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

Shall I speak honestly?

Lately, I’ve had one small point of dissatisfaction.

Well, it’s a bit strange for me to say this. After all, from the moment I remembered my previous life, I can’t really call myself ‘my age.’

Koko, who may have been born a few years before me, is probably much more mentally mature than I am.

But, you know.

Why is it that when a younger sibling suddenly appears, the eldest feels jealous?

Yeah, I know. It’s super embarrassing to say this. But what can I do? It’s honestly how I feel.

Moreover, I brought Koko here, and I even gave her a name. Around us, everyone confidently calls her Koko. For me, that name was meant to be temporary, but at some point, even the mother, Kagami, started using that name.

So, feeling jealous of Koko seems strange, doesn’t it?

“Wow!”

But still, when I see that Koko plays on Kagami’s lap just like I used to, it feels a bit weird.

Koko is honest. She’s honest enough to make the person watching feel good. Furthermore, she shows interest in everything people do to such an extent that you wonder if there’s even something she dislikes.

She eats all kinds of food without being picky and wears whatever clothes are given to her. She’s gradually learning how to wash herself.

So, I can understand why Kagami adores her so much. I’m now a bit too old to be playing on Mom’s lap…

Well, if you put it that way, Koko is in the same boat.

“……”

Nevertheless, my heart still feels a bit heavy.

Although we were a family of three, with Dad included, strictly speaking, Dad was our guardian, but he didn’t really give the impression of being Kagami’s husband or my biological father. On that side, Dad drew a pretty clear line.

After all, there’s a true family.

That doesn’t mean we aren’t close. There are moments when Dad lightly pats my head or pats Kagami’s back, and when Dad gets too scary with Sota, we’d often smack his arm from the side.

But that doesn’t mean I could sit on Dad’s lap… it was just a little ambiguous.

So, for me, the only family who was always there to hug me and share a room was Kagami. Conversely, for Kagami, I was the only one.

Now, Koko has joined us.

Koko doesn’t seem to mind hugging someone that much. Sometimes, she even hugs Dad, which makes him extremely flustered.

I don’t hate her. It’s not possible to hate someone like that.

But still, a little jealousy arises.

“Koto Ne?”

Noticing that I was staring at her, Koko called out to me.

Then, she suddenly jumped off Mom’s lap and dashed toward me, who was sitting at the table.

And then she dived at me, hugging me tightly.

“Koto Ne!”

This is truly meaningless. Well, the fact that it’s meaningless is what makes it cute.

We both collapsed onto the floor. Koko tightly wrapped her arms around me and shouted, “Koto Ne, I like you!”

Since she learned the word “like,” she has been using it quite a bit. It’s fine to use it for Shii, but she once threw it at Sota and got glared at by Shii. Even though she just said it because she liked it, the atmosphere was a bit tense.

Koko has an exceptional ability to grasp words.

No, it’s not just vocabulary. Koko seems to absorb knowledge as a whole without much trouble. I don’t quite know why yet.

In this world, there’s no [Tokyo Slayers] or [Lovecraft]. There might be something similar to cosmic horror, but words like Cthulhu or Eldritch that I heard back in the day don’t exist. There are similarities, but the details differ vastly.

So, perhaps Lovecraftian monsters might make a direct appearance in this world. Their names might be a bit different, though.

In the Cthulhu Mythos, there’s a creature that immediately comes to mind when slime is mentioned. The Shoggoth.

It’s not depicted as cute like in RPGs, but as grotesquely as the Cthulhu Mythos would demand, and from what I remember, it was an intelligent being that could absorb others and gain their memories.

If the author borrowed the concept of Koko from there, I can understand why she’s quite smart.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Anyway.

Listening to Koko carelessly throw around the word ‘like,’ I got back up. Koko pressed her face against my chest and hugged me once more before letting go.

Then she turned to the side and shouted, “I like snacks too!”

And with that, she popped a snack from the table into her mouth with an om nom nom.

She must be like a kid who’s itching to use her newly learned words.

Then again, she more or less lived a life where she knew almost nothing about the concept of ‘good.’

I want her to understand the word ‘happiness’ someday.

…Yeah, what jealousy.

In fact, Koko has lived a much tougher life than I have. Wouldn’t it be a good thing for her to be bright like this now?

But still.

I slowly walked over to Kagami.

When I stood in front of Kagami with a determined expression, she widened her eyes and looked at me.

I took a deep breath and turned my back to Kagami.

Thud.

And then, I sat on Kagami’s lap.

“Koto Ne!?”

Kagami exclaimed in surprise.

But soon, she embraced me from behind as though she would never let go. I felt her warm, soft touch on my back.

Maybe, a little more strongly than when Koko hugged me earlier, Kagami held me tight.

I felt a bit relaxed.

Even though we got another daughter, I didn’t feel that Kagami would treat her differently.

Kagami is always Kagami. My mom.

I was held in that state for quite a while.

In fact, I didn’t really try to break free.

*

For now, the house has gotten brighter, at least.

And institutionally speaking, there’s quite a bit of stuff to resolve concerning Koko.

First of all, it’s pretty suspicious that there’s another daughter like me who seems relatively fine… well, I do have a bit of skepticism about whether I can truly say it’s completely fine, but still, it’s really strange that she’s not attending school.

Neither Kagami nor I intend to just keep Koko at home.

We both, whenever we have free time, are taking Koko out to show her around and to help her understand how society is structured. Koko seems to be gradually grasping it a little bit.

We both carry some emotional burden, even if we don’t mention it directly.

Kagami carries the burden of having abandoned Koko. I carry the burden that Koko is the reason she had to be left alone.

If, by any chance, Kagami had stayed there, would she have figured out Koko’s identity? If she ever met Koko in that state like I did…

I know that it’s an outlandish thought, and saying it wouldn’t mean much, but it’s hard not to think that way.

“As for school, I’ve already wrapped up some of it.”

However, I was a little surprised when Kagami gathered us, including Dad, in the living room on the weekend to say that.

“I spoke with Miura.”

Ah, I see.

We are still somewhat under government protection.

Although I’m somewhat skeptical about the part where the government led me to such a place, it’s also true that we couldn’t properly live without that help.

Especially regarding these institutional matters. Since Koko, who never existed before, suddenly appeared out of nowhere around my age, trying to figure out how to register her as a resident and send her to school would probably give anyone a massive headache.

I wonder if Yuka would have managed to help no matter what.

…Though even Yuka ended up coming under the government’s umbrella.

“Koto Ne.”

“Yeah.”

“Can I take Koko to school? It won’t be starting tomorrow or anything, but I’ll take some time to prepare.”

With the second semester soon drawing to a close, it feels a little delicate to start school at this point.

Maybe Kagami is planning based on the assumption that Koko will enter school in her second year.

“Yeah. She can go.”

Of course.

I brought her here. I didn’t just bring her along with no thought, thinking I’d leave her abandoned.

As my sister in this life, I was determined to do my best for Koko.

…Just like in my past life, I had no intention of losing her.

“Well then, please take care of her, sis—”

“Ah, Mom.”

Seeing me mumble, Kagami smiled wryly.

“Please take good care of Koko… I wish I could have been more of a help.”

After all, a middle school student can’t expect her mom to take her to school every time.

As I nodded inwardly, Koko tilted her head while looking at me.

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