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Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? (Light Novel) - Volume 11, Chapter 6: Distant Days
Volume 11, Chapter 6: Distant Days
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
Part 1
April 12, Monday
A week had passed since Sanae came to class 2A. By now, Sanae had already started to blend in.
“Sanae-chan, what do your parents do?”
“Uhm, we're an old shrine family... so Papa is the chief priest.”
“So you're the daughter of a distinguished family!?”
“...I wouldn't say that... It's not that famous of a shrine...”
When she had first come to the class, Sanae only spoke to Koutarou and Maki, but as time passed she was able to commune with various people. As a result, people began gathering around Sanae during breaks. Her youthful appearance and pure personality tickled a lot of people's desire to protect her.
“In the end, Sanae-chan didn't regain her memories...”
While looking at Sanae who was being surrounded by a large group of people, Yurika mumbled to herself. Next to her were the residents of room 106. They had gathered to chat during their break, but since nobody unrelated to them was around, they naturally began speaking about Sanae.
“I am sorry. Our power wasn't enough.”
Kiriha looked at Sanae as well as she furrowed her brows into a sorrowful expression. Kiriha had spent a long period of time trying her best to treat Sanae, but she had been unable to protect her memories. Looking at it objectively, there was nothing that could be done, but Kiriha still felt responsible. That was why she was the one who most likely wished for Sanae to regain her memories more than anyone.
“There's no need for you to blame yourself, Kiriha-san. If it wasn't for you, Sanae wouldn't have survived.”
Shizuka comforted Kiriha who was getting depressed. Kiriha had been the one that saved Sanae's life.
It was because she had extracted information from the ghost hunters and developed a way to treat Sanae while keeping relevant information a secret that Sanae was alive today. Had she made a single wrong decision, Sanae probably would have died, or Sanae could have ended up killing Koutarou. That's why not a single person blamed her.
“It's not certain that she won't get her memories back yet. It's still too early to feel sorry for yourself.”
“I think so too. It's only been three weeks.”
Compared to the others, Theia and Ruth remained optimistic. They would feel bad if Sanae didn't regain her memories, but they firmly believed that she would. They were capable of such a strong belief because of the difficult life they had lived.
“Will Sanae-chan's memories return?”
“If we don't believe in it, who will? If we leave her be like this, the Sanae who was crying back then won't be able to rest in peace.”
“You're right. I got a little weak, you've opened my eyes, Theia-dono.”
“Very good.”
“That's right, we have to get Sanae-chan's memories back at any cost!”
“Yurika-sama, please lend us your power.”
“I understand! This unworthy Nijino Yurika will do her best!”
Theia's optimism spread to her surroundings and smiles returned to the group. One could say that Theia's nature as a leader was starting to bloom.
“But, but, what should I do specifically?”
Yurika tilted her head. She understood that they wanted her to make her memories as a ghost resurface, but she didn't know exactly what to do.
“Would it work if we hit her with electricity or make her take some medicine?”
“Yurika-chan, you've been reading too much manga.”
Shizuka smiled wryly at Yurika's extreme ideas.
“Then, what should I do?”
“Uhm... that's...”
But even Shizuka didn't know what to do.
“...There's nothing we have to do.”
Koutarou who had been staying quiet until now was the one to answer Yurika's question.
“What do you mean, Koutarou?”
Theia asked him in place of Yurika. Koutarou responded by smiling at the girls.
“We can just stay the same. Talking to Sanae, and fooling around. Similar stuff like that will probably reawaken her memories.”
In order to reawaken memories, they only had to recreate the environment they had been previously in. And when similar things happen, she would notice that she has experienced them before.
“That said, that would be hard right now. It would probably be best once the attention around her dies down a little.”
Koutarou pointed towards Sanae as he said that. She was currently surrounded by classmates and she didn't have the time to be with Koutarou and the others. Once more time has passed and the class began calming down, Sanae should be able to have the time for that.
“And her wish was to live like that. Whether she has her memories or not doesn't actually matter.”
Sanae's wish was to spend her life like always. In that case, it wouldn't matter if she had her memories or not. What was important was that Koutarou and the others protected that promise.
“Satomi-kun, could you come over here?”
Just as Koutarou finished his explanation, Maki who was next to Sanae called him over.
“What!?”
Koutarou approached her without hesitation.
“...What a magnificent man...”
Theia praised Koutarou while staring at his back as he left. Koutarou entered the circle surrounding Sanae and began talking with the people there. Shortly thereafter, Koutarou, Maki and Sanae smiled. Sanae's smile was bright.
“He understands the path he should walk and he travels it without hesitation. His everyday life ever since we came might have trained him to behave as such. However―”
Theia understood Sanae's wish and that Koutarou wanted to fulfill it.
But her expression turned dark. She stared at Koutarou's back as if she was witnessing something sad.
“He doesn't desire Sanae, huh...”
Kiriha finished Theia's sentence. She was looking at Koutarou with a dark expression, just like Theia.
“Yes...”
And Kiriha had correctly guessed how Theia felt.
“He is gentle to everyone. His love is poured equally to everyone, even more so than the Blue Knight of legend.”
“Your highness...”
Reacting to Theia's words, Ruth showed a faint smile.
More so than the Blue Knight of legend.
To Ruth, the feelings put into those words held immeasurable emotion.
“He never asks for anything back. That might be fine for a lot of people. That is what the knight's philanthropy was originally about.”
Theia's words were supposed to be words of praise. But for some reason, Theia's tone and expression turned darker.
“But.. for him not to ask anything of even those close to him is very sad...”
Theia ended her words there, but there was actually a continuation. While fiddling with her golden hair, she continued the sentence in her mind.
Even more so for a woman...
She wanted the person whom she loved to need her, to desire her. That wish held true in any world. Theia believed that was how the girls around Koutarou felt. But that wasn't important for now, so Theia put her feelings away before continuing to speak.
“The person over there is the person that was supposed to be our Sanae. Yet, why doesn't he wish for her to be our Sanae? To me... it looks like he is fine with Sanae staying the way she is as long as he fulfills his promise.”
That was what was important. To Theia, Koutarou's actions seemed strange.
Koutarou put in an extraordinary amount of effort to fulfill Sanae's wish, but he didn't seem to care if Sanae fulfilled her own promise of regaining her memory.
Because of that, their relationship didn't seem equivalent. It was if Koutarou didn't need Sanae. And Theia couldn't consent to that. She couldn't imagine Koutarou being such a cold man either.
“Why is he so easily accepting his parting with Sanae? Why doesn't he desire others? Why doesn't he say 'Come back'? Just what is he so scared of!?”
There should be some kind of reason. But since she couldn't see it, Theia suffered while containing her emotions she couldn't unleash. She couldn't get angry, forgive or sympathize.
“There is something I can think of.”
The one to answer Theia's doubt was Kiriha.
“Really?”
“Yes. Based on the Koutarou I know from the past and from his actions up until now.”
This wasn't something that one could easily share with others. But Kiriha believed that the girls of room 106 held similar feelings as she did, so she decided to tell them.
“I understand where you are coming from, Theia-dono. I thought of the same thing for a long time as well. And why only Yurika is an exception.”
“Eh? Me?”
Yurika was taken back by surprise. She hadn't expected that she would be involved in something this serious.
“Koutarou doesn't ask anything from anyone, except for Yurika. They wrote manuscripts together, did their homework together, tried out wrestling moves and so on. Doesn’t that sound familiar?”
“...Now that I think about it... I always end up with the painful and troublesome things...”
Yurika placed a finger on her lap and thought about it, it did sound familiar. Whenever Koutarou would start something for fun, he would always pick Yurika. The wrestling moves a few weeks ago was one such example.
“But, isn't that just because Satomi-san is bullying me? He's not treasuring me. Ah, he also extorts me using food!”
Yurika only thought of it as punishment games. She could always come up with a few reasons as for why Koutarou would be angry with her.
“That's what I thought as first as well. But... when I thought back of Koutarou's past, I feel like I could understand why only Yurika is special.”
When combining what Kiriha knew of Koutarou's past and what Kii knew of her Onii-chan's behavior, a different reason surfaced. That's what Kiriha had recently noticed.
“Satomi-kun's past? Now that I think about it, Satomi-kun doesn't really talk much about himself.”
Shizuka loved gossips, but she knew when she shouldn't be playing around. And when it came to Sanae and Koutarou, she was always serious. That held true this time as well as she seriously participated in the discussion to come up with a solution to the problem.
“It's not that he doesn't talk about it, he just doesn't want to. After all... his mother was involved in a traffic accident and died right in front of him and his family collapsed.”
“Wha... what...”
Ruth held her breath. Koutarou's past was far more horrific than she had imagined.
“His mother died when he was six years old. Koutarou accidentally stepped out on the road, and when he was about to get run over, his mother pushed him out of the way... Koutarou witnessed his own mother die in front of him because of his own carelessness.”
The detailed information about the accident was a result of Kiriha's investigation in the past.
When she first came to room 106, Kiriha had gathered information on Koutarou in order to turn the battle for room 106 into a long term conflict, and that included information about his family.
She decided to leave the information be as it was something best left untouched. Since they were the same age, she had decided that it was a coincidence that the same thing had happened to her first love. But now that she knew that Koutarou was that same person, it served to explain the meaning behind Koutarou's actions.
“And because of the loss of his mother, his relationship with his father turned sour. That's why it seems like Koutarou has been alone since childhood. It seems like Kenji and baseball were what helped him get back on his feet.”
“So that's why Satomi-kun loves Mackenzie-kun and baseball...”
Hearing about Koutarou's past, Shizuka started understanding the strange relationship Koutarou and Kenji had.
Regardless of what cruel tricks they would play on each other, they would have completely forgiven each other the next day. They deeply trusted one another. Though it was slightly different from Yurika, Kenji was another exception for Koutarou. And the reason for that was found in his past.
“That's probably why he's good in a fight too...”
These days, children rarely fought hand to hand. And it wasn't hard to imagine what kind of childhood Koutarou must have had to be good at it. When Yurika thought of that, she could feel as if her chest was being squeezed.
“This is just my guess but... Koutarou is probably afraid that the people he loves will go away just like his mother. That's why he doesn't desire anyone, why he doesn't take that step.”
Theia's eyes shot open.
“What... No, if that's the case then...”
“And that is why he always minds the people around him. So that his carelessness won't cause something irreparable.”
Kiriha's guess sounded convincing to Theia.
The experience of having lost his mother was what made Koutarou to turn out the way he did. Scared that he will lose someone truly precious to him, he doesn't try to get too close to anyone. And because his mother had died because of his carelessness, he sticks to his promises with an adamant will and prays that all those around him will reach a happy conclusion.
Koutarou's actions weren't out of love, but from loss. When thinking of it like that, everything began making sense.
“That's why only Yurika is an exception!?”
“That's right. I'm from the underground, you are an alien and Sanae was a ghost. It was clear that we would eventually part ways. So Koutarou took one step back from us.”
Theia and Ruth would eventually return to Forthorthe.
Kiriha would also return underground one day.
Sanae would have supposedly passed on to the afterlife.
Shizuka was the other party of a temporary lease contract, Harumi had a chronic disease and would graduate in the near future. Koutarou couldn't imagine meeting them after his graduation.
Like such, all of the people around Koutarou were people that he would eventually part ways with.
“But Yurika is different. To him, Yurika is just a normal person. They could spend their high school life together, graduate and their relationship could continue after that. To Koutarou, Yurika is a person that will always stay close to him.”
“Now that I think about it, Satomi-san―”
Hearing what Kiriha was saying, Yurika remembered what Koutarou had said in the past.
“It's selfish, right? I probably just wanted you to remain as a normal classmate. A normal classmate, with a special hobby.”
That was several months ago when Yurika and Maki had fought. Having learned that Yurika was a magical girl, that was what he said. It was thanks to Kiriha's explanation that she could understand his real intentions. Before, she had only understood the meaning on the surface, but now she was able to reach a deeper place of understanding.
It's not that Satomi-san doesn't believe that I'm a magical girl! He wanted to believe that I'm a cosplayer! Because he should be able to stay friends forever with a cosplayer!! A cosplayer wouldn't go away!!
Of course, at first Koutarou didn't think much of it. But as he got along better with Yurika, he began feeling happy that she was just a cosplayer.
His mother had suddenly vanished. The other invaders would eventually leave. But Yurika was just a freeloader with a strange hobby. She might have been a little sloppy, but Koutarou's carefree everyday life with Yurika would continue forever, just like with Kenji. He wanted it to continue, that was the wish he kept secret on the inside.
And Yurika remember one more thing that he had said.
“Sunshine and rainbows suit you better.”
Just like before, they were words Koutarou had said to her in the past. Yurika had always interpreted those words as Koutarou saying that fighting didn't suit her. But after listening to Kiriha's explanation, they came to hold a different meaning.
T-Then Satomi-san is treating me roughly and bullying me because he really treasures me and... he thinks of me as sunshine and rainbows...
To Koutarou who had suffered over losing his mother, a problematic little sister like Yurika was a grateful existence. If what Kiriha was saying was true, then Koutarou took care of Yurika, but he was in reality relying on her.
“Then, uh, that's, ehm, really!?”
That was when Yurika's thoughts ground to a halt. Her blood started boiling and her face turned red. She blanked out and was unable to think of anything. Of course that was only obvious; up until now, Yurika had never been truly needed by someone. Nana, her master, might barely have been able to fit that description. But even Nana didn't plan to keep Yurika by her side forever. She always warned Yurika of the dangers and tried to push her away. But now, Yurika had learned that Koutarou needed her. And it wasn't just some superficial meaning, but an actual deep one, just like how he had trusted in her abilities as a magical girl, during Sanae's treatment a few weeks ago.
In other words, while Yurika was unaware of it, Koutarou thought highly of her skills as a magical girl without finding out that that was her true identity, and at the same time he thought of her as necessary.
Most likely, if Koutarou had known that Yurika was a magical girl from the start, this probably wouldn't have happened. The results of coincidence and inevitably crossing paths caused Yurika to become special to Koutarou.
When she realized that, Yurika became unable to think of anything. Realizing how blessed of a situation she was in, she became unable to control her emotions.
“So Satomi-sama doesn't think he will always be with us...”
While Yurika had overheated and became unable to speak, Ruth mumbled with a depressed expression.
Looking at Koutarou and Yurika's relationship from another perspective, it meant that Koutarou believed that the other invaders would eventually leave. And that was a horribly lonely reality for Ruth.
“That's right. That's why Koutarou has accepted that Sanae has lost her memories of us. After all, he has always been ready for the day that Sanae leaves.”
“Sanae-chan is important, but he was prepared for them to part from the beginning. That's why he's not shook up, even if she doesn't have her memories. He won't try to think of ways to forcibly get them back. That's kinda... sad, Satomi-kun...”
Since Shizuka didn't have any parents either, she understood Koutarou's feelings. She knew, better than anyone, what being truly alone was like. To Shizuka, Koutarou and the invaders had saved her from her solitude. That's why hearing that Koutarou was ready for his parting with Sanae from the beginning made Shizuka sad.
“But, knowing that, there's a way to approach it.”
The mood started to turn darker and more depressing, but Theia's eyes kept their gleam. Having decided on the path she would travel, she wouldn't stop at just grieving.
“We only need to make Koutarou believe that the time to part ways won't come.”
“How?”
If possible, Shizuka wanted to do what Theia was saying. Just like how she had been able to enjoy every day, she wanted Koutarou to be able to do the same. But coming up with a method for that wasn't easy. Shizuka followed Koutarou with her eyes while racking her brain. That's why, if Theia knew the answer, she wanted her to know it.
“Kiriha, I'll let you explain the details. You would surely know.”
But in reality, Theia didn't really know the answer either. All she knew was that Kiriha would have reached the answer.
“Leave it to me.”
Kiriha showed a small smile and nodded.
“...There's nothing we have to do.”
And she spoke the same words Koutarou had spoken just before. She believed that Koutarou's solution regarding Sanae would fit for him as well.
“We can just stay the same. Talking to Koutarou, and fooling around. By doing that, Koutarou will surely believe that we will always be with him.”
They would only repeat their everyday life until Koutarou believed that. A year might not have been enough, but there was still time. They would make Koutarou believe that they wouldn't leave, and if for some reason someone was still about to leave, they would join hands and prevent it. They would make him realize that together, they can protect their bonds.
“Like Yurika-sama?”
Ruth looked at Yurika who was still unable to think. Ruth found the thought of everyone bothering Koutarou like Yurika unbearably amusing.
“No... it doesn't necessarily have to be the same way as Yurika's. We are using our own ways to invade Koutarou's heart.”
There were as many answers as there were people. Yurika's method wasn't the only correct one.
“I'm not trying to invade though.”
Shizuka understood what Kiriha was trying to say, but she thought it was strange that she was treated like one of the invaders. But it's not that she disliked it.
“Sanae-san does it for free, but Aika-san makes you pay...”
“Hey, Satomi-kun, that's a rude way to put it!”
“That makes it sound like I'm a cheap girl.”
Unaware of the invading girls’ plans, Koutarou continued chatting with Sanae and the others. Looking at Koutarou, Theia raised the edges of her lips.
“Kukuku... you just continue to laugh carefreely like that, Satomi Koutarou.”
Theia then crossed her arms, threw her head back and showed a coercive smile while looking down on Koutarou. It was a smile that made one remember Theia when she had first come to Earth.
“You've made a grave misunderstanding if you think our invasion will end eventually. Just you watch, by the time you notice, it will already be too late... kukukuku...”
But since her feelings were obvious to everyone looking, unlike one year ago, nobody tried stopping her.
Part 2
At this time, it wasn't just Koutarou and the others who were paying attention to Sanae's memories.
“It looks like her memories really aren't returning... Ahahaha, this is my chance, the time I've been waiting for has finally come!”
It was the female evil spirit that was targeting Sanae and the others. Waiting for the perfect timing to attack Sanae, she had secretly been staying nearby all this time.
“If I have a body that can produce that much spiritual energy, I can surely return to the world of the living! This time, I will possess that girl and obtain her spiritual energy and body!”
The evil spirit was after Sanae's massive spiritual energy and her body that produced that energy. But there was little to no meaning in reaching out for them when Sanae was split into two.
The ghost Sanae was pretty much untouchable because of the spiritual protection around room 106. And since she was almost never alone outside of room 106, there was nothing the evil spirit could do.
As for Sanae's real body, because the majority of her spiritual energy had been separated from her body, she had grown weak and there was no point taking her over to use as a tool for producing spiritual energy.
But with both Sanaes united, the problems were all resolved. Sanae left room 106, and her spiritual protection grew weaker. Now, with her spiritual body back, Sanae's body was producing massive amounts of spiritual energy. This was the perfect time for the evil spirit. If her memories were to return, Sanae's spiritual protection might grow stronger again. And, since the two Sanaes had just united, her spiritual body still wasn't fully stable inside of her real body. So if the evil spirit were to enter, it wouldn't be hard to take over Sanae's body. It was her best and last chance. The evil spirit had no intentions of letting it pass by.
“Just you wait, little kitten! This time we will become one!”
The evil spirit’s hatred and envy flared up and burned her remaining spiritual energy.
She wasn't considering the future.
Since she was growing weak herself, she wouldn't get another chance if she passed this up. That's why she would use up all of her powers in an attempt to obtain Sanae.
