What are you looking for?
“I’ve been thinking about why the creator of this world made [LoD]. The heroines who don’t end up with the ‘protagonist’ are destined to die. Where did this concept come from?”
The warm spring breeze gently caresses my skin. The high school I visited for the first time in a year had a sturdy gate, and the rust marks that weren’t there last year were illuminated by the moonlight. The old school’s name was engraved on the gatepost, making me feel nostalgic. The clock’s hands were about to cross over into the next day.
Sakurazuki was facing away from me, gazing at the school.
“I think it’s love/hate for a girl you can’t have. ‘If a woman won’t be mine, she should just die. If she becomes mine, I’ll forgive her.’ Then, what is [Satoshi Iriya]?”
—How should I know?
That was all I could think.
“He was also in the same fate as us. But, isn’t it strange? [LoD] is a galge, right? Why did a plain mob character have to be killed? Why was he not destined to die in the Harem Ending?
—Hey, why?”
Sakurazuki turned to face me. Her eyes held pure curiosity, but deep within, a faint shadow seemed to flicker. I didn’t understand what she was talking about, but a chill ran down my spine, and the wind passed through us.
Seeing me like that, Sakurazuki sighed.
“Haa. You don’t know anything, do you? Well, whatever—it’s been a year. How have you been?”
She, who was a high school student until last year, had become very mature after a year.
“…’How have you been?’ you say…? What do you think I went through to get here?”
My tone naturally became angry at the question that grated on my nerves.
Sakurazuki sighed again, directing a look of contempt and exasperation at me.
“I don’t know. I don’t know the feelings of a stalker. What’s that bag? It’s mine.”
“Stalker? That’s a bad way to put it. Isn’t it you who went through all this trouble to call me here, Sakurazuki?”
I carelessly tossed the bag away. During the day, I saw her with that hateful guy, and I knew that Sakurazuki had purposely dropped her bag, so I picked it up for her. And when I looked at the smartphone inside, there was a message on the home screen that said, ‘Waiting at that place at 24:00.’
In other words, she went through all this trouble to call me here. I intuitively knew what that place was.
And the fact that my hunch was right means—
“Hey, Sakurazuki. If you want to get back together with me, shouldn’t you show some sincerity?”
In other words, she chose me, not Iriya. It was worth picking up and delivering Sakurazuki’s lost items. She must have noticed my sincerity. However, even if we were to date, she would have to at least bow down to me. It’s a purification ritual to become my lover.
“Haa… that happy-go-lucky brain of yours hasn’t changed…”
And then, she directed a sharp gaze at me.
“The truth is, I, we…! There’s no way we’d ever like someone like you. Talk in your sleep after you die, you scum.”
“What!?”
I was showered with harsh words, but I was overwhelmed by Sakurazuki’s spirit, filled with rage, and couldn’t return a word. And as that momentum subsided, the emotion vanished from Sakurazuki’s face.
“I came here for one last confirmation.
—How was this past year?”
How was this past year, you ask?
“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know? You know, because you know.”
The sound of footsteps, cutting through the silence, echoed from the path on the left. Soon, silver hair, not melting into the pitch-black darkness, swayed with an overwhelming presence. I couldn’t be sure when I saw the girl, no, the woman, who appeared there.
“Reon…?”
“Could you not call me by my name? It’s disgusting.”
Reon threw the contents of the bag she was holding onto the ground with a clatter. They were the listening devices and surveillance cameras that I had set up.
And then, without saying a word, she crushed them mercilessly.
“D-did you know…?”
“Of course, I did. We let you do it for this very reason.”
Seeing Sakurazuki smiling and Reon continuing to destroy things expressionlessly, my heart grew cold rapidly.
And then—
“You guys liked me, didn’t you!? Your bodies, your hearts, your destinies, aren’t they all mine! You were supposed to be born to like me! So why are you trying to abandon me and be happy with him! You useless Santa Claus!”
My voice, driven by passion, echoed, and my chest heaved violently.
“If you won’t be mine, then die—“
Sakurazuki quietly kept looking at me. And then, she quietly opened her mouth.
“Our revenge was to make you taste the suffering of the nameless hero, [Satoshi Iriya].”
“Huh?”
“It seems like you understand the hatred. So then.
How was it—the pain of seeing the woman you love being embraced by another man?
How was it—the powerlessness of knowing but being unable to do anything?
How was it—the despair of having everything taken away?
—Hey, how was it? Answer me?”
The questions that were thrown at me one after another struck my chest with a steady rhythm. My thoughts were about to be swallowed by the endless waves of words.
What was inside me was a sense of emptiness. A kind of resignation.
“…It’s fine now.”
If they won’t be mine, then I don’t care anymore. My obsession with the Four Beauties was crumbling with a sound.
I should just go home. I have something new I need to do—
“The conversation isn’t over yet, is it~?”
The moment I heard that drawn-out voice, I felt the sensation of flesh being torn apart, accompanied by a dull sound.
“—Eh?”
Akina appeared from the path on the right with a smile. I was so distracted by Reon and Sakurazuki that I hadn’t noticed her at all. Before I could even harbor any doubts, a burning pain in my severed right arm assaulted me.
“…Guh, what are you”
While enduring the pain, I looked up at Akina, who was smiling but whose eyes were not.
“Sakurazuki-chan said it, didn’t she~? That we’d make you relive Satoshi-kun’s experience~
—How is it? Not being able to use your right arm?”
“Guh!?”
I desperately decided to retreat back down the central path. Blood was staining the concrete, but that didn’t matter. What filled my heart was a sense of fear and a sense of mission.
“I finally have something I need to do…!”
When I glanced back, the three of them were walking towards me. And then, Sakurazuki picked up her bag, took out her smartphone, and kept staring at me blankly.
‘5’
I thought I could hear her lips whispering that. I immediately turned forward and started running. The certainty that something was approaching from behind tightened my chest.
‘4’
I could hear the sound of three people’s footsteps behind me. And then, Sakurazuki’s voice, which shouldn’t have been audible, echoed directly in my brain, giving shape to my fear.
‘3’
The three of them were walking, and I was running. Even so, I felt like the distance was getting shorter and shorter. I couldn’t even look back. I felt like if I looked back, everything would be over. Sweat was running down my back, and my vision was blurring.
‘2’
“Hey, help me! Santa Claus! Isn’t now the time for that!”
My breath was ragged, and my shout trembled. As my curses echoed uselessly, my feet kicked the ground as if they were tangled. But the pain in my right arm spread throughout my body, robbing me of my strength. Suddenly, my foot caught on something, and I slammed face-first into the ground.
‘1’
Concrete scraped my skin, and fresh blood dripped. My head went blank, but I couldn’t stop. I crawled, raised my body, and forced myself to stand up. In my dark vision, I saw a green light.
If I can get through here…!
‘0
—Do it, Shino’
“Eh?”
I heard the sound of a truck from afar. The low engine sound shook the ground as it approached. The moment I was illuminated by the headlights, my body stiffened, and the next moment, I felt a sense of floating as if I was flying, and I felt like the distance to the night sky had shortened. But it quickly receded, and the back of my head slammed into the ground.
My body wouldn’t move. As the sensation in my limbs gradually faded, I heard the sound of a door being opened roughly. Footsteps gradually approached, and in my vision—
“Shi…no?”
I muttered her name as if whispering, but there was no response. And then, she quietly opened her mouth.
“‘A high school student was hit by a truck that ran a red light. BAD END.’
Was it?
It’s a shame that we couldn’t perfectly reproduce it here. We’re ‘college students,’ after all.
—How is it? The despair of having to accept your fate of death?”
No, no, no! Help me!
I couldn’t make a sound. Then, I thought I’d try to gesture, but my whole body wouldn’t move.
All I could do was beg for help with my eyes, but what was reflected in my gaze were the absolute zero eyes of the four of them. There wasn’t even a hint of a will to help me.
The moment I saw that, my heart rapidly grew cold. I calmed down and resolved myself to accept my fate.
If that’s the case, then what I should do at the very end is—
◇
“What were you searching for with that unmoving right arm?”
I ask the corpse that no longer moves, but it gives no reply.
I had hoped that it would die with the despair of death until the very end, so that part is a bit disappointing.
Well, whatever…
“Now, let’s clean up quickly and return to Satoshi-kun.”
…We can finally be happy, right?
Thank you for reading this far!
There is only one chapter left. I can finally collect everything…
If possible, I would be grateful if you could return to the [Work Page] and press the [⊕] button three times in the [Praise with ★] section of the [Review]!
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