Chapter 24 Home Visit ②
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
I— I have killed so many people until now… even my parents, with my own hands…!
I can still see that first moment clearly.
I was filled with a flood of information and my head pounded. I crouched down in pain, and my parents—who were worrying about me without a single doubt—were the ones whose necks I broke with my own hands. I remember the feel of soft flesh under my fingers as I crushed it, the dull, wet sound of bone breaking, my parents’ worried faces turning around and around in my sight, and the sense of ending their lives. I remember it all.
It was not only my parents. I have taken many people’s lives… I did it because I wanted to keep myself safe, because I could not refuse the voice that told me to, because the voice used me. I broke people like Riza-san (Riza), men I did not even know, their friends—everyone I met, I destroyed.
‘But there is an advantage to starting this allowable event here—’
”I can’t tell anyone… If I make friends with someone, the voice will tell me to kill them again…!”
Being unable to ask anyone for help, unable to call for help, felt terribly lonely.
Even when people came to me, the voice would react too strongly.
Still—I did not want to kill kind people like Cliff or Lucia without cause!
‘What it means is—’
”If I do not follow orders, things get worse…!”
When I went against the voice’s will, or when I failed the tasks it gave me, the situation only got worse.
You did not know what would happen until it happened. You did not know what they would make you do.
‘First of all, the plan forward is, of course, about Morochin—’
”I… I… I was made to do things I did not want to do…!!”
I had tried so hard, I had held myself back, I had pushed down my feelings and stood naked before men I did not love. Then, when I finally reached my limit and tried to run away, I was forced to do terrible things.
Why did I have to pee in front of Harold? Why did I have to have him lick me? Why did I have to kiss someone like him?
I could not even speak about the stolen underwear. They made me hold dirty things. I was made to do awful things without understanding, then they kept following me afterward.
‘So—’
”What did I do—!!” I shouted, words I could not arrange well thrown at the person I had just met.
I pressed my hands to my ears and crouched, trying to block the voice that spoke as if it were someone else living inside me.
Haruka’s mother gently covered me from above and held me close.
‘The viewers who have been watching until now probably guessed this already—’
”You have been through so much… It’s all right. Now that Haruka is not here, you don’t need to worry about being heard,” she said, her voice soft.
”Ugh…”
She stroked my head and my back, taking all my words with gentle, kind things.
Each time she touched me, the tension left my stiff body.
‘Homo-chan (nickname) starts with very low stats, so she gets shaken and confused by small things—’
When was the last time I behaved so shamefully and cried in front of someone?
When was the last time someone patted my head and comforted me?
No, in fact, I had almost no memory of touching another person like this. The last time had been when my father caught me doing something naughty, scolded me, and my mother found me and held me while gently patting my head. That was the last time.
‘After this event, your energy and spirit recover, and at this time they even reach the maximum—’
”Mo- Mother…” I said.
”Oh? Heh. It’s all right. Think of me as your real mother and lean on me,” she said, smiling.
This woman was not my family or my friend. She was a complete stranger I had just met.
Even so, I felt her motherhood. I kept thinking of my dead mother and seeing her in this woman.
It was rude to feel this way toward both my real mother and this stranger, but my body would not move.
‘We tried to use Harold to fill the missing sexual experience, but he became a stalker and took away Homo-chan’s mental strength, so now we can use this chance to recover it—’
”I don’t want to die…” I whispered.
”You had a hard time,” she said.
Even though it should not have been so, and even though I did not truly know this woman, I somehow had the sure feeling that she would accept all of me. I felt safe.
The voice did not seem to understand this exchange, and that was convenient. After so many years of wanting comfort but keeping myself away, it was hard to let go on purpose.
So I clung to her clothes and kept crying quietly, holding on like someone desperate.
‘I did not want to rely on Harold because he would cut more spirit and try to trigger related events, but Homo-chan was not cooperating, so it could not be helped—’
”Sniff… hic…”
”There, there. It’s all right,” she said softly.
I tried to pull my mind away from the voice’s strange talk. The warmth of another person, something I had not felt for so long, slowly helped me calm down.
After we stayed like that for a while, Haruka’s mother must have felt I was steady again, because she began to speak.
‘But since you can recover what you lost in this event and even raise your max, it’s no problem. You can blow up your mind with Darkness Sorcery, but of course there are downsides, and there will be times you can’t use sorcery later—’
”Ask Haruka for help, and then look for someone,” she said.
”…?”
I lifted my face, weak and slow.
I must have looked terrible. Haruka’s mother gave a small, kind smile as she wiped my face, which was wet with tears and snot, and continued to speak.
‘After many test runs and thinking it over, yes, this event is worth starting—’
”Haruka’s eyes are special. They are not complete yet, but one day he may be able to see the thing that is eating at you.”
”…!”
My eyes opened wide at her words.
”Somewhere in this world, a hero will be born to defeat the Demon King. If you find that child and make them work with Haruka, you may be freed,” she said.
I had never heard anything like this from the voice. How did Haruka’s mother know? Was it really possible? If it was true, who was this hero? Could I even search for them without the voice finding out? I could not decide on anything.
But after ten years of pain, a hope placed right in front of me—a chance for rescue—was enough to make me feel light and dizzy.
How could I not cling to advice from someone who could feel that presence without me saying a word? Someone who pushed away the voice’s watchful grip?
‘Also, there is something you can only get if you start this event. This is the fastest way—’
”You cannot move freely, and Haruka has demon blood, so there may not be many things he can do in human lands. But it is still worth trying, right? I think Haruka would try his best for you.”
”Will… will that really save me?” I asked. My voice caught because I had cried too much, and I felt my cheeks grow red like a normal girl.
”The chance is low,” she said. “And the hero may not help you. But this is the only way I know.”
”Why… do you know this?” I asked.
”Who knows?” she said with a small laugh. “Since long ago, I have been a little connected to somewhere that is not this world.”
Somewhere not this world… Could that be where the voice came from?
”So, if you can, I would be happy if you visit again,” she said.
”…May I come again?”
”Of course. In fact, let me check on you from time to time so I can feel at ease, all right? You are an important friend of my son.”
She hugged me again from the front.
I felt the small beat of her heart through her chest and her warm body spread through me.
This—this was what I wanted. I had been lonely for so long. I hugged her back tightly.
”Haruka actually had a twin,” she said. “A big sister who died before birth. If I had a daughter, she might have been like you.”
”…Mh.”
‘So that means—ah, yes, you’re fully recovered now,’ the voice noted.
Even though I was not free from the voice, my heart felt full, and the release from fear made me sleepy.
I was burying my face in another person’s chest and acting like a child, even though I was old enough to know better. A small part of my mind felt ashamed, but I still could not let go.
”I am sorry to your real mother,” she whispered. “Forgive me.”
”No, no… it’s fine… I’m… happy…”
”Heh, really?”
I was already starting to depend on her.
She understood my pain, showed me a path to be saved, and gave me motherly warmth. I could not fight it.
Maybe that was why I let myself relax this much—
”Then, from today on, I will be your mother instead—”
She smiled at me as she said it.
And I twisted her neck in one turn and killed her.
‘We are done here, so let the widow leave the stage for the next part.’
”Ah… uh? Eh… ah?”
The voice that had been directed somewhere else now turned toward me. At the same time, I heard something fall behind me.
”Rei…n…?”
‘You were a sacrifice, a sacrifice of a sacrifice… And now begins the run to steal the awakened sha○ingan after family tragedy!’
My mind was still slow, but one thought came.
Ah, right. This was an event.
Notes:
• –
• Riza – A female student and Reina’s assigned roommate, initially confident and outgoing, but brutally assaulted and mentally broken by Reina under the voice’s control.
• Cliff – Son of First-Class Knight Lilia. Practices Flame God Style. Obsessed with defeating strong opponents, especially Reina Alcott after a humiliating loss.
• Lucia – A female classmate of Reina with the (Regeneration) blessing, a power of immense value, unaware of the world government’s interest in her abilities.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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