Chapter 4 – Live Fire
Natsume stepped in front of Mako, who was floating the giant eyeball that served as their camera. Standing beside Kanon, she flashed a fearless grin toward the audience that would inevitably be watching the archive later.
"Alright... emergency stream here. I'm Natsume, one-third of the hottest trio of girl shooters you'll ever see, and—"
"And I'm Kanon! Looks like Mako-chan's behind the camera again today."
Ever since they first started uploading videos, the shy Mako had usually preferred working behind the scenes, rarely appearing on camera herself.
Ironically, despite her limited screen time, she was more popular with viewers than Natsume. In fact, Natsume—the face of the channel—was the least popular of the three. Between her foul mouth, abrasive personality, and tattoo-covered body that many Japanese viewers found intimidating, she wasn't exactly everyone's favorite.
Even so, the channel attracted surprisingly little hate. Partly because Natsume was openly lesbian and her flirting with Mako and Kanon was strangely wholesome... somehow. More importantly, her shooting skills, drilled into her by a retired Marine, were unquestionably the real deal.
"So, here's the deal. We somehow got isekai'd into another world. Yeah, I'm serious—not clickbait this time. And we already ran into a pack of goblins."
She rested the shotgun across one shoulder.
"As for how we're streaming from another world? Chalk it up to one of those anime cheat skills. Mako can livestream, Kanon's got herself a safe house, and I can order stuff straight from Earth. With what little cash we had, we picked up a Springfield XD and a Stevens 320 Security."
She shifted the shotgun in her hands, a confident smirk spreading across her face.
"You've seen us run the XD at the range before, but today we're movin' up from paper targets to the real thing—live meat. So do us a favor and keep those Super Chats comin'. More donations mean more guns, more ammo, and more content. Around here, that's our lifeline."
Kanon nodded enthusiastically.
"Exactly! Otherwise Na-chan might end up crying while getting covered in goblin guts. Oh, and I'd really love a P365 and an AR-15, so if somebody feels like dropping, say... three hundred thousand yen, I'd really appreciate it!"
She looked straight into the floating eyeball.
"And if anyone knows the chairman of the Kuze Group, tell him his granddaughter's stranded in another world! Grandpaaa! Send Super Chats!"
"...Alright then."
Natsume jerked a thumb toward the creatures.
"Mako. Put 'em on camera."
The floating eyeball obediently drifted forward, focusing on their prey.
The creatures weren't the bright green goblins of fantasy anime. Their skin was a sickly yellowish-brown, like something stained with years of filth. Three short, ugly creatures stood there, staring back at them in obvious confusion.
Ping.
A familiar notification chimed as comments began flooding across Mako's vision.
"H-Hello, everyone...!"
Her eyes widened.
"N-Na-chan! We've already got thirty viewers!"
"No kidding?"
Natsume grinned.
"Alright, Kanon. Let's give those harmless-lookin' little goblins a proper American hello."
She nodded toward Kanon's pistol.
"Fiocchi nine-mil, 124-grain hollow points. Twenty yards."
Then she glanced between her partners.
"You two got your earplugs in?"
"Of course."
Kanon drew her pistol.
"I'll put three in the chest... and one in the head."
There was no red dot, no optic—only plain iron sights.
Yet she fired without the slightest hesitation.
Despite it being her first real gunfight, having Natsume at her side steadied her nerves. Three rounds struck the goblin squarely in the chest before a fourth punched through its skull, sending its head exploding backward.
"...Na-chan."
Kanon lowered her pistol slightly.
"Why's that goblin naked? It's... kinda just dangling out there."
"Don't expect monsters to have the decency to cover their junk."
Natsume chuckled.
"Oh? Chat's blowing up already."
Messages flew across Mako's vision faster than she could read them, the viewers' excitement pouring into the stream.
"Whoa! The chat's going crazy! A-ah, thanks for the Super Chats!"
Mako's eyes darted across the scrolling comments.
"I-I mean... if anyone here's into Western guns... I'd really love a Henry lever-action, a .410 shotgun, or an Uberti Model 3 Schofield... S-so please send your Super Chats my way...!"
Natsume laughed.
"Well, damn. Even Mako's beggin' for donations now."
Kanon giggled.
"Guess so. What about you, Na-chan? Aren't you gonna ask?"
"Hell, ain't much point in me sweet-talkin' anybody."
She shrugged.
"But askin's free."
"I'm a Texas-raised 1911 believer. If we're talkin' rifles, give me an M1A. Shotguns? Benelli M4, every time."
She flashed a cocky grin at the floating eyeball.
"So if you're into good ol' American iron, send those Super Chats my way."
She thumbed off the shotgun's safety.
"Now it's my turn."
The roar that followed dwarfed the crack of Kanon's 9mm.
Nine pellets of 00 buck erupted from the muzzle, slamming into the second goblin and shredding it into a mangled heap of flesh.
"Cheap pump gun."
She cycled the action with a satisfying clack-chunk.
"But you see the kind of work it gets done."
She rested the shotgun on her shoulder.
"That's why Americans love shotguns for home defense. This ain't some video game. This is what the real thing does."
She glanced toward Mako.
"C'mon, Mako. Give the viewers a nice look at those big ol' boobs bouncin' while you shoot."
Kanon immediately joined in.
"Na-chan, your butt's pretty big too! I love your butt."
She turned toward Mako with a grin.
"And Mako-chan's got those marshmallow boobs!"
"M-my boobs...!"
Mako squeaked, blushing furiously.
"D-don't keep saying 'boobs!' That's so embarrassing...!"
The chat instantly exploded.
BOOBS
BOOBS
BOOBS
The word flooded the comments like a waterfall.
Bright red with embarrassment, Mako nevertheless drew her pistol.
The lone surviving goblin stood frozen in place, unable to comprehend the thunderous blasts that had erased its companions.
Mako showed no mercy.
She squeezed the trigger.
Each shot kicked the 9mm upward, her slender arms absorbing the recoil while her generous chest bounced noticeably with every round.
Whether by coincidence or because the magical eyeball understood exactly what viewers wanted, it focused far more on Mako than on the goblin she was shooting.
Natsume let out a low whistle.
"Yep... looks like Mako's gonna hit our donation goal first."
She chuckled.
"Guess I'd better order myself a .50 BMG next. Maybe the recoil'll get my ass jigglin', too."
Kanon sighed dramatically.
"So what am I supposed to do? My boobs and butt are both average."
She tilted her head.
"Do I have to strip?"
"The hell you do!"
Natsume shot her an incredulous look.
"The only people who get to see your skin are me and Mako."
She grinned mischievously.
"Besides, you've already got killer looks, a smokin' body..."
She paused deliberately.
"...and those gloriously stinky armpits."
"Oh, come on!"
Kanon groaned.
"That's definitely a negative! The only people who actually enjoy sniffing my armpits while calling them 'stinky' are you and Mako!"
Natsume snorted.
"You're crazy."
She pointed toward the floating camera.
"I guarantee these folks would be lining up to sniff 'em too if you were standing right in front of 'em."
Having grown up in America, body odor hardly registered as anything unusual to Natsume. To her, it was simply something deodorant could handle—not a flaw worth worrying about. Kanon, raised in Japan, saw it very differently.
Natsume looked directly into the floating eyeball.
"Ain't that right?"
Most of the chat immediately responded with variations of:
"Uh... gonna pass."
"No thanks."
"That's a little much..."
Then a handful of ¥50,000 Super Chats appeared.
"I'd totally sniff."
"Worth every yen."
Mako stared at the messages.
"K-Kanon-chan... people are actually donating because they want to smell your armpits..."
She gave an awkward smile.
"C-congratulations... I think you just invented a whole new genre... 'stinky-armpit beauty.'"
"Noooo!"
Kanon buried her face in her hands.
"That's absolutely an insult!"
And yet...
She couldn't help smiling.
Before meeting Natsume and Mako, those words would have reduced her to tears.
But after years of having Natsume teasingly call her "stinky" while happily burying her face in her armpits as if savoring the scent, Kanon had gradually come to accept what she once hated about herself.
Nowadays, she'd even deliberately overdress in the summer just to work up a sweat before offering her armpit to Natsume with a mischievous grin.
"Don't sweat it."
Natsume shrugged.
"Mako's the yandere type. I'm the punk."
She smirked.
"The viewers already know I'm covered in tattoos."
Kanon nodded.
"Your tattoos really are incredible."
She pointed toward Natsume's stomach.
"By the way... isn't that one on your belly an Inmon? How'd you even know about those?"
Natsume grinned.
"Heh. Inmon's actually pretty well known in American otaku circles."
She laughed.
"Usually gets brought up alongside ahegao, too."
With that, she glanced once at the goblin corpses before turning her attention back to the floating camera.
"Well now... we've just mercilessly gunned down a bunch of goblins that were mindin' their own business out here in the woods. But here's the thing—there are nearly fifty other Japanese people who got dragged into this world along with us. We came prepared with full bushcraft gear. Them? They were in the middle of a fancy little glamping trip. Shorts, sandals, beers in hand... the whole deal. I wasn't about to haul around a bunch of dead weight through a monster-infested forest, so we left 'em behind. ...So tell me. Were we wrong?"
As Natsume threw the question to the audience, the chat immediately exploded with arguments from both sides.
"C'mon now, this ain't exactly Earth anymore. It's a world full of monsters. They've all gotta have some kinda ability too, right? Besides..." She shrugged. "Forget about me. Kanon and Mako are gorgeous enough to make a starving man lose his damn mind. I ain't interested in traveling with a bunch of desperate dudes who can't keep it in their pants."
"...If we hadn't been able to buy guns, they'd have started feedin' us all that 'We'll protect you,' 'We'll take care of you' sweet-talk before long."
A cold grin spread across her face.
"Course... if some idiot tried that, I'd just bite his dick clean off."
Kanon laughed.
"Knowing na-chan, you'd probably stab him before you even got around to biting him. Like... a hand reaches out of the darkness—stab!"
"Hell no." Natsume snorted. "I ain't no assassin, and I sure as hell ain't Special Forces. I don't know any fancy Hollywood tricks like that."
She rested the shotgun across her shoulder and looked straight into the floating eyeball camera.
"Anyway, boys... you never know when you're gonna get dumped into another world yourselves. Might wanna spend a little less time sittin' on your ass and a little more time gettin' yourselves in shape."
長かった。5000文字程度の3話が英文にしたら15000文字近くに……。
もうすこし削るべきだったかなぁと反省。
英語ローカライズに当たって華音の腋臭設定についてかなり悩みました。
実はこれ最終盤におけるギミックの一つでもあるので。
かといって欧米でワキガや体臭というのは珍しくないし気にも止めない事なのでどうしたものかと悩みました。
実はレズビアン設定やワキガ設定など設定全てにおいてきちんと意味があります。
無駄な設定は一つもないと自負してます。
