My youth story cannot be a knight war

"You don't need to say that to me. Even if you two separate in the future, it will only be temporary. As long as you still care about each other, no matter how far apart you are, your hearts will always be connected. Why do you have to act as if you're no longer here?"

“Um… I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt like saying this—I’m really sorry if this makes you feel awkward!”

Manabe rubbed her forehead sheepishly. The more she thought about it, the more she realized her words and actions were indeed abrupt and strange. As she came to her senses, she felt a wave of shame gradually filling her heart, and her face grew increasingly red.

Finally, unable to bear the shame, the girl suddenly bowed to Zaimokuza and spoke with her eyes tightly closed.

【"?"】

A warm touch came from above her head. Manabe opened her eyes in confusion and saw Zaimokuza smiling at her.

[“So, you don’t need to say these things to me.”]

[“—Because even if you didn’t tell me, I would still do it.”]

Zaimokuza turned to look at the stage. The song was nearing its end, and lead vocalist Yui Hirasawa's voice was gradually rising. He looked at the girl, who was immersed in the performance with her friends, and said with a smile.

"Xiao Wei, you're really like my old self. Back then, I also had a group of friends just like hers... although our ending may not be very happy."

“But precisely because they are so similar to us in the past, how could I not want to be with them, protect them, and see their story have a happy ending different from ours?”

"So, don't worry, Xiaohe."

Zaimokuza patted Manabe Kazu's shoulder and spoke softly.

"Besides you, I'm watching over you. Xiao Wei and her friends will definitely have a happy ending in the end... I promise."

【“——”】

Manabe stared blankly at Zaimokuza's thumbs-up gesture. The man smiled back at her. Although his words lacked any momentum, one could easily sense the weight they held.

【Zaimokuza Yoshiteru always keeps his word, just like he has always done, and has never broken his promise even once.】

【After understanding this, Manabe smiled and said. 】

"——Thank you, Zaimokuza-san!"

[At this point, the girls' performance had reached its end. Hirasawa Yui plucked the strings of his guitar and sang the opening line of the last verse.]

[“Soft and humming time~”]

……

After Zaimokuza explained the unknown incident that happened at the school festival, Hirasawa Yui's eyes completely froze.

The strength in her arms, which were clinging to Zaimokuza's, gradually faded, and finally fell to her sides. She stared blankly at the pool of water that spread across the floor in front of her.

[At that moment, the face of my best friend, still smiling before his death, appeared in the reflection of the water.]

【Along with the words ringing in my ears:】

……

[——“Wei, promise me…”]

Even though blood was flowing from the corner of his mouth and his entire body was in excruciating pain as if stabbed by a thousand swords, Manabe Kazuo still managed to hold on to his spirits, which were about to collapse, and whispered softly to the sobbing Hirasawa Yui.

“Don’t… don’t give up on music, don’t give up on your performances… You said your dream was to one day walk into the Budokan with everyone and hold a concert just for you… right?”

She grasped Hirasawa Yui's hand with her cold, wounded hand, squeezing her fingers tightly. Even though the force between her palm and fingers was now as light as a mosquito's, just as light as her own life, which was about to disappear.

[——"Promise me, you must complete this dream. Even if I'm gone, you must not give up. Promise me, you must keep going... Don't give up on yourself... Okay?"]

[——“…Will you… promise… me…?”]

【--"……That's good……"】

……

At this moment, Hirasawa Yui finally understood why her best friend wanted him to agree to her request at the last moment of her life.

[That's not because Manabe Kazuma really wants to fulfill her dream, but because she knows herself too well and knows how much of a blow she would suffer and how much pain she would fall into if she were gone.]

[That's why Manabe Kazu made this promise to himself before his consciousness was about to fade away. His real purpose was only one.]

[That is the hope for Hirasawa Yui, the hope that her childhood sweetheart will be able to rely on the promise they made to her as a guide after she leaves, to pull herself together from the darkness and pain, and continue to move forward into the future - this is the true reason for this promise.]

Even at the moment before her death, Manabe was not concerned about herself, but about Hirasawa Yui, who had grown up with her. She cared about Hirasawa Yui far more than she cared about herself.

【Manabe has left Hirasawa Yui forever and will never come back. 】

[But what she left behind for her friends was not only sadness, but also hope and redemption for the future.]

[…and…and…wu——]

[After nearly a day, Hirasawa Yui stammered out the nickname of her deceased friend. But in just one day, it felt like nearly a century.]

[At some point, she had released her grip on Zaimokuza's wrist, her pale lips trembling, and her dry, red eyes were once again filled with mist.]

“Wow—Wow!!!”

【“…”】

Soon after, Hirasawa Yui's cries echoed in the silent hospital room. Zaimokuza silently embraced the girl, who buried her head in his arms and cried, and lifted her up from the cold floor.

……

"Zaimokuza-san, your hand!"

Akiyama Mio looked at Zaimokuza's hand hanging at his side, the wound from Hirasawa Yui's bite still dripping with blood, and spoke nervously.

[“We need to stop the bleeding quickly! Otherwise—”]

"It's okay. I can recover quickly from this kind of injury now, but it's you guys who are suffering."

Zaimokuza shook his head, refusing the doctors and nurses who wanted to bandage him first. He gestured for them to give Hirasawa Yui, who had finally calmed down, an injection first, and then smiled and comforted him, concealing his hands behind his back without leaving any trace.

He looked at the girl in front of him, who already had obvious dark circles under her eyes and the weariness she couldn't hide in them. He reached out and touched her soft hair and spoke softly.

"You haven't slept well since last night, and after what happened before, you must be feeling pretty bad by now, right? Get some good sleep after the injection."

【"Um……"】

"…I'm sorry, Yoshiteru-nii."

Akiyama Mio nodded submissively. Hirasawa Yui, who had lowered her head and sat on the edge of the bed, had stopped struggling and allowed the doctor to open her sleeve and inject her wrist. She sniffed her red nose and spoke in a heavily nasal voice.

"It's okay. It's you, Xiaowei... who needs to cheer up."

"You guys should get some rest. Leave the rest to me and Mr. Kosaka."

Zaimokuza smiled and shook his head. After confirming that the girls had calmed down, he stood up and walked out the door.

Just as Zaimokuza opened the door and was about to leave, Hirasawa Yui's voice called out to him from behind.

"Yihui-nii... I heard what that person said at that time."

Hirasawa Yui's non-injected hand tightly grasped her pantyhose-clad knee, her fingers so tense that her palm turned pale, revealing a portion of her inner emotions.

“He said it at that time, in very Japanese, he said:”

“‘Because the more you suffer, the happier I’ll feel.’ …He really did seem happy.”

[“It gives people a feeling… so scary…”]

Upon hearing Hirasawa Yui's words, the eyes of the other girls present in the ward flickered, but their faces all turned extremely pale. It was obvious that they also had great fear of Jaraji who had said this.

After listening to what Hirasawa Yui said to him, Zaimokuza stood at the door with his back to everyone, not turning back or answering, standing like a wooden sculpture.

After a while, Zaimokuza turned back to look at them, his expression unchanged as usual, and spoke in a gentle voice.

"...It's okay. Don't worry about what it says. Just get some sleep from now on."

[“When you wake up, everything will be over—I promise.”]

"Wait! Zaimokuza-san, you—"

[For some reason, Akiyama Mio felt a strong sense of unease rising from within as she looked at Zaimokuza's back.]

Akiyama Mio didn't know where this feeling came from, but her intuition kept telling her that she had to save Zaimokuza now, otherwise—

【Nothing can be undone.】

But just as she subconsciously reached out her hand to ask Mokuza to stay, he had already smiled and closed the door of the ward, blocking the girl's words inside. The crisp sound of the door closing cut off her attempt to stay.

【Click.】

……

Zaimokuza walked along the quiet hospital corridor, heading towards the stairs leading to the next floor.

His bangs fell down, covering his eyes. The curve at the corner of his mouth had flattened, and his smile had turned into a blank expression.

[As he passed a corner clinic that hadn't closed, he suddenly stopped and tilted his head slightly to look inside.]

The television on the counter happened to be broadcasting a news channel. As luck would have it, the news was about the tragedy caused by Unidentified Lifeform No. 33.

[“——The mass death tragedy at Sakuragaoka Girls' High School has been confirmed to be the work of Unidentified Lifeform No. 33. The victims were all current students. Except for the first year, students in the other two grades were all within No. 33's range of activity.”]

"All third-year graduates have been confirmed dead, and all second-year students, with the exception of a few, have been confirmed dead. No first-year students have died. Police are currently placing them under protective surveillance. The following are the names of the deceased students."

[“Third year, Ishida Naomi, 18 years old, deceased.”]

"Third year, Ikeda Akiko, 17 years old, deceased."

[“Third grade, Kusano Sumire, 18 years old, deceased…”]

Zaimokuza stood at the doorway, watching the news broadcast on the television facing him. He listened to the host announce the names of the victims, and with each name, the screen switched to another scene, all of which were pictures of the families of the victims.

Although these images are silent, without exception, the families of the victims are all crying, holding photos of their children and weeping bitterly before the camera. They hope that the media's coverage of this scene will lead to them receiving justice and fairness in the future.

Zaimokuza just stared at those people quietly, his eyes like two mirrors, reflecting the tearful family members on the TV screen and the photos they were holding, but without any emotion.

[Until a certain moment, the host's name reached his ears, causing his right hand, which was hanging by his side, to slowly clench into a fist.]

[“Second year student, Kazu Manabe, 17 years old, deceased.”]

The girl's reservedness when they first met, her surprise when she heard his name, her joy when she knew he was the savior of the light music club... The scenes of his first encounter with Manabe Kazu flashed through Zaimokuza's mind.

[——Finally, the picture stopped at the blood-soaked pale arm hanging from the white sheet of the stretcher.]

【Crack.】

The sound of bones cracking echoed from his clenched right fist. Zaimokuza turned his head slowly with a calm expression and continued walking towards the stairs with steady steps.

【Tick.】

[Red blood dripped onto the ground, blooming into a beautiful blood flower.]

Blood began to flow from the palm of his clenched right hand, and finally, as Zaimokuza advanced, it continued to drip, like a row of bright red flowers blooming in the direction he walked.

[——"I heard your parents were hit by a car and killed a month ago? Oh, is that true!?"]

"How did you feel when you saw your parents' bodies? Come on, tell us about it and share it with the seniors. You know, as seniors, we have an obligation to discuss various issues with the juniors."

[——"Sorry, sorry? I forgot. I heard that your parents had already passed away when you rushed to the hospital. How could they have had time to say their last words to you? Um...why don't you go ask them?"]

[——"Oops! How could I have forgotten again? My memory is really... I'm sorry, how can you possibly ask them? Is this your fault?"]

[——"After all, you don't have any parents anymore, Junior-kun! So how can you possibly ask?!"]

【--"""Hahaha!!!"""】

A certain conversation, from a distant memory, surfaced in Zaimokuza's mind, along with the looks and laughter of those people at that time, all reappeared vividly before his eyes.

【Then, the words Hirasawa Yui said just before he left echoed in his ears once again.】

“He said it at that time, in very Japanese, he said:”

[——“‘Because the more you suffer, the happier I’ll feel.’… He really does seem happy.”]

[——"It gives me a feeling... so scary..."]

[Is it fun? Is it exciting? Is it enjoyable?]

Shouldn't the passing of life be filled with sadness? Shouldn't we have sympathy and compassion for those who have lost someone important? Why are you laughing?

"Tell me, what's so funny about all this pain? Is it worth your joy? Does it feel good to rob others of their lives? Does it bring you pleasure to take away their smiles?"

[Tell me, why can you still laugh when we are in so much pain? ]

Tell me, you—

What do you consider life to be?