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

The serene passage of time is enjoyable.

Eventually, Shii allowed Yuka to meet Sota. It wasn’t exactly an explicit permission, but given that Yuka and I often stuck together, it seemed unavoidable.

Yuka didn’t openly care for Sota. Although misunderstandings between Sota and me had almost disappeared, it didn’t mean she showed any clear affection.

Maybe she was looking out for the relationship between me and Shii. Shii seemed to have let her guard down just a bit, perhaps influenced by Yuka’s neutral attitude.

That said, she wasn’t completely relaxed either.

As I continued my personal relationships, my dealings with Yuka went on smoothly.

“……”

“Why?”

Seeing Yuka look at my actions suspiciously made me tilt my head.

We were in an abandoned site.

All the buildings around were deserted. It was a bit ambiguous to call it a village, but thinking back, it might have functioned as a small village when it was full of people.

In the middle of such a place, the sight of two female middle school students gave off a bizarre atmosphere in some sense.

Especially because of my outfit.

“No, it’s just… how should I say this?”

Yuka looked at my hands with a complicated expression.

There was blood flowing from my hand. However, it wasn’t enough to splash everywhere. If left like this, it would drip down, but it wasn’t flowing constantly.

It was my judgment that controlling the wound as much as possible was better.

I realized during a few fights that when a person bleeds, their head gets hazy. You might ask if that’s not obvious, but when do you usually bleed that much?

Sure, you can feel dizzy after donating blood, but the difference between donation and bleeding is quite significant. It’s a difference in mental pressure, perhaps.

I wrapped a cloth around my hand.

Just in case, I wore wrist guards often used by office workers below my wrists to prevent blood from staining my clothes. Over my outfit, I layered an oversized raincoat to prevent any blood from splattering anywhere.

It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to throw away my clothes, but rather I didn’t want Kagami to see my bloodstains.

I did think about collecting my blood in advance to use it later, but like a true light novel, there seemed to be all sorts of restrictions, and it looked like it would only work while my blood was flowing out.

“……”

I looked down at myself.

In one hand, I had a blood-soaked bandage, and in the other, I was holding a quite large military knife. And that knife was even coated with blood.

“Um, doesn’t this feel a bit like a psychopath serial killer vibe? Right?”

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

Yuka sighed heavily as she heard my self-objectification.

“I just wonder if you really have to keep fighting like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Because I can handle the opponents on my own. I’m not saying your skills are bad, so don’t misunderstand. But I just wonder if it’s necessary to fight like that and get hurt.”

“……”

I stared at Yuka intently.

“My wounds will heal by the end of the fight.”

“The fact that healing is important isn’t the issue, you know?”

…….

This was something Sota had mentioned to Yuka too. To be precise, it was in the main storyline.

Sota consumed more and more of himself each time he fought. I wondered how much emotional turmoil Yuka must have gone through seeing a bloodied Sota from a perspective of concern.

The reason I learned about this earlier than the main story was probably that Yuka was still a bit young to have detached herself from everything.

In the original, she wouldn’t have had any reason to be with me, so during those three years, Yuka must have wielded a sword all alone while encountering blood.

Three years is a long time. Long enough for a person’s character to change completely. It’s a period that can make anything feel boring and that can desensitize anyone.

“That’s the same for you, Yuka.”

Once I had those thoughts, Yuka stared at me intensely.

“Perhaps both of us shouldn’t even be here in the first place.”

It’s a story often overlooked in light novels. Those light novels of the time often targeted teenagers, and naturally featured protagonists relatable to those teens.

I was in an age where I wanted to do the things that adults told you not to, and where I wished my mundane daily life would just be shattered.

But this is reality.

By the time life had already shattered completely, it would be hard to make such remarks to a child who has lost any understanding of what normality is.

“Are you saying it’s unnecessary?”

“…… No, that’s not what I’m saying, but…”

It wasn’t easy to express what I wanted to say to Yuka logically and coherently. In this world, even I had long lost a sense of order in daily life, and so had my past self.

My past life was filled with the chaos of a crumbling daily life. My own daily life had fallen apart, and I’d seen the daily lives of the people I tried to save become tragically ruined over and over, along with the lives of my allies around me.

So perhaps it was only natural that I couldn’t convey such persuasion.

“Yuka. Someday we may have to go our separate ways.”

“…… Ah.”

So, I persuaded Yuka in a slightly different direction.

“Right now, we’re learning together, but someday, we might have to walk our own paths.”

“…… I see.”

“But we’ll still keep in touch.”

“Really?”

In reality, having Yuka close was partly to keep an eye on her. It’s not that we would be apart soon, maybe some time from now.

So until then, I thought it was alright to feel a little at ease.

“So, I hope you can help me learn properly, so I can fight effectively even when alone later.”

“Sure.”

Yuka seemed to agree with me on this point a bit.

Somehow, that fact felt strangely bittersweet.

“Then first, I guess I’ll need to change this knife to something a bit longer.”

“…… I picked something sturdy.”

“Reach is important.”

Though I thought perhaps a spear would be better than a knife, well, after all, Mumei wasn’t made as a spear; it was made as a sword.

At Yuka’s words, I shrugged my shoulders.

“And if you don’t want to throw away the clothes, how about making work clothes separately? If you don’t want your mother to see, I can wash mine and yours together.”

“I can’t ask you to do that—”

“If you keep using a raincoat, there’ll eventually come a point when it won’t hold up. Plus, it won’t ventilate, so you can’t use it in the summer.”

Yuka’s logic seemed reasonable.

After all, she was someone who had actually been in the field.

When I ultimately nodded, Yuka smiled.

“I’ll wash them for you, so you just have to take them later, right? If they get too worn out, you can just buy new ones. If you plan to keep doing this.”

“Yeah.”

I had no intention of stopping my struggles.

And for those struggles, I needed to get accustomed to this quickly.

Cutting down Yōkai and being able to smile casually at Kagami as I returned home.

Even if someone came crashing in to completely shatter our daily lives – I wanted to be able to go to school the next day with a bright smile.

Thump.

My heart beat a little faster. Lately, during battles, I felt something.

Was my body responding to the bloodshed?

Or perhaps I was sensing that entity observing me from somewhere.

I’m not sure.

It could be a good omen or a bad one, making it hard to pin down.

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah.”

At Yuka’s words, I nodded.

……Worrying about the unknown won’t prevent impending danger. I’d felt that many times throughout my life. In both lives.

So, I had to prepare for what’s next. Fortunately, what I knew was that the upcoming threats were the kinds I could cut through.

Someday, until I could slice away all those problems and take a bright smile in a photo.

I would continue to cut and cut again.

Yuka cut through the space and took the lead into the nest.

Inside, the smell of blood wafted out. The scent of someone’s shattered daily life, the aroma of a crushed ordinary life.

“……”

My slightly heightened spirits slowly faded.

It was a scent I was already familiar with.

In this life as well as the last. Repeatedly, annoyingly so.

That scent of life blended with the scent of my own life.

“You bastards——!”

Shouted someone with the form of an old man.

He looked human, to put it simply. His face was a bit grotesque.

“What the hell is going on here——!”

Perhaps that monster had a life of its own too. It might be struggling just to survive, and in doing so, it might be overlapping with our lives.

After all, it doesn’t take much more than a monster to shatter life.

“If you’ve eaten corpses, it would’ve been better.”

Yuka muttered.

“If you’re short on corpses and think about making them yourself, of course people will come running out.”

Yuka’s eyes were cold.

That sword glimmered coldly.

Even I, holding a sword beside her, felt a shiver run down my spine.

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