NOVEL NEXT chapter 5
5. Is the Hero Sick?
*
The next day, after finishing my university classes, I visited the antique shop with the ID and seal that the doctor had told me to bring. The organization of Heroes of Justice may sound like a fantasy, but the procedures for joining and obtaining identification are quite proper. Apparently, they take these document procedures seriously because they operate as an antique shop on the surface and need to do things behind the scenes to take in orphans like Himawari.
――――Jingle, Jingle――――
As I rang the doorbell for the second time, the pink-haired girl reading a fashion magazine at the counter turned her head towards me.
“Welcome, senpai.”
“Momo?”
“Momo is working the shop today. I say working, but this antique shop is just a front, and we just display random books we bought from around here at arbitrary prices. We hardly get any customers other than members. But it would be suspicious if there was never anyone here, right? That’s why people like me take turns working here.”
She says she’s working, but all she seems to be doing is reading the magazine she bought on the way here. She’s wearing an apron over her sailor uniform, but she doesn’t seem to have any intention of working, so it’s questionable whether this really counts as camouflage.
“What are you here for, Sora-senpai? Are you on standby?”
“No, it’s about the paperwork to join.”
“Hmm? That should be quick then… Hey, senpai! Do you want to hang out with me after you’re done?”
She closed the magazine she was reading with a snap and gave me a playful wink. Even such a calculated gesture looks good on Momo because she’s so naturally cute. If she wasn’t a hero, she might have been a reader model in the magazine she’s reading. Thinking about it that way, it’s hard for me to imagine the worries of a high school girl who is secretly fighting as a hero, keeping it from her family and friends.
“I’ll go if you want. Is it okay to leave the shop?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. We don’t get any customers anyway.”
“That’s how it is, huh?”
“That’s the way it is! So, let’s finish this quickly and then come back to Momo, okay?”
We’ve become friends who share the same secret. It’s my job to accompany her on these outings. Besides, I’m not expected to contribute much in terms of fighting power anyway.
“Okay, I’ll see you later then.”
After making that promise to Momo, I enter the staff room. I remove the books from the bookshelf in the drab room in the order that the doctor instructed me yesterday, and a beeping sound rings out. Then, I enter the combination of my squad number and password, which I had been given in advance, into the intercom that has been installed, and I hear the sound of a huge moving device at my feet. Once I’ve done that, the rest is easy. I open the floor , and a staircase leading to an underground passage appears.
“This is still amazing…”
I was so excited when I first saw it that I forgot to make a joke, but I wonder how much money and technology went into this security system. I don’t know if it’s really necessary to go to such lengths, but at any rate , it’s very reassuring to know that only squad members can enter the base.
I walk down the underground passage for a while, getting lost a bit before finally reaching Dr. Gentian. I hear that the doctor’s laboratory takes up a particularly large area within the base, and apparently, the part I visited was just a small corner of it.
“Asagi here.”
“Yes, come in.”
When I show my face on the video intercom, the lock is released, and the door opens. Inside, the doctor, who was operating several large computers and a lot of monitors like a hacker in a drama, was waiting for me.
“Did you bring what I asked for yesterday?”
Dr. Gentian turned her gaming chair around to face me. She was wearing a different navy shirt today, a white coat over it, and a tight skirt that didn’t look very easy to move in. She looked less like the commander of a squadron of superheroes and more like a female doctor from a teenage boy’s fantasies.
“What’s wrong, Sora-kun? Why are you staring at me like that…?”
“N-nothing! I brought them!”
Flustered by her piercing dark purple eyes, I hurriedly opened my backpack and took out my driver’s license and seal.
“Hmm, then sign this document…”
To be honest, I thought the doctor was a bit eccentric, but she went through the paperwork efficiently and without any fuss, and it was all over in less than an hour.
“Good, that makes you a member of Philance Blue. I have high hopes for you.”
“Thank you…”
“What’s wrong? You don’t sound very confident.”
“Well, of course not. I’m not cut out to be a hero.”
“You have a much greater talent than that.”
“A talent?”
“Yes. It’s often the case that people don’t realize their own unique talents. I scouted you because I saw that in you. Trust my judgment.”
I don’t doubt the doctor, but I still don’t get it.
“What kind of talent do I have?”
“Well, you’ll find out soon enough.”
She evades the question. Do I really have a unique and extraordinary talent?
“By the way, you saw Momo and the others yesterday and said that it’s suspicious that such ordinary girls could have several times the normal amount of affection, right?”
“I didn’t say it was suspicious, but it is a bit questionable. Especially Momo. She seems like an ordinary high school girl. I can understand that Uguisu-san is a woman with strong family ties, but Himawari is still just a child, isn’t she?”
“When it comes to dating women, you’ll get burned if you only look at the surface.”
“Huh?”
“Ordinary people don’t develop strong emotions just by living ordinary lives. Their emotions are only as strong as an ordinary person’s. They’re happy when they pass a test, sad when they lose a love, upset when they have a fight with a friend… their emotions are limited to the realm of everyday life and common sense. That’s normal.”
“Well, I guess so.”
“However, when someone with a certain disposition is placed in an extraordinary environment, they can develop emotions that are vastly different from those of ordinary people.”
“A certain disposition?”
“Have you heard the term ‘yandere’?”
Yandere. I know that it’s a portmanteau of “yanderu” (sick) and “deredere” (lovey-dovey).
“Isn’t it like, ‘I’ll kill you and then I’ll kill myself’?”
“That’s mostly accurate. However, if there were tons of people like that in real life, the world wouldn’t be a safe place for romance. When people interact with each other, it goes smoother if there’s some lightness and flexibility.”
I believe yandere was a term used to describe a character who engages in abnormal behavior due to loving someone too much. It’s true that the love of a yandere woman is greater than normal, or rather, it seems heavier.
“Being a yandere is a type of innate talent, like sports or art. I’m sure you understand that it’s not easy to love and become deeply attached to someone to an excessive degree?”
“Indeed, I can’t imagine caring myself for someone to the point where I’d be willing to lose my life or my position for them.”
“That’s the gist of it. Those who have a natural disposition for strong love that’s not deterred by self-sacrifice, along with their family environment, workplace environment, or major life-changing events, experience a chemical reaction. That allows them to produce enough affectionate energy to fight as a hero.”
“…Family environment.”
The first person who came to mind when he said that was Himawari. She’s still just a middle schooler, but she’s living on base. I wonder what her family is like.
“Have you figured it out to some extent? Think of the people here as ordinary yandere girls who have special circumstances, mindsets, and strong natural dispositions.”
“I see…But I can’t imagine any of you as yandere.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, Akane-san gives off the impression of being a straightforward tomboy. And Momo seems a bit flighty, which is the opposite of a yandere. Himawari’s still a child, so she’s probably too young for that. And Uguisu-san seems more like a Yamato nadeshiko who’d take a step back rather than force her love on someone. I might be way off since I’ve only just met you all, but I really can’t see any of you as having the disposition of a yandere.”
“Even in fictional works, yandere characters are often portrayed as normal people when romance isn’t involved. Could it be that they have some kind of abnormality that they haven’t shown you yet?”
“An abnormality…”
It’s hard to believe all of a sudden.
“If you want to hear more details, ask them yourself. I’m sure you’ll become close with them in no time.”
What kind of faith does the doctor have in my communication skills?
“The more you treat those girls as ordinary girls, the more they’ll trust you. Lucky you, it’s a harem. Be happy.”
“No, a harem is…”
At the very least, I’m not a potential romantic partner in the eyes of high school girls or middle school girls. I wouldn’t be interested in them either.
“Kukukuku, well, you’ll realize it eventually.”
After finishing his speech, the satisfied doctor chased me out of the room because he wanted to get back to his research. He also said something like, ‘It’s dangerous to be together for too long,’ but could it be that he noticed I was looking at his thighs a little too s*xually? They say that women being looked at tend to notice, so I’ll be more careful from now on.
“Sora-kun.”
“Y-Yes!?”
As soon as I left the room, the doctor’s voice came through the intercom.
“Himawari hasn’t left her room since yesterday. I’m a little worried, so could you check on her before you go?”
“I understand.”
I head toward the yellow room, relying on my memory from yesterday since there are no signs in this large base.