Chapter 15
—-“KANPAI!!!”
Late that night.
The mission had ended in success, and the soldiers were in high spirits.
“You see that! This is our power!”
“We’re going to take back Japan!”
“Invaders, wash your heads and wait for us!”
They were drunk and high on alcohol.
They had never had a victory like this before, so today was an overwhelming victory for them.
“Hey, Isshin-san!”
“Ah..”
“Kaguya-chan! Where’s your husband?”
“He’s not my husband! He is …but where is he?”
“What? He’s the star of the show today, come on find him! Let’s have a drink together!”
“You know, we’re still minors, … Well, it doesn’t matter now. There’s no law to judge us.”
Then Isshin gets up and leaves the room.
Kaguya followed silently, as his behaviour was a little strange.
He should be more lively than anyone else at a time like this.
***
“There you are.”
This is the warehouse where the KOG was stored.
A boy was sitting there, staring at the KOG.
The warehouse is open, and the moon is visible.
“Isshin-san….”
“Come hang out with me for a bit.”
Isshin lifts two cups of sake and a cup and smiles.
Kaguya watched from behind the KOG.
“I’ve never had a drink, you know?”
“What, just a sip, you can pretend to drink. These things are all about formalities.”
Sake is then poured into a cup given to him.
After the sake was poured, Kenya also poured a small amount of sake and toasted it lightly.
“It’s bad… ugh…”
“Kaguya said the same thing. You guys are still chickens…”
Time passed slowly for a while.
But strangely, there was no feeling of awkwardness.
In fact, I felt a sense of relief, or perhaps I should say, a nostalgic sense, of Isshin’s generosity.
It was as if he was my father.
“Thank you for today.”
“Glad I could help.”
“Yeah, but what about you? Are you happy?”
“If everyone is happy…”
Kenya stopped his words.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t feel happy about this victory, either.”
“But you do care, don’t you? Is this your first time killing someone?”
“… Yes.”
He was hit by what he was thinking.
Kenya was worried that he had killed. Isshin had noticed since that communication.
“That feeling is normal, I’ve already killed quite a lot, but if it’s an enemy you don’t feel anything anymore. Or perhaps it’s more correct to say that I’ve tried not to feel.”
“Today for the first time I killed an enemy… no, I killed him. I don’t think it was wrong, but I don’t know if it was right.”
Kanya looks up.
The black KOG glows faintly in the moonlight.
“You can’t prove that you’re right. Everyone lives their own story and has their own personal justice. One’s justice is another’s injustice.”
“No wonder wars don’t go away. I used to think, Why are there wars?”
After coming to this world, Kenya’s mindset changes.
He thinks that wars should never happen and that the world should be peaceful.
Even if he has to put up with some inconvenience, he thinks that it is right not to have war.
A boy in peaceful modern Japan who thought so.
Why are there terrorists, conflicts, and armies?
A peaceful country that did not understand such things.
But what about the sights I saw when I came to this world?
Patience? How can I say such a thing to them?
Then what should I do, but I don’t know that.
Even now, I can’t say that terrorist acts are right, but Kenya couldn’t think that not resisting was right either.
“When in doubt, remember. The purpose, hear what your heart says. The strong feeling within you that you will never change, You should never give up on that.”
Isshin then lightly taps Kenya on the chest.
“Do you have it? Here. That is the only one that will support your justice.”
I can feel the passion in my chest.
Isshin continued with his words.
“I’m not going to say that killing people is right or anything, but I will kill. Any amount to bring the oppressed people in this country back to life.”
His single-minded eyes burned strongly.
He had already gotten over it, long before Kenya’s troubles.
He is even willing to kill people.
Kenya sees this and asks his own heart.
“What my heart wants…”
Immediately afterwards, Kaguya and Reina appear in his mind.
Originally they were the heroines of the game. I thought I was in love with them, but somehow I couldn’t believe it, even myself.
But suddenly you come into this world, and you meet, talk to, touch and spend time with them.
I am now convinced.
I can certainly believe now that this feeling is real.
So.
“Yes, I will protect Kaguya. That is the one thing I won’t give up.”
I answered straight away.
I can be proud that this is absolutely my true intention.
Hearing that, Isshin gently smiles.
“Heh, you’ve fallen in love with her a lot, haven’t you? Isn’t she a good woman?”
“Yes, I love her.”
“It’s not going to be easy, all right? That is, unless you’re man enough to save this country.”
“It’s … Yes! I hope so!”
Kenya downed his cup of sake with a vigorous reply.
This was Kenya’s first time drinking alcohol, and he has no tolerance for it.
“Woah, hey! It’s pretty strong, isn’t it? Are you alright?”
“..Huh? My eyes are dizzy… it’s weird… ..kuku.”
He is suddenly dizzy, but is this what it means to be drunk?
Kenya, who got drank all at once, fell down unsteadily while sitting up.
Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to have the aptitude for alcohol.
He was blown away by what had been troubling him.
He is not happy that he killed, but if he were in the same situation again, he would kill again.
Something became clear and convincing to Kenya.
As a result, the tension unwinds, and he sleeps.
“Hahaha, this is a long way off to go… Kaguya, you’re here, aren’t you?”
“Na, why!”
Then Kaguya, who had been hiding, emerges.
Her face was dyed red to a colour that even Isshin had never seen before.
Seeing this, Isshin laughs.
“Kuu, this is alcohol! It’s because of the alcohol!”
Kaguya desperately tries to hide her face.
Her hands look up at her face, but it is so red that it looks as if it might catch fire.
“Don’t worry, Kenya-kun is asleep. Come over here and change.”
He leaves Kenya, who is leaning over wholeheartedly, in Kaguya’s care.
“You take care of the rest, I’ll be back. We’ve got to give them a boost. We’ve just won.”
Kenya sleeps on Kaguya’s lap.
He fell asleep with a red face, unconscious due to alcohol.
–At least get a reward today, O Samurai of Japan’s Hope.
Isshin left the place as it was.
He sent the boy a word that means ‘samurai’ or ‘protector’ if you trace the etymology of the word.
Kaguya and Kenya were left behind.
“Really, I don’t understand you. Why do you like me so much…?”
Kaguya, who was listening to the whole conversation, recalls being given a line that made her teeth curl so much that she felt like she was going to lose control of her embarrassment.
It was the first time anyone of a different sex had ever said to me that they loved me.
I had never had a fulfilling experience in my youth.
She had never even been in love, but now she can’t take her eyes off this boy.
I can’t stop thinking about the boy who told me straight away that he loves me.
I don’t even know what this feeling is.
What I do know is that.
“You’re a real.. Weirdo. But.”
I stroked the hair of the boy sleeping on my lap.
‘Thank you for today, for fighting with all of us …….’
A feeling of gratitude for him.
And the way my heart pounds and my face is on fire, so much so that the boy sleeping on my lap may hear it.
The light of the full moon, which seems to descend on Kaguya and Kenya. Illuminates them.
The KOG behind them is also faintly illuminated.
Today, the mere gamer has truly become a samurai with something to protect.
By being firmly aware of this, their hearts will change greatly.
From now on, the world that was enjoying temporary peace will move into a turbulent era.
What his role as an irregular in this world is, no one knows yet.
One thing we do know is that there is only one uncompromising desire.
‘Protect the heroines.’
This became the single core supporting Kenya’s reasons for action and the single pillar supporting justice he believes in.
“Goodnight Kenya”
The Samurai, who now merely sleep, do not yet know the ruin that the success of this operation calls for.
They had no real understanding of what it meant to make enemies of the rulers of the world.
TL Notes~
Hah, Finally caught up.