“Cheers!”
It was late at night.
The operation had successfully concluded, and the soldiers were ecstatic.
“Did you see that! This is our power!”
“With this momentum, we’ll take back Japan!”
“Invaders, you better be ready to have your heads washed!”
They were drunk and high-spirited, fueled by alcohol.
For them, who had never achieved a real victory before, today was an overwhelming triumph.
“Come on, Isshin-san too!”
“Ah…”
“Kaguya-chan! Where’s your husband?”
“He’s not my husband!! Geez… but where did he go?”
“He’s the star of the day, so go find him! Let’s drink together!”
“Technically, we’re still underage… well, it doesn’t matter anymore. There are no laws to judge us.”
Then, Isshin stood up and left the room.
Kaguya, noticing that he seemed a bit off, silently followed him.
He should have been the most excited at times like this.
…
“I knew you’d be here.”
It was the warehouse where the KOG was stored.
There, a young man sat, gazing at the KOG.
The warehouse was open, and the moon was visible.
“Isshin-san…”
“Keep me company for a bit.”
Isshin raised a bottle of sake and two small cups, grinning broadly.
Kaguya watched from the shadows of the KOG.
“I’ve never had sake before, you know?”
“It’s just a sip, or you can just pretend to drink. The form is important in these things.”
Then, sake was poured into the cup that was handed to Kenyya.
After pouring, Kenyya also poured for Isshin, and they lightly clinked their cups in a toast.
“It’s… not good…”
“Kaguya said the same thing. You two are still kids after all…”
A slow, quiet moment passed.
But strangely, there was no awkwardness.
Rather, it felt reassuring, as if one could feel Isshin’s magnanimity.
It was like being with a father.
“Thank you for today.”
“I’m glad if I could be of help.”
“Yeah, but how about you? Are you happy?”
“If everyone else is happy…”
Kenyya couldn’t continue.
To be honest, he didn’t feel happy about this victory, or rather…
“But you’re bothered, aren’t you? Is it your first time killing someone?”
“…Yes.”
His thoughts were spot on.
Isshin had noticed since the communication that Kenyya was troubled by the killing.
“That feeling is normal. I’ve killed so many that I don’t feel anything anymore. Or rather, I’ve made myself not feel anything.”
“Today, I defeated… no, killed an enemy for the first time. I don’t think it’s wrong, but I don’t know if it was right.”
He looked up at the KOG.
The black machine faintly glowed in the moonlight.
“You can’t prove what’s right. Everyone lives their own story and has their own sense of justice.”
“That’s why wars never end, isn’t it? I used to wonder why there were wars.”
Coming to this world, Kenyya’s thinking had changed.
It would be better if there were no wars, the world should be peaceful.
Even if there were some inconveniences, it would be better not to have war.
That was what the boy from peaceful modern Japan thought.
Why were there terrorists, conflicts, and armies?
He hadn’t even understood that in his peaceful country.
But what about the scenes he had witnessed in this world?
Endure? There was no way he could say that to them.
Then what should he do? He didn’t know.
He still couldn’t say that terrorism was right, but he didn’t think that not resisting was right either.
“When you’re lost, remember your purpose. The strong feeling within you that you absolutely can’t give up.”
Then, Isshin lightly tapped Kenyya’s chest.
“Do you have it? Here. That alone will support your sense of justice.”
A warm feeling spread through his chest.
Isshin continued.
“I don’t intend to say that killing people is right, but I will kill. I’ll do anything to restore the lives of the people oppressed in this country.”
Isshin’s eyes burned with intensity.
He had already overcome it, long ago, what Kenyya was struggling with.
He wouldn’t even hesitate to kill.
Seeing that, Kenyya asked his own heart.
“My unyielding feeling…”
Immediately, Kaguya and Reina flashed into his mind.
They were originally heroines from a game, and he thought he was in love with them, but it was a feeling that even he couldn’t believe in.
But suddenly, he came to this world, actually met them, talked to them, touched them, and spent time with them.
Now he was certain.
He could now believe that this feeling was real.
That’s why.
“Yes, I will protect Kaguya. That’s the one thing I won’t give up.”
He answered directly.
Because he could confidently say that it was his true feeling.
Hearing that, Isshin smiled gently.
“Heh, you’ve fallen hard. She’s a good woman, isn’t she?”
“Yes, I love her.”
“I won’t give her to you easily, you know? You’ll have to be a man who can save this country.”
“That’s… yes! That’s what I want!”
Kenyya finished his cup with a spirited reply.
It was his first time drinking sake, and he had no tolerance for it.
“O-oi! You’re pretty strong, aren’t you? Are you okay?”
“…Huh? I’m dizzy… something’s wrong… ah…”
Suddenly, he felt dizzy, was this what it meant to be drunk?
Kenyya, who had drunk it all at once, slumped down while sitting.
Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to have any tolerance for alcohol.
The things that had been troubling him were now gone.
He couldn’t be happy about killing, but if he were in the same situation again, Kenyya would swing his sword, and he would kill.
Something clicked inside Kenyya, and he was convinced.
As a result, the tension was released, and he began to snore.
“Haha, this is going to be a long road… Kaguya, you’re there, aren’t you?”
“H-how did you know!”
Then, Kaguya, who had been hiding, showed her face.
Her face was so red that even Isshin had never seen her like that.
Seeing that, Isshin laughed.
“T-this is the sake! It’s because of the sake!”
Kaguya desperately tried to hide her face.
She fanned her face with her hands, but it was so red it looked like it was on fire.
“Don’t worry, Kenyya-kun is asleep. Come here and take over.”
He handed Kenyya, who was leaning on Isshin, to Kaguya.
“I’ll leave the rest to you, I’m going back. I have to liven things up. It’s a victory after all.”
Kenyya was snoring on Kaguya’s lap.
He had lost consciousness due to the alcohol and was snoring with a red face.
(You deserve a reward for today, the Samurai of Japan’s hope)
Isshin left the place.
Samurai, a word that traces its origin to the meaning of protecting, he sent to the boy.
Left behind were Kaguya and Kenyya.
“You’re really… I don’t understand you. Why do you feel that way about me…”
Kaguya, who had heard everything, remembered the cheesy lines she had been told, and she felt like she was about to die of embarrassment.
It was the first time she had ever been told “I love you” by a member of the opposite sex.
Kaguya, who hadn’t had a proper youth.
She had never been in love, but now she couldn’t take her eyes off this boy.
She couldn’t help but be curious about the boy who had told her straight to her face that he loved her.
She didn’t really know what the true nature of this feeling was.
What she did know was.
“Really… you’re a weirdo. But…”
She stroked the hair of the boy sleeping on her lap.
“Thank you for today, for fighting with everyone…”
A feeling of gratitude towards him.
And her heart was pounding so loudly that she could hear it, and her face was flushed as the boy slept on her lap.
The light of the full moon, as if a Kaguya-hime might descend, illuminated the two of them.
The KOG behind them was also faintly illuminated.
Today, the mere gamer had truly become a Samurai with something to protect.
By firmly acknowledging it, his heart changed greatly.
From now on, the world that had been enjoying a false peace would move into an era of upheaval.
No one yet knew what his role as an irregular in this world was.
The only thing that was known was that he had one unyielding feeling.
‘Protect the Heroine’
That became the core that supported Kenyya’s actions, and the pillar that supported the justice he believed in.
“Good night… Kenyya.”
The Samurai who was now sleeping was still unaware of the destruction that the success of this operation would bring.
They did not truly understand what it meant to make the rulers of the world their enemies.