Published at 17th of June 2024 9:02 pm

[LN] Volume 3: 5.2

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Dissonant Quartet Part 2

Translator: PolterGlast

After being kicked out of the store, Mars was still drunk and walking with unsteady steps through the alleyways of the commercial district.

Unlike the clean and tidy front streets, this place was dark and littered with trash here and there.

However, the darkness was comforting to Mars. At least he would not be seen by others in such a pathetic state.

"Haa, haa...... uph~!"

As he supported his wobbly body with his hands on the wall, a cold sensation returned to the palms of his hands.

Although his head was still boiling with irritation, the fact that he was scolded and kicked out by his adoptive parents, and above all, the cold, enveloping darkness somewhat cooled the heat of the rage that was swirling inside him.

(That reminds me, there was something strange about that guy today......)

With a somewhat cooler head, Mars remembered that Nozomu was acting differently today.

He did not use a Qi-blade that could easily cut through steel, and his movements were lackluster.

He was often absent-minded, and it was easy to see that he was desperately trying to hide something.

(Dammit...... what's with that guy....... Were we that untrustworthy in his eyes?......)

In his hazy vision, Mars could see his hand, which skin was peeling off. It is the right hand that he used to punch Nozomu out of anger.

Nozomu's figure, who was looking down, resurfaced in Mars's mind.

He did not even fight back, and his figure reminded Mars of the man he used to despise, and his anger came back again.

But at the same time, a fierce sense of guilt also began to well up. Caught between his anger and guilt toward Nozomu, Mars walked deeper and deeper into the darkened street at a fast pace, as if to cover it up.

Then, at that moment, a disturbing clamor reached his ears.

"P-please stop!"

"Oh, Come on. You come to a place like this late at night all by yourself. You wanted to play, didn't you?"

"How about staying with us? Until morning, of course!"

A woman's voice called out for help, and the voices of despicable men. Turning his head in the direction of the voices, he saw five young men surrounding a beautiful young woman in a dark alleyway.

It was an act that was somewhat aggressive and inconsiderate to be called 'picking up' girls.......

No matter how one looked at it, the woman was clearly unwilling and was desperately trying to shake off the men's hands that were reaching out to her, in an attempt to escape the men who were closing in on her.

However, the men were rather aroused by the woman's reluctance, and they pushed harder and harder on her.

The men were apparently delinquents and assholes, but Mars found familiar faces among them.

"...... What the hell are you guys doing?"

"-Ge, Mars! What are you doing here?"

Two men in plain clothes closest to the woman caught Mars' attention.

They were the tenth-class male students who had previously been Mars' cronies.

"You can tell by looking at us, can't you? We're inviting her to play."

"P-Please let me go!"

One of the former cronies grabbed the woman's arm forcefully. The woman desperately tried to shake him off, but there were too many of them, and even though they were in the tenth class, some of them were students of Solminati Academy. There would be no way she could escape.

"Hyu~~. She's got a pretty good body! This is a hit!"

"Whoa! It's been a while since I've had fun. Hey, don't let her get away."

"N-no, please stop......"

Seeing the woman's desperate resistance, the men get even more aroused. They began to verbally harass the woman, groping her breasts and buttocks.

Finally, the woman flopped down on the floor, looked like her fear of men had gone beyond its limit.

Perhaps seeing this as an opportunity, one of the men grabbed the woman's clothes.

The next moment, however, a powerful blow was heard, and the man flew through the air.

"Mars! You bastard! What the hell are you doing!?"

"Shut your crap. I'm on edge right now. You're making me even more irritated by doing something like that right in front of me......"

Seeing Mars beating up their friends, all the bastards instantly become enraged.

In the midst of all this, the former cronies, who should know more about Mars' abilities than anyone else in this group, stepped forward.

"He~e...... are you challenging me to a fight?"

"What are you talking about? If it were the old you I might be lost, but now you've been completely stripped of your fangs and have become docile, so there's no way I could lose to you!"

Mars' mouth curled up into a smile. It was a delighted smile as he found a place to vent the discomfort swirling in his chest.

"Besides, you're just a guy who hangs out with that bottom-feeder-......'"

The moment his former crony mentioned Nozomu's name in his grating voice, Mars punched him.

But his outstretched fist was grabbed by a hand reaching out from the side.

"You're doing a lot of foolish things, you lone wolf wannabe!"

It was Kevin who stopped Mars.

He stared at the delinquents with a glare, while Mars was surprised. The delinquents, overwhelmed by the sense of intimidation, threw out the woman they were picking up and ran away.

"~, you bastard, what the hell are you trying to pull here?"

"Are you having so much free time that you have to deal with a bunch of bores?"

"It's none of your business!"

"Yeah-yeah, but this town is on high alert right now. If you make a scene, you won't get away with it, will you?"

"I don't give a damn!"

Mars, while shouting angrily, punched Kevin. His fist slammed into the silver-haired beastman's cheek.

Mars' face was then stained with surprise.

Kevin, on the other hand, gritted his teeth and endured the blow without moving, and as a counterattack, he landed a hook to Mars' jaw.

"Ugh!"

Mars, who was too drunk to hold his footing, stumbled and fell back against the wall of the alley, falling on his butt.

Kevin looked down at Mars and frowned at the pain in his cheek.

He ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek and felt his tongue brush against the peeled skin.

"Tch, for a dipshit, you sure pack a good fist, huh? So, have your head cooled down a little now?"

"......"

"Well, I guess it will be up to that guy to take care of the rest......"

With a glance and a wry smile at Mars, who silently looked up at him, Kevin turned on his heel.

As he disappeared into the back alley, Mars looked up to the sky while sighing.

(What the hell am I doing?......)

His cheeks were red and swollen, stained with sand and dirt, and he was lying on the ground. This is the result of his attempt to lash out just to vent his frustration. It's not cool at all.

(Dammit...... why am I always like this......)

And when he cooled down after the outburst, the guilt and the worst feeling of having punched Nozomu only made him feel tormented even more.

And then he realized that he was trying to cover up his guilt with anger again, and the vicious cycle of feeling even more pathetic was repeated.

(This sure gonna make her disappointed in me...... After relying on her so much, I still ended up like this......)

Tima's figure flashed through Mars' mind.

She taught him how to use magic when all he could do was just wield his power and hurt everyone around him. She may look timid and frail, but she is in fact a strong-minded woman.

(But I have betrayed her expectations......)

As a result of ignoring her advice and relying on that unstable combination technique, he put his friends in a difficult situation.

It was not Nozomu but myself who made the fatal mistake in the battle against [Cracked Crown]. He was angry at Nozomu because he wanted to turn a blind eye to his own failure.

"Haha...... I am really, pathetic......."

Self-loathing burned in his chest and he felt a loss of confidence. A dry laugh escaped from Mars' mouth.

He wanted to disappear. Just when such feelings began to surface, a familiar voice sounded in his ears.

"Haa, haa, haa...... I found you. Mars-kun."

Reflexively looking up upon hearing his name being called, Tima's figure jumped into his eyes.

Mars' eyes widened in surprise at the appearance of the girl who was not supposed to be here.

While Mars averted his gaze in self-loathing, thinking that she should be disappointed, Tima somehow smiled in relief and sat down next to him.

"............"

"............"

Silence flowed between them. After a while, Tima made up her mind and slowly opened her mouth.

"Mars-kun. About Hanna-san and Del-san, they weren't your real parents, were they?......"

"~! How did you know that!?"

"After that happened, I went to the store looking for you, and after Hanna-san and Del-san heard about what happened, they told me about it......"

His face suddenly heated up, and a strange, feverish feeling came over him.

Hanna and Del were not Mars and Ena's real parents.

Their biological mother had died of an epidemic when Mars was six years old.

After that, their father, who had fallen into depression, became addicted to alcohol and women. He was gradually away from home for a day or two, and when he did return, he would lock himself in his room and not pay attention to his children.

The still young Mars and Ena desperately called out for their father from outside the room, but what they received in return was not kindness but violence.

Even when they tearfully pleaded with their father, he would not stop swinging his fist at them. They had no choice but to desperately endure the unreasonable violence from their father.

One day, after about a year of such days, the father finally stopped coming home. They later heard that he ran away to another town with a woman he met at a bar.

After that, the relatives got together to discuss what to do with the two children whose parents had gone, but what took place at the meeting was not a discussion but a pushing and shoving contest.

At that time, various anxieties were still prevalent due to the effects of the Great Invasion. Relatives were too busy protecting their own families and in their eyes, there was no sight of the brother and sister who huddled together at the edge of their hideous shouting contest.

It was then. A spark of anger lit up within Mars, who had been holding the young Ena in his arms.

"Good grief, what a pathetic bunch. These two will be my children then."

But at that moment, someone suddenly interrupted them with a loud voice.

It was Hanna, a neighbor woman who had been a friend of Mars' mother when she was still alive.

She berated the relatives who did not look at Mars and Ena, then took them by the hand and took them home.

Hanna's husband, Del, was surprised at first, but agreed, as they had originally been unable to have children. Mars and Ena became the couple's children, and they moved to Arcazam.

"I was so surprised, you know? I never thought you two weren't Hanna-san and Del-san's biological children......"

"Yeah. Parentless, parasites. Those are the things people used to say about us......"

Orphans are not uncommon. But people's malice is always directed at those who are different from them.

Just like a black sheep among a herd of white sheep.

"But Hanna-san and Del-san were always caring about you two. And aren't you the same, Mars-kun? They said you never brought bad people into the store."

After being with him, albeit only for a short time, Tima understood something.

Mars' anger is a kind of self-defense. The emotional scars he had to deal with as a child. It was his desperate resistance to the fact that his immediate family had abandoned him and to the violence he had been subjected to unreasonably.

"I wanted to be strong...... strong enough to crush such unreasonableness. Deep down inside, I wished I had the strength that Nozomu and you had."

Mars' feelings, which had been suppressed until now, were pushed out.

Once he let it out, the words would never stop.

"I thought I'd obtained that power by having you teach me magic. But I was mistaken...... In the end, I couldn't even control my anger."

Those days when he couldn't hold back the anger that nestled in his heart, jealousy toward his friends, and repentance for the mistakes he had made.

"It's a pathetic story, isn't it? I just let my anger get the better of me, and then I did the same thing as that son of a bitch did......"

"Mars-kun......"

It was the first time he exposed his feelings. Tima sat silently next to Mars as she kept listening to his words.

"The same goes with what happened today. I'm the main cause of today's incident. It's because I got carried away and became conceited about my ability to use that technique. Even though you've told me over and over again...... in the end, I-......."

Blood dripped from Mars' tightly clenched fist.

The self-harming behavior due to excessive self-loathing. Tima's hand is gently reached out to his fist, which is soaked in blood.

"Tima?"

"I know. I know that you are actually very kind, Mars-kun. We all know that. Ai, Nozomu-kun, even Somia-chan as well......"

While wrapping Mars' fist in her own hand, willing it to be stained with blood, Tima slowly weaved her words in a way to convey her feelings.

"When we fought Rugato-san, these hands protected me....... These hands saved my friends."

Tima's hands are a bit cold, as her body temperature is lower than that of men. But that coldness soothes Mars' heat that has not gone away even in the darkness and unravels his toughened heart.

"Indeed, you made some mistakes. But we can still work it out. Because Nozomu and the rest of us are still here, are we not?"

Mars raised his face with a startled expression.

He could no longer move forward in time with his own father, who had disappeared. Now that his father has fled to who knows where, Mars has no place to truly direct the anger in his heart.

But it is not too late to do something about what happened with Nozomu. He must still be in town, and deep down inside he himself would like to see him again.

"...... Can we make it in time?"

"We can. No, let's make it in time. Let's see Nozomu-kun again and ask him properly this time. Ask him, [What the hell are you hiding!]."

"Haha....... Are you trying to sound like me?"

Mars couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the unfitting mimicry, and Tima's face broke out in a smile as well.

After a hearty laugh, Mars closed his eyes once more and took a deep breath.

By the time he exhaled, any lingering doubts had been washed away as if they had never existed.

"Right. I have to see him one more time and apologize to him. And I have to tell him. [Don't you dare keep secrets from us!]"

Mars' usual fearless smile returned to his face.

Seeing that he has regained his resolve, Tima also smiled and they both stood up.

"Then, let's go look for him. I don't know where he is, though......"

"He seems to have gone out of town for some reason...... -ouch!"

Just as they were about to start looking for Nozomu, Tima's face contorted and her body staggered.

Mars supported her body in a hurry. Upon closer look, her right leg was not strong enough to support her.

A slight trembling indicates it is due to her muscles protecting the injured tissues.

Mars' eyes widen for a moment and he silently began to remove Tima's shoes.

"U-um, Mars-kun?"

As he removed her shoes, a reddish-black swelling, unbecoming of Tima's white, slender ankle, flashed into Mars' vision.

The next moment, his expression turned grim.

"You...... that leg."

Internal bleeding, obviously from a sprain. It must obviously be the result of Mars' punching Nozomu and then pushing her away.

"I-It's okay. It was painful earlier, but I don't feel much pain now......"

"You fool, of course it's not okay! That means it's getting worse!"

"Eh, wait a minute! Mars-kun!?"

Ignoring Tima's complaints, Mars put his hands under her armpits and legs and held her in his arms. It was what is called a princess carry.

"Anyway! Let's go to my house and treat you right away!"

"E-, ah! Wait, wait! Kyaaa~!"

While Tima was flailing about with her face bright red, Mars started running as fast as he could.

He was so preoccupied with the thought that he had to treat her at any cost, that Tima's resistance was of no concern to him.

"Fu, fue…… fue~e~e~e~e~e~e!"

Mars blasted away like a fearless horse, silencing her resistance with a powerful embrace.

And Tima's screams, as her embarrassment broke through the roof, were heard echoing in the town at night.

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