My youth story cannot be a knight war

“…I had a nightmare.”

[Mio Akiyama, holding onto the stairs, looked down at the soles of her feet and muttered in a surprisingly weak voice.]

"What's wrong? Did you dream of something scary?"

Zaimokuza, who had reached the stairs, stopped at the sound of the words. He turned back to look at Akiyama Mio, who lowered her head, and spoke in a gentle and soft tone.

He knew that after this nightmare-like incident for these girls, it was impossible for them to be fine, so he didn't say anything like "Are you okay?", but instead tried to comfort her.

"If you don't mind, could you tell me what kind of dream you had?"

[“It wasn’t a very scary dream…”]

Akiyama Mio secretly glanced up at Zaimokuza in front of her. Seeing him looking at her with his usual smile, the trepidation that had been lingering in her heart since she woke up finally dissipated. She breathed a sigh of relief and spoke hesitantly.

“I dreamed… I dreamed that you, Zaimokuza-san, were walking down a very dark road. You walked a very long way, and no matter how much I called out to you from behind, you wouldn’t stop.”

“Finally, I saw your back, Zaimokuza-san, disappear into the darkness at the end of the road, and then… I woke up.”

"I'm feeling very uneasy, so I want to find you, Mr. Zaimokuza..."

As she spoke, even Akiyama Mio's face began to turn red. She felt that her behavior was just like when she was a child, she would wake up from a nightmare in her own room and run to her parents' bedroom crying, wanting to sleep with them. Many times, her parents would look very embarrassed when they opened the door.

[Thinking back now, my actions at that time were clearly inappropriate, otherwise my parents wouldn't have looked so hesitant.]

[But for some reason, whenever Akiyama Mio thinks of the dream she had before waking up, she still feels a strange palpitation in her heart, and she suppresses the shame that wells up in her.]

In the dream, Zaimokuza's back seemed to be shrouded in black smoke. As he walked forward, the darkness grew thicker, until he was completely engulfed in the mist. It looked as if he had been swallowed by darkness.

The uneasiness she felt in the dream at that time was so real that it jolted her awake, and even now she still feels a lingering fear.

She didn't know why she had such a dream, but the uneasiness in her heart drove her to get up and find Zaimokuza, regardless of the doctors and nurses' advice.

[Only after seeing him in person did her inner panic gradually subside.]

【“——”】

[I don't know if it was an illusion, but after Akiyama Mio told me about her nightmare, she seemed to see the light shining through the window at the entrance of the stairs ahead dim for a moment. Zaimokuza's smiling face, bathed in the light, also disappeared in an instant, his facial expression shrouded in darkness.]

[But as the lights came on the next moment, that familiar smiling face appeared again.]

"I see... So, Mio-chan, you're worried about me?"

Zaimokuza smiled and placed his palm on the top of Akiyama Mio's head, gently stroking her smooth black hair.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern, but you should go back and rest. You must be tired today, right?"

【"Woo..."】

[Feeling the warmth of the palm above her head, the girl's cheeks became even redder, and she lowered her head with a hesitant expression.]

But as if she suddenly remembered something, she raised her head with a nervous expression as she looked at Zaimokuza, who had withdrawn his hand. After hesitating for a moment, she mustered up the courage to speak.

"Um, Zaimokuza-san!"

【"Um?"】

[“Excuse me…is it really over?”]

Facing Zaimokuza's puzzled gaze, Akiyama Mio spoke haltingly.

"Has Number 33 really been defeated?"

Even though she had already learned the result from the doctor, Akiyama Mio still felt a bit dazed when she mentioned it again, wondering if she was dreaming.

In her perception, she simply took a nap after taking the drugs, and when she woke up, she was told that everything was over. The unidentified life form No. 33, which had brought endless nightmares and terror to all of them, had been defeated.

Rather than being shocked, it was more like a complete lack of reality. It was like Steve Rogers waking up from the ice and realizing that more than seventy years had passed. There was a sense of absurdity, a confusion between reality and dreams.

Although she knew that no one could deceive her about such a thing, Akiyama Mio still hoped to get the answer from Zaimokuza, to get a definitive response from the man who had defeated that demon. Only then could she believe that this was true and not just her own illusion.

Otherwise, Akiyama Mio felt she might be trapped by this feeling of confusion for the rest of her life. Everything she had experienced in the past two days was too profound, too bloody and cruel, creating an irreparable rift between her and her past beautiful and ordinary life. She even began to lose track of what was real and what was fake.

"Number 33 has been defeated by me."

[Facing the girl's eyes filled with hope and pleading, Zaimokuza spoke without hesitation.]

"That guy has paid the price for his evil deeds. You can rest assured."

【“——Everyone’s revenge has been taken.”】

【"Yeah……"】

Staring blankly at the man's face and listening to his words, Akiyama Mio felt as if something pent up in her heart had quietly collapsed, and her body suddenly felt relaxed.

[She held onto the escalator, slowly knelt down on the edge of the stairs, and suddenly laughed.]

[As I laughed, tears began to seep out from the edges of my eyelashes.]

The sense of boundary between reality and illusion disappeared, and those blocked emotions began to flow through. Countless complex emotions surged from the depths of her heart, making her cry and laugh at the same time.

“That’s great… That’s great… Woo…”

However, Akiyama Mio was still able to control her emotions. She wiped the tears from her eyes with both hands, unwilling to cry here, otherwise her crying would definitely attract others.

She felt she had already caused enough trouble for others today and didn't want to cause more trouble because of her personal feelings.

Akiyama Mio is such a girl. Her gentle heart allows her to be considerate of others, but she also constantly puts herself in a difficult position, unwilling to affect others with her sadness.

【"?"】

[But just as Akiyama Mio was wiping away her tears, a folded piece of white letter paper was placed in front of her, causing her to subconsciously look up in the direction the letter was handed to her.]

[“This is Xiaohe’s relic.”]

【“!”】

[Facing the girl's eyes blurred by tears, Zaimokuza half-knelt down and looked at her and whispered. Akiyama Mio suddenly opened her eyes wide after hearing his words.]

"Before I brought you here, Mr. Kosaka found a lot of notes in the drawer of the nightstand next to Kohe's bed. Based on the contents... it's confirmed that they were all written by Kohe."

"And your name is written on this piece of letter, Xiao Mio. I'm sure Xiao He wanted to leave this for you."

【"And... what was left for me?"】

With tear marks still on her face, Akiyama Mio blankly reached out her hands to take the piece of letter from Zaimokuza. She unfolded the folded piece of paper and read the contents written inside.

[When she saw the contents of the letter, she was stunned.]

There was only a single line of words on the letter paper, the handwriting messy and surrounded by many dried water stains. Soaking some of the words in the water blurred them after they dried, revealing the writer's state of mind when they wrote.

【But Akiyama Mio still figured out what the words were. 】

【——Shin し訳ありませんが, 一丝にハイキングには行けません. (I'm sorry, I can't go hiking with you.)]

[Knowing that death is approaching, Manabe Kazu, even though she is struggling in pain and despair, still remembers the promise she made to her good friend. Knowing that she can no longer fulfill the promise, she chooses to apologize to Akiyama Mio.]

She could only leave such a short message for Akiyama Mio, because she had many more words to leave for many other people she cherished.

【But it’s enough.】

[Deep inside, something completely shattered at this moment.]

Countless things surged out from the broken gap like a tidal wave. No matter what they did, they could not be stopped. They turned into tears falling from the girl's eyes.

Mio Akiyama held the letter in her arms, trembling all over. Countless memories of her friend washed over every corner of her heart, and the heart-wrenching pain and sorrow completely engulfed her.

“And—Wuwuwua ...

Unable to contain her emotions any longer, Akiyama Mio finally burst into tears and threw herself into Zaimokuza's arms, clutching his windbreaker tightly.

The girl's cries echoed through the hospital corridor, attracting the attention of many people. Footsteps could be heard approaching from a distance.

Zaimokuza silently reached out and hugged the girl in his arms, gently stroking her hair and lowering her head.

【From an angle that Akiyama Mio couldn't see in his arms, the smile on Zaimokuza's face was no longer there. 】

[At this moment, his face was expressionless, like a carved mask, empty and dead.]

Now, he can no longer laugh like before.

【“…”】

[He raised his head silently and looked towards the window facing him.]

In the reflection of the window glass, Zaimokuza didn't see himself, nor did he see Akiyama Mio crying in his arms.

【Only one pair of eyes.】

【A pair of cold, deep, dark eyes.】

22. Liquidation (4K)

Chiba Prefecture, Sobu High School, Service Club.

The atmosphere here was a little solemn at the moment. Everyone looked at "Akiyama Mio" who was crying loudly and "Zaimokuza Yoshiki" who was silent on their respective screens, and remained silent.

The girl's crying made everyone feel a blockage in their hearts. Crying always arouses people's empathy, but the group knew that they could not do anything outside the light curtain, so they could only suppress the discomfort and choose to continue watching.

They are no longer in the health room. After the image of the black self appeared on the screen, many people in the school who were not in good health fell into coma due to the oppressive feeling. Students were sent to the health room one after another, making the health teachers too busy to handle it.

It was fine when there weren't many people before, but facing the current situation, the Service Club and Hayama and his group couldn't continue to stay there shamelessly to take up seats. Hayama and Hikigaya supported Zaimokuza, who was still a little dazed, and relied on Hiratsuka Shizuka's identity as a teacher to lead the way in front. They returned to the old classroom belonging to the Service Club in almost the same way as when they first came to the infirmary.

"It's finally over... Tsk! That porcupine was truly disgusting. He deserved to be torn apart by Zaimokuza-san's sword!"

Tobe Sho tugged at his sweat-soaked collar, sighed deeply, and said with an unhappy expression.

"Just this once, I agree with you, Tobe-san."

Yukinoshita glanced at Zaimokuza, who was sitting on a chair in the back with his head lowered, frowned, sighed, and spoke with an expression that could hardly hide his disgust.

"Even among all the Gurongi that have appeared so far, No. 33 is definitely the most disgusting one. He was the first one to make me sincerely understand that an intelligent life form could be so disgusting... I have to admit that my previous belief that Hikigaya-san was the most disgusting creature in the world has changed. I was too focused on observing the sky before."

"Hey! You said I was uncomfortable, and I admit that. I'm self-aware after all... But please don't compare me to this pure beast, okay!?"

"Being quiet and not interrupting others when they are thinking is the most basic etiquette, Penguin classmate."

Ignoring Hikigaya's protest from the twitching corner of her eye, Yukinoshita lowered her head and fell into deep thought. After experiencing a series of previous changes, she was finally able to calm down and think about the many pieces of information revealed by the light curtain before.

Especially the information discovered by her future self in the light curtain made Yukinoshita feel concerned.

The identity totem representing the unconfirmed life form No. 0 and the totem representing Kuga are the same... This discovery is really too shocking, and if you think about it carefully, it is really terrifying.

Is this a coincidence, or is there something else going on?

The representative totems of the two are the same, which means they are the same?

The same? Number Zero and Kuga are the same? Does this mean that Number Zero... is Kuga?

Are these two...the same kind?

As soon as this thought came to her mind, Yukinoshita pressed her temples first, and felt a sudden pain in her head. She sighed helplessly.

She knew that it was pointless to think about it any further. Her current speculation was based entirely on known information, but the authenticity of this information was really questionable.

The answers to this question are probably all buried in the relics related to the super-ancient times. However, since the appearance of videos and light screens, everything related to the super-ancient times is still shrouded in heavy fog, just like seeing flowers in the fog.

Now, apart from relying on the revelation of the light curtain, the only way to know the truth is to go straight to Jiulangdake in Nagano Prefecture to look for the yet-undiscovered ruins and see if anything can be excavated from it.

But anyone who has watched the first video would not have such suicidal thoughts. If the ruins really exist, it means that there are countless sealed Gurongi sleeping inside. Therefore, if the ruins are opened directly, the first thing to greet humans will definitely not be the inscription engraved with the truth of the ancient times, but a murderous monster full of anger after waking up from the seal of tens of millions of years.

In the present, Kousaka Kyosuke and Zaimokuza Yoshiki, who will be the main fighters against the monsters in the future, are still two young students. They have not yet grown up to be as reliable as they will be in the future. If the monsters were to awaken early now...

The scene was so beautiful that Yukinoshita immediately forced herself to stop thinking in this dangerous direction.

"Now I can only leave it to you, my future self."

In the end, Yukinoshita can only pin her hopes of discovering the truth on the future "Yukinoshita Yukino". She has never doubted her abilities, either now or in the future.

But she believed it was almost time, because all the signs in the light curtain indicated that this story, which originated in the ancient times but took place in the future, had reached its final stage.

And at the end of every story, all the truth will be completely released like buried treasures.

"This battle is different from the previous ones. I can feel that many things have been changed forever."

Ye Shan walked to Yukinoshita's side and said, he turned his head to look at Zaimokuza who had not reacted yet, and pursed his lips.

"Let's not talk about Kuuga's new form that we've never seen before. And Kousaka-san—classmate, it's clear that there's something seriously wrong with his body."

Thinking of the scene where "Kousaka Kyosuke"'s fingers gradually turned into sand, an indelible haze rose in Yeshan's heart.

Although he had little knowledge of advanced scientific knowledge, even an elementary school student could see that the scene was obviously not good no matter how you looked at it.