“Guooooooooo!?”
When Suzaku gives the signal, Gaius lets out a tremendous roar and comes charging at me.
And when our bodies clash, I feel an impact unlike anything I’ve ever felt.
“Guh!?”
“Ooooooooooh!”
Nevermind the emperor boar, his power goes beyond even Tiltue’s, who has Bahamut as an ancestor. It pushes me back a little.
I manage to plant myself and somehow stop it, but Gaius’ power doesn’t show any signs of going down.
“Arata!?”
“Mister!?”
“It’s all right!”
I hear Reina and Luna’s worried voices behind me, but I tell them not to worry as I take one step forward.
“…!? N-no way! You’re stoppin’ mah attack!?”
Says Gaius, sounding surprised.
He does have incredible power, and if I was relying on this body alone like always and let my guard down, he might have pushed me back the whole way in one go.
But this time I was ready for a head on test of strength, and made sure to face Gaius without any carelessness.
“Hey hey… Gaius’ ancestor is Behemoth. Even if he’s weaker than the actual divine beast, he should be the strongest when it comes to power alone. I thought this would be interesting… Haha, but it’s going beyond my expectations. Is this guy for real?”
Says Suzaku, sounding surprised and amazed. I’ve done it now.
She put this match together because she thought it’d be fun, but there’s no fun to be had in doing everything she wants.
“Guoooooo!”
“Hmph!”
One step, two steps, three steps.
Gaius’ pressure gets even heavier, as I push him one step at a time and he tries to resist it.
I didn’t think the emperor boar’s charge was heavy at all, but this guy feels like he would push me all the way back if I wasn’t careful.
And so, I make sure I am.
“Upppppppp!”
“Nuguguguguuuuuuu!”
Every time I push Gaius, the crowd around me heats up even more.
That’s fine, but…
“Ooh, awesome… That guy’s awesome!”
“He’s got a body of steel. It’s like he stripped his body of everything unnecessary and trained it just for divine beast sumo.”
“I’m sure he’s about to vomit blood, but still pressing on for that girl. Hehe… No chance.”
People are starting to do commentary, and someone’s even creating some sort of story or something.
First of all, I got this body from god, so I didn’t train it or anything.
I guess I have been exercising more than I did in my previous world, because I’m living in the middle of the forest.
I hunt from time to time, and I can move this body as much as I want, so it’s fun to run around the forest too.
I feel kind of bad when people say things like that, because I didn’t work for this body at all. And I feel that even more towards the guy in front of me breathing heavily and using all his power.
But that doesn’t mean I can lose. And I can’t forgive him for scaring someone who’s done so much for me.
And so, I put in even more strength, and finish this match in one go.
“Funnununu, uuuuuuuugaaaaaa.”
“It’s oveeeeer!”
I yell as Gaius keeps being pushed back, and our yells overpower even the voices around us.
“N-no way… I-I…?”
“I won.”
Gaius stepped outside the circle drawn on the ground, meaning victory is mine.
“S-straight…? There’s actually someone that can push Gaius back…”
Someone says, and two fire birds furiously fly past each other in the sky, suddenly illuminating the whole area.
At the same time, Suzaku raises her hand high.
“Game! Arata wins!”
“Uooooooooo!”
The divine beast people around us all howl at the sky at the same time.
And as if signaled by this, Gaius hangs his head and his knees fall to the ground.
“Ahh…”
And I finally relax my body.
I feel kind of languid, probably because it’s the first time I’ve intentionally used this power.
“I-I… Me…”
Gaius is too shocked to raise his head.
This is over, so I turn around and walk towards Reina and Luna.
“I’m back. I won.”
“Welcome back. I wasn’t worried or anything.”
I smile awkwardly at how Reina’s words and her face don’t match.
She’s a nice person, so it’s immediately obvious that she was worried about me.
“Welcome back mister!”
Whoa.”
As I think that about Reina, Luna suddenly hugs me.
Unlike what just happened with Gaius, I was completely unprepared for this, so it makes me take a step back.
But I still manage to stand firm and not do something lame.
“Hey hey Arata. You’re incredible. Gaius is a big idiot, but he’s second to none here in terms of raw power. And you pushed him straight…”
Elga says while scratching his head, sounding amazed.
That’s right, I worried him too.
“Thanks for having my back, Elga.”
“Ou… Looks like you didn’t need it though.”
“That’s not true. And I keep hearing the word straight?”
“Look.”
Elga points, to answer my question.
I turn to look, and see two lines from when I pushed Gaius out. They’re completely straight, and now I get it.
This is what in sumo of my previous world is called railroading someone out of the ring.
“Ya can’t do that without a big gap in your strength. You’re a real monster to do that to Gaius.”
“Hahaha…”
I can’t brag about doing that with a body given to me by god, so I just smile awkwardly.
The excitement around me doesn’t show any sign of dying down, as people keep talking about the match. Weirdly enough, everything they’re saying is a completely different story than the one I know.
Elga notices me looking bewildered, and since they’re his people, he looks a little embarrassed.
“Don’t mind them. We don’t get a lot of entertainment ’round here. It’s only when we get a banquet or a match or somethin’ like that.”
“Sure… That’s all right.”
I’m not getting a bad impression of them or anything. I just wish they didn’t treat me like the main character in an epic.
And then, Gaius finally gets up and walks this way.
His steps are a little shaky, and he looks shocked about losing in a contest of power.
When he gets here, he looks down at me with sharp eyes.
“You…”
“…What?”
The divine beast people around us all hold their breaths, as they feel this is a very volatile situation.
Is he not going to give up on Reina? Does he want to fight again?
But then he puts out his hand.
“Be my friend!”
“…Ah?”
“Be friend!”
No, I heard you, I just don’t get it.
But it sounds like he’s serious.
I can kind of see a sparkle in his eyes, and he’s smiling like a young child that just got a new toy.
“Hum…”
“You’re strong! I respect strong! So be my friend!”
I’m taken aback, but Gaius takes another step forward with his hand still out.
I nervously grab it, and he shakes it wildly.
“Now you’re friend! Arata! If anything happens, call me! I’ll crush anythin’!”
“H-haha… Thanks.”
I want to live peacefully and not get dragged into anything dangerous, but he kind of looks like a big dog when I look at him like this.
“Congratulations, Arata.”
“Why are you standing over there, Reina?”
“No real reason. Nothing at all.”
I’m sure she was scared of getting caught in whatever was about to happen.
That said, the fact that his focus shifted to me isn’t a bad result.
“Let’s go again, Arata!”
“Eh? Go where?”
“Divine beast sumo! I’m not losin’ this time!”
Says Gaius, as the divine beast people around us start yelling again.
Rematch! This time Gaius will win! Show him what divine beasts are made of! I want to see that violent clashing of meat again!
Is what I hear. I don’t want to ever get close to that last guy.
“All right! Everyone’s fired up! You two, step into the circle again!”
“…Oh all right.”
I go to the center of the circle, almost like I’m dragged by Gaius.
This time we’re not really betting anything, so it might be just a nice way to deepen our relationship with the divine beast people.
We should get along with our neighbors, if we’re going to be living on this island.
“Good luck Arata!”
“Good luck mister!”
And hearing a beautiful and a cute girl cheering me on makes me want to show what I’m made of.
“This time I’ll win!”
We start our second match, and I win again, but I did make a mistake.
After all, the divine beast people are all fired up now.
I’m next! I’ll show you my technique! Sumo’s not just about power! I want to clash meat with you!
Divine beast people start challenging me one after the other, and I end up accepting challenges until the sun rises.
And I do my absolute best not to touch that last guy.
Everyone’s tired and laying on the ground when dawn comes. The banquet is finally over.
Suzaku, who was instigating the others, doesn’t waste time getting a futon and going to sleep.
“I-I’m tired…”
Reina and Luna are also sleeping together under a blanket.
Elga has Livia in his arms, and looks kind of sleepy. I want to go to sleep too.
We just came here to say hello. I really didn’t expect this to happen.
“But… I guess it was fun.”
I whisper as I sit on the ground and watch the sunrise.
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That’s right, I worried him too. -> That’s right, he worried about me too.
Thanks.