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

2000.

In fact, since this is a memory from my childhood, it’s not that clear.

Having lived for 10 years in this world, even the remaining memories have become vague.

However, I just remember that to see the first digit of a four-digit year change is something that can only occur once in a lifetime, or rather, probably something only people from our generation have experienced.

I often thought about how amazing that was, remembering the early 2000s as “recent.” It’s almost as if that era hadn’t passed at all.

In the mid-2020s, while I understand that the year 2000 was like the 1980s as seen through my childhood eyes, I feel like my heart can’t keep up with that understanding.

Well, at least right now, it isn’t that kind of “past.”

How should I put it, it’s a “cutting-edge” era. Even though there’s still a year left in the 21st century, it feels like that time has already arrived.

“…….”

Once April arrives this year, I’ll be in the last year of elementary school.

When I was younger, the thought of becoming a middle school student was quite exciting.

Now, however, I feel a bit strange.

I wanted to graduate from the same school as Harumi and Yuuki.

I never had such thoughts when I was hanging out with those two. After all, if nothing happened, we would graduate from the same school and probably go on to the same middle school.

What would happen after that is anyone’s guess, but if luck was on our side, we could have gone to high school together too. By that time, we would probably have become lifelong friends.

That chance has already been taken away. There’s no going back now. I could reach out to Yamashita, but it would stop there.

Under the current circumstances, with government officials having captured us, it wouldn’t be possible for us to roam around freely.

Still, for half a year, those thoughts had been somewhat diminished, but with the new millennium approaching, I couldn’t help but think a lot.

If I had come to the same high school as those two, where would we have gone for university? What department would I have chosen?

Would I still want to do the same things I did in my previous life? Or would I have had other dreams? If I had other dreams, it would definitely be influenced by Harumi and Yuuki.

Even if Mako wouldn’t have been able to stay with me until the end, there was still a potential future where we continuously attended that school.

Since it wasn’t too far from Tokyo, Mako could have visited during the break.

How would I have turned out growing up there? Would I have been influenced by the relaxed vibe of the countryside and learned to live life leisurely? Would I have ended up working somewhere ordinary with Kagami?

All of those possibilities have been denied.

What remains as a result is an uncertain future that I can’t predict at all.

“Ugh.”

I heard Shii rustling around on the bed.

I sat up from my spot.

Shii turned her head towards me while lying on the bed. She looked a bit sleepy, but Shii never overslept.

It seems she was influenced by the comics and books she read, learning the lesson that oversleeping is troublesome from a manga that taught that very lesson.

As I got out of bed, Shii also sat up on her bed.

“I’ll stay with mom.”

“Okay……”

Shii answered quietly, yawning softly.

I opened the door and listened carefully. The house wasn’t very soundproof, but the sounds coming from the kitchen could still be heard from the second-floor hallway.

Usually, around this time, Kagami would be in the kitchen making breakfast with all sorts of clattering sounds, but there were none.

I stood on tiptoe and cautiously went to Kagami’s room.

I opened the door carefully, making sure not to wake Kagami.

As I entered the room, Kagami was sleeping peacefully, taking deep breaths.

It wasn’t something that happened often, but it wasn’t completely unusual either. The frequency had decreased as Kagami and I grew older, though.

When I was little… yeah, Kagami was “really” young. The age difference between us was nearly negligible now. So she truly wanted to rest on her days off.

How she managed to avoid getting openly annoyed or angry with me even in such tough situations is still a mystery to me.

Every time, Kagami would hug me tightly, as if all she needed was for me to be there.

Today, Kagami wasn’t sleeping in because of work.

We had stayed awake until just past midnight last night. When the year 2000 came, Kagami said she wanted to stay awake to hear the bells, so we stayed awake until then.

Naturally, we took commemorative photos. With Shii included.

With a slight smile on my lips, I burrowed into Kagami’s blanket.

I was a bit sleepy myself. Even though I woke up early today, it was still vacation, so I could afford to sleep a bit longer.

I snuggled into Kagami’s embrace, wrapping my arm around her waist.

“…….”

I could feel Kagami breathing in, and also when I exhaled. I could feel her body moving. I could feel her heartbeat and warmth.

Mom’s warmth.

Someday, when I grow up, and perhaps after I move out, I’m going to miss this mom’s warmth.

…… I should make sure to visit home often. I can already predict that much. Even in this uncertain future, I felt certain about that one thing.

*

This is the first time I’ve seen Shii so happy.

Well, hints of it had started showing since Christmas. That sweater that Kagami gifted must have been a very meaningful present for Shii.

Perhaps in her memories, that gift was truly the first she had ever received.

It’s unclear when Shii and Sota’s family fell apart. However, it must have been broken at least since Shii was very young.

I wondered if Shii still has any memories of the happy moments before everything fell apart.

…… I sincerely hope not. That would be too terrible.

I wish that the clearer memories of escaping from such a place and the times we could hope again would remain vivid instead.

“Shii, are you okay?”

“I think it will be okay.”

Daddy replied to Kagami’s concerned words.

“I can see her up ahead. She’s holding hands tightly with her brother.”

Should I be relieved?

Sota’s dad said he had work today. So conversely, that meant Sota has a whole day perfectly free.

Although I didn’t borrow a kimono like Shii did, I was dressed up somewhat and stood in line holding Shii’s hand.

We kept our family and Sota and Shii in separate lines because I thought it would be a bit awkward if other kids know that our family is protecting Shii.

After all, once everyone becomes middle school students, we would all be scattered here and there, but there was no need to have an unnecessarily tiring last year.

“……”

On the other hand, I was a little worried.

Could we keep Shii with us for life? I felt fine, and I thought Kagami and Daddy were okay too, but—conditions can change anytime.

Especially since Shii and Sota’s situations were a bit special.

Ideally, I’d want to keep watch over things while living nearby, but that too was a future we couldn’t be certain of.

I could only hope that no other accidents would occur.

“……”

After looking at Sota’s back for a moment, something popped into my mind, and I looked up at Kagami.

Kagami was still looking somewhat worriedly toward Sota and Shii.

Hmm……

Well, in the original story, there weren’t that many heroines. It was a harem genre, but it wasn’t one of those romance novels that focused on that aspect.

But at the same time, it was still a “novel of that era.”

Even if Kurosawa Koto Ne and Kurosawa Kagami didn’t appear as characters in the novel, surprisingly, we both seemed to meet the conditions of being “heroines.”

We were both the same age, and I’d known her since elementary school, but Kagami was no less impressive.

I have no idea who my biological dad is, but—let’s face it, single mom heroines often pop up for various reasons. Even though there aren’t many cases where they’re the main heroine,

Even though my dad was ostensibly Kagami’s husband, they hadn’t even registered their marriage. Their relationship is quite clear-cut.

Isn’t this a pretty good position to enter as a heroine?

Or am I the only one thinking that? Honestly, I’d feel better if that were the case.

“……Mom.”

I called out to Kagami.

“Yes?”

Kagami looked down at me, her small hand tightly clutching mine.

“……I don’t need any brothers.”

“……Huh?”

Kagami tilted her head, not quite understanding what I meant. If this were a manga, her eyes might have been doing the one-character thing.

She looked incredibly pure, just like someone who has no idea what I was trying to say.

I sighed softly. A white breath escaped from my lips.

Shaking my head, I held tightly to Kagami’s hand.

“No, I just mean that.”

“Koto Ne?”

Kagami tilted her head the other way, but I didn’t feel like saying more.

Daddy looked down at me with a strange smile, so I slapped his arm.

…… Well, the clothes were thick, so it just ended with a thud.

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