“....”
Mika gripped Haruta’s hand tightly and looked him in the eye.
“....Mika? This isn’t right.”
“Mm☆ Haruta doesn’t like me?”
“No... it’s not that I don’t like you. But think about our ages.”
Haruta searched desperately for a way out.
His brain was spinning at full speed as he looked for a solution.
“Right...”
“Mika? Then how about five years. Just five years?”
“Really...?”
“Yeah. Exactly five years from now. How about it?”
“Mm☆ Okay!”
Mika smiled brightly and turned away to sit down.
“Haah....”
Haruta lowered his head and slowly walked away.
“Mika? I’ll come out later, so you come out after me. If Nagisa sees us, we’re both dead.”
“Mm☆!”
Haruta quickly changed clothes and came back out.
“Mika! I’m done!”
At that, Mika came out with a towel wrapped around her body.
“Mm!”
--------------------------------------------
‘Jeez... I really almost died.’
“Mm? Haruta? Is something wrong?”
“Huh...? No, no.”
“Hmm... then that’s a relief.”
“Yeah, it really feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve lived this comfortably.”
“Listening to Haruta talk, I’d think it was a lie, but looking at your body, I can understand....”
“Well, my body is pretty amazing.”
“But did you train your body separately?”
“No? If you fight for your life in the Black Market, you can end up like this.”
“...I see....”
Just then, Mika came out after changing into pajamas and sat down on the floor.
“Nagi-chan! Haruta! What are you talking about?”
“Ah. Welcome, Mika.”
“Just chatting.”
“Mm☆ Let me join too!”
“Ah. Nagisa.”
“Yes?”
“By any chance, do you have champagne?”
“??? Even I can’t just... drink alcohol....”
“I was just asking.”
Then Haruta turned around and slowly opened his carrier.
Inside were pajamas, underwear, spare clothes, and something wrapped up.
“Hey, Nagisa. Do you know what this is?”
“This is.... alcohol?”
“Yeah. Wine.”
“How does Haruta have this?”
“Well, someone I know at the Black Market gave it to me.”
Haruta slowly inserted the wine opener into the cork.
“Oh, nice. This works.”
He slowly twisted the cork and opened the bottle.
“Haruta? If you drink that....”
“? Who said I’d share with you? I’m drinking it by myself.”
“How petty....”
“Haruta! So petty!”
“No, you’re minors.”
“? Haruta? You’re a minor too, though?”
“Ah, right.”
“Haruta?”
“Haah....”
“I’m just going to go outside, drink it while I get some night air, and then come back to sleep.”
“No, no, are you seriously going to drink it?”
“What, you think I’ve smoked in the Black Market and never drank before?”
“Even so, there are things you just can’t do.”
“That’s right! Haruta! Alcohol and cigarettes are bad for you!”
“For someone who’s dying, cigarettes are a cure-all and alcohol is an anesthetic.”
“Haah.... honestly....”
“So I’m just going to drink a little on the terrace and come back.”
“....Please only have a little....”
“Of course, of course.”
While Haruta went out to drink, Nagisa and Mika looked at each other and slowly opened their mouths.
“Mika? Are you thinking the same thing?”
“Mm☆ Looks like Nagi-chan is thinking the same thing too☆”
“Fufu. Then let’s get started right away.”
-Glug glug
“Phew..... what am I even supposed to do with my life now?”
Haruta slowly took a lighter from his pocket.
“Haah..... at least I need alcohol.”
Haruta’s body had a constitution that didn’t get drunk easily, no matter how much he drank, so alcohol didn’t affect him much.
“Tch... so even alcohol doesn’t work anymore.”
Haruta stared at his arm and fell into thought.
The hell he’d gone through, where the bastards who experimented on him would crush his limbs and then repeat it all over again the next day.
Those insane freaks who fired rockets just to test his durability.
“Haah.... now I really just need one step... just one... one step.”
Haruta sighed and looked at the lighter.
It was an antique lighter painted gold, looking quite expensive.
“I don’t smoke anymore, so....”
Thinking of those painful memories, Haruta slowly lifted the lighter.
-Whoosh
-Splash
The lighter sank into the water.
Slowly, but lit by moonlight, it sank deeper into the water.
“Haah....”
Haruta took a swig of alcohol, then noticed Mika and Nagisa’s presence.
“Heh, hey! Mika! Nagisa! I know you’re there! Come out already!”
“....How did you know?”
“Just.... a feeling, I guess?”
“Waa~o☆”
“Yeah, I’ve almost finished this anyway, so let’s go back.”
Haruta took one last sip from the remaining wine and looked at the bottle.
He slowly read the origin and manufacturer printed at the end of the label.
“...Kaiser Tech?”
The name of the company written on the researchers’ clothes in Haruta’s memory came back to him.
“.....Huh?”
Crash!
Haruta shattered the wine bottle, and blood welled up in his hand.
“? Haruta? Why all of a sudden?”
“Haruta! You’re bleeding!”
“.....No.... sorry. I just had something on my mind.”
“....If you ever need anything later, please call me anytime.... Haruta....”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Haruta? Are you okay?”
“Uh.... yeah.”
The wine left on his hand from the bottle made it look almost like blood.
“Let’s go back first.”
“But before we sleep, are we going to have a late-night snack?”
Mika asked carefully.
“Mika? What are you talking about at this hour? Greedy Mika.”
“What? Nagi-chan? Greedy?!”
“It’s nothing.”
“Yeah, greedy Mika.”
“Eek!!!”
“Hmm... but if it’s a late-night snack, I might be a little tempted?”
“Haruta too, should we get something to eat?”
“Well, we still have a little time, right? If we eat and then sleep, it’ll probably be around one.”
“Then you won’t grow taller.”
“I’m already almost 170, though?”
“....We are.”
“Haah... fine, let’s just sleep.”
Accepting that, they returned to the lodging.
“Oh right, there’s only one bed, isn’t there?”
“Ah... Haruta? I forgot there was only one bed....”
“You and Mika can sleep in the bed. If I sleep with you two, I’ll get arrested.”
“Wouldn’t consent make it okay?”
“I’m not consenting!”
Haruta shouted.
“Even so, you’re a guest, so please just sleep in the bed. That would be rude.”
“Haah....”
Haruta slowly sat on the edge of the bed.
“Fine. We’re just sleeping.”
“Fufu, of course.”
“Ugh... I drank, so I’m tired right now. Don’t touch me, okay?”
“Mm☆ Good night, everyone!”
Mika turned off the lights, and the three of them lay side by side in bed.
“Haah.... now I can really rest.”
Haruta lay there and slowly organized his thoughts.
‘Now I’m one step away from revenge against those damned bastards. I’ll go find them myself and smash them.’
“Haruta? Are you asleep?”
“Not yet.”
Mika had already passed out, leaving only Nagisa and Haruta awake and talking.
“I’ve been thinking about the way you shattered that wine bottle earlier.”
“No, I just put a little too much strength into it.”
“....That wasn’t the look in your eyes. It was like.... a killing intent to chew up the whole world.... If even someone like me, who knows nothing about combat, could feel it, just how angry were you?”
“....Just think of it as a personal matter.”
“..If there’s anything I can do to help—”
“Nagisa? Don’t try to find out.”
Haruta cut her off and spoke in a cold voice.
“....Sorry. I got a little emotional.”
“It’s fine.... I’m sorry too....”
“Yeah... sorry.”
Haruta slowly closed his eyes.
-----------------------------
The next day.
“Huh? What, nothing happened?”
Haruta searched all around his body for any sign of something.
“Looks like Nagisa and Mika are a little more normal after all.”
Relieved by that fact, he looked at the sleeping Nagisa and Mika and smiled faintly.
“Haah.... it’s already been almost six years since I came here....”
“Mmm.... Haruta?”
“Ah, Mika. You’re awake?”
“Mm... where’s Nagi-chan?”
“No idea. She wasn’t there when I woke up.”
Then something sounded from the first floor.
Boom!
“? What was that, Nagisa?”
Haruta and Mika quickly ran down the stairs.
“Ugh... as expected... cooking is hard....”
“No, Nagisa, you were cooking?”
“Yes... as you can see, I failed.”
“Haah.... I’ll just make it.”
Haruta quickly made simple toast for breakfast and gave it to Nagisa and Mika.
“How is it? I just threw together whatever ingredients I could see.”
“How.... didn’t you just say you used whatever?”
“Yeah... and?”
“What... is this taste....”
“Maybe your definition of ‘whatever’ and mine are different?”
“....That can’t be....”
Leaving Nagisa on the verge of despair, he looked over at Mika and Nagisa.
“Mm☆! This is delicious!”
“Really? Then that’s a relief....”
“Nagisa, what are we doing today?”
“We’re going fishing!”
“Oh, perfect. I bought a pretty good fishing rod.”
“We’ll use the beginner set our butler prepared for us.”
“Oh, then get ready.”
“Nagi-chan? Why are we out here?”
“To go fishing with Haruta!!”
“...Nagi-chan? Do you like fishing?”
“Not particularly... but it’s a chance to get closer to Haruta.”
“Waa~o☆”
A vein popped on Mika’s forehead.
“Then... whoever gets more of Haruta’s attention wins! It’s a showdown!!!”
--------------------------------------------------------
Ten hours later.
“Mika? Nagisa?”
“Yes....?”
“You didn’t catch a single fish for ten hours?”
“Yes....”
“Fine, it doesn’t matter. Just go into the water and catch them.”
“Ah....”
“Mika, want to try too?”
“Mm! I want to try too!”
“Then get ready!”
“Let’s go☆”
Mika and Haruta jumped into the water to catch fish.
“...Then I’ll rest for a bit....”
------------------------------
“Hmm? Where am I?”
Nagisa opened her eyes to find the familiar beach.
“? Haruta? Mika?”
“Fufu. Nagisa, you’re sleeping while we’re working hard?”
“N-no, I was just....”
“Mika? Let’s bury her deeper.”
“Mm☆”
“A-ah... s-sorry!!!”
“All right, I’ll pull you out.”
He pulled Nagisa out of the sand and showed her the fish he and Mika had caught.
“How is it? Pretty impressive, right?”
“Mm☆ Nagi-chan? What do you think?”
“Oh... that’s truly amazing....”
“Of course! Then let’s go back and eat them later!”
“Then let’s do that.”
“...What is that?”
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