"Dammit! How long are you going to keep your foot on the gas?!"
Under Barbatos's explosive roar, the driver finally snapped out of his panic and terror, slamming his foot onto the brakes!
As the tires ceased their rotation and the engine's roar died out, an eerie silence suddenly washed over the surroundings.
"Are you okay?"
Seiun Sky hurried to her side, her voice laced with worry.
Even though they knew each other's secrets—including the existence of the [Heal] ability—the sight of someone forcibly stopping an accelerating car was a total defiance of common sense!
She had wanted to step in and help earlier, but with Taiki Shuttle already in the fray, she couldn't imagine a way to break the laws of physics like this.
The village street was sparsely populated.
However, people were there—shop owners, staff, and neighbors.
One by one, they emerged from their buildings, shaken by the previous roar of the engine and the terrifying pressure that had suddenly descended upon the air.
Those who had witnessed Barbatos intercepting the car stood frozen, gripped by a nameless shock.
The driver climbed out of the car, his face a mask of guilt and despair.
When he looked at Barbatos, his eyes were filled with profound gratitude and awe. "Thank you... thank you so much!"
Tears streamed down his cheeks as he began to sink toward the ground to kneel.
He needed to thank Barbatos for saving that child, and for saving himself. A momentary lapse in judgment due to nerves had nearly resulted in a tragedy for two different families!
Barbatos quickly reached out to steady the man, preventing him from kneeling. "A man shouldn't..."
She had started to say that a man's knees are worth their weight in gold, but remembering she was in Japan, she realized the idiom might not translate well.
She changed her tune. "It was nothing, really. Go check on the kid."
"And next time, try not to mistake the gas for the brake," she added, patting the man's shoulder before turning to retrieve her phone from the ground.
Thump!
Behind her, the car's hood popped up. Barbatos glanced at the logo on the grill and breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness it's not an expensive brand. If I had to pay for damages, that wouldn't have been cheap.
She had saved lives and prevented a disaster, but the world was full of all sorts of people; sometimes you save someone only for them to turn around and sue you.
Still, even if he did try to shake her down, so be it. The kid was safe, and at the very least, her conscience was clear!
She picked up her phone. Luckily, the screen wasn't cracked.
The livestream was still running, and as the camera angle shifted to show Barbatos's face, the chat exploded with frantic questions.
Everyone wanted to know what happened and if Taiki Shuttle had managed to save the child.
"Yeah, the kid is fine."
"Taiki Shuttle... she was incredibly brave," Barbatos remarked with genuine sincerity.
Barbatos knew she only moved because she had a safety net—she knew she wouldn't die in front of a car.
As long as she stayed breathing, any injury could be mended. Like she told the driver, for her, it really was just a "small favor."
But Taiki Shuttle... she had intended to use her own body as a shield for that child.
Perhaps when she first lunged out, she thought she could grab the kid and run before the impact, but against an accelerating vehicle, there simply wasn't enough time.
Even so, she had been prepared to take the hit.
The fans in the livestream let out a collective sigh of relief upon hearing the child was safe.
Many began asking for more details about Taiki, but as the camera panned, the viewers saw the front of the car—massively caved in—and the shattered concrete on the ground.
A profound sense of unreality hit them.
Is this some kind of sci-fi blockbuster?
Are they filming a sequel to the Avengers right now??
How is a kid supposed to be 'fine' at a crash site that looks like this?
The camera shifted again. An elderly woman was clutching her grandson, sobbing hysterically.
The driver stood nearby, apologizing profusely, but the grandmother ignored him, simply holding the boy tight.
She had truly thought she'd lost him just now...
She knew the blame didn't lie entirely with the driver. If her grandson hadn't darted into the middle of the road, the man wouldn't have panicked.
If her grandson was one-third responsible, the driver held the other two-thirds.
She didn't want to pursue legal action; she just couldn't bring herself to acknowledge the man or even look at him right now.
Maruzensky looked at the pair and let out a heavy breath. Even she hadn't noticed the danger in time to do anything; a moment ago, she had been drowning in a sense of total helplessness.
She turned to Taiki Shuttle beside her. "Are you hurt?"
"No..."
If the child had been terrified by the car, Taiki had been stunned by the sheer, overwhelming power Barbatos displayed when she stopped the vehicle.
A Zone of that magnitude was terrifyingly strong.
Taiki hadn't even fully recovered from the shock of that aura until she found herself standing at the edge of the road.
So this is what 'Japan's Best' looks like.
"I'm fine! I didn't even get hit, so how could I be hurt?" Taiki shook her head with a smile, though her usual carefree cheer was replaced by a touch of solemnity.
She walked over to Barbatos, who was still holding her phone like a random bystander.
Taiki gave a deep, formal bow. "Barbatos-san, thank you."
She put a heavy emphasis on those words.
An Uma Musume's constitution far exceeded that of a normal human; she likely wouldn't have died from the impact, but her career as a runner would have been over.
For Taiki Shuttle, being unable to run was a fate worse than death.
"It's okay, really. Just a small favor," Barbatos said, startled.
Unlike the man earlier, Taiki's bow was so fast she couldn't stop it.
She could only wave her hands dismissively. "We're classmates. In a situation like that, if you think you can do something, you have to try."
Try.
She said that because, until the moment she actually saved them, even Barbatos wasn't sure if she could stop an accelerating car.
She only knew she could likely dampen the impact.
The best news was that the road was narrow.
Before the driver hit the gas, he was only going about forty or fifty kilometers per hour; even flooring it doesn't result in instant top speed.
Otherwise, if it had been a car accelerating from a hundred kilometers per hour, even with a [Mundo's Ultimate], she'd probably have been flattened instantly.
Flesh and blood still had a long way to go before they could challenge a monster made of steel.
"Tha... Thank you!"
The grandmother approached with trembling steps, leading her grandson.
Barbatos jumped, quickly stepping forward to support the elderly woman, terrified she was about to receive another deep bow.
"I truly don't know how to thank you. You saved my grandson!" Tears of gratitude filled the woman's wrinkled face.
Seeing the look in the grandmother's eyes, Barbatos stopped calling it a "small favor."
"Grandma, those coconut cookies you sent over yesterday were delicious. My roommates polished them all off. I don't suppose you have any more, do you?"
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.