Chapter 9: Princess Carry
The change in Takumi Hoshino was quickly noticed by his sister.
At first, her kicks had easily penetrated the sponge pad and slammed into him, but now… his arms felt like steel pillars. They didn't budge an inch. Instead, the impact bounced straight back into her leg, sending sharp pain shooting up her calf.
She immediately stopped.
Takumi, feeling guilty, asked nervously, "What's wrong?"
"your majesty, what's wrong?"
"Did you hide an iron rod in your sleeve or something?"
"Absolutely not!"
Takumi hurriedly lowered the pad and showed both arms. Akami stared suspiciously for a few seconds before finally muttering, "Continue."
He raised the pad again.
Akami backed up several steps, then charged forward with explosive speed. She unleashed her signature Flying Dragon Kick—
While the move looked mostly for show, when combined with her diving momentum, the power was terrifying. She had once used this very kick to shatter three stacked plywood boards. The force was estimated at around 270 kilograms.
Normally during practice, she never used this technique on him. She was afraid she'd actually fracture something. Despite her usual violence and chuuni tendencies, Akami rarely truly hurt her "Imperial Brother"… unless she was really, really pissed.
But today—
"This is gonna kill me!!"
Takumi's heart nearly stopped.
He already knew from the magic engraving info:
One point of mana could reinforce a single body part (like arms or legs) for about one minute.
But full-body reinforcement? Only six seconds.
And the strength increase was only one-sixth as effective.
Reinforcing intelligence or the five senses? A single point lasted barely one second.
This kick was way too powerful. Reinforcing just his arms wouldn't be enough.
Gritting his teeth, he poured six whole points into full-body reinforcement of his torso and limbs!
The moment the mana surged through him—
He felt like he'd become one of those mythical Titans, drawing infinite strength straight from the earth. Every muscle, every bone felt bursting with power, yet strangely light, as if he could dance on air.
Akami's ferocious kick arrived.
The force that should've sent him flying now felt… trivial.
He casually absorbed and neutralized the entire impact.
Meanwhile, Akami felt like she had just slammed her shin straight into an iron wall.
The violent rebound made her calf scream in agony. She lost balance and started to topple backward toward the floor.
Takumi reacted instantly. In a flash he caught her, arms wrapping securely around her body.
Full of concern, he asked, "What's wrong, Aki-chan?"
In his panic he completely forgot how much she hated being called "Aki-chan"—it sounded way too much like "little honey".
But surprisingly, Akami didn't explode.
She just stared at him blankly… then a faint blush crept across her cheeks.
She coldly ordered, "Put me down."
Only then did Takumi realize he was holding her in a full princess carry.
He gave an awkward laugh and gently set her back on her feet.
Akami huffed, "I'm going home. Lock the door yourself."
She even dropped the royal "We" and went back to normal "I". Takumi immediately sensed she was angry.
He silently cursed himself.
Damn it… I cheated with magic and now she's upset. She probably thinks I've been pretending to be weak all this time when I'm actually super strong. Knowing her prideful tyrant personality, she must be furious.
He was just about to apologize when he noticed—
Akami was limping.
His eyes widened in shock. "You're hurt!"
He quickly grabbed her hand. "Aki-chan, you twisted your ankle! We have to go to Dr. Yamamoto right now!"
Dr. Yamamoto ran the neighborhood clinic and specialized in all kinds of sprains and bone injuries. He was apparently the father of the county fire brigade captain, a former soldier himself, and often went to the fire station to give therapeutic massages to overtrained firefighters. Basically a genuine old army doctor.
Because of him, Akami's parents had allowed her to keep training taekwondo all these years despite the inevitable injuries.
"I don't need your concern."
Akami irritably shook off his hand and tried to leave.
Takumi didn't let go. Without another word, he scooped her up again in a princess carry and sprinted out the door—straight toward the clinic, door still wide open behind them.
"Wah—! What are you doing?! Put me down right now!"
Akami flailed her arms wildly, but unfortunately her martial prowess was concentrated in her legs. Her hands weren't much stronger than an ordinary girl's. Takumi ignored the struggle, dumped the rest of his remaining mana into leg reinforcement, and dashed forward at terrifying speed.
Several elderly people taking an evening stroll nearly jumped out of their skin.
"Isn't that little Takumi? What's the rush? House on fire?"
"That's Akami, right? Haha, normally Takumi acts all meek and useless, but whenever our little princess is in trouble, he turns into a total hero."
"Mn. It's been quite a while since we last saw him carrying the princess to Dr. Yamamoto's like this."
Akami struggled for a few more seconds before her whole face turned bright red—like someone had dumped chili sauce on it.
She finally whispered in a tiny, mortified voice, "Put me down, Onii-chan… This is way too embarrassing…"
Takumi thought to himself: You call yourself "We" and "Empress" in public every day without batting an eye, but now you're embarrassed?
Still, he didn't say anything.
In no time at all he arrived at the clinic.
Dr. Yamamoto, who had been reading the newspaper with his old-man glasses, suddenly felt a gust of wind blow in. Then he saw Takumi burst through the door.
"Dr. Yamamoto! Aki-chan got hurt again!"
"Ohhh, it's the Imperial Brother and the Empress, haha. No need to panic. Ever since the Empress won the junior championship last year and got officially recognized as a black belt by the Taekwondo Association, she hasn't come here once."
Even while teasing, Dr. Yamamoto very seriously examined her ankle.
Akami was so embarrassed she buried her face completely in Takumi's shirt, refusing to show her face.
Soon the doctor concluded, "Pretty bad. It's almost like she kicked a charging bull. The major tendon in her thigh is completely stiff, nearly dislocated. Good thing you brought her quickly. If you'd waited a few hours, it would've been much worse. Put her down on the sofa, I'll apply my secret medicinal wine."
"Okay!"
Takumi carefully laid his sister on the clinic sofa.
Akami immediately turned her face away toward the wall, refusing to look at him.
Takumi felt extremely guilty. "I'm really sorry, Aki-chan…"
He was convinced the damage came from his magic reinforcement—like some kind of internal force rebound. If he'd known, he would've rather taken the kick and flown across the room than let her get hurt.
Akami stayed silent for a long moment before finally murmuring softly, "It's fine. I kicked too hard myself. It's not your fault. But… if you really want to apologize… go buy me a hamburger and fries. I used up a lot of energy just now. I'm hungry."
"Got it! I'll go right now!"
Hearing her refer to herself as "We" again, Takumi let out a relieved breath.
That's the normal, tyrannical Akami I know.
He rushed out of the clinic.
Only after he left did Akami slowly turn her head back. Her cheeks were still bright red. She muttered under her breath, "Aho Onii-chan… still acting exactly like before. I'm already a big girl now, don't you know how embarrassing that was… And today he suddenly got so strong. He must've been holding back all this time. So annoying! I'm never talking to him again!"
As soon as Takumi stepped outside the neighborhood, he noticed the sky had turned quite dark. Looked like rain was coming.
He quickly borrowed an umbrella from the security guard, then hurried toward the KFC three kilometers away.
Sure enough, not long after, lightning flashed across the sky, followed by muffled thunder. Raindrops began to fall.
Watching pedestrians on the street dash for cover, Takumi silently praised his own foresight.
"That girl has golden hair… so pretty?"
"Dye job?"
"No way, look at her—she looks like a foreigner."
"Seriously? A foreigner in our little county town?"
Hearing two men talking as they passed by, Takumi froze.
"Golden hair…? Wait… could it be… the Golden Sparkling ojou-sama?"
He looked in the direction they were facing.
Sure enough, there was a slender, graceful back view with long golden hair.
Beautiful enough to make plenty of people lose their minds.
Takumi muttered to himself, "It really is her… What a strange coincidence. Why is she walking alone on the street? And she looks kind of… down? Normally she's either surrounded by her group of super beautiful best friends, or she has that D-cup beauty bodyguard glued to her side."
This girl was the one who, besides his little sister Akami, left the deepest impression on Takumi among all the girls in the three-dimensional world.
The class idol—Ryūko.