Tadano’s Trials: Komi and Najimi (Patreon)

Tadano’s Trials: Komi and Najimi

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Commissioned by Gopher54

Word Count: 1000

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Tadano’s home was burning.

One moment, he’d been enjoying his brief break after his latest practical, then the unthinkable happened. 

The whole world screamed a battle cry, then the ground turned into molten rock, and true monsters came forth from it.

If he wasn’t a Sorcerer, if he hadn’t learned all he did, and if he hadn’t had his Familiar… everyone in the town would be dead.

As things were now, only a handful of people at the epicenter died or were wounded. He’d managed to save most of those within the small town. It was easy enough with Komi’s help, as well as any passing monstergirl, but he couldn’t help but be shaken.

He understood that he couldn’t have saved those people at the center, and that he should be glad that he managed to save an incredible amount of people, but he was still shaken. His home was gone, even if his family and friends remained, the place he called his for most of his life… no longer existed.

Despite all the accolades, praise, and rewards he gained from saving so many, Tadano couldn’t help but feel a little cold watching the firestorm that became him hometown, especially as it was beginning to be sealed off by the military… possibly for the rest of time.

He probably would’ve kept feeling cold, if not for the sudden embrace that overtook him.

It was Najimi.

“Hey there, hero! What’re you looking all sad for!?” Najimi was trying to cheer him up. Though she was all smiles, Tadano could tell that she wasn’t with her family because she was worried about him. After the fight, everything was clearer. It was more than obvious that his friend had become and Alp because of him. “Cheer up! You did i—

Tadano couldn’t help himself, despite everything he’d been taught about how to treat monstergirls, he turned around and hugged his friend back. 

“O-oh! Uhm. Ah!” Tadano knew that he could be inspiring lust in his friend, but he needed to embrace someone familiar. Najimi was still Najimi, mostly. And, even if it meant that he would have to deal with worrisome issues later, he needed to hug his best friend. He waited for her breathing to deepen, for her hold to tighten, and to start resisting her advances… but instead he felt her hand on his head and the other start patting his back. “You… you looked so strong that I didn’t think you needed help, silly. Come here.”

Tadano knew that he was experiencing a miracle. An Alp was hugging and comforting the man who’d changed her instead of taking advantage of him. However, he didn’t care. He took the comfort that he was offered without hesitation. 

It… it was making him feel better.

Slowly, but surely… he was feeling better. 

And, he appreciated it too much to let go.

He didn’t expect another pair of hands to embrace him with just as much comfort and care, though.

“H-hey! What are you doing!? This is my march, you dang familiar!” Najimi’s outburst told Tadano all he needed to know, even as he was held between two different bodies. One was more curvaceous, if small, and the other tall and lithe. Komi, his familiar, had decided to comfort him too. It was a miracle for the Kunoichi to not take advantage of a sorrowful man, but he disregarded it and didn’t resist. He only basked in what he felt at the moment. “Can’t you see we’re having a moment!?”

“!” Komi wanted to help. That much was certain to Tadano. Despite ignoring everything he’d been taught, which ought to have had him losing his freedom and being overcome by debauchery, it didn’t occur. His Kunoichi was holding him as his friend did. No lust. Only care. Though he took what he could, he couldn’t help but be curious and astounded.  But, even those two things weren’t enough for him to ask questions. He simply accepted them both. Even, as Komi decided to speak, instead of keeping her silence. “This… is… for Tadano.”

He didn’t need to look back to know she was embarrassed to speak and that it took courage for her to speak.  He might have been a perfectly average Sorcerer, but he was more than capable in regards to knowing what others thought of him. 

And, at the moment, he was being cared for by two people… not monstergirls who wanted his body.

So, he spoke too.

“Don’t fight. Please.” It was a moment of weakness within a moment of weakness, something that could be exploited twice over. However, Tadano overcome the remainder of his worries with grit teeth. If there was any time for him to be selfish, it would be now, when he needed to know everything was going to be okay… and that he hadn’t failed, even as his home was no more. “Just… stay with me. Okay?”

There was silence for a moment, but that was silence was only for passerby.

For Tadano, the tightened embrace around him at his request validated his decision completely. 

“Okay./Yes.”

The responses were both soft, simultaneous, and solely for him to hear. 

And, Tadano wouldn’t have had it any other way. 

The coming days were going to be harsh. The peace he knew all his life was gone. The future he thought he had was gone. The cornerstone of his life was gone. All that was left was trepidation at a nebulous unknown. He was just an average Sorcerer, not someone who would be written about in the history books or even change the coming tide, but… he would do his best to at least continue protecting those he cared about.

Especially the two holding him and protecting him now.

Why?

Why would he risk his life, train hard, and search out dangers, instead of just practicing what he could to help people, especially when he was not the special sort of person who could save the whole world?

Because, even if he was just an average Sorcerer, Tadano was still a man.