Arifureta Chapter 214

Arifureta Extra Compilation – From Abyssgate Lord of The World

DAS

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Part 1

「Welcome, this is【Gamma Pharmaceutical】desu. Welcome, this is【Gamma Pharmaceutical】desu. Welcome, this is【Gamma Pharmaceutical】desu. Welco――」

「Yosh, it’s a success.」

Kousuke nodded in satisfaction seeing Kaysis who was continuously saying the same line like a broken record with a friendly smile.

Chief Magdanese’s and Allen’s, who were watching from behind, eyes began to twitch as though they had seen something repulsive.

Both of them were people that had been fighting in the underworld where it was a vortex of schemes and violence, or rather, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call them residents of the underworld; yet, even the two of them were creeped out by the brainwashing technique that was bestowed directly from the demon king……. And then, seeing Kousuke who was making a satisfied smile from seeing the result…….

Both of them were honestly thinking「That returnee group……they are seriously, bad news.」.

Kousuke firmly ignored the gaze of the security bureau duo that pierced the back of his head. He put away the artifact “Staking the Pride of a Villager”, and began the interrogation――or rather, the inquiry.

「Now then, Kaysis. First, tell us your plan, just what were you going to do by using【Berserk】?」

「Welcome! This is【Gamma Pharmaceutical】desu!」

「……No, not that, your plan――」

「Welcome. This is【Gamma Pharmaceutical】desu-」

「No, that’s why your plan――」

「Welcomee! This is【Gamma Pharmaceutical】desuu!」

「……」

Kaysis was already a splendid villager. Most likely he was a high-class villager even among all the villagers, the one without any particular meaning, the one that wasn’t doing anything even in the afternoon, the jobless villager loitering around near the village entrance――Kaysis had his job-changed into “the villager of the beginning”.

「……Hey, Kousuke. Could it be, you have overdone it?」

「N, no, such a thing should not be……」

Kousuke scratched on his cheek while denying Emily’s words. However, in reality, they couldn’t question Kaysis because he was transformed into “the villager of the beginning”. Seeing no other way, Kousuke’s hand entered his pocket to take out “Staking the Pride of a Villager” once more.

However, Vanessa stopped Kousuke from the side. Or rather, her shocking action stopped him from moving.

「Do it seriously.」

After saying such a thing, Vanessa suddenly dropped her elbow on Kaysis’s head. *boguu* A raw sound that mustn’t be made by a living thing resounded. Emily raised a cute scream「Hya!?」.

「A problematic machine can be fixed by hitting it.」

「Jelgome-. Ghighis is-, Janma Khalpageudical, -, desu!」

「Wai-, wait Vanessa! Humans are not machines, this person became all the more stranger, see!」

Kaysis-san was moving ominously *kaku-kaku* while starting to making sounds ‘gyogyogyo! gyogyogyo!’. Emily was pointing her finger while making a retort.

「How strange? In Armage○n, the Russian astronaut used Wrench Attack to fix the shuttle engine though……. Perhaps my angle was bad.」(TN: Armageddon movie)

「No, wai-, Vanessa. Wa――」

Kousuke tried to stop Vanessa, but before he could, Vanessa’s pointlessly refined beautiful left hook captured Kaysis’s temple. *ZUPAN-!* A beautiful sound also resounded from that. At the same time, Kaysis’s head was snapped away to the right as though it got blown away.

「△☆け○どが×ｊｔこそ♡じょばばば～」

「Muh. Is it not a problem of angle, but power?」

Kaysis-san’s head was blown away to the left this time. Vanessa’s backhand that could even be said to be artistic captured the right side of the head, filled with the centrifugal force of a body rotation.

However, Kaysis-san was only discharging broken words and facial expressions that were increasingly turning into a person in a straitjacket; he wasn’t returning any proper answer.

Vanessa looked dubious, even so, after that she attempted various things like「The spin is not enough?」, or「Should I use a combo?」or「Perhaps I should use a shake rather than impact」or「Neko Damashi!」…… (TN: Neko Damashi, the signature move of Nagissa from Ansatsu Kyoushitsu)

Finally, Kousuke went「Stop iit! Just stop it alreadyy!」and pinioned Vanessa from behind while dragging her back. With that, the curtain of the short torture scene was finally closed. Chief Magdanese was sending Vanessa a gaze that was filled with a smidgen of admiration, was that originated from mercilessness or something else?

「Aa, geez. This looks like it will be bad without healing……. First thing first, let’s examine him before using the artifact one more time――」

「Nice to meet you, honored guest. I am Kaysis. The president of this【Gamma Pharmaceutical】. And, do you perchance have any business with me?」

「He got well somehow!? It feels a little strange though!」

Kaysis recovered his sanity (?). As expected, it seemed that something that almost broke really could be fixed by hitting it. A light of intelligence was shining from his eyes, and a dignity that was like a village chief could be felt from his tone. ……However, he had a nosebleed that was pouring like a river, his front teeth were gone, and the area around his eyes was bruised to look like a panda.

While feeling a little irritation at Vanessa’s triumphant look beside him, Kousuke cleared his throat once and asked about Kaysis’s plan once more.

「Fumu, so it’s about my plan. Where should I start I wonder……」

「First, tell us the outline.」

「I guess. Speaking simply, I plan to turn people all over the world into latent berserkers, where they have to drink the suppression medicine daily, and obtain a profit from that. Like that my position within the organization will become firm, and with the organization power and【Berserk】I will become the one leader that can manipulate the world from behind……something like that.」

The plan was told promptly, but the detail was absurdly demonical. This man didn’t think of humans as humans, he only saw them as pawns that produced a profit. This repulsive plan laid bare the nature of Kaysis Wentworks.

Emily unconsciously gulped while Vanessa’s gaze turned grave. It was only those like Kousuke and Chief Magdanese who looked unperturbed; even the smile was disappearing from inside Allen’s eyes.

「Transformation into latent berserkers, and then the suppression medicine, what do you mean by that? Something like a capsule attached with a detonator would surely be ejected out of the body eventually, what you mean is something different from that, isn’t it?」

「Correct. What I mean isn’t physical means like that, but by using an improved drug of【Berserk】. Right after【Berserk】was created by accident, we performed repeated experiments using the data and product that were brought to us by our cooperator.」

Kaysis continued his talk after saying that. If summarized, it would be something like this.

【Berserk】was a drug that abnormally vitalized the cell of the consumer. That overly rapid vitalization would repeat self-destruction and restoration forcefully, creating that kind of enlargement and super humanization ability.

But, just like how the extent of the vitalization would be in proportion to the consumed amount of the drug, the vitalization rate of【Berserk】could be controlled to a certain degree. It seemed that they had already gathered the data regarding the effect and time limit of the【Berserk】transformation and the necessary dose after going through many human experiments.

Even so, no matter what they did, they couldn’t go as far as controlling the vitalization and transformation right after the consummation of the drug. That was the reason they used a cheap trick like using capsules attached with detonators……

But the story would be different if they had Emily who was the drug developer.

What Kaysis and his group wished from Emily was the development of the improved drug with a delayed vitalization rate――in short, a drug where after consuming it, there would be a time delay before the vitalization could reach a stage where transformation occurred. At the same time, they also wished for Emily to develop not the antidote that could give complete recovery, but a suppression drug that would only suppress the vitalization as long as it was consumed continuously.

In such a case, the people would have to drink the suppression drug created by【Gamma Pharmaceutical】every day if they didn’t want to become a monster that lost all reason.

「However, how are you planning to turn the people all over the world into latent berserkers? If they understand that it would affect their lives, people will stop buying even the cold medicine sold in the market.」

「You’re right. But, if it’s mixed into something that humans have to drink every day, they will not be able to avoid consuming it.」

「Every day? ……Don’t tell me」

「Yes, it’s just like what you are imagining right now. It’s water.」

The cultivation of【Berserk】could be done as much as anyone wanted as long as they just had the data. Kaysis planned to use them to pollute the waterworks and not just that, but dams, rivers, water purification plants, and so on, all the places that supplied water.

There wasn’t any antidote for【Berserk】. Once the water was polluted by it, there wouldn’t be any method to purify it. There would be no way other than evaporating the polluted water or draining it into the sea. It seemed that Kaysis was planning to pollute even the rainwater and seawater with【Berserk】eventually.

「Such a thing……you are insane.」

「As expected this isn’t a laughing matter. Originally, erasing this kind of fellow is my role though.」

Vanessa didn’t even hide her disgust and glared at Kaysis while Allen, understanding that they had fallen behind in front of this danger that threatened the world, said something like that as though spitting it out.

Emily’s face was pale. But, there wasn’t any despair in her cat-eyes. She glared even more at Kaysis while her eyes were shining with the color of strong determination.

「I see. In such a situation, even if you are exposed by the government as the mastermind, it wouldn’t be any problem then. After all, the government people would be in the same danger of turning berserk too. As long as they are unable to secure the formula of the suppression medicine, they won’t lay their hands on you at all. After all, even if they try to do anything, the world might end.」

Chief Magdanese sighed deeply with her gaze still looking severe. And then, she asked one more thing about Kaysis’s remark that caught her attention.

「Tell us about the “organization” that you mentioned.」

「Information regarding the “organization” is it? Let’s see……perhaps I should say, that it’s a gathering of old codgers captured in a fanatical ideology and deep-rooted delusion. It has an ancient history, its members are also an unknown number, and it possesses political power, economic power, and raw power en masse. Yet despite so, it’s a gathering of brainless idiots that is doing nothing except secretly chasing after the occult.」

Even though it was the organization that he belonged to, Kaysis was expressing a really piercing evaluation about it. When Chief Magdanese wordlessly urged him to continue, Kaysis, who just for a moment returned from being a village chief into a snake-like company president, then spoke the name of that organization.

「The underworld organization that has been continuously searching for genuine mystics since far in the ancient time. Its name is “Hydra”. If it’s you chief-sama, then you should at least know that name, don’t you?」

「Is that so……that “Hydra”. They are a stereotypical occultist fanatic group. Supposedly, they have been crushed on countless occasions; however, sometimes they would show a glimpse of their face in some kind of case, an organization that is difficult to eradicate.」

Chief Magdanese who seemed to know the name of that organization showed an expression as though she had swallowed something bitter that she rarely showed. From her words, it seemed that in the past she might have confronted them several times. It seemed that Allen also knew at least the name, his expression was half-surprised and half-understanding that this name could come out here.

On the other hand, Emily and Vanessa had “?” floating above their head while beside them Kousuke was looking up to the sky「Aa~」. It was an organization name that he was awfully familiar with.

「It’s a multi-headed monster that comes out in Greek mythology. No matter how many of their heads that are crushed, it will revive if there is just one head remaining……so they came out here once more. However, you are talking really bitterly about them. Do you have dissatisfaction against your organization?」

「Yes, yes, if it’s dissatisfaction, then I have it. Prattling about things like a mystic or supernatural phenomenon in this modern time, they can only be called as insane. Even though they can stand in even more superior positions in the world if they use the power of an organization of that scale, when it comes to those old codgers, they are making light of the power of science too much. What do they mean by contradicting the ideal of the organization, huh? It’s because they are obsessed with something like mystics that is unclear whether it exists or not, that the organization is still a social outcast even now.」

Kaysis talked as though he was spitting out. It seemed that Kaysis had a way of thinking that if they obtained a power that could interfere with the world using the power of science, then it was fine to use that. In contrast, the leadership of Hydra was searching for mystics to the end, and their objective was to interfere with the world using that mystic and wouldn’t recognize any means other than that. That seemed to be their way of thinking.

Because the origin of the organization establishment was to obtain mystics, then indeed, Kaysis’s way of thinking was contrary to the organization’s founding ideal. Kaysis perceived the organization not as a gathering of researchers, but as mere “power”, in a sense, his nature was the exact opposite as the organization members――he was a realist.

「I will change the world using【Berserk】――if so, as expected even they surely won’t be able to disregard me as a greenhorn. Fufufuh, even that guy, Jefferson Allgrey, who is always looking down on me thinking he is the superior one, making fun of me, he will kneel in front of me, begging for forgiveness. I’ll carve into his flesh and bones, just who is actually the superior one! ……That’s how it should be.」

Kaysis, whose ambition had fallen apart, dropped his shoulders in dejection.

On the other hand, Chief Magdanese reflexively stepped forward in excitement and grabbed both of Kaysis’s shoulders. She then began to shake him back and forth.

「Just now, did you say Jefferson Allgrey? That real estate king and also politician?」

「Ye, yeah. That Allgrey.」

「Who else! Who else is a member of Hydra that you know about!? Tell me!」

「Go, got it. The others in the leadership are――」

The names that were spoken after Kaysis said that was an unimaginable luxury. Several of the names were people that even the security bureau was suspecting. There were also names that were under secret investigation, but even so, it was tremendous for these big names of a listed up occultist fanatic group to be exposed like this.

When Kaysis finished telling the names of the leadership that he knew about, Chief Magdanese confirmed with her gaze that Allen had recorded the names before her face turned toward Kousuke.

「Mister Abyssgate. I’m grateful. These bunches are people whose real forms we cannot get a hold of despite the dark rumor about them. With this, perhaps we can perform their funeral.」

「Aa~, yep. I see……」

Kousuke’s reply was really evasive. Kousuke’s gaze wandered around for a while before he asked Chief Magdanese timidly.

「Err, chief-san. That Mr. Allgrey or something, as expected, you are going to arrest him?」

「What are you saying? Obviously we will. Even though he isn’t related to the case this time, there is a mountain of cases that are thought to be related with Hydra. Each time, we only treated the case as unresolved, or we ended up capturing the underlings, as though they are a lizard that cut off their tail to escape. And now we might be able to finish them all at once.」

「Ye, ye~ah. That’s, how it is huuh~」

As expected, it seemed that Chief Magdanese sensed the strangeness in Kousuke’s attitude. She looked suspiciously while speaking out the question whether there was any problem.

But, at that time, a shocked voice「Eh!?」resounded from behind her. When she looked there, she saw the figure of Allen, his eyes opened wide obviously shocked, with his gaze fixated on the tablet in his hand.

「? Allen?」

「A, aa~, chief. Just now I was pulling up information about Allgrey and his cohorts but……this」

Allen showed his tablet with a troubled expression. Chief Magdanese received it, and after her, Vanessa and Emily also turned their gaze to peek at the tablet’s display.

There,

『Then, you are saying that the donation this time will continue in the future too?』

『Correct, it’s just as you say. It feels like the me before this had been wandering inside a nightmare all the time. I was clinging obsessively to my current position, and in collecting money and influence. But, just how much value do those things actually have! It’s a smile. The children’s smile is exactly where value can be found. The future where children can live with a smile on their face, that is exactly something with a value that is worthy for me to devote my life to!』

Of all things, on the display, there was the real estate king-san giving a powerful speech.

Chief Magdanese went「WHYY!?」in a voice that had never been heard from her before, her eyes looked like they almost flew out from their socket. She was the chief of the security bureau, that was why she knew painfully well about the dark rumors regarding Mr. Allgrey. Therefore, seeing his radiant smile and his speech that was overflowing with kindness and sincerity was honestly a nightmare for her instead.

The interview toward Mr. Allgrey in what seemed to be a special television programme was continuing on the display.

『That is wonderful thinking Mr. Allgrey. I also heard that there are a great number of people who are in agreement with your thinking, can you tell us more about that?』

『That is a true fact. They are my personal friends, my comrades. From here on, my comrades and I are wishing to act by exerting our best, in order to make this world become better even for just a little!』

『I see. And as the symbol of that resolution, you are founding this charity organization “Staking the Pride of a Villager”, right?』

『Exactly. Perhaps it is a single hero who is moving this world. But, what is supporting the world is every single one of the villagers. I am not a special human. But I wish to support the world as a single villager even with my meager strength!』

Hearing that emotionally moving speech, the audience in the studio stood up in unison and gave a thunderous applause. At the same time, a scrolling caption appeared on the screen. The names of the people supporting Mr. Allgrey were scrolling there. ……All the names, were the names that were spoken by Kaysis just now.

Chief Magdanese and everyone else was petrified. Among them, it was Emily who came alive before others. With a twitching expression, she asked Kousuke whose gaze was staring toward the day after tomorrow.

「Hey, Kousuke. The name of the charity organization is “Staking the Pride of a Villager” the news said……」

「Is. Is that so……」

「Hey, Kousuke. The name of Kousuke’s tool that can hypnotize other people, what is its name again?」

「……”Staking the Pride of a Villager”, I guess.」

Right after that, Chief Magdanese threw away the tablet. Allen raised a strange voice「Howah」while performing a diving catch.

Chief Magdanese power walked with loud footsteps, and this time she grabbed Kousuke’s shoulders.

「Explain, Mister Abyssgate. Concisely and swiftly.」

「YE, YES, MA’AM! In, in the first place, I came to this country in order to crush those guys! After crushing them, I brainwashed them at once! They became compassionate villagers! End of report, ma’am!」

Kousuke who was being demanded to explain with bloodshot eyes and a stifled voice reflexively saluted while answering toward Chief Magdanese’s overwhelming intensity. Vanessa and Allen nodded deeply, understanding how he felt.

Chief Magdanese gazed fixedly for a while at Kousuke who was drenched in cold sweat that was similar to a waterfall, and then she sighed deeply and drew back. While she was at it, she covered her eyes with one hand and looked up at the sky.

Seeing the figure of the chief that was like that, Vanessa said a brief comment.

「As expected from Kousuke-san. It feels like the saying “Everything is Abyssgate’s fault” will spread far and wide sooner or later.」(TN: ‘Everything is Abyssgate’s fault’, in Japanese it’s translated as ‘Daitai Abyssgate no sei’, which can be abbreviated as ‘DAS’)

For some reason, Kousuke was unable to make the retort ‘You’re noisy’ to Vanessa.

Surely from here on, Mr. Allgrey and his cohorts would use their fortune for charity work without sparing anything. Naturally, because of Mr. Allgrey’s reputation as a politician, at first he would also be ridiculed that this was only a bid for popularity, but it wouldn’t take that long for his fame to soar through the roof.

Sure enough, what would the society think if he was then arrested when he had saved a lot of people and obtained the trust of the mass……. Of course, it wouldn’t be a problem if there was definite proof, but even so, surely there would still be a problem. It was not difficult to imagine Chief Magdanese’s heartache level going up.

*kohon-* Kousuke cleared his throat. He faced back toward Kaysis who was looking on blankly, and then he questioned him in order to clear away the complicated atmosphere.

「So, Kaysis. The data and drug of【Berserk】, are all of those in this place?」

「No. Naturally, I decentralized it. If it’s the list of the laboratories that are in charge of safekeeping the data and drug, it is saved in the flash drive inside the drawer. You can confirm it there.」

Chief Magdanese somehow pulled her mind back to normal and sent her gaze to Allen. Allen who received that gaze moved to investigate the drawer. Like that, when he checked the flash drive he discovered, certainly there was the data of the storage areas, and not only that, it was also filled with the detail of the plan steps and so on.

With this, they now understood most of what should be known. If they destroyed all the data and drug next, the threat of【Berserk】would vanish. Emily wouldn’t be drowning in guilt for more than this, and the regret of her important people who became a sacrifice would also clear up a little.

That was why, perhaps now there wasn’t any need to know, about the answer to the question that Kousuke was putting off from asking, the question that until the end she was hesitating whether she should ask it or not.

However, right now, the one who was here was a strong girl who by her own will had resolved to face a great evil and the truth. She was a coward and often turned small, but even so, she was a girl who wouldn’t stop advancing forward.

That was why,

「The last thing. Tell us. ……The one who told you the existence of【Berserk】……who it is?」

「Fumu, that’s――」

Emily knew the truth.

 

Part 2

Time had passed until it was late at night. There wasn’t a star in the sky, and there was also no moonlight. The night sky was covered by cloudy weather, making the gloomy atmosphere to hang in the air.

The night view of the city could be seen from the veranda of the hotel that was prepared for them by the security bureau. Regardless that it was the dead of night, what was called the city center knew no sleep. Therefore the stars on the ground illuminated the dark night radiantly, granting comfort to the spectator of the view for just a little.

「……Emily. You cannot sleep?」

「Kousuke……yes. Just a little.」

Emily was on a veranda, both her arms leaned on the handrail while she was staring at the night view for some reason or another. A voice called to her from the neighboring veranda.

「You aren’t cold?」

Emily was wearing a nightgown. Although it was created from thick fabric for use in winter, it was only a piece of clothing. Kousuke knitted his eyebrows seeing that. Emily smiled wryly while shaking her head.

「I see. Well, certainly the night air in winter feels pleasant.」

Saying that, Kousuke copied Emily by using both his arms to lean on the handrail of the veranda beside Emily’s and he stared at the night view.

Both of them didn’t say anything for a while. They were merely looking quietly far away. Emily couldn’t express into words the reason she was unable to sleep. After all, it was something obvious. Also, because right now there wasn’t anything that had to be said regarding tomorrow.

That was why Kousuke only muttered a brief sentence.

「Just a bit more. Let’s do our best, together.」

「-……yes. Yes-」

Emily cast her eyes down, as though she was reflecting upon something. But, her voice that replied to him was reverberating really well in the chilly air.

Silence visited the place once more. It was unknown how long they were like that. Suddenly, Emily asked Kousuke.

「Hey, Kousuke. When this matter is over, what will Kousuke do?」

「Hm? That’s, I’ll return to Japan. I said it, right? I’m a student, yeah? Even though this is still winter holiday, I’m skipping through my short winter course here. I’ve got to return quickly and participate in it.」

Emily was looking blankly for a moment after hearing that reply, but right after that, she burst into laughter as though she was unable to hold it in.

「Fu, fufu……the person that toyed with not just the underworld organization, but even with the security bureau, needs to join a short course……kufuh, fufufufuh」

「O, oi, don’t laugh. Just between you and me, even the demon king is living as a normal student, you know. It’s not strange at all that I’m a student, right?」

「Bu, but. A person that introduced himself as Abyssgate something, fighting against armed men, someone like that is going through lessons normally……ahah, no good; it’s too surreal when I imagine it, I cannot hold my laugh. Ahahahah」

「Gufuh. Do, don’t say Abyssgate……」

Seeing Kousuke hanging his head down while his hand was pressing on his chest, Emily’s laugh was increasingly sounding more amused.

She had never laugh like this since the chain of incidents was starting.

Surely tomorrow would be the day where everything was settled. Nervousness, uneasiness, and pain that was the truth inside her heart. Actually, it was something that she was vaguely aware of. It was something she desperately averted her eyes from. The result was that all those were thrust before Emily now.

――If I am alone, could I endure it?

Thinking about that Emily shook her head inside her heart.

――Could I come this far, only with Vanessa and me?

As expected, she shook her head in her heart.

――In this time that is cruel, uneasy, painful, and difficult, even so, would I be able to laugh just like this?

There was no way she would be able.

Emily glanced at the sullen Kousuke beside her, and then she smiled softly while wiping the tears gathering at the corner of her eye with her finger.

「Kousuke, thank you.」

「It’s still too fast for you to say that. Say it after everything is over tomorrow.」

Kousuke’s words were blunt and slightly filled with sulkiness that hadn’t disappeared. But, for Emily, those words felt ticklish somehow.

Emily stared fixedly at the side profile of Kousuke who was looking far away with his chin resting on his hand. Kousuke seemed to notice her gaze, and he looked slightly uncomfortable.

Emily was thinking ‘my body will get chilly soon’ while she resolutely made a request to Kousuke.

「Say, Kousuke.」

「Hm?」

「You see, tomorrow, when everything is over……I want Kousuke, to tell me about yourself.」

「About myself?」

Kousuke raised his eyebrow and turned his gaze toward Emily. Emily nodded to his gaze while her cheeks reddened slightly.

「Yes. Like, how come you are able to use that kind of mysterious power. Like, just what are the returnees. Those kind of things, various things about Kousuke.」

「……」

「Uh. I, I understand that it’s a secret matter you know? But, I absolutely will protect the secret. I’m serious, okay? Besides, next time something happens, perhaps I will be able to become Kousuke’s strength then, besides, err, besides……」

Seeing Kousuke who spontaneously fell silent, Emily added to her words with a little bit of fluster.

For Kousuke, he didn’t have any particular problem teaching her about the returnees. In the first place, they had honestly talked to the media, that they had been fighting the army of an evil god in another world. It depended on the other party whether they would believe it or not.

Emily had witnessed Kousuke’s power, so naturally, she would believe and accept it. Therefore, it wasn’t anything that particularly needed to be hidden from her.

As expected, if it was known by the whole higher-ups of the government, it would cause hindrance to their private life, and it would be putting the cart before the horse, so in that case, a large-scale countermeasure like pulling out the brainwashing technique of the demon king (especially his wife) would be necessary, but doing something like telling an individual like Emily, or Chief Magdanese, who knew about the scariness of the returnees like Kousuke and wouldn’t easily act against them, there wouldn’t be any problem.

Then, if it was asked the reason why Kousuke was falling silent, that was of course because he was told something like「I want to know more about you!」by a beautiful girl while that girl’s cheeks were reddening.

Sure enough, for someone with a lover, it wasn’t good for him to step further than this. He was deeply lamenting why he didn’t immediately tell her about the existence of his lover. Thinking back, he wouldn’t be lying if he said that there was no timing to tell the truth. But, as expected, it would be bad if he told the truth now. If asked what would be bad, of course, it was about the possibility that Emily’s mind would turn to ash.

Kousuke instantly ended the mini Kousuke meeting inside his heart, and then he replied toward Emily who was still speaking in a fluster.

「No, I don’t mind, doing just that――」

「Really!?」

「O, ou」

Emily’s body leaned forward from the veranda, with her sparkling gaze capturing Kousuke. Kousuke thought that if Emily wanted to know about himself, then he would inform her about how he had a lover at that time, but……

Seeing Emily whose whole body was radiating「I’m, happy!」, the mini Kousuke inside his heart was rolling around from guilt and various other emotions.

Emily noticed how because she was leaning forward, her distance with Kousuke was so close they were almost touching. She became flustered from shyness while pulling back her body.

And then, Emily was showing quite the sly cuteness from her act of sending Kousuke glances to confirm that he wasn’t creeped from her getting too close like that. The song of Rolli○ Girl (from a certain smiling video) was playing out inside Kousuke’s heart. (TN: Rolling Girl. Also, a certain smiling video refers to Niconico Douga. Shirakome disguised niconico as nikoniko here, which mean smilingly in Japanese)

「I’m looking forward to it Kousuke. Ah, but, that, can I, ask just one thing right now?」

「Wha, what is it?」

Emily fidgeted, her finger played around with her untied hair twining the hair around while her cheeks reddened so much that it felt like the chilly air would be warmed up from it. Kousuke put up his guard, but the question Emily released still hit him like a body blow.

「You see, I’m asking this only out of curiosity, nothing else, but……what kind of girl, that Kousuke prefer?」

Seeing that kind of transparent attitude, the mini Kousuke was shouting「What do you mean just out of curiosity!? Sly! As expected from Emily-chan! That’s sly!」while tumbling down the hill road inside his heart.

The unblinking gaze from Emily caused Kousuke’s gaze to wander restlessly, and then he answered honestly.

「Rabbit-eared onee-san.」

「……Eh?」

A counterstrike at Emily. Emily’s eyes turned into dots and was lost for words. The figure of herself wearing a bunny girl costume seducing Kousuke with a bewitching air was emerging in the back of her mind.

Emily instantly became a completely ripe tomato, so much that it almost felt like a sound of *puff* could be heard. She went ‘awawa-, awawa-* in panic, looking left and right, and in the end,

「Ko, Kousuke you pervert!」

She said such a thing while rushing inside her room.

「……When everything is over, I should make a phone call to Nagumo before talking to Emily.」

Kousuke decided in his heart to consult with his friend, his senior who had gone far ahead on the road to understanding this and that about girls.

Although, him noticing that this choice of his was mistaken……it was a story of a bit later.

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AN: Thank you very much for reading this every time.

Thank you very much too for the thoughts, opinions, and reports about misspelling and omitted words.

Thinking back, it feels like the first smiling video Shirakome first saw was Rol○ng Girl.

I forgot what the impetus for me to see it was, but it was impactful.

The next update is planned to be for 6 P.M. Saturday too.

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