by Ko Hiratori
“Oh, yeah... Before that, could you untie me? Fricking Haru’s so good at this freaky rope-tying...”
Finally free of the highschooler girl’s turtle bondage (somehow I felt like I lost something important in exchange), I could catch my breath.
Freedom rules. Or more like, this other world rules.
“Sorry you had to go through all that for Dick and me... You must be hungry.”
“Huh?”
“Here, eat this.”
Kizuha had a piece of cake for some reason.
Hmm.Maybe it’s rude to say it this way, but I could only think it was poison.
“It’s not even mine. Lupe and Haru were handing it out. Dunno why. But there happened to be one leftover.”
“Oh. Well, thanks.”
Ngh, it’s so sweet. I mean, I’m hungry, so I’ll eat it, but I’m not really that into desserts. I guess girls like this kind of thing, though.
Kizuha was staring at my face for some reason. When I said, “Didn’t you have to leave or we’ll have issues?” she answered, “I’m going!” all flustered.
But before she left, she kissed my cheek. “Let’s do all we can. We have to protect Dick.”
When Mama and Haru went toward the road, Kizuha went back to the brothel. Watching her go, or more like, checking out her ass, I thought about something I had been wondering recently.
She sure is a kissing monster lately. Has she gotten so few customers she’s changing up her business strategy?
I won’t be hooked by such a blatant tactic. The only thing that moves me is the uncalculating sincerity of Mama Lupe.
I was thinking that, hiding in the shed and reluctantly eating my cake, when Haru found me and turtle-tied me again. What is with her? She always gets mad so far after the fact.
Kizuha invited me to go to the lake.
I didn’t really mind, but apparently Haru went on a trip with Kiyori, so there were chances to have lunch alone with Mama Lupe. When I said it was a little inconvenient, though, I got my hand bitten.
This chick pisses me off. Well, whatever. I can just tell Mama I might be late tomorrow.
At the lake, I played with Kizuha and Dick. It felt sort of weird, or like, peaceful. And maybe because of all that had happened, it seemed like Kizuha and I were growing closer?
For some reason, even though it was nearly noon, we never got sick of playing around. And after the fishers and other neighborhood people left, on the empty lakeside...
We kissed.
When I got on top of her and touched her chest, she didn’t even seem to mind. Actually, she made noises that sounded happy.
That surprised me, and I pulled away. My heart was pounding.What am I doing?
“...What’s wrong?” Kizuha asked.
“You know what’s wrong.”
This isn’t how our relationship is, and it would be unfair to Mama Lupe.
When I told her that, she said, “But Lupe sleeps with other guys,” and came at me aggressively.
Mama Lupe and Haru are both prostitutes. If someone asked if that didn’t bother me, well, I couldn’t say I was 100% okay with it. I wasn’t. That’s why I didn’t sleep with Mama.
“That’s because they’re sex workers. It’s their job. But there’s something even more important between a man and a woman than sleeping together. I’m just saying I choose that.”
That’s right. They’re sex workers, so if I just wanted to do them, it’d be easy. But I realized recently that in terms of the routes, it would just be a throwaway event, not even contributing to triggering anything or their affection level. Not only would it not have any romantic effects, it could even leave a bad impression depending on our physical conditions.
I think the daytime date events are safer and more effective for finishing her route. And I can distinguish myself from other guys that way.
So I was doing that. I figured I could get Mama Lupe pretty soon.
“Hmm. I have no idea what you’re saying. You really are weird,” said Kizuha as she smoothed out her clothes.
Yeah, to tell the truth I don’t really get it either. I’ve never finished a girl’s route in real life before.
“Hey, Weirdo Rain.”
“It’s Endless.”
“So if I quit being a prostitute, you would have sex with me?”
“Huh? You’re quitting?”
“I’m sayingifI did.”
What? But if we had sex and I wasn’t paying her, that would mean we’re...
“Let’s go back.” She turned around and walked away.
Oh, is it that again? She says something that seems to have meaning, but it’s just to score points. You can’t fool me!
We promised to visit the lake again together and parted ways.
Summer was almost over. But there was one last incident awaiting us.
My dick is gone.
No, our Dick was gone.
Kizuha said she was letting him play in the backyard, and when she took her eyes off him for one second, she lost him.
How could you lose something so important?This is why women should never be servicing dicks.
“Wouldn’t he be somewhere there’s boldgrass? Maybe another girl’s room?”
“I looked, but he wasn’t. Dick, where did you goooo?”
“I’m the one who’s ready to snap... Watch him properly—you’re his owner!”
“What the hell! You make me take care of him all the time and then run your mouth like that? You said in the beginning that we would protect him together. Go find him!”
“Look, it’s not about who is right or wrong. You’re the one who was watching him at the time. Put some thought into where he might be! This is no time to lose it!”
I went into the shed as I yelled at Kizuha. I thought there might be a clue in there.
The moment I stepped inside, I got a chill up my spine. It was the same way I felt when I sensed a high-level monster in the forest.
I turned around. Something was clinging to the wall above the entrance. It was Dick. Dick was on display like a deer or buffalo head.Looks pretty good.
“Oh, Dick!”
Kizuha was thrilled and went to try to get him down. But I grabbed her hand and pulled it back. The dick was Dick, but he wasn’t himself. He was no mere dick.Mydick recoiled to warn me to stay back.
Just then, there was a dry sound like a twig snapping, and a crack appeared in Dick’s skin.
“Ow,” I held my crotch instinctively. But the crack got bigger. The body that had been so soft, warm, and comfy hardened up and split in half.
Kizuha was worried and tried to approach, but I held her back. I put a hand on my hilt.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
Right as she screamed, something black leaped out of Dick to attack. It was reminiscent of a giant salamander with its slimy body. Its feet had sharp claws. And its eyes were like big emotionless glass marbles.
It bit my right hand. Its mouth was crammed full of thin little teeth. The pain reverberated in my bones. It burned. With my left hand, I drew my short sword and held it up over the monster.
“Stop, that’s our Dick! Don’t kill him!”
Kizuha hung off my arm. But the creature that had been Dick bit down harder. My face reflected in his dark eyes. They were eyes with no feeling or thought. They were organs that existed so the demon could attack the human reflected in them. Our love couldn’t get through.
So it’s a Trojan?
That charming, lovable guy we raised and cared for was just a wooden horse hiding the real body’s development?
Then handling it would be simple. All I had to do was bring the sword down.
Kizuha clung to my arm, screaming desperately, “You said so many times that you would never raise your hand against him! That’s our Dick, our cute Dick. Why would you try to kill him? You liar!”
A green liquid gradually spread from the site of the bite. Poison. It had converted the boldgrass into poison alphytemically.
If I didn’t have Immunity to Status Effects, I would have died instantly. This thing was seriously evil.
Just looking at its eyes was enough to tell. It had a mind that would never understand humans. That’s what a demon is. I had to get it out of here, and I couldn’t let it touch Kizuha. If I didn’t kill it—
“You said we’d protect him together. We went to the lake together. Don’t kill him!”
I switched my grip and turned the point on him. I aimed right between his eyes. If I was going to do it, it had to be in one blow.I won’t let him feel a thing.
“If you kill Dick, I’m going to kill you! I’m serious! Please just stop!”
The demon’s dark eyes lost interest in me, since the poison wasn’t working, and turned to Kizuha.
I stabbed him with my short sword.
I held a flower I picked in the woods out to Kizuha where she was curled up on the floor of the shed. It was a blue flower the same color as her eyes.
“I buried him where this flower was growing, because I felt like it was your color.”
Kizuha didn’t reply and instead offered a flask to me. It was full of red liquid.
“I said I would kill you, didn’t I? Drink this—all of it. If you feel even a little bad about what you did, then drink. I don’t ever want to see your face again,” she spat, dribbling blood at the corner of her mouth.
I took the flask and joked, “You’re not going to feed me?” All I got back was a click of her tongue.
Honestly, I don’t know how long you can be in suspended animation before you’re in trouble, but before I drank I made a declaration. “I’ll drink it, but I won’t die. Because I made a promise—to Dick—that I would protect you.”
Even if drinking too much didn’t kill me, getting stabbed through the heart in suspended animation would. If Kizuha was serious, I was done for. But strangely, I wasn’t scared.
“Dick was worried about you right to the end. He told me to take care of you. He was like, ‘Kizuha is mentally unstable, her job is unstable, and she has no earning power. If you’re not there for her, she’ll have a rough time.’”
The smell of blood.Why does it remind me of death so much?To these people it’s a drug, but to me it’s the smell of dying and getting transported to another world.
This has to be a buggy item. It was probably put here on accident. God or someone’s mistake.
“Dick’s last words were, ‘Kizuha, baby, thanks for always feeding me such crazy grass powder. I’m happy I was able to stay with you. Take care of yourself and—’”
“Shut up and drink!”
Kizuha took the flask, tackled me, took a swig, and came in for a kiss. The blood flowed in. She took her lips away for another mouthful and then kissed me again. “Die,” she said. “You should just die.”
I was force-fed more poppybat blood than ever before, and we were both turning bright red in the process.
It tasted like the world. It smelled like screams. When I reached for Kizuha’s cheek, she brushed my hand away.
*
{T minus 06:45 to the truck accident}
I stood at the bus stop with a cola in one hand.
The sky was overcast, and there was a greasy smell in the air. It felt like the complete reverse of summer in the other world. Me before I knew the taste of blood was waiting for the bus to arrive.
Wait, really? I came back this far?
I opened my bag. Inside were my familiar old textbooks and notes. Light novel. Pencil case. Smartphone. I opened the music app because I wanted to listen to anime theme songs so badly, but then I remembered.My headphones are broken.
I composed myself a little.
This is awfully wild. I’m back at the morning of that day? It’s gonna be a crazy long dream. Is this what they call a panoramic memory?
I got on the bus when it pulled up and looked around. It wasn’t like I wanted to find someone I knew to talk to—I just did that every morning for some reason. I wondered if maybe something would happen; I was on the lookout for even a dust mote-sized possibility.Well, back then I was.
I thought about reading the light novel but decided not to. I squinted at the scenery going by out the window.
Tokyo.
This place is so huge, and I used to live here.
There was too much information coming at me, and it wore me out. I’d gotten sort of used to living in the country—to strongholds, the forest, and cobblestone streets.
When I started remembering, I got nostalgic forthatworld. The frontline against the demon lord who left war and mystery in his wake. I never thought that would be something I’d actually experience.
But it was the land I had always dreamed of.
“Oh, I might know the guy you’re talking about. It’s the South High soccer team, right? We’re friends, I’m pretty sure.”
Haru got on at the next stop. That nostalgic smell wafted over me. She smelled different from in the other world. It was a pungent, artificial scent that stuck in your nostrils.
Long hair with a wavy perm. Her uniform worn just a bit more casually than the dress code dictated.
Yep, this is Haru Koyama.
It felt sort of like meeting a 2.5-D actress in real life. The Haru from the other world and the Haru I had watched from afar overlapped for the first time to become the real Haru. I had the strange feeling that I both wanted to see that and didn’t at the same time. But I had the bizarre realization that, yeah, Haru Koyama really did live here.
I took a deep breath, made up my mind with anOkay,and took one more breath.
“Morning.” I greeted her from a ways away in a voice loud enough for her to hear as I looked right at her.
Friends A and B got weird looks on their faces. But Haru Koyama smiled a bit. “G’morning.” She replied as if we were friends and it was totally normal.
Then she went back to chatting about the boy from another school. She immediately forgot about me.
But I was fine with that. Haru would give a little response to anyone who talked to her. So it had been simple. Almost disappointingly so.
Today I had my first conversation with Haru Koyama.
Women aren’t demons. Words and looks get through.
{T minus 06:32 to the truck accident}
When I entered the classroom, I sensed something flying my way and quickly stuck an arm out.
A baseball slapped into the palm of my hand.
“Whoa, sorry. Are you okay?” Baseball Mob looked shocked.
Oh, right. I forgot about this.
“I’m fine. Here.”
It felt heavy when I threw it back to him—even to me, who had been swinging around a giant sword until just a little while ago.
Reality was heavy.
“Oh, you’re here.” A guy set his bag down before taking the next seat over and shamelessly grinning at me.
Sekiguchi.Oh, right, we sit next to each other.He asked, “Did you see it?” but at first I couldn’t remember what he was talking about. But when he mentioned the title,SoraDan, the memories came flooding back.Yeah, that scene was godly.
“When Yufumin was like, ‘Wanna touch?’ and stuck her chest out.”
“Y-You’re a pervert!” he protested, pushing his glasses up his nose so many times it looked like he was dribbling them.
But I just said, “Nah, it’s normal.”I know you like that kind of stuff, too.“More importantly, I was in another world until just a bit ago. Haru Koyama from our class was there, too. There were swords, magic, cheat skills, and a demon lord and everything. I hit the level cap almost immediately, so it turned into sort of a slow-life story. Oh, and of course all the women who got involved with me were beautiful, and I did something with almost all of them.”
Sekiguchi listened blankly for a little, then—”Ohhh”—cracked a smile. “I see,” he said, looking away. That’s the correct way to handle your classmate having an episode of delusional fantasy.
In the center of the classroom, Haru Koyama and her f
riends were cracking up and making a racket. She was goofing around with Baseball Mob. Yeah, I didn’t have the courage to go over there and hang with them.
Sekiguchi still looked confused. Since he didn’t know what to say, he ended the conversation and started lining up his textbooks.
Yeah, why would you believe that?
Even though it really happened.
{T minus 04:07 to the truck accident}
I leaned against the back of my chair and stretched.
This class is so boring.What good does learning about contemporary society do?I’m about to head to another world.
I looked over at Haru. She had her head propped up on her elbow and was writing something in her notebook. It’s just my guess, but I bet it had nothing to do with the class. Right now there are two people who don’t have to pay attention in class: Haru and me. We don’t have any more tests to take.
I tried to remember the other world. Forest combat. The way it felt to kill something. They were all real memories, and when I remembered the last demon I had killed, the corners of my eyes stung.
This desk and this classroom are real memories too. The two worlds are similar except not.Class is so boring.
Suddenly, I had this sense of crisis and opened my textbook to begin reading.
Politics, economics, law. I actually wasn’t sure if this knowledge would be useful or not yet. It’s not as if I knew everything. That goes for everyone.
There’s no time.I had to cram in as much as I could while I had the chance.
I would never be coming back.
{T minus 02:11 to the truck accident}
Yep, this world is almost over.
“Sekiguchi and Chiba are in charge of shopping today. I’m coming with, so I’m counting on you guys.”
I told Baseball Mob, “Got it.” Time flowed in a straight line.
“And of the girls, it’ll be Hamazawa, Airi, and Moka. See you after school.”
