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TN disclaimer: Some terminologies may be offensive to some readers.
A man’s adventure doesn’t need any luggage. We ran towards the outside of town. However, I properly brought something important that I mustn’t forget.
[No way, what’s that? How adorable.]
Haruka looks at Kyui who is sitting on my shoulder with sparkling eyes.
[Cute, isn’t it? It’s called Kyui.]
I hid Kyui in my clothes until we got out of town and took it out when we could see the fields. Kyui turned into a brown bear and rode on my shoulder. It can change its appearance into anything but Kyui like turning into a bear. It seems to like being a cat and rabbit, too, though.
[Is that a monster?]
[It is, but it’s weak. Kyui is a small monster that can only transform itself. It’s harmless, but if the townspeople find out, they’ll kill it, so I also couldn’t show it to Haruka.]
Kyui jumped on Haruka’s hands when told, ‘Come here’.
Haruka was done in by the small and round Kyui in one shot. He starts fawning over it, putting Kyui close to his face.
We left town from the Eastern-east Section. Before we left, we stopped by the house to bring Kyui with us. It’s a relief that Saine went out.
Saine will look after Kyui but I’m not sure if the next person will like it. If it’s a woman then she might find Kyui irresistibly cute but, it’s a monster after all. Besides, I think they will prioritize the child if it comes out. When that happens, Kyui might become a hindrance.
It’s a small, powerless monster, but I think I’ll return it to the forest. If it’s in the forest where Kyui was born, it might be able to survive even by itself. The place where the cobble is at might be good. Their sizes are also almost the same. Since Kyui likes transforming into a bear, it might get along well with the cobble which looks like a bear. I wonder if monsters also form friendships with each other? Kyui probably won’t get lonely if he becomes friends with the cobble.
Kyui hopped and landed back on my shoulder. It’s a small tiger this time. It sits on my shoulder well-behavedly.
Both Haruka and I grabbed a stick we picked up in an empty lot. These are swords. Mine is a Light Sword, Haruka’s is the Sword of Darkness. If my sword can cut the darkness, Haruka’s is a sword that will taint the light. Aren’t we contradicting each other? We laughed.
We’re giggling as we walk. Both of our shadows extend longer as we head towards the forest.
[I was bullied a lot, but you always protected me.]
[Really?]
I don’t remember at all.
[Maybe you didn’t mean to protect me. If there was a child who was crying or in trouble, even if it wasn’t me, you would have rushed in.]
Haruka laughed and said that, but I had no memory of it. Haruka laughs at me as I ,’hm’, ponder at it.
[Look, don’t you remember? I think I was in the 6th grade of elementary school, but I was teased by a child in the class. I was told that I look like a woman, that I was tr*nny.]
Haruka was often told that. Even though he didn’t speak like this, he had a shaved head, and was wearing a boy’s uniform, there’s always one person in class who could sense Haruka’s inner self and once that person shouts out a single word, it would make a fuss in the entire class as if it’s on fire.
But I hated that kind of teasing. After all, it’s none of anyone else’s business. Whether Haruka is effeminate or not, it isn’t other people’s business.
[That was during lunchtime. You stood up to that guy and shouted at him. ‘Someone like you who makes a big deal over something so boring is the lowest trash of all!’, you said.]
Oh, I remembered…… I became a ghost for a while after that.
[I thought that it was so like you. ‘You’re the woman/tr*nny for saying something like that’, aren’t words you’d usually say in situations like those. But you didn’t refer to them as women.]
[That’s because if I said that, wouldn’t I have compared you to a woman? You weren’t a tr*nny either, right? Just because your disposition is like that.]
[Referring to being tr*nny as a disposition…… Well, by the time I died, be it gay or trans, everything was dismissed as a single word of personality. But because of that, a ghost-themed anime song became your theme song, didn’t it?]
Haruka looked at me with a complicated expression that seemed as if he’s holding back his laughter and pity.
We walk on the road while laughing with Haruka. Ever since I recalled my past life, I have always been talking and laughing with Haruka about the old times. But our conversation never ends. We reminisce one memory after another, laughing excitedly while walking on the road.
Even though we were walking while laughing, we suddenly stopped and looked back at the same time. A faint red curtain was about to come down on the town in the distance.
I silently looked at Haruka. Haruka silently looked at me. There is no hesitation in Haruka’s face, and there is no fear in my heart. My best friend is here, walking the same road with me. We can finally put into action the promise we couldn’t fulfill that day.
In the summer of my 15th year, the adventure we couldn’t go back then, we’re now on our journey towards it. Back then and now, our feelings were the same.
At that time, we no longer had any plan to return to the city.
And now, we won’t see the rising sun again. **
“Haruka! Let’s go!”
“Sure thing!”
Raising the divine swords aloft, the two of us laughed together as we ran towards the great black forest.
**TN: I think just realized what they were planning to do after reading this line and now I can’t stop crying. I thought they were just going to live by themselves somewhere else. ToT
I hope I misunderstood.