novelSong of the Starry Sky (4)
| ← Ch.28 | Ch.30 → |
Shouko had woken up on the bed in Nodoka's room, in the Kenzaki family house.
She noticed out of the corner of her eye that she had been covered with a blanket that she had never seen before.
"...Huh? Where am I...?"
Turning her head to the side, she saw an unfamiliar younger girl and a beautiful girl with golden hair whom she had seen before.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Kenzaki Yasuo's little sister. My name is Nodoka."
"Oh, Yasu-kun's little sister... Why are you in my room?"
"Actually, you're in my room."
"I don't understand..."
"You've been through a lot. I'll go and inform the others that you've woken up, Tatewaki-san."
After seeing the girl who called herself Nodoka quickly walk out of the room, Shouko realized that the room indeed smelled different from her own, and then suddenly noticed something strange about her own body and sat up straight in the bed.
"Why am I not wearing anything!?"
She had felt that the blanket was strangely close to her skin, and no wonder, seeing as she was naked.
Shouko was extremely confused at the current situation where she found herself sleeping naked in someone else's house.
"U-Umm... you were like that before you got here."
The golden-haired beauty spoke to her.
"Y-You're Yasu-kun's...!"
"No, that's a misunderstanding...!"
That golden-haired beauty who called herself Dianaze Krone started talking about things that she could not understand at all, which only served to deepen her confusion.
However, in in her confused state, Shouko realized that there were a few points that explained some of the strange things that had happened to her for the past few days.
"So you're saying I was wandering around the city after turning into a monster?"
"I understand that it must be hard to believe. However, it is the truth. Here..."
Dianaze held Shouko's slimphone out towards her.
Shouko didn't know why this girl had her phone, but she took it and unlocked the phone.
She saw that there were a bunch of apps that were already opened, and after going through them,
"...Yeah, I don't remember this at all."
There was a message in her conversation with Yasuo on ROPE that she had no memory of sending.
The time the message was sent was 23:30.
The last thing she could remember before that time was taking a bath.
However, she had no memory of leaving the bathroom, and the next thing she knew, she was lying naked in a room in the Kenzaki family house.
The only explanation that made sense that someone from the Kenzaki family, or this person called Dianaze, had kidnapped her from her house.
"......A song."
"Eh?"
"I seem to remember someone singing."
While she was trying to come up with an explanation on her own, a memory of hearing a song that put her heart at ease suddenly rose to the surface from within her mind, and she said it aloud without thinking.
When she heard that, Dianaze suddenly gulped.
"Yasuo was the one who was singing. The song was a requiem from our world."
"A requiem?"
"Yes. Yasuo's singing undid your Shii transformation, Shouko-san."
"Yasu-kun... Requiem... Ah."
"Shouko-san!? Are you okay!? Does it hurt anywhere!?"
A teardrop suddenly rolled down Shouko's cheek, causing Dianaze to panic.
"Ah, no, I'm okay. But it's strange, despite the situation, I felt relieved. When I heard that Yasu-kun saved me, I felt really glad."
Her teardrops continued to fall.
"Wasn't Yasu-kun angry?"
"Eh?"
"Wasn't he angry with me?"
"No, not at all. Why do you ask?"
"I got angry with him for selfish reasons and caused him a lot of trouble... I wanted to become like you, but couldn't."
"Become like me? Umm..."
"Sorry. It probably doesn't make any sense to you, does it? In any case, I need to apologize to Yasu-kun. Is he around?"
"Ah, y-yes. But you should rest for now. Not much time has passed since the battle. You have received treatment, but we still don't know what the after effects of transforming into a Shii might be..."
At that moment, they heard the sound of someone hurriedly running up the stairs.
"I heard Tatewaki-san is awake!? Tatewaki-san are you-!! Ahhh!?"
Yasuo, whose clothes were torn in many places and had injuries all over his body, barged into the room and froze after looking at Shouko who was still sitting upright.
"Y-Yasu-kun, I..."
"U-Umm... sorry, I..."
Seeing Yasuo go bright red and turn around, Shouko finally remembered the situation she was currently in.
She was covered with a blanket, but she was still naked.
For some reason, Dianaze had also gone red and was looking from one of them to the other, and Shouko's face also suddenly turned red.
And then,
"Noooooooooooo!!!"
She ended up throwing the slimphone in her hand with all her strength at the back of Yasuo's head.
※
Unconsciously touching the part of his head that the slimphone had connected with back then, Yasuo frantically tried to explain.
"I really had no intention of doing that!!"
"Nodoka-chan apologized to me later, saying that she tried to stop you but you didn't listen."
"Y-Yeah, but... I really..."
"Yasuo."
Khalija, who had been quiet up to that point, spoke in a subdued manner.
"As a man, you should do the honorable thing and take responsibility."
"You're the cause of this whole mess, what are you talking about!?"
"It's true that most of the blame for the recent incident lies with me, but the fact that you ignored Nodoka and saw Shouko naked is entirely your fault."
Shouko also nodded as if agreeing with what Khalija said, and Yasuo felt that Diana was also indicating that he should put up with Shouko's mood.
"......I'm sorry... I was rash......"
Yasuo gave up and bowed his head to Shouko once again.
"Okay, I forgive you."
"Are you really okay with that, Shouko?"
"Colonel, you have no right to ask that."
"It's fine. It was that kind of situation, after all, and it just goes to show how much he was worried about me, and besides..."
Shouko glared at Yasuo once again and delivered the final blow.
"If what I heard was the truth, then he had already seen me naked inside that place called the Gate Tower."
Yasuo gulped hard and tried to settle his heartbeat.
"But it's fine. I don't really understand what it means to be possessed by the dead and turning into a monster, but if you saved me from that, Yasu-kun, then it's fine."
"Shouko-san..."
"There was a time in the past when even a rough girl like me looked up to and wanted to become a soft and fluffy princess like Diana-san."
"Soft and fluffy... No, I'm really not so great..."
"Diana-san, your manner of speaking is like something out of a period drama. It's pretty funny. Do the people from the other world speak Japanese as well?"
"Ah, no. It's just that, because of Yasuo's father, Hideo's achievements, our country especially encourages the citizens to learn Japanese. That's why, although imperfect, Japanese is widely understood by the commoners as well."
Ah, so that was the reason. Yasuo's question from a few days ago was finally answered unexpectedly.
As usual, Yasuo could not gauge just how much of an impact his father and mother had left behind in Ante Lande, but from what he had heard just now, it looked like at least in Resteria, there were more people who understood Japanese than he thought.
Yasuo felt like he had heard someone say something similar to him recently, but,
"I see."
Shouko gave a small sigh and asked another question.
"......Yasu-kun, are you really going to finish your Hero Training and go to Ante Lande?"
"No, that hasn't been decided yet. It looks like I won't necessarily be welcomed with open arms, and as you heard earlier, I'm even lagging behind Nodoka when it comes to magic training."
"I see. But that means you haven't entirely abandoned the idea either, right?"
"Right now I'm just waiting and see how it goes. There is sure to be some sort of reaction from their side because of the recent issue with Khalija-san, so I can't say anything about it right now."
"If you ask for my personal opinion, I'd rather you didn't go."
Shouko said something unexpected, causing Yasuo and Diana to be surprised.
"Even without thinking about it too much, it's easy to imagine that you're sure to face a lot of trouble over there, and might also find your life in danger."
Nodoka had something similar to Diana once in the past, and appealed to Diana to give up on taking her father away.
Diana also understood that feeling, so she couldn't say anything.
However, Shouko's expression hinted at a completely different sense of resolve.
"Besides, if you go away to Ante Lande before my issue is fixed, things might get messy."
"Messy?"
"Yeah."
Shouko looked away from the three of them, and stared into the distance.
"If you leave, Yasu-kun, I'll turn into that thing called a Shii again."
"Eh?"
"What do you mean?"
Diana and Khalija were startled.
Why was Shouko so sure about that?
Even Khalija, who had exercised some control over the Shii using the power of the crimson stone, didn't really understand the logic behind the 『latch』.
"I'm just saying that it is a possibility. I'm not sure about it. But you know how being able to reproduce a phenomenon is important in science, right? After hearing about Ante Lande, I remembered a bunch of stuff that I think happened back when I had turned into a Shii. And then..."
The sun was low in the sky, and the red light of sunset was slowly covering the park.
"No matter what the situation, I strongly think that I want to be able to see you, Yasu-kun."
""!!""
Diana and Khalija suddenly turned to look at Yasuo at an incredible speed, and as for Yasuo...
"..................Eh?"
He had a stupid expression on his face.
"When I saw you getting along with Diana-san and Khalija-san, I was really angry... But then you, who are so indecisive, sent me that message on ROPE and I was really surprised... But I still ignored your message without reading it and went to take a bath, but I couldn't get it out of my mind..."
"Umm... That is..."
"I..."
A ray of sunlight fell across Shouko's face and illuminated her brilliant smile.
"...Realized that I still love you after all this time, Yasu-kun."
"................ !!"
".........Wa wa wa."
"Ooh?"
Yasuo looked stunned and his face gradually turned red, Diana understood what had happened a second later and looked flustered, and Khalija looked from Shouko to Yasuo as if she was impressed.
"Thank you for the good show."
"You're welcome."
Shouko calmly parried Khalija's teasing.
"This is really important, okay? I've loved you ever since we were in middle school, and even though we hadn't met for quite a while, when we met each other again, I realized that I still loved you with all my heart, and so I got really jealous of Diana-san and Khalija-san, and then I ended up turning into a Shii. This is very important, do you understand?"
"A-A-Ah... I......"
"T-T-T-T-T-That's right, this is really important, but this is a little difficult to accept all of a sudden."
"Major Krone, you're not the one who has to accept it. What are you talking about?"
"Colonel, how can you be so calm!?"
"Just think that I'm not here. As someone who has sinned, I just have to sit quietly with my head lowered and await the ruling."
Shouko was smiling peacefully as she saw the three people who were reacting in completely different ways to her suddain proclamation of love.
"Calm down. I'm not asking you to go out with me, Yasu-kun. However, this is something important to me, you, and Diana-san and Khalija-san as well, so I thought that I had to tell you. I thought it might be of some use to you when you go to fight against the Shii in the future."
Using the love of a young girl as a hint to uncover the nature of monsters that are harbingers of death.
The very idea sounded sinful.
"Yasuo, don't you have anything to say?"
Khalija prodded Yasuo who was sitting in a daze with his mouth open at this completely unexpected situation.
"A-Ah, I mean... that is..."
"It's fine. I know that it must be hard to respond after hearing something like this all of a sudden."
Even after being prodded, Yasuo looked like the unprecedented situation was going to make him overheat, and so Shouko stopped him.
"I don't want to hear an answer that you came up with on the spur of the moment."
"T-Tatewaki-san, I..."
"Ah, just one thing, Yasu-kun."
Shouko suddenly pointed her finger at Yasuo, who was still agitated.
"Y-Yes?"
"Shouko."
"Eh?"
"Shouko. That's my name."
"Yeah, I know..."
"If you feel even the slightest bit sorry for getting me mixed up in a mess like this, then call me by my name."
"Eh!?"
"What, you call Khalija-san by her first name as well, and you don't even use honorifics with Diana-san, right?"
"Yeah, but you know, that's not the same thing..."
"There's no difference. The two of us are already partners on this grand adventure involving a different world called Ante Lande. Is it so strange to not want to be so formal with one of your partners?"
She actually called it a grand adventure.
"A-Ah..."
"Come on, it's Sho-u-ko."
"Uwaaaaa...... S-S-Sho...u......ko...san."
"Doesn't the '-san' just make it more embarrassing?"
Even though she said that, it looked like Shouko was also a little embarrassed.
"......Yeah."
Yasuo felt like his blood pressure was going to cross the safety limit.
"...Sho.... u......no, I mean, this is..."
This situation was obviously different from calling Diana by her pet name without honorifics.
Calling a girl by her first name without using any honorifics all of a sudden, after she had just said that she loved him straight to his face, that was too difficult.
He could not come up with any logical explanation as to why exactly it was so difficult, but in any case, it was just too difficult.
It even felt like a taboo that he should not touch.
However, that is what Shouko had requested of him.
What kind of situation is this?
What am I doing?
I... I...
"......Looks like this mission was a little too hard for you, Yasu-kun."
While Yasuo was thinking that, it was Shouko who backed down first.
"Useless."
That merciless word from Khalija was the sound that signalled the end of the mission.
"N-No, it's just that I've never done anything like this before, so..."
"Yes, yes, I understand, you can keep calling me like you have been. I'll just consider that you took my words that seriously. Haa..."
Shouko's smile looked like she was sad, but also relieved in some way. She then looked at Diana who was sitting next to Yasuo and blushing even more than he was.
She was empathizing with Yasuo as if she was the one who was confessed to and was completely lost for words. Just how much cuter could this girl from a different world become?
Shouko thought that she would never be able to become like her, no matter how much time passed.
"It's so hard to have a princess as your opponent..."
Shouko muttered that and lowered her shoulders, and then,
"Well, it looks like we're going to have a fairly difficult relationship from now on, Yasu-kun."
She said that to Yasuo.
"Yes it does, Tatewaki-san."
This was his current limit.
"Looking forward to working with you."
So, for now, the fact that she had a reason to boldly stay by his side was good enough.
That's what Shouko told herself.
※
"Onii-chan and Diana-san, what happened to the two of you?"
"Oh my, their faces are so red."
"It looks like they've experienced a lot of things that are difficult for young people to endure."
After returning home, Yasuo and Diana sat down dazedly in the living room, causing Nodoka to look confused and Madoka also wondered what had happened.
"Difficult things? Was Tatewaki-san unwilling to give her forgiveness?"
"No, that part progressed almost ideally, and she said she was willing to cooperate. However, the process of reaching that point was... I think Nodoka might not believe me even if I tell you."
"I have no idea what you're trying to say."
Nodoka abandoned the matter of Khalija's explanation that she didn't understand, and changed the topic.
"So, did you find out anything? About that 『latch』 thing."
"We discovered one of the triggers that caused Shouko to turn into a Shii. This depends on Yasuo, but there is a way to deal with it."
"Hauu."
"...?"
Hearing that, Yasuo turned even redder than before, and Nodoka grew even more confused.
"However, we still don't know the reason why Shouko became a 『latch』, that is to say a human capable of transforming into a Shii. Judging by the timing, the only logical explanation is that she somehow came in contact with the Shii during the incident with William Bareig. Besides there's that person who gave me the circlet capable of controlling the Shii, and I don't know how she sent the Shii to Japan. It doesn't seem like she's related to William in any way. In the worst case, you will have to consider that there were other people working for her who were sent here before me."
"Even before Khalija-san, could that mean before Diana-san as well? If that's the case, isn't that quite dangerous?"
"I don't know. Considering that nothing happened between the time after Major Korne arrived here through when I arrived, I might just be thinking about this too much... In any case, to remove the Shii from Shouko, she will have to go to Resteria at least once. However, the Shii are something that came from that world in the first place. I don't know much of an influence that woman who approached me has. We are in a situation where we cannot make any rash moves."
"...So you're saying that nothing has changed, and we can only continue wait for something to happen?"
"It's just as you have said, Madoka. Although it shames me to admit it, I moved only for my personal reasons and personal profit, but there might be people out there who will move because they believe in the cause and their ideals. If such people exist, they will certainly make a move sometime soon, so I think that you will not have to wait very long until something happens."
Khalija agreed to Madoka's words with a serious expression.
"Maybe Shouko is the one who should be protected more actively than Yasuo and Nodoka."
"To protect her from people who are after her because she can turn into a Shii?"
"That's right. Those people have connections all over the world. There is a chance that they can activate a Gate Tower in a different country based on information obtained in Resteria. You cannot let down your guard at all."
"So what were they called again? The people who tempted you into doing what you did."
Khalija looked like she was remembering her painful past as she answered Madoka's question.
"There is an organization that gathers and supports the refugees who faced losses during the war with Demon King Kaul, who call themselves 『Carnelian of the Coal Mine』."
The Grand Duchy of Torjesso no longer existed, but the people who used to live there were not wiped out.
There were many people from Torjesso who escaped to other large countries from the calamitous invasion by the Demon King's forces and became refugees, and moreover, there were refugees from places other than the Grand Duchy of Torjesso as well.
During the war thirty years ago, in addition to dealing with the direct damage caused by the Demon King's army, the countries also had to worry about how to handle such refugees as well.
The refugees were also desperate to live, and there were cases where the refugees turned to crime to survive in the countries that had given them shelter.
To reduce those sorts of incidents as much as possible, a number of organizations were set up after war broke out to support the refugees. Carnelian of the Coal Mine was also one such organization.
"That woman... she had silver hair and blue eyes, just like me. She's probably someone from Torjesso as well. However, the Carnelian of the Coal Mine didn't restrict themselves to helping only refugees from Torjesso. I cannot imagine just how wide their net extends."
Those people had suddenly appeared before Khalija, who was in despair due to the failure of the Sinistra, used sweet words to trick her, gave her a circlet with Shii sealed inside, and told her about the secret regarding the 『latch』.
"The six Shii that attacked all of you when I first came to Japan were set free from my circlet without my approval. Now that I think about it, those people might have been using other people they won over like me to spread the Shii all over the world. There's also a chance that they had something to do with what happened to the mission during which General Alexei was killed..."
"......"
Seeing Madoka's expression turn stern upon hearing Alexei's name, Khalija told her that woman's name.
"That woman has the title of 『Foreman』 and is probably the leader of Carnelian of the Coal Mine. She introduced herself as Beatrice Heller."
| ← Ch. 28 | Ch. 30 → |