The Bounty Hunter

November 17th, 2089

Veronica’s POV

“Alright team, just do as we did in practice and we’ll win!  Let’s do our best!”  Haruko said as we broke from our pre-game huddle and prepared to start.  Tonight is the first game of the high school basketball season, and I am slightly ashamed to admit that I am a little nervous.  I didn’t realize that high school basketball games have an audience, let alone one of a couple hundred people.  When I first noticed the number of people staring at me, it was rather unnerving.  I was almost considering withdrawing due to my discomfort. 

However, Terra and the rest of my dear family were in the stands.  They had these large, colorful signs of support and were cheering for me wholeheartedly and without shame despite acting like court buffoons while doing so.  Only Terra was restraining himself, seemingly content with holding his sign up high.  It was particularly amusing when he had to hastily muffle Irene when she started yelling her curse-laden encouragement.  She struck him hard in the head, apparently outraged at his interference.  Terra simply gave an apologetic smile, which succeeded in causing Irene to turn a remarkable shade of red and become quite flustered.  Her crush has been rather obvious to everyone except him (and given his past record on the topic, that is not surprising).

I couldn’t help but smile at their silly antics, and my high anxiety reduced to just this current twinge of nervousness.  Terra has increased the training seals on me to reduce my physical abilities to about average.  All the fun in playing the game would have been lost otherwise.  The other team is also aware of my shooting abilities due to preseason scouting reports, so Haruko warned me that they will do their best to press me.  Thus, I won’t be able to coast through this with my superior accuracy.  I will have to rely on my other basketball skills and teamwork in order to contribute.

Ayaka, our center, won the jump ball and the game was officially on.  Haruko claimed the loose ball and dribbled up the right side of the court.  I ran for my designated position behind the 3-point line with my defender trailing close behind.  Momoka set a screen for me, freeing me up to catch the pass from Haruko and shoot a long 3-pointer.  I made it, naturally, and the crowd cheered at the fact that the home team was on the board first.  It was thrilling to hear the crowd rooting for me.  I didn’t get lost in the moment, choosing to instead hurry back on defense.  The player I was guarding was dribbling it up the floor, but she was too careless.  I saw an opportunity and took it, swiping the ball away and sprinting down the floor for an uncontested lay-up to make it 5-0.  Momoka gave me an enthusiastic hi-five as I returned and the crowd’s cheers grew even louder.

The quick start set the tone for the rest of the game.  The opposing team was no match to us, being forced to overextend themselves to prevent me from dismantling them from the 3-point line.  This made them vulnerable to the pick and roll, allowing Haruko and Ayaka to wreak havoc on the interior.  The final score was 74 -56, and I finished as the top scorer with 19 points.  “Great job, Veronica!  You were awesome!”  Haruko exclaimed as we headed off the court.  My other teammates chorused their agreement.  “It was a team effort, so that means we were all awesome.”  I replied.  My friends smiled at my words.  This shared comradery was not something that I would expect to experience by simply playing a game, but it’s nice.

I declined the offer to go out with some of the team, citing a prior commitment to have dinner with Terra and the others.  Terra had reserved a private room at his father’s restaurant.  It was wonderful.  Irene, Rin, Kira, Hikari, and Reiji were all enjoying the feast along with Terra and me.  After eating our fill, we spent the rest of the time there simply being together.  Irene and Rin were having a cake-eating contest while Reiji refereed.  Kira and Hikari were engrossed in an intense discussion about clothes and shoes.  I was nestled up against Terra, savoring his warm and firm body.  He had a gentle smile on as he gazed around the room.  Just like me, Terra has begun smiling a lot more since we came to his world.

“And to think that you were such a grump when we first met.”  I murmured softly, grabbing his attention.  “I guess I was, wasn’t I?  You were just so charming during our first encounter that I couldn’t be such a grump anymore, at least not to you.”  Terra replied teasingly.  I giggled lightly and gave him a firm poke.  “Why are you acting so charming all of a sudden?  Is there something particularly naughty you want to ask me to do later or what?”  I said.  His arm around me flexed, pulling me in close against his muscular chest.  His face was inches away from mine, and he stared deeply into my eyes as he whispered “Trust me, I don’t plan on asking.”

My face and the tips of my ears became flushed.  A feeling of electricity tingled down my spine and I couldn’t resist leaning in and giving him a deep kiss.  As always, I can’t help but be turned on when Terra is so domineering.  We stayed like that, enveloped in our own little world, until it happened.

In an instant, Terra clasped a hand to his head as he let loose a small grunt of pain.  “Terra, what’s wrong?” I asked worriedly as the others also noticed Terra’s sudden issue.  He didn’t act as if he had heard me, and simply clenched his teeth as he tried to endure whatever it was that was happening.  His eyes seemed to glaze over slightly, as if he were looking at something other than what was in front of him.  Eventually, whatever it was that ailed him passed.  He let loose a sigh of relief, before realizing that everyone was staring at him.  “It’s nothing.”  He said “I’ve just been getting some migraines recently.”  “You sure?  Because I’ve never heard you utter a sound while you’re in pain before, and I’ve seen you get fuckin’ mauled.”  Irene said suspiciously.

“I’m telling you, I’m fin—” Terra’s words were interrupted as a strong golden light appeared beneath us, arranging itself into an intricate array written in an illegible glowing script.  “A summoning array?!?!?”  Kira exclaimed in surprise.  “YESS!!!  Here comes my other world adventure!!”  Reiji yelled.  Hikari’s response was to slap him upside the back of the head.  “KEEP YOUR OTAKUNESS TO A MINIMUM WHILE WE’RE GETTING KIDNAPPED!”  Hikari bellowed back at Reiji as we all started feeling a powerful pulling sensation.  Our surroundings blurred as the summoning was starting to transport us.  Everyone staggered at the sensation, with poor Reiji slipping and hitting his head on the table as he fell.  He went out like a light.

“I beseech the Peerless Devil, destroyer of worlds, to answer mine call.  In exchange for the ultimate sacrifice, come forth to grant my wish!”  Those words echoed in the private room as I felt the summoning circle about to take full effect.  Everyone in the room except for Terra had some look of great emotion on them varying between apprehension and surprise.  His expression, however, was one of frustrated exasperation.  He then spoke, as if in response to the words of the summoner.

“Fuck that shit.” He said, promptly unleashing his magic to extinguish the summoning circle.  Its connection to us was severed completely, causing the room to come back into focus.  He pointed at Reiji, releasing a quick burst of healing magic that woke him right up.  Reiji was quick to readjust to his surroundings, looking like he had expected something different.  When he realized we were still at the restaurant, he was not pleased.  “NOOOO!!!”  Reiji wailed.  He turned to Terra. “You heartless bastard!  I was about to see the promise land!  We could’ve been summoned to a kingdom of cat-girls!”  He then promptly dissolved into tears.  Rin started patting him on the back “Don’t cry, Big Sis!  It’ll be okay?”  “Why are you saying it as a question!?!”

I chose to ignore the 2-man comedy routine going on to instead question Terra on behalf of the group.  “What just happened?”  “A damn cliché, that’s what.”  Terra responded moodily.  “And it was horrible timing.  This sort of thing is supposed to happen after the current crisis facing the protagonist is resolved.”  “How do you know that it was targeting you specifically?  Couldn’t it have been any one of us and the rest were simply being dragged in?”  Hikari astutely asked.

“No, it had to have been Terra.  She said ‘the Peerless Devil’, after all.  Terra was known as the Peerless back home.  But it doesn’t make sense, there is no such thing as a summoning ritual for non-spirits.  And I don’t understand the ‘Devil’ and destroyer of worlds parts either.”  Kira said.  Terra shook his head at Kira’s words.  “I have no clue about the phrasing, but it isn’t crazy to assume that there is more than our world and the other world out there.  Maybe they have a hero summoning ceremony or something.”

“Hero summoning?” I asked.  “Calling an OP guy who fights the demon lord and gets the harem of beauties.”  Reiji responded, finally tuning back in to the conversation.  “You mean like the boss?”  Irene asked.  “Yep!  Minato is the textbook definition of a Hero somebody would summon!”  His words caused Terra to openly scowl “I am not a Hero.” He said with an air of absolute conviction.  “Yeah, right.  And the summoner was most certainly not a beautiful young maiden who was going to offer herself to you in exchange for your help.  You’re a hero, Minato.  You save people and do the right thing.”  Reiji said.

Minato snorted at those words “If only you knew.” He muttered, although no one seemed to have heard him except me.  “Anyways, this is all irrelevant since I interrupted the summoning circle.  Let’s head on home.”  I walked with him as he went to pay the bill.  He seemed to be brooding, which was extremely unusual for him.  Is it related to what he said at the end of the discussion? 

“Terra.”  “Yeah?”  “I may not know why Reiji’s words upset you, but I’m here when you’re ready to talk about it.”  “…Ok.”  I smiled at him, leaning in to give him another kiss before whispering “Cheer up, wasn’t there something that you weren’t going to ask me to do tonight?”

Terra broke out into one of his incredible smiles at my invitation.  “Yeah, I suppose there was.”