I Became the Final Subjugation Target of That Era’s Light Novel

Do you know this?

It hurts a lot more to drop something that’s been lifted than to be at rock bottom.

This morning, I woke up in the soft blanket.

Since it’s the first time I’ve been able to use a proper pillow since coming to this world, my neck didn’t ache in the morning. I was amazed to find that I didn’t feel sore after rolling over a few times.

I said, “It’s not that cold,” but there was a huge difference between sleeping with a blanket and without it. I didn’t have to shiver from the morning chill.

Thanks to that, I woke up at quite a risky time today.

I barely had time to wash my hair, but I missed out on the morning bread.

The belly that had been filled with tonkatsu for dinner suddenly became empty in no time at all.

I couldn’t fully dry my hair, so even though I didn’t sweat, my back felt a little damp.

Luckily, I avoided being late.

But the real tragedy wasn’t that.

Maybe it was because I had tasted a bit of heaven yesterday.

The carbohydrate lump at lunchtime really didn’t taste good. I even dipped it in salt and still!

My body…was craving protein!

“Hah.”

Of course, even though I felt that kind of drop, I had adjusted to this life for quite a while, so I wasn’t overly shocked. It was just that the emptiness felt much bigger.

There was no reason for me to sigh like the ground was falling away beneath me.

“Hah…”

That sigh was coming from beside me.

Yuuki, who sighed deeply, lightly dipped the end of the sweet bread into the salt dish I had placed next to me before popping it into his mouth.

I heard that Japanese people like salty things; does he like salty foods too?

As someone who was also eating with him, I didn’t really have a right to say anything, but I only dipped a tiny bit. That was enough, I thought. If I dipped too much and ate it, it would have tasted like one of my kidneys would revolt in a few days.

Honestly, if it’s just salty, it also gets tiresome.

“Hah…”

A third sigh came.

With the sweet bread in my mouth, I paused and turned my gaze. It seemed Yuuki was aware of my gaze but wouldn’t speak until I did first.

“……”

Eventually, I pulled my mouth away from the sweet bread.

“…Why?”

Only after I asked that did Yuuki turn his eyes wide and open his mouth.

“Um, it’s just… I’ve been feeling like nothing’s happening these days.”

It seemed like he wanted to complain about something.

In the original story, Yuuki was tsundere. He often poked fun at the protagonist, and the understanding protagonist took it well. Perhaps that’s why Yuuki came to rely on the protagonist more later on.

When the protagonist told him to open up, he acted like he didn’t want to but ended up spilling everything.

To be honest about how I felt right now—But why is he telling me this?

Haven’t we just met for the second time?

The reason I shared my thoughts with Sasaki was because we were sharing secrets with each other.

Yuuki is a Yōkai hunter, and Sasaki is one of the few classmates who knows that, so I figured that made sense. Teenagers typically don’t know how to keep their worries to themselves.

But aside from eating the sweet bread, we didn’t really have anything in common.

Even with the sweet bread, the reasons were different. I had no money, so I had to eat the sweet bread, while he had lost a competition and only had sweet bread left as an option.

Well, it’s true that sweet bread was the only option.

“…What’s the matter?”

I knew I was caught in a trap, but I didn’t want to spend my entire lunch break just listening to sighs from next to me.

Despite appearances, I do enjoy this time.

“Um, well, I can’t really go into detail, but—”

If you can’t talk about it, then don’t.

I kind of understood what he was talking about, but saying it like that felt a bit odd.

“I came to this school because I had something to do, but now that I’m here, I can’t find out what I wanted to do. Seriously, if you have a goal, it should be clear! ‘For some reason, it seems to have vanished,’ what on earth? You even made me transfer here!”

He must be talking about his family.

In this country, there isn’t something like a Hunter’s Association.

Ah, of course, the government knows a fair amount about it. They just don’t care to intervene.

In this world, not only Japan but also other countries are filled with Yōkai or similar things, and they’re resolving it in their own ways according to their culture. I think in Korea, there might be something like a ‘hunter registration certificate’? Or maybe during the Korean War, they all mysteriously perished in bombs.

In this country, there are ‘clans.’ Isn’t that such a typical Japanese light novel setting?

Yuuki is the eldest daughter of one of those clans. Somehow, the family business has fallen onto her shoulders. I’m not quite sure if she’s the head of the family or not.

Clans have been taking care of Yōkai for hundreds of years, and some kind of agreement has been made with the government to continue the family business… That must have been the setup.

I took a bite of the sweet bread I was holding.

“Can you really expect me to bring that to school! I thought I had gone mad. In this day and age, that’s a crime, a crime.”

He was probably referring to a sword, right?

As I chewed the sweet bread, I thought about it.

“All the adults in my family are old. There’s only one son among the branches. I just wish they’d let me live a bit more normally. I came all the way to Hanagawa and can’t even enjoy school life, and I’m just wandering around looking for traces on my way home.”

Hmm.

Why is he telling me this?

I must look like someone who has no friends.

No, it’s not actually like that, and I don’t think it’s necessary to share this story with others. But I guess I must have looked like that on the outside.

In some ways, he found me well.

And he’s totally skipping over the most important parts of the story as well. No matter what I say, he’s probably not going to properly reveal what’s on his mind.

“……”

I silently chewed the sweet bread.

“Hah.”

Yuuki sighed again. Though, this time, the sigh felt a bit lighter. Maybe it was because he had let it all out?

“…Sorry. Was that a boring story?”

Whether I’m interested or not, if I had to choose between the two, I’d lean towards the former. After all, isn’t he the heroine? Back in the day, I really liked tsundere heroines.

If I had to choose between wanting to be involved or not, I’d choose the latter.

“…What am I doing in front of a kid?”

You’re the only one acting like a kid.

I’m more of an adult than Suzuki-sensei, our homeroom teacher.

“Sorry, was that too much to handle?”

Yuuki said with a bitter smile.

As I pondered how to respond, I chose to remain silent.

As I quietly munched on the bread, feeling a bit awkward, Yuuki scratched his head before stuffing the remaining half of his sweet bread into his mouth.

Then he chewed with a crunch and swallowed.

“Phew.”

Exhaling softly, Yuuki took my hand and stood up.

To me, who couldn’t answer properly with a mouth still full of bread, Yuuki said,

“I’ll buy you some milk. It’s on me for the advice.”

I blinked as I looked up at Yuuki.

Oh, if you’re going to pay, then I’ll gladly accept any advice offered, of course.

As I nodded, Yuuki led me to the school store.

Unfortunately, all that was left was plain white milk, but hey, that’s better than nothing.

How long has it been since I had some calcium?

*

Anyway, I thought Yuuki was onto something.

Except for the part where he insulted his family. He was spot on about school life.

Coming all the way to Hanagawa High School and not being able to enjoy my school life at all.

For me, finding a job as soon as possible is great, but since I’m not being bombarded with calls to pay rent, I think I have a bit of leeway on that front. Besides, the house itself would be a serious problem if they tried to charge me too much.

So, perhaps I could join a club or something before worrying about part-time jobs?

…Even I think I’m making excuses to procrastinate, but so what?

I’ve died once in my previous life and almost got brutally murdered in this one.

Isn’t it okay to live comfortably for a few weeks?

With that thought, I headed towards the old school building that was packed with clubs.

This school building is shaped like a ‘ㄱ’. The vertical part is the new building, and the horizontal part is the old building. The new building seems to have been added later on.

There are also separate annex buildings and gymnasiums, but there’s no need to explain those right now.

In any case, most of the important facilities—for studying, like science labs or music rooms—are in the new building, and all the classrooms have moved there. This has left the old school building relatively empty and quiet.

It seems that the clubs, which mostly have indoor activities, are being assigned classrooms in the old building.

Of course, the Literature Club is also over there.

The protagonists of this story weren’t in there, but generally, in light novels, the Literature Club is portrayed as a pleasant club for the protagonist to join.

Why? Because it’s relatively laid-back.

Most activities just involve sitting around reading books, and occasionally when you’re told to validate your activity, you write a few pages and staple them together.

And yet it’s difficult to get rid of, but oddly enough, the phrase “on the verge of disbandment” comes up often in stories.

To summarize, it’s a club that’d be perfect for me to join.

It wouldn’t matter if I missed some part-time job work.

Knock.

I stood in front of a sign that read ‘Literature Club.’

It looked like a very old sign.

Good.

I turned towards the door and slowly raised my hand.

Um. Knocking feels unnecessarily nerve-wracking.

As I took a deep breath—

“Wait!!!”

A roar came from the end of the right hallway.

Startled, I turned around to see a girl running full speed towards me.

Um, wait a second.

If you run like that, you can’t stop—

No, she couldn’t stop!

The girl crashed right into me.

Fortunately, I didn’t fall.

Grabbing me in her arms, the girl slid across the floor for about two meters with her slippers, practically knocking me off-balance, and said:

“You! New student?”

“…Well, yes.”

Although it was already near the end of April, it was a little late to call me a new student.

The other person didn’t appear to be a first-year either.

Her face was tanned from the sun. Her hair was cut short. She didn’t have the vibe of a delinquent like Fukuda since she hadn’t dyed it.

If anything, she gave off a strong vibe of an enthusiastic track and field member.

“Hmph.”

The energetic track member made a strange smile while making a snort sound.

What’s that about?

As I stood frozen, she set me back down. Then she smoothed out the wrinkles in her sailor uniform and took a step back, hands on her hips, assessing me quietly.

“Good, very splendid!”

Splendid? What’s splendid?

She’s not planning to recruit me into the track team, right?

Though I had a job that used physical strength in my previous life, I really didn’t want to run around in high school either.

“Do you have any intention of joining our club?”

“…Track club?”

“N-no, that’s not it!”

The moment she heard the word track, she looked strangely defensive.

What’s with her reaction?

But I didn’t have a chance to ask my next question.

Rattle, thud.

Before I could open my mouth again, the door I’d been planning to knock on opened.

“…Ka~oru~!”

A girl who came through the door shaking like that called out a name.

She seemed like a diligent student, different from Miura.

Her pigtails were braided separately and draped over her shoulders. Unlike the glasses Miura wore, she was wearing thick square glasses. But thankfully, she didn’t seem to have a bad forehead. That’s good.

If Miura was a lively, popular honor student, this one feels a bit shy, like a gloomy bookworm or an awkward outsider.

As the shy girl lifted her head, the lenses of her glasses reflected a glint in the sunlight.

“Who do you think you are, stealing the new student away from our club!?”

“Ah, were you listening?”

“Of course I was listening! That girl passed by the hallway in front of the Literature Club, and I was waiting to see if she’d come in or not!”

“Ah, sorry. But I think it would be better if I bring her along. The Occult Club is short on members.”

So it was the Occult Club after all.

Suddenly understanding why she had stopped me like that, I realized I looked a bit like Sadako. Wasn’t Sadako originally supposed to be beautiful? Not to mention that I’m currently… nonexistent. No, that’s not the story for now.

But then again, her appearance doesn’t match her club at all. Did she originally belong to the track club and quit?

“You were in the track club, right? There’s no occult club in this school!”

“Then you can come join us. Might as well get my name on the list for the Literature Club as well. If we add you, we’ll have four members! We can meet the minimum requirement and still have one extra!”

Was there even a club that didn’t exist?

“Stop talking nonsense. We can’t just dissolve the Literature Club, which has existed since its founding, just for a nonexistent new club! Besides, I can’t find a faculty advisor!”

“That literary club is already on the verge of disbandment. The one member you have is just a name on a list.”

That remark seemed to have angered the Literature member, and she adjusted her glasses with her finger as she shouted.

“That’s why this girl has to join our club! Just look at her, she looks like she loves reading books!”

Well, since it’s a light novel, I enjoy reading them. In this era, would it still be the rental novel age? I wonder what it’s like in Japan. In some shows, they borrow DVDs and stuff.

“See! If you braid your hair like this, you totally look like a Literature Club member!”

She grabbed my hair and pulled it into two sections, while she shouted.

“Hey! What are you doing!”

The track girl—no, the would-be occult club member slapped that hand away and yelled.

“What are you doing? That hairstyle is perfect for a Literature Club member! Look, you could totally come out of a TV show!”

I thought so too, but honestly, that was a bit rude to say.

“Hey! Anyone interested in joining? Come on in here. It’s warm in here, and there are snacks.”

“Thank you,” I said.

As I started to follow the literature club member into the club room, the enthusiastic track occult girl seized me urgently.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going? You can’t just follow some creepy guy giving you candy! You shouldn’t do that; something bad will definitely happen!”

“What do you mean something bad?”

“They’ll probably start a long-winded lecture about Natsume Sōseki’s No Longer Human or something. I know it! They’ll talk about how no one acknowledges your novel as well!”

Oh, if that’s what she’s worried about, I understand.

I’ve been through that. Getting immersed in a character from a novel I found moving. Those days where I identified with male characters like Haruhi’s Kyon or Okazaki… It wasn’t glorious, but it was a fairly fun youth.

For the record, I’m not referring to Hachiman. He came out too late.

“Anyway, let’s just talk when we get in. If you stay with that idiot, you’re going to end up being stupid too.”

“Stupid? My scores in math are higher than yours!”

“Your score was just because you guessed on one question! One point higher!”

Really?

It seems both of them are not close friends with math. I gleaned information I didn’t care to know.

That aside—

“…What about those snacks?”

“See? People will always bite for something to eat. It’s written in the Bible as well.”

I think the nuance in the Bible is a bit different, but whatever. Anyway, if there are unlimited snacks available, I’m sure it’ll fill me up.

“…Alright.”

The girl called Kaoru let go of my hand.

Then she pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket.

“Then let’s ask Kotkuri-san.”

The paper she pulled out was the kind that’s used in what we call a spirit summoning session.

“…”

“…Are you serious?”

“Totally serious.”

“…”

The literature club girl glared at Kaoru through her thinly opened eyes, then turned quickly and grabbed my arm to pull me along.

“Alright, let’s go. I’ll tell you again, if you hang out with idiots, you’re going to be an idiot too.”

“Aw, come on! Let’s do it, let’s do it!”

As I was dragged into the Literature Club room, Kaoru followed in right after me.

Wow, what loud people.

Do they even care about the club at all?

Inside the Literature Club room, desks were arranged in a manner where two desks were pushed together to create a sort of ‘Y’ shape, with a large basket filled with snacks in the center.

Not only were there sweets and candies, but there were also dorayaki!

“Come on, sit here, new student.”

Realizing that I was captivated by the snacks, the Literature Club member sat me down with a triumphant smile.

I managed to resist the urge to reach for the snacks with my superhuman patience. No matter what, I felt it would be a bit rude to dig in before even opening my mouth.

“Now, here’s the club application form. Kaoru over there is a type of special form that I absolutely cannot give away.”

“Like that one piece of paper should be such a big deal.”

But it seems that the paper Kaoru wouldn’t give was indeed a big deal.

I received the paper and quickly wrote my name on it. Kurosawa Koto Ne.

“Hmm, such a name. What a splendid name. The sound of a koto.”

The Literature Club member nodded and said that before laying her hand on her chest and introducing herself.

“My name is Ikeda Izumi!”

As she said that, Ikeda flipped the application form over and wrote ‘泉’ (spring) on it. I see, it means spring.

“And the one over there has no need to be introduced.”

“How rude!”

The girl called Kaoru reached out and took a dorayaki from the desk, tearing the package open as she spoke.

“I’m Kaneko Kaoru! Just call me Kaoru.”

“We’re both second-years.”

Ikeda added as she sat next to me.

“I’m the president of the Literature Club.”

“You only have the name ‘president’. In practice, you are the only one actively participating in the club.”

“I am no longer alone! Now that we have an official member!”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Kaoru bit into the dorayaki and, as if she just remembered, placed the crumpled piece of paper back on the center of the desk.

“So what are we going to do about this?”

“What do you mean? Kurosawa is already a Literature Club member.”

“No, no, no.”

Kaoru shook her finger back and forth.

“Your application form hasn’t been submitted to the student council yet. So technically, you’re still not a member. To submit it, you have to ask Kotkuri-san.”

“…What kind of logic is that?”

No matter what Ikeda said in amusement, Kaoru pulled out a 10 yen coin from her pocket.

“Now, hurry up.”

“…”

Hmm. I’d kind of like to sit back and snack on the dorayaki instead. It’s already been several hours since I last ate that sweet bread.

But somehow, I felt like I wouldn’t win against Kaoru, even if Ikeda and I teamed up together.

Perhaps Ikeda thought the same, as she sighed deeply while carefully folding the application form and bringing it to the desk a bit away from the president’s seat, before returning to sit down.

“Okay, okay. So what do we do next?”

Kaoru cleared the snacks off to the side. Ah, I’m losing my provisions for the day.

“Now open up the paper like this.”

“Ah, wait a second.”

As Kaoru unfolded the paper, Ikeda gave her a look of disbelief.

“Why is there a pentagram drawn instead of a torii gate?”

Yes, no, the 50 sounds in Japanese, and the numbers.

On top of all that, there was a pentagram drawn in a circle.

…I feel like I’ve seen that somewhere before. Actually, I would be able to see it anytime now if I just took down the thick hair tie around my wrist.

“Of course. Something about a fox Yōkai feels a lot weaker than something like Satan, doesn’t it?”

“…”

Ikeda looked like she had no words left to say.

“Now, hurry!”

Kaoru plopped a coin on the paper and said.

“You place your fingers on the coin.”

“…I’m sorry. My friend is acting like an idiot on our first day in the club.”

“…No.”

Let’s just get this over with, then I can eat snacks.

I let out a small sigh and placed my index finger on the coin along with Ikeda.

For some reason, the coin didn’t move at all, as if Kaoru was holding it firmly in place.

“Now, we all chant together.”

“How do we do that?”

“You just have to mimic me. Now, Kotkuri-san, Kotkuri-san, come to us~”

Kaoru closed her eyes and began chanting.

“…”

Hmm.

I really didn’t want to say such things on the first meet, but honestly, that felt a bit foolish.

Isn’t there usually a creepy atmosphere and tension when doing something like spirit summoning? But this felt more like a comedic skit.

Ikeda and I exchanged glances once more and then, with resignation, closed our eyes.

And—

“Kotkuri-san, Kotkuri-san, come to us—”

At that moment—

“I have arrived.”

…

The coin didn’t move at all.

I merely heard that voice whispering in my ear.

Um…

What on earth?

“Humans always think that precise magic circles need to be drawn for such existences to arrive.”

The voice chuckled in my ear.

“But that really isn’t necessary, is it? The summoning circle drawn on your wrist is more than enough, isn’t it?”

My summoning circle is much more complicated than this.

There are also strange characters written on it.

“The point is, it’s not about complexity or accuracy.”

But the voice ignored my thoughts and continued.

“What matters is whether the one who wishes to answer desires to answer. That is the most important thing.”

…

A finger gently rested on top of mine.

And slowly, it moved to the side.

I cautiously opened my eyes.

Both Kaoru and Ikeda remained frozen with their eyes closed, just like the last thing I remembered.

But the finger kept on moving.

And then—

In the center of that pentagram, there was an eye that looked like it was drawn haphazardly with a pencil.

That eye was looking at me.

“While conversing with you, I attempted to read into your thoughts. However, it proved entirely impossible.”

A soft laugh echoed around.

“Perhaps I suspected that the avatar you created was an entity that had come down from a higher power than you. But it seems that’s not the case, as you don’t seem to resist at all.”

Chuckle.

“You, have a few questions that I would like to ask you. Oh, do not worry too much. I am quite pleased with you. In fact, isn’t it much more fun to speculate about things when you know nothing? Just three questions. I would really appreciate it if you could only answer the three questions. Then I shall share my name with you.”

The coin slowly moved, resting between yes and no.

Wait, why ask me questions when I have no choice?

“Now, then, here comes the first question.”

The entity asked.

“You are not from this world, are you?”

The coin slowly began to move, and it pointed to yes.

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