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

The next day.

I thought I would be really tired today after staying up late talking with Yuka last night, but it turned out I wasn’t that exhausted.

Upon reflecting, I had pretty much been fainting until that point. Including that ‘little break’, I had actually slept for quite a while.

The one who was really tired was Yuka. She had stayed by my side until I woke up.

While I felt like my combat skills were improving, I had enough sense not to brag about it in front of Yuka. It wouldn’t be a good idea to tell someone who was already hospitalized from an injury, “I can fight pretty well now!” That would be a big blow to their morale.

However, after that conversation, I fell back asleep quickly, so Yuka probably got a decent amount of rest, too…

“Today, you should come home instead of going somewhere else.”

Yuka said that to me.

As we got off the subway together, I could see a bit of fatigue in Yuka’s eyes. It didn’t seem to be so bad that she couldn’t stay awake, but thinking it was because of me made me feel guilty.

“…”

And, Coco’s demeanor had also changed a little.

She wasn’t clinging onto me or anything, but the way she walked directly next to me was quite bothersome.

But because of what happened yesterday, I couldn’t bring myself to separate from Coco. I was just as worried about her.

I really… felt I had committed a grave sin.

“What happened yesterday?”

Seeing Coco with a slightly downcast expression, Miura asked in surprise.

“Uhm…”

“Coco—”

Before I could make up an excuse, Coco opened her mouth first, so I hurriedly spoke up in front of her.

“No, it’s okay. Nothing happened.”

Well, something did happen, but it wasn’t a story that would be okay for an ordinary person to hear. Saying I fought with an invisible monster for my life… well, no matter what excuse I came up with, it wouldn’t be a bright story.

“…Really?”

Ah, but Miura didn’t seem to believe me at all.

She seemed to be holding back from asking me more because I clearly didn’t want to talk about it.

Fukuda, who was behind Miura, sat with her chin resting on her desk, watching me closely. Since the festival, she hadn’t forced any new information on me, but Kagami was probably still close with Fukuda’s father. I wondered if Fukuda still thought I could become sisters with her?

…Hmm, it didn’t seem like she thought that far. Though she was just as friendly as Miura, there was a certain line Fukuda wouldn’t cross. It was just that line was drawn very close to me.

That line was probably drawn by Miura rather than Fukuda herself. At first, I thought the three of us were all close with each other in our class, but after observing for some time, I understood a bit more. The center of their relationship is Miura. If there’s little connection with Miura, then there’s little connection with Fukuda or Yamashita too.

Speaking of which, Yamashita was sneaking glances at me as well. She seemed to be curious about my condition in various ways.

Come to think of it, I guess I’m technically a cousin to Yamashita by blood. On my mother’s side. Of course, I wasn’t sure if that was really concerning blood relations or what.

Coco was the same.

Suddenly, it struck me that my social life was a veritable minefield. No, to be precise, I was the only mine. However, it felt like everyone else was just tiptoeing around it, gently pressing against it together.

…..

I had no intention of expanding my social circle. In fact, I had just been going with the flow in this situation. I had only impulsively caused a few incidents, and yet around me, there were people who genuinely worried about me.

What was I supposed to do, really?

Until now, I thought I could just leave, but once I weighed everything, it seemed like my death would cause so much turmoil.

…..

Is this also just excessive self-consciousness?

Worrying over a future that hasn’t even arrived yet, and thinking I would be at the center of it all seemed like excessive self-consciousness indeed.

I seated Coco down and took my own seat.

Coco kept glancing at me, looking anxious. It seemed the events of yesterday had left quite an impression on her.

I could almost feel my conscience bleeding.

*

“I don’t want to.”

Hmm.

Yeah, I had a feeling it might turn out this way.

As I was about to head to work on the subway, Coco tried to come along with me. Yuka wanted to take Coco with her, but Coco was rooted to the spot as if she were nailed down.

For just a moment, I was startled and even glanced at the ground under Coco’s feet. If she had somehow hammered a large nail into the ground, that would be quite the situation.

But even Coco wouldn’t go that far.

Well, if she did, she wouldn’t be able to follow me, anyway.

“Don’t do that; stay with Yuka. I’ll come as soon as I can after work.”

“But, Kotone, you said that yesterday too.”

“…”

Ugh.

I let out a short groan.

That’s right. I had said that to Coco. I even left Coco with Yuka, thinking I could do ‘that’. So, I couldn’t just say that it wasn’t the case.

If Coco hadn’t jumped in, I might not even be here right now.

“Coco…”

As I spoke, I tried hard not to look at Yuka.

For just a moment, I had wanted to glance at Yuka. That meant I depended on her that much. In this situation, I was the one who had to convince Coco. Yuka was willing to take care of Coco today as well, after all.

“If you just wait a little—”

“Today is Saturday.”

Coco interjected.

“Kotone, you leave early and come back late.”

“…”

Once again, I was hit by a fact swung by Coco.

During the break, especially when we hadn’t gone anywhere, Coco waited for me at home with Kuro.

Coco listened very, very well, contrary to my worries. When I told her to stay home, she truly stayed home.

I still couldn’t figure out what kind of person I should consider Coco to be in terms of age. She seemed to be older than me, but visually she was my age, and her speech was childlike.

But no matter what age point I considered, I thought it was a bit unfair to completely prevent her from going out to play.

And because of that, I was surprised right now.

Had Coco ever clearly expressed her dissatisfaction to me like this?

Maybe I had just thought Coco was a girl who would simply obey my words?

“Coco.”

Yuka gently placed her hand onto Coco’s shoulder.

Coco liked Yuka. They had grown quite close during the last break when she received help. They had known each other before and had even slept over at our house.

But even so, it didn’t seem Coco liked her as much as me.

“…”

For a moment, Yuka seemed to want to say something, but kept her mouth shut.

Then she stared at me blankly.

Why?

No such words came out. Since yesterday, I had entered a period of reflection, so unless it was something egregious, I had decided not to argue back with Yuka.

And Yuka would never make an unreasonable request of me…

“Hmm.”

…she wouldn’t,

“Then let’s do this. Coco, don’t you want to know where Kotone is working?”

She wasn’t giving up, huh?

“Do you want to go and eat something delicious?”

“Something delicious?”

Coco reacted to Yuka’s words.

If I had said something similar on an ordinary day, her eyes would have sparkled, but Coco’s expression was still a bit dark.

“Somewhere you can see Kotone.”

“Kotone?”

At Yuka’s words, Coco’s face slowly began to light up.

“…Yuka?”

“Now that I think about it, it might not be impossible.”

When I called out Yuka’s name, she looked at me with a firm expression.

“It’s a cafe, right? As long as you have money to buy food, you can sit there as long as you want.”

No…

That was true, but…

…..

I tried to keep my emotions calm and think it through.

Right, I’m in a period of reflection, a period of reflection.

I still hadn’t determined the length of this period, but because Yuka said something, I resolved not to argue back.

Besides, it was just a matter of my feelings; Yuka’s words had no issues at all. In fact, it wasn’t even something that required my permission.

If there was a problem, it was that Yuka would spend money for Coco. Even if I wanted to pay Yuka back later, she would certainly refuse.

And all of that was because of what I experienced yesterday.

So in the end, it all loops back to me being at fault.

“…Alright.”

Eventually, I had no choice but to answer that way.

Looking at Coco’s face that lit up like she had heard an invitation to play made me feel somewhat relieved.

Right, let’s take that as consolation.

Eventually, I couldn’t help but lead the two of them towards the maid cafe.

*

I wondered what a sense of victory felt like and thought it might be because of the time Yamashita stayed at my house.

Was it because she didn’t want to be alone in that cramped and shabby house, or was it that she was anxious about being alone in a place that wasn’t her home? I still couldn’t read Yamashita’s expression accurately, but perhaps she followed me for that reason.

It felt similar now.

Of course, unlike Yamashita, whose expression was hard to read, Coco was easy to gauge emotionally.

When she was happy, she would smile brightly; when she was angry, she would go expressionless, and when she was sad, she would panic. Compared to ordinary people, her emotional changes could be considered quite dramatic.

Yuka… well, she was calmer than Coco, but she wasn’t the type to suppress her emotions either.

As the heroine, perhaps she was being quite honest.

No, in the original work, she had been quite sharp with the protagonist. She was a tsundere. The reason she was being so straightforward now was probably because she hadn’t entered the romantic fray.

The first love could not be expressed openly, but the issue was that in this world, that first love hadn’t even started.

I felt a bit guilty about that too.

“Senpai, senpai.”

As I was looking at Yuka and Coco sitting together, Shii spoke up beside me.

“What happened to those two?”

My injuries were from Ota Ward.

While it wasn’t too far from Minato Ward or Akihabara in Chiyoda Ward, it was still a bit difficult to get news unless it was something really big. Especially since I had faced a terrible situation in that bathroom.

“Well…”

I needed to wrack my brain for a decent excuse.

“Today, Yuka just wanted to play with Coco for a bit…”

That was the only lame excuse I could come up with.

Saying I wanted to play with Coco wasn’t a totally wrong statement, but considering today’s circumstances, it bordered on a lie.

“Is that so…?”

Shii tilted her head a bit, but she seemed to understand since I didn’t elaborate any further.

To be honest, I didn’t think this would last long.

No matter how much a friend’s younger sister wanted to play, ordinarily, we wouldn’t come to someone’s workplace and sit here for hours playing around.

For reference, Shii was much better off than the others.

“…”

The boss had been looking at me and Coco with significant meaning for a while now.

I didn’t know what story lay behind those eyes, but when the boss had asked me to help teach his little sister earlier, both Shii and I had been let off work. He had reacted significantly when the phrase ‘intelligence quotient’ had come up.

I didn’t think it would go that far, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask.

Could someone in their family be like that?

When I brought Yamashita along, the boss had said something like, “This shop isn’t a charity, bringing customers won’t get you a bonus,” but now he looked a bit fidgety.

Currently, Coco and Yuka were coloring.

Not that it was a bad thing or something like that.

“…Kurosawa.”

The boss stealthily came beside me and spoke in a very quiet voice.

“…Yes?”

“Does your younger sister have anything she can’t eat?”

…..

Is there?

I figured there probably wasn’t.

It felt a little strange to say this with Coco around, but she’s a kid who can even enjoy cat food. If the first thing I offered her was just raw meat or a dead animal, she would probably enjoy that too. Although after a lot of nagging, she hadn’t been eating anything but human food.

“Nothing.”

“Really? No allergies or such? Like peanuts?”

“….”

What’s going on with the boss?

I looked at him with that thought in mind, and the boss cleared his throat awkwardly before speaking.

“Ah, no, I just thought since the family of a staff member is here, maybe I’d offer some welfare.”

“….”

“It’s not like I think anything specific.”

I know.

I knew well enough that the boss isn’t the kind of person who would feed someone based on their looks; the cafe rule was that we didn’t pry too much into each other’s personal lives, and we didn’t make unnecessary effort to be friendly with the boss either.

So, in a way, this could be seen as the boss breaking some rules.

But.

“I’m not going to ask for money or anything.”

Since the boss had come this far to say something, there was no reason to turn him down. I knew he wasn’t a bad person.

“It’s fine. She’ll probably eat whatever you give her.”

She could probably drink straight espresso without adding anything to it. If we were to get technical, she had a preference for sweet foods.

“Is that so? Alright then.”

Upon hearing my words, the boss nodded and—

—did nothing for a while.

He just quietly observed Yuka and Coco.

Until I had served several more customers, gathering empty cups, plates, and trays, the boss finally took a deep breath and brought out a slice of cream cake. It was a cake topped with a smooth piece of chocolate.

And with a somewhat tense expression… an expression I rarely saw, he slowly approached the two of them.

Instead of placing the plate directly in front of them, he pulled it slightly back as if to offer it to them.

“…Ah.”

The first to notice was Yuka.

When she was looking at Coco coloring with a warm smile, Yuka glanced up at the boss when she saw the cake placed in front of them.

“It’s a service.”

The boss said to Yuka.

Yuka’s eyes blinked.

“Since she’s the family of a staff member.”

Given that he hadn’t given anything when Yamashita came, this made sense.

Oh, but that time, we hadn’t known we were relatives. Yamashita herself didn’t know either.

…Yeah. If this was a service given only to ‘family’, it wasn’t that hard to understand.

“Thank you.”

Yuka seemed to hesitate for just a moment but ultimately decided to take the cake.

“Wow!”

When the cake appeared before her, Coco’s head flew up.

“Now, it’s a gift from the boss. You have to say thank you.”

“Thank you!”

The boss was left dumbfounded, unable to respond to her thanks.

Coco, however, didn’t observe the boss’s reaction and went straight toward the cake.

Taking a fork, Coco poked the chocolate on top of the cake.

I thought she would bring it up to her mouth, but suddenly she looked around.

When Coco’s eyes met mine, she leaped up from her spot and came trotting over to me. If she wanted, she could have come to me much faster than any human, but fortunately, Coco didn’t always have that mindset.

It didn’t seem like she was afraid of drawing attention. Was it because she didn’t feel the ‘need’ for it?

“Kotone.”

“Yeah?”

Coco pointed that fork towards me.

Since there were no customers and I was absentmindedly watching Coco, Yuka, and the boss from behind the counter, I was momentarily stunned by Coco feeding me chocolate.

“Kotone.”

“…Is this for me?”

“Yep!”

Coco nodded and presented the chocolate topped with whipped cream nearly touching my lips.

“…Thanks. I’ll enjoy it.”

I said and took the chocolate into my mouth.

Although the cake was not made here but brought in from a factory… the chocolate was still delicious.

I had wondered how she managed to poke it with a fork, and it… was a bit soft like a famous Japanese chocolate. It had a slightly chewy texture but wasn’t overly sticky, maintaining that distinctive chocolate crumb.

The boss sells quite expensive stuff. I already knew that though.

“…It’s good.”

Once I finished, I remarked, and Coco burst into a big smile.

Then she hurried back to her seat, plopping down in her chair.

As she slightly lifted a piece of cake to her mouth, she seemed to remember Yuka sitting next to her and offered some to Yuka.

“No, I’m good.”

Looking blissfully at Coco as she had me feed her chocolate, Yuka declined the cake that was handed to her.

“Okay!”

Coco did not hold back and brought the cake up to her own mouth without hesitation.

“It’s delicious!”

“You have to chew the things in your mouth before you talk.”

Yuka said as she wiped the whipped cream off Coco’s face.

“…”

As the boss quietly watched the whole scene unfold, he suddenly turned away.

Naturally, that expression was directed at me.

It looked… somehow sad.

I thought I heard a sniffle.

The boss rushed back behind the counter and—

“…You’ve got good friends.”

He said quietly to me.

“…I’m not deserving of such a good friend.”

When I said that, the boss covered his mouth slightly and quickly moved past me to sit at his usual spot.

I didn’t look at the boss again as I quickly stepped outside in search of something to do.

For some reason, it felt like the boss needed some time alone.

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