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

It seems like summer is indeed hot, and both Kaoru and Izumi have no objections to that.

The place we went to seemed to be a soba noodle specialty restaurant. To be honest, I followed along without any real thought, so I didn’t even properly see the name of the place.

But hey, it doesn’t matter. I often eat cold food, anyway. In summer, I frequently enjoyed things like cold noodles.

It’s 2004, huh? Now that I think about it, there was a Korean drama that was somewhat popular in Japan around this time. It even made the news.

Of course, it’s quite different from the content that’s known here twenty years later, but based on what I’ve heard in Korea, it seems that only one drama was really successful. From this point on, Korean food probably didn’t sell that much in Japan.

I guess if you look hard enough, there would be places like Korea Town, right? But I have no intention of going there. If I want to eat kimchi, it’s much cheaper to find a book with Korean cooking recipes at the library and make it myself.

Come to think of it, I’ve only been eating Japanese food for the past few months after coming here. Surprisingly, it seems to suit my taste.

“Wait a minute, Koko.”

As Koko was about to grab the soba noodles in front of her with chopsticks, I held her hand.

It seems she ordered the same thing after watching me, but what we ordered was not the kind of meal that comes submerged in broth.

It’s called zarusoba, with the noodles served on a thin bamboo tray along with dipping sauce and wasabi on the side.

To prevent the water from the noodles from pooling in the bowl, they placed the noodles on a beautifully cut bamboo tray and sprinkled finely cut seaweed on top. When you order this kind of dish, there’s usually more noodles than you expect stacked up.

It seems Kaoru selected this restaurant based on “quantity.”

After eating a few chopsticks of noodles casually, Koko attempted to scoop a whole bunch and bring it to her mouth at once.

I know it’s not my place to interfere when others eat, but it seems Koko doesn’t quite get how this particular dish works.

At this rate, not only would she gulp down the noodles, but it seems she might even drink the dipping sauce like it’s water, so I decided to teach her how to eat it first.

“Look, like this.”

I moved Koko’s hand to lower the noodles slightly on her chopsticks and then moved her hand again to pick up just a small amount.

Koko’s method of holding the chopsticks wasn’t the typical way; she raised her palm upward and crisscrossed the chopsticks like she was holding a fork, so it wasn’t particularly hard.

For reference, I learned how to handle chopsticks by observing Yuuki and the kids I traveled with while they ate.

They would open and close the chopsticks while flexing their palm.

……For now, it wasn’t urgent, so I just let it be, but I couldn’t help but feel a little worried about Kaoru and Izumi’s gazes that had been on us for a while.

Should I have taught her these things from the start?

“Uu?”

Koko looked at me with dissatisfaction as I took a bunch of noodles away from her chopsticks.

Instead of answering, I handed her the dipping sauce bowl with her left hand and guided her right hand, holding a few noodles, into the sauce bowl.

Then I brought it up to her mouth.

Koko tilted her head and put the noodles in her mouth, her eyes sparkling.

“Ma-i-sso!”

“……You shouldn’t speak with your mouth full.”

“Yep!”

At least it’s nice to see her so excited.

The moment I let go of her hand, Koko grabbed a handful of noodles and plunged it right into the sauce bowl. Thanks to that, the sauce almost spilled over, but it wasn’t completely overflowing, so I decided to let it be for now. Well, enjoying the food 100% is a good thing in itself.

While worrying a bit that she might spill it on her shirt, I glanced back at the menu before me.

Kaoru and Izumi, who had been staring at us intently, hurriedly diverted their gazes to their own menu.

……There’s really no need to be so conscious of it.

Well, at least it’s a relief that they aren’t looking at me with disgust.

Although, they weren’t the type to do that in the first place.

*

I never thought I would say this, but I actually understand quite a bit about how high school girls spend their time playing around.

After all, I’ve gone through that several times already. Do you know? I’ve not only spent time with high school girls but also traveled to the beach with them.

…..

Now that I express it like this, it feels a bit sad. Let’s stop.

Anyway, the way Kaoru and Izumi play around isn’t that different from how Miura, Fukuda, and Yamashita do.

Roaming around the downtown area, checking things out, and buying street food.

But I guess they have slightly different interests.

Miura, even though she’s a top student and class president, didn’t have interests that were all that different from those of other high school girls. She’d often browse accessories and perfumes while enjoying laughter with her friends as they picked out clothes.

Kaoru and Izumi looked at clothing too but would glance at it briefly and just pass by. They didn’t purchase or try on anything.

Instead, it seems Kaoru likes places like arcades more.

Especially the claw machines.

“Wow!”

“Oh, what’s up, Koko? Do you like plush toys?”

More than saying she likes them…… she doesn’t have any.

All the stuff in our house comes from Yuuki’s warehouse and the cafe’s storage. I never found a good reason to decorate the house further, so there are no plush toys or the like. Though there’s a bunch of Super Famicom games and second-hand cartridges.

Koko nearly pressed her face against the glass of the claw machine, peering inside. Her eyes sparkled.

The toy she was looking at was a black cat plushie.

A black cat, like the one at home, Kuro. But its limbs and tail were way thicker, and overall it looked chubby. It probably feels all fluffy to hold.

“Alright, leave it to me!”

Kaoru said that and pretended to roll up her sleeves. Although there was nothing to actually roll up because it was summer and she was in short sleeves.

“……Kaoru-senpai, are you good at claw machines?”

“No, not at all. Usually, when Kaoru plays hard, the staff feels pity and just opens it up to give me one.”

……That means she must have spent way more money than the cost of the plush toys.

“Ah, look, Koko! It was totally disappointing a moment ago!”

It wasn’t even a disappointing attempt. The claw had barely brushed against the toy.

However, even if Kaoru said that, Koko seemed to be having lots of fun. It seemed she could tell that the moving joystick and the claw had some sort of correlation.

She appeared to be more focused on the joystick than the plushie just sitting still.

“Do you want to try?”

“Yep!”

As Kaoru moved to the side, Koko quickly grabbed the joystick and began moving it randomly.

The claw, which had only been spinning around without any aim until the time ran out, descended, and then,

“Oops?”

“Oh my.”

“……”

She managed to perfectly grab the Kuro plushie.

Kaoru, Yuuki, Izumi, and even Koko who pulled the plushie, all opened their mouths wide in shock, staring at the scene.

Plop.

We watched as the claw dropped the plushie toward the exit.

Kaoru quickly bent down and grabbed the plushie.

“Koko, you got it!”

“I got it?”

Koko tilted her head.

“Here.”

As Kaoru handed the plushie over to Koko, she blinked at the plushie.

“It’s mine?”

“Yup. It’s Koko’s.”

Upon Kaoru’s words, Koko’s face brightened up.

“Kuro!”

“Hmm?”

“It’s Kuro!”

“Oh, is that the name of this one?”

“……I have a cat named Kuro at home. Its fur color is almost similar to this plushie.”

“Oh, I see.”

Kaoru nodded right away.

“A cat?”

Izumi, who had been listening to our conversation, asked.

“Yeah.”

“Wow, really? It must be cute!”

Seeing her eyes sparkle, it seems she really likes cats.

“Can I come see it sometime?”

Uh…….

Well…… is that okay?

I don’t think I’ve really shown my house to anyone aside from Yuuki and Yamashita. Other than Suzuki-sensei, who visited on purpose.

“……I don’t mind.”

Well, it should be fine.

As long as I don’t run into Kagami when I get home, it should be okay.

“Yeah, I’ll definitely come by someday!”

Izumi said with sparkling eyes.

Is it that exciting for her?

Kaoru watched the two of us with a warm gaze.

It seems there’s some history to this. Maybe there was a cat they had when they were little that they lost too soon. If that’s the case, it’s understandable that she would react like this.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, a sound came from the claw machine, and we all turned to look, finding that the time had expired, and the claw machine was announcing a game over without anyone touching it.

Well, it doesn’t matter since she already won something once.

Holding onto the plushie, I felt it was a good idea to have brought it out.

*

For dinner, Yuuki joined us.

I arrived home on Sunday, and I didn’t bother going out on Monday; I just rested deeply.

Even though I lay in the hospital the whole time, there’s a big difference between resting in a hospital and resting at home. In the hospital, I had to interact with nurses and doctors, plus there were friends around, too.

So essentially, it had only been one day since Yuuki and I last saw each other.

At first, I thought it felt a bit guilty to call him, but when I met him, Yuuki’s expression was surprisingly bright.

Since Yuuki was the one who talked to me first at school, I often forget that in the original story, Yuuki was a kid who couldn’t make friends easily. Because he had to keep transferring schools, he barely had the chance to get close to anyone.

Honestly, I wonder if it was really necessary to transfer schools if it was within Tokyo… but well, everyone has their reasons.

They might have even moved from far-off areas and then came here.

Anyway, because of that, Yuuki didn’t have many friends, and in the novel, it often illustrates how he values relationships quite a bit.

Even those kids competing over Sasaki, like Hagiwara and Nakahara, thought of each other as friends to the point of risking their lives to protect them, so certainly Kaoru and Izumi, who became friends earlier, would be precious friends to him as well.

Yuuki waved at us from a distance, looking over at Koko cuddling the plushie.

Koko, holding Kuro, which absorbed heat due to its black fur, looked absolutely delighted, even if she was sweating.

“Yut-chan, it’s been a while!”

“Hello, Kaneko-senpai.”

“Yut-chan?”

“Oh, right.”

Kaoru, seeing Koko’s puzzled expression, seemed to have forgotten to clarify, saying, “Yut-chan is a nickname…”

Watching the conversation between Koko and Kaoru, Yuuki raised his head in confusion, and Kaoru said, “It seems it’s a bit confusing if we use several names in front of Koko. We’ve been calling each other by name, do you mind?”

“By name?”

Yuuki’s eyes widened a bit.

Then he quickly looked back and forth between me and Koko and nodded quickly.

“I’m fine with it.”

“Okay, from today on, I’ll call you Yuka!”

“Yes.”

Yuuki…… no, Yuka nodded and gave a slight smile.

“Kotone.”

“Yep.”

As I called his name to confirm it, Yuka smiled and nodded.

“By the way, what’s with that plushie? Did you buy it?”

“Koko won it. From the claw machine.”

“From the claw machine?”

“It was amazing. She just spun the joystick around randomly and then dropped it right into her hands.”

Probably just luck, though.

“Really? That’s impressive.”

Yuka’s compliment made Koko’s face light up with a big grin.

……I’m the same way, but honestly, I can’t pull off an expression like that.

That’s an expression only a pure soul like Koko could wear.

…..

Somehow…….

Ah, never mind.

Let’s not think about weird stuff. It might come back in a dream.

I lightly shook my head.

“Hmm…… Should we eat dinner before heading to Tokyo Tower?”

“Are we going up Tokyo Tower?”

“Yeah. Kotone and Koko said they haven’t been up, plus it’s summer vacation. Actually, Izumi was quite worried. She said we should write a report for the literature club activity during summer vacation.”

Our gazes simultaneously turned towards Izumi.

So, that was it.

It’s somewhat similar to elementary kids writing summer vacation journals, isn’t it?

I mean, even if we’ve met the minimum number of people, the school wouldn’t give us a budget if we had no club activities.

The cost of dorayaki we eat in the literature club room comes from activity funds provided by the school. And the books lined up on the shelf, too.

“B-but! I thought it would be nice to all just have fun together!?”

“Who says that?”

As Izumi flushed and shouted, Kaoru replied with a laugh.

*

Honestly, I think city night views are kind of unfair.

I lived in Seoul for quite a while, but no matter how many times I go up such a high place and look down, the night view leaves me mesmerized.

By the way, didn’t they say there are now places in the 2020s that are even taller than Tokyo Tower? Well, it doesn’t matter to consider that right now.

……It’s been over ten years since entering the 21st century.

Back then, I was also diligently attending high school.

At the time, I had no idea how my future would unfold.

If 2024 me were to return to 2004, I wonder if I could save my family.

Thinking about that is a bit cruel.

I believe time just passes, and once it’s gone, there’s no way to help, but still, I can’t help but think… what if?

Even if I could save them, I wouldn’t be able to call them family, though.

“How is it, Koko?”

I asked as Koko stared blankly outside.

“Isn’t it amazing?”

“It’s amazing.”

Koko nodded eagerly, responding to my words.

“I’m glad we came.”

Kaoru said.

“How about this? I think it could make a pretty good theme for writing, Izumi?”

“……I told you, don’t tease me.”

Izumi said, her face flushed.

“But, Kaoru-senpai.”

Hearing those two talk, Yuuki asked curiously.

“You two have been close since childhood, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Kaoru nodded.

“So why are you calling us by nicknames, but you called Izumi-senpai by her name?”

“Oh, that?”

Kaoru giggled as she explained.

“Izumi was called ‘It-chan’ when she was little.”

That was a story I had never heard before.

Turning to look at Izumi, who was darting her eyes around, she said,

“Honestly, isn’t that too childish of a nickname?”

“Why? It’s cute and nice.”

“……”

But even with Kaoru’s words, Izumi just turned her head slightly, trying not to say any more.

Well, if she doesn’t want to share, that’s her prerogative.

Since Kaoru doesn’t seem to take it too seriously, it’s probably not a significantly serious reason. It’s probably just that it’s extremely mismatched with her preferences.

For a moment, the conversation paused.

We all shifted our gazes out the window.

The view of Tokyo as the sun sets is quite beautiful. While the observation deck of Tokyo Tower may not be overwhelmingly high compared to nearby skyscrapers, the red glow peeking through the buildings made it worthwhile to come up here.

Right, sometimes it’s necessary to have time like this, where we can unwind comfortably.

Bleeding every time isn’t exactly pleasant for the one on the receiving end.

*

Kaneko and Izumi left for home first.

Since both live nearby.

Did Izumi remember that I mentioned having a cat? It seemed she wanted to come over and see Kuro today, but she didn’t just abruptly drop by.

“……Kotone.”

Seeming to like calling my name, Yuka lightly smiled as he said it.

“Yep, Yuka.”

I also called his name, confirming it.

To be honest, it doesn’t quite roll off my tongue yet. I’ve been calling him Yuuki for so long.

How should I put it? It’s like Yuuki’s name suddenly changed to Yuka in my head.

At least that’s how it feels to me.

“……”

I think I can somewhat understand now.

I, too, have lived for quite a while completely alone, just me—literally without friends or acquaintances.

No, that’s not right. There were quite a few people who tried to help me, but I pushed them away.

It’s just that, well, how should I put it? I wanted to be alone.

I felt like that for quite a while after coming to this world too, but… hmm.

Yuka probably felt the same. Having to say goodbye every time he got close, repeating that over and over.

Maybe he thought that if he didn’t get close from the start, it would be fine.

Yet, he talked to me.

Maybe Yuka felt it too, that I was a loner.

…….

“Seems like we’re seeing each other often lately.”

At my words, Yuka shrugged.

“Well, it’s not a bad thing, is it?”

“Yep. That’s right. We’re friends.”

“Friends….”

Yuka repeated my words as if chewing on them.

“Yep, that’s right! Friends.”

Yuka smiled brightly.

Seeing such a bright smile from Yuka was the first for me.

“Hey.”

Seeing Yuka’s face made Koko follow along and smile too.

“……Then, let’s meet again soon.”

Yuka said.

This goodbye felt different from our last one.

I nodded back and smiled.

“Yeah. See you again.”

During the rest of summer, just for trivial matters, once more.

---