!!"
"W-what do you mean by that?!" Hideo managed to ask, choked with pain.
"You tried to seize my power, but you only received part of my curse, you arrogant brat!!" the specter spat, approaching him aggressively.
"As long as I have this boy's penis, the curse will remain with you!!" He glared at Momo.
TurboGranny's aura trembled furiously. "Come to the tunnel and I'll give you what you want, you stupid brats!"
"Damn witch!!" Momo growled, her face sweating.
Hideo immediately looked at the gaping hole in the ship and gritted his teeth. "It's best to get out of here right now…"
°°°
Nearby, on the cold grass under the night sky, the three of them were trying to process what had happened. In the distance, the UFO crashed resoundingly into the abandoned hospital, illuminating the horizon with an orange flash before crumbling into ruins.
"This is terrible… in so many ways…" murmured Momo, wearing Okarun's uniform jacket, focusing her powers on suppressing the curse that still twisted Okarun.
"I didn't expect to be possessed today…" said Okarun, with a nervous look that quickly died.
"Nor did I expect to kick an alien today…" Momo replied, before turning her gaze to Hideo. She sized him up suspiciously, like someone sizing up someone who could explode at any moment.
"Hey, you... that granny cursed you too, didn't she? But you don't seem like you're going to lose control or want to go stealing dicks or anything..."
Hideo shook his head immediately.
"Uh... about that, she said I only received part of the curse and I haven't been feeling weird either, so... no."
Momo breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed her shoulders.
"Well, at least I don't have to watch you for a freak attack."
"Sorry." Okarun lowered his head, immediately feeling implicated.
Momo glanced at him, her expression softening slightly.
"Wasn't that about setting your arm on fire because of the curse?"
Hideo hesitated for a moment, looking down at his still-reddened hand.
"I don't think that's exactly why..." he replied in a small voice, not in the mood to come up with anything better.
"Anyway, I lost my phone, my wallet, and my uniform too..." Momo said, a hint of discouragement in her voice.
Silence lingered between them for a few seconds.
That comment infected him. Hideo cautiously checked his pockets until he pulled out his cell phone. The screen was cracked, but it still worked sufficiently. A small spark of tranquility ran through him.
Maybe... he shouldn't intrude any further at that moment between Momo and Okarun. He thought about it as he moved a few meters away, looking for a higher point.
"I don't think I'll have to walk far... I'll try to find a signal over there."
He took a couple of steps, and then it happened.
His system screen flickered before his eyes.
[Conditions met.]
[Reward obtained: D-rank passive skill – Spiritual Sense]
[Overall reward: +10 plot influence!]
He felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. It couldn't get any worse... right?